[BADD] DM taking it too far?

[DerianCypher]

Alright, I'm playing in a campaign where my DM likes to put us up against dragons. We are currently level 24 and have fought 2 dragons.

I am a member of BADD and completely agree that dragons should not be played dumb, but my DM is taking it too the extreme.

Lets take for example our first dragon encounter.

We fought a white dragon (age unknown). The party consisted of a level 18 cleric, a level 18 rogue, a level 15 half-celestial psion and a lvl 15 half-dragon fighter/ranger.

We entered the dragons lair (we didn't know that the cave we were entering it's lair). The dragon wasn't expecting us and we weren't expecting it (long story). When we stumbled upon the dragon (it was sleeping) we entered combat. The dragon ran away for 1 (one)(uno) round and returned to combat. When it got back the dragon had 2 shields, 1 mage armor, hastex2, and protection from good/magic circle against goodx2 (FOR BOTH) up.

The psion spent it's time dispelling the ENTIRE battle, while the dragon ended up pulling off 3 actions a round. We eventually defeated the dragon(BARELY).

Needless to say we were taken aback by the fury of this dragon.

Our next dragon we fought was a black dragon (again, age unknown).

Same party makeup except this time we are party level 24. We figured out by the end of the battle it had Mindblank(x3), Protection from Good(x3), Magic Circle Against Good(x3), Mage Armor, Shield(x2), Haste(x2), and mislead.

Honestly now, isn't this a bit excessive? My DM is doubling and tripling up on spells just to make the psion or cleric dispel it over and over throughout the battle.

Now I pose a question, is this too far? Would a dragon cast multiple spells on itself?

DC

 

[Crothian]

Yes, if I'm fearful of spells being dispelled I will cast tthe same one multiple times. However, with the battle with the white Dragon you say it went away for one round and came back with 7 spells cast on it? That's what I'd be more concerned with.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I agree with Crothian about the 7 spells in one round. Doesn't make sense.

Having multiple copies of a good buff spell often makes sense. For example, a very powerful spellcasting dragon isn't going to have much use for his 1st level slots once the fighting begins so he might as well burn them up.

All the Hastes in the world will be dispelled by a single Slow, BTW.

The dragon could conceivably legitimately get 3 apparent actions per round if it was using Quicken + Arcane Preparation feats. It is quite likely that a superpowered dragon has Quickened Haste, Quickened Dispel Magic, Quickened Slow, Quickened Shield, Quickened Web, etc. ready to go. That would explain why sometimes a spell would go down and then it seemed to still be there.

 

[kreynolds]

When it got back the dragon had 2 shields, 1 mage armor, hastex2, and protection from good/magic circle against goodx2 (FOR BOTH) up.

Your DM screwed the proverbial pooch. Haste doesn't stack. You can only have one shield spell up at a time, Protection from Evil and Magic Circle against Evil does not stack.

That's just for starters.

 

[Crothian]

Re: Re: [BADD] DM taking it too far?

Your DM screwed the proverbial pooch. Haste doesn't stack. You can only have one shield spell up at a time, Protection from Evil and Magic Circle against Evil does not stack.

That's just for starters.

He;s not talking about stacking. He's talking about having multiple up so when the first is dispelled the second one is still in effect. At least that's how I read it.

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Re: Re: [BADD] DM taking it too far?

He;s not talking about stacking. He's talking about having multiple up so when the first is dispelled the second one is still in effect. At least that's how I read it.

He said that the dragon was getting three actions per round, and whites are not the best spellcaster's. Not only that, there was no mention of quickened spells. The only way the dragon could get three actions per round is if the DM was stacking Haste.

Besides, even if the dragon had 50 overlapping identical, or otherwise for that matter, spells on it, it would only take one successful targeted dispel to take them down. So that's another thing that was handled incorrectly.

 

[Victim]

Maybe the dragon used contingencies and spell triggers to get 7 spells in one round. With Arcane Preparation, the dragon could throw something like Haste (standard), Quickened shield (free), cast another spell (partial), activate a contingency (free), activate a spell trigger (4 spells, free?).

However, it still should be pretty easy to knock its spells down. If you can throw a dispel with a bonus of +24 (epic dispelling?) against a dragon with a caster level of 19, you only need to roll a 6 or higher against each spell.

 

[AuraSeer]

It's possible to get 3 or more apparent actions per round, mainly by use of Quickened spells and spell-like abilities. Dragons also have special attack types that don't take a whole action on their own; a Tail Slap can strike once per round, Snatch can be used whenever a claw or bite hits, etc. What with all that, plus the normal melee attack routine, a dragon can sometimes do as much in a round as an entire adventuring party.

On the other hand, if your DM did give the dragon two extra partial actions per round, he's a cheatin' bastich and you should smite him. (Actually he was probably just mistaken about the rule. Haste-type effects never grant more than one extra partial action, even when there are multiple effects running.)

As for the rapid buffing, that's easily within the rules. A Time Stop or two would have given him plenty of time to buff up.

 

[reapersaurus]

as a member of BADD, I'd like to say that the part that bother sMe the most about that encounter is that the dragon was encountered in its OWN LAIR... and wasn't aware of the adventurers??

Give me a break...

 

[DerianCypher]

Re: Re: Re: Re: [BADD] DM taking it too far?

Besides, even if the dragon had 50 overlapping identical, or otherwise for that matter, spells on it, it would only take one successful targeted dispel to take them down. So that's another thing that was handled incorrectly.

I'm sorry, could you explain this? I thought for a targetted dispel you'd have to target the creature and dispel one thing at a time...