D&D 5E Playtest This: Red Dragon

[MortalPlague]

I've been meaning to tinker around with some homebrewed creatures for the latest version of the playtest. Inspired by [MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION]'s excellent post about dragons, I decided to see if I could cook up something that would be dangerous, dynamic, and challenging to fight.

Since we don't have any real monster creation guidelines, a lot of the numbers used are guesswork. I figure 244 hit points would make for a tough, lengthy fight, but not long enough that the dragon will become boring. Also, most of the to hit numbers were matched up against the upper end of numbers in the Bestiary. If anyone runs a fight against this beastie, please let me know how it goes!

**EDIT** Revised the dragon.

Red Dragon - Version 3
Huge Dragon
Armor Class 18 (scales)
Hit Points 244
Speed 40 ft (fly 40 ft)
Senses darkvision 60 ft
Str 22 (+6) Dex 12 (+1) Con 17 (+3)
Int 18 (+4) Wis 14 (+2) Cha 15 (+2)
Alignment lawful evil
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Giant

Traits

Impenetrable Hide: Whenever the dragon takes damage, prevent 10 points of that damage. If an attack would beat the dragon's AC by 5, the attack creates a chink in the dragon's armor, and it loses this resistance.

When the dragon has lost its resistance, it fights more defensively. It may choose to spend its superiority dice to parry attacks, reducing damage by the total rolled.

On its turn, if the dragon is in its hoard, it can choose not to move. Instead it can roll in the treasure and fill the weak spot in, regaining this resistance.


Ferocity: The dragon has 2d10 of Ferocity dice, which refresh at the end of its turn. It may spend these dice as follows:

Knockback: Spend 1 die to deal 1d10 extra damage, and knock the target 20 feet away from the dragon.
Rampage: Spend 1 die to use any attack.
Prowl: Spend 1 die to move the dragon's speed.

These dice may be spent between initiative counts, as well as on the dragon's turn.


Seize Momentum: If the dragon takes more than 25 damage from a single attack, add a d10 to its combat superiority pool. Dice gained in this way do not refresh, and are lost at the end of the dragon's turn if they haven't been used.


Actions

Melee Attack - Claw: Two attacks: +7 to hit (reach 10 ft, one creature). Hit: 1d8 + 6 damage.

Melee Attack - Bite: +7 to hit (reach 10 ft, one creature). Hit: 2d6 + 6 damage, and the target is snatched up in the dragon's jaws. The dragon may only have one creature in its jaws at a time. If the dragon bites with a creature already in its jaws, that creature is swallowed on a hit.

Melee Attack - Tail Sweep: +5 to hit (reach 15 ft, up to three adjacent creatures within range). Hit: 1d6 + 3 damage, and each target is knocked 10 feet further from the dragon.

Ranged Attack - Spit Fire: +7 to hit (range 50/150). Hit: 1d10 + 4 fire damage.

Area Attack - Breathe Fire: The dragon breathes fire in a 30 foot cone. Any creature in the area takes 4d10 fire damage. Targets may attempt a Dex save (DC 13) for half damage. The dragon cannot breathe fire again for 1d4 rounds.

Ranged Attack - Fling The Morsel: +7 to hit (range 50/100 ft, requires the dragon to have a creature in its jaws, targets one additional creature). Hit: 2d10 + 6 damage to both creatures. Miss: 2d10 + 6 damage to the thrown creature. Special: The thrown creature falls prone in a space adjacent to the target.

Swallow Whole: The dragon may use its bite to swallow a creature. While swallowed, the target takes 3d8 acid damage at the start of every turn. The acid damage may not be parried.

The swallowed creature may attack the dragon's stomach with disadvantage, though the stomach's AC is only 16. Swallowed creatures do not interact with the dragon's Impenetrable Hide.

 

[rjfTrebor]

i think that 2d4 is a little too long in between breath attacks. i'd rather have the damage reduced and turn the roll into a d6.

