[BADD] A clinic for DMing Dragons- long

[mythusmage]

Confident is when you can back it up. Arrogant is when you can't.

Alan

 

[reapersaurus]

Confident is when you can back it up. Arrogant is when you can't.

Ahh,... the old "Bluff vs Intimidation" crux rears its head once more.... LOL

Well, IF your definition was true, and IF all dragons were arrogant, than you have handed down a death sentence to dragons, since there is ALWAYS something stronger.
They would never survive 'childhood'.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Confident is when you can back it up. Arrogant is when you can't.

...so, you don't think dragons are arrogant, or you think they can't back it up?

 

[mythusmage]

Dragons can back it up.

 

[Gargoyle]

As a father of two toddler boys 4 and 1, my opinion is that the young are extremely arrogant. The argument that the older you get, the more arrogant you are seems backwards.

Of course they're not dragons, (they're gargoyles!) though sometimes I wonder.

 

[Plane Sailing]

For additional tactics ideas (that's what this thread was originally about right? )

Look up Hysharr, the Wyrm of the Lake on the character closeup section of the wizards site http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnD_CC_001.asp

Several useful suggestions, amongst which are :

When Hysharr is forced into close combat, however, he employs his breath weapon as often as possible, hoping to scatter his foes apart and leave them vulnerable (or allow him to get away). In melee, Hysharr uses his Snatch feat to attack first armored spellcasters, then more physical combatants (fighters, paladins, rogues, and the like).

Once Hysharr has a firm grip on his target he retreats at top speed, heading either for the lake or into the sky. He prefers to carry his victims under the water, where he can watch them slowly drown. (Note that most player character races are too big for a Large dragon to continue inflicting damage upon them through use of the Snatch feat.)

He’s also learned from past experience that friends of his victims often leap into the water in an attempt to rescue their companions, usually arriving just after the poor wretch has drowned, been torn to pieces, or succumbed to Hysharr’s corrosive breath -- and just in time to suffer the same attack.

If a foe under the water is still giving Hysharr trouble, Hysharr often simply releases the figure. Those who aren’t dragged down by the weight of their equipment find themselves targets of the dragon’s next grapple attempt before they can draw another breath.

When foes have exhibited an ability to breathe underwater, Hysharr carries them high into the sky, beyond the reach of their comrades’ ranged weapons, then drops them. He tries to ensure that they land a good distance away from the rest of their party, so that even if they survive the fall, his victims cannot immediately rejoin the fight. If a foe Hysharr has carried into the air is being difficult, the dragon uses his breath weapon to take some of the fight out of the character.

 

[Wolfspider]

Not quite ready to let this one fall of the main page....

 

[Hatchling Dragon]

It's sorta a rules questoin too...

I mentioned before how Forge of Fury had suggestions on tactics for Nightfang. I'm wondering if one I thought of would work, assuming it's not already mentioned in there (don't wanna wake people up digging out the module). Can you do a Bull's Rush via flight/swimming, and could you do it with a charge type attack?

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I'd thought about having Nightfang breath (her?) Acid Breath from the safety of the water, then do a leap out of the water and charge/bull rush/fly into someone on a bridge (assuming there is anyone) and knock them off and into the water. Then of course you have all SORTS of ugly things you can do to the poor sucker. Stuff like Grappling and holding underwater till they drown.

Is this viable?

Hatchling Dragon - yes I'm trying for 'Rat Bastard' status

 

[James McMurray]

Yes it is. :O

 

[Blackwind]

Nightfang

A while back I ran Forge of Fury for my group, and the encounter with Nightfang was my favorite part. That was the first dragon I had run in that campaign (PCs were 4th level, I think) and also the first one I'd run for that group. Most of the players are relatively new, and it was the first dragon EVER for a majority of them. I knew I had to make a good (bad?) impression.

Actually, I wish I had planned ahead more for the encounter. Nightfang let the PCs get over the bridge and down to the banks of the pool (since I don't have the mod on hand, I'm unsure of the topography) before attacking. The dragon mainly stayed inside of the lake, since none of the PCs were able to breathe water, or dared to swim inside. S/he would periodically poke her head out of the water and spit acid at the greatest concentration of PCs she could catch in a line, then resubmerge. This basically prevented the party from attacking at all, except with readied actions. Her minor damage reduction helped fend off some of those arrows. Eventually, though, the party just wore down her HP with spells and a few well-placed crits from the dwarven ranger's throwing axes and, finally, the human fighter's arrows.

If I had run the encounter any differently, Nightfang would have struck earlier. Preferably when the PCs were vulnerable to melee attack, like on the bridge. The bull rush idea is good; even the hardiest PCs are vulnerable to drowning. Use the terrain to your advantage - Nightfang is in basically the perfect environment to fight the PCs, her own lair. Use that to its full effect, and the number one rule for DMing dragons IMHO, plan the combat ahead.