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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 1328159" data-attributes="member: 13098">Chiming in a bit late - Mistake #1:  You gave away the story by telling them what the dragon could do.  But, it's a learning experience and not that big a deal.Mistake #2:  Your players are metagaming that knowledge to prep for the fight.  There are _plenty_ of ways that they could handle this in character.  Good knowledge checks, talking to NPC's, etc.  They _could_ get this information, but it doesn't sound like they have.  Mistake #3:  You gave too much exp for bypassing the encounter.  You probably should have given partial experience so if they went back to fight the dragon you could award the rest.  But, you were planning on them continuing on down the storyline, not backtracking.Mistake #4:  You are getting mad about it.  This is a game to have fun, so have fun.  A big battle with a dragon will definitely be fun.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Personally, I would be tempted to change a few things, but it really isn't necessary.  They are prepping completely for this battle, so don't hold back.  Look for ways to maximize the dragon's powers.  Shadow stepping past the meat shields to the spellcasters for a swipe at them will be fun.  There is no reason why the dragon has to fight the party on their terms.  If the party is buffed, have the dragon leave for 12 minutes or so.  Maybe the hoard the party saw was an illusion.  In fact, the whole floor was an illusion.  They saw the hoard on the floor, but if they tried to walk to it, they would fall 50 feet to the real bottom of the cavern.  Ditto if they try to teleport there.  There are so many ways that you can keep this encounter from being a cakewalk.  You just need to look outside your mindset of being peeved.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  This is a powerful dragon with powerful allies.  Forget the module setup and figure out how the dragon would protect itself with the resources available.  Instead of being angry, just let it go and make this a fun encounter to remember.</blockquote>

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