 

[CM]

i think that 2d4 is a little too long in between breath attacks. i'd rather have the damage reduced and turn the roll into a d6.

For things that recharge during combat, I hope wotc sticks with the 4e mechanic of recharging on "X or higher on 1d6." Tracking durations was one of my biggest headaches in 3e. Giving a small chance each round is more elegant and less bookkeeping, imo.

 

[MortalPlague]

i think that 2d4 is a little too long in between breath attacks. i'd rather have the damage reduced and turn the roll into a d6.

I wanted the breath weapon to be as terrifying as it used to be. For all the cool stuff it gave dragons, 4th Edition really took the terror out of dragon's breath. I'm reluctant to lower the damage, but a d6 rounds to recharge could be possible. That's all fine-tuning.

For things that recharge during combat, I hope wotc sticks with the 4e mechanic of recharging on "X or higher on 1d6." Tracking durations was one of my biggest headaches in 3e. Giving a small chance each round is more elegant and less bookkeeping, imo.

I agree with you there, but Wizards has shown a lot of reluctance to use any of the purely gamist things from 4th Edition. So I didn't use it here either. I figured it's one thing for the DM to track, easy enough to do that. If you want, you could just change it to "recharge 6" and go with that, and get roughly the same effect.

Also, I'm editing the stat block; I'm not sure why I made an attack roll for the breath weapon, but it really should make the players take a Dex save for half damage.

 

[D'karr]

I agree with you there, but Wizards has shown a lot of reluctance to use any of the purely gamist things from 4th Edition.

LOL, because once every 2d4 rounds has absolutely no gamist elements to it...

WotC definitely has their work cut out for them.

 

[MortalPlague]

LOL, because once every 2d4 rounds has absolutely no gamist elements to it...

Not quite what I was getting at. They're trying to use more natural language to explain out how things work. Saying "The dragon may breathe once every 1d6 rounds" is more in line with that. "Recharge: 6" is explained in purely game mechanic terms.

Personally, from 4th Edition, I quite liked recharge rolls. But I don't mind seeing a shift to natural language either.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Isn't this basically a large pile of HP? A bit like the solo monsters from early 4e that made for boring fights?

I assume the claw/bite/spit fire/breath weapon are attack types the dragon can choose between? In which case the damage output is really low. If it's the other way around it's a really high damage output.

Btw, a dragon with the same amount of HP as this one has a 12d10 breath weapon in 3e. Just check out the adult red dragon with 253 hp here Dragon, True :: d20srd.org

What makes a Dragon interesting in my eyes is if it brings something new and interesting to the table. Not just high attack/damage/hp. In 3e my Dragons usually used mage armor and shield to make them pretty darned hard to hit. Fun to see my players faces when the roll a 19 and I tell them they missed, so no worry about rolling to confirm the critical. They did kind of catch up after a while, but was fun while it lasted.

In other words, I think a Dragon should have some tricks up it's sleeve. A red dragon should be able to set the ground on fire to shape the battlefield, create a fire storm or something else interesting. Pure attacks that do damage is a bit meeeh.

 

[P1NBACK]

I actually like this quite a bit and love how you've incorporated the weak spot and dragon rolling in its hoard to fix that.

Blows 4E dragons away and harkens back to when the monsters were rooted in fiction. Also, totally agree about the recharge mechanic. Well done.

I'd let a dragon do the classic claw/claw/bite though.

 

[P1NBACK]

What makes a Dragon interesting in my eyes is if it brings something new and interesting to the table. Not just high attack/damage/hp. In 3e my Dragons usually used mage armor and shield to make them pretty darned hard to hit. Fun to see my players faces when the roll a 19 and I tell them they missed, so no worry about rolling to confirm the critical. They did kind of catch up after a while, but was fun while it lasted.

So, wait... a bunch of HP is no fun, but a super high AC is?

 

[Cybit]

I think swallowed whole damage should be higher; much, much, higher.