Okay . . . since we're talking about dragons, I have one as a player and as a DM.
I was stuck in a friend's campaign; she was the type of DM who didn't so much believe in railroading as she believed in making sure you were all lined up in neat rows and set on tracks ready to go where they pulled. I was playing a Barbarian with a sort of 'Noble Savage' air (got Knowledge (Tactics) and (Local) in a Thug variant sort of character path) after being denied 8 different character choices. Eight. Yeah... at this point I was about done with the game. However, she begged the two of us who were writing up characters to just go with it... so we were forced to settle on playing 'basic' characters (though my buddy did get to get the Daggerspell Mage, he wasn't allowed to get any decent daggers... even though we were sponsored by the 'magic' kingdom, and I was left to scrape for a decent sword to fight with).
I built a character around Reckless Attack/Power Attack, just messing around. I mean, when you have an AC approaching a great wyrm's because you aren't allowed to play any other character and get bored, you go with it.
We do a sort of high-level gladiatorial thing, where I use my Knowledge of Tactics (and the assistance of a rogue who had been friendly to me before) to find out what the other guy is bringing to the party. If he's using spears, I'm getting in close. If he's using sword and board, I do the distance. I rely on him to screw up and the ridiculously nice ability scores (I think my lowest was around 13 because the Dice Gods were happy with me) I have to back me up. I start seeing a lot of railroading... because they start using tactics against me and dealing immense amounts of damage for people who are still able to hit my AC.
So we check the sheets, and she claims to be providing me 'a challenge'. Meanwhile, my poor Daggerspell buddy ate it in the third round to an Archmage who appears out of nowhere.
Next session goes, nothing too bad. We get sent on a short mission... the mission is prompted by us, and we think it may just be that she had the first game willies with our group.
Then comes the Dragon.
We're camped near a nice little protected pasture, autumn turning to winter. Crisp night, we're enjoying ourselves, and we drink pretty heavily with our soldier buddies, telling stories for a good 30 minutes. Awesome roleplaying session, we think. Then... we get to bed, and a Wyrm appears out of the clear blue sky. We are startled by the commotion (I was still awake, my Daggerspell buddy woke up to a solid Listen check of 'A dragon is destroying your encampment' DC).
So we watch the dragon go away. Meanwhile, we're not getting paid for that type of damage, and it's a freaking dragon. I decide I want to follow it, and my buddy agrees. She slaps on her conductor hat, and decides we cannot see the dragon which is flying on a full moon under crisp clear skies... no way to discern the direction of a flying manor house making noise and dragging a few oxen.
We decide to investigate, and our high Survival skills kick in. We are informed that it is impossible for us to follow said dragon in any way. NPCs attempt to hold us back from our quest.
At this point, I just want to die to a dragon, put my character sheet away, and keep dignity. But, I am angry to the point of frothing. I haven't exercised free will in 12 game hours without being told I'm not 'playing my character' right. I have also had the wonder of not being able to play a character I would enjoy playing.
So I decide to follow the dragon, or walk. She complains about it, but at this point her two players just want to burn their sheets and her DM's Certification and go have a round at the bar, drown our sorrows.
A half hour later, we are following the dragon. You see, it is impossible (well, highly difficult) to follow the tracks of a flying creature. It is, however, something completely different to follow the house-sized creature which is still within Spot range and observable.
We climb, we climb, we climb some more... and we get to the lair. One of our wondrous mages decides to come along with us for the ride. Just to end this game, I remind her that she agreed with the Daggerspell player that certain types of effects should stack...
One of those effects was Ray of Enfeeblement.
A dozen or so wand-charges and castings later, the dragon is at 1 Strength and she gets why we both asked her fervently whether the Ray itself was a stacking effect. However, though the dragon is wearing some sort of armor and a torc the size of a small mill wheel, he is still up and fighting with no encumberance.
This problem is solved by the Wave of Exhaustion cast the next round.
I sort of felt bad doing that Coup d'Grace... nah... We quit the game posthaste after a celebratory pint and some outright weeping from our poor, bedraggled, railroading DM.
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Okay, as a DM, the best dragon encounter actually included my Daggerspell buddy, the DM from the previous, and a handful of faceless players on an IRC game. We had all been separated due to work and a graduate program for one of the players, so we were in a low level game, I think 3rd-5th level was the base range. One of the faceless players decided to play a mounted paladin type, and the rest are prepared for anything. Their first goal is to retrieve a MacGuffin from a mine shaft/cave system. Standard getting to know you roleplaying.
Anyways, they camp after 3 encounters, heal themselves up, and continue. They find themselves in a large cave, and hear soft bleating/growling. The sound turns out to be an emaciated cave dragon wyrmling, barely able to beat its wings but willing to put up a fight. The thing is half-blind, and fires off its breath weapon a step too soon. The creature backs away, they hear scrabble and some stones falling, and the dragon slowly, weakly lifts off. It starts to turn to fly away . . .
The Paladin decides to charge. We gave him 3 promptings. Imagine Sir John, regal in his newly-purchased half-plate and pristine retipped lance. Now imagine Sir John's horse, spooked when the everlasting light cast on a stone on his pommel shows the deep pit ahead.
Now, imagine the sound of pots and pans filled with a couple of BBs falling 150' down a wide shaft.
Now, reroll that paladin
.
Slainte,
-Loonook.
