Design & Dev: Monsters (DRAGONS!)

[Reaper Steve]

Its wasn't just that. I don't like that a monster gets to make a special attack just because it reaches half hit points. I don't like that the wizard heals, because the cleric hit the dragon.
And, I am still wondering how the dragon "burst out in an inferno of flame".

You know...I originally thought the same thing. Much less fantasy and much more superhero.
But then I realized...they are fighting an ancient dragon, one of the nastiest critters in the game (assumption.) That means the party is most likely well within the epic levels (my guess is 25-30), so the powers of all involved will be stupendous compared to the current 'sweet spot (approx 4-14.) If that's close to true, then I'm cool with it.

Now show me a fight of some 3rd level dudes against an appropriate (group of) foe(s). I think that will show more of the fantasy and less of the superpowers.

 

[Cadfan]

I don't think the dragon needs a logical reason to get a free breath weapon shot at half hit points.

You can do breath weapons in a lot of ways. You can do every X rounds. Or you can do "whenever the following conditions are met." This has the disadvantage of being less realistic depending on your conditions, but the advantage of being more cinematic.

Here's how I'd do it if I wanted my dragon to be cinematic- I'd give it one breath weapon per fight, usable whenever it wants (so it can be strategic and aim this one). Then I'd give it a breath weapon at half hit points. Then I'd give it one more when its close to dead.

This has the advantage of looking cooler, and being really easy to run. It works better if the players don't know about it though.

 

[frankthedm]

And, I am still wondering how the dragon "burst out in an inferno of flame".

It tences its mucles, flaming C'hi envelops it, it roars and then rips MAJOR ass!

I can't be the only one who imagines the attack as a blast of fiery flatulence.

Fart out fire, spit flaming loogies, sounds like there is going to be a fair amount of humors this edition....

 

[frankthedm]

Aye, I once overdone an encounter , a CR 21 encounter IIRC with monsters dealing about 400 damage from magic missiles each round! After I realized what I've done I made them go away leaving remaining surviving PCs to their sudden terror.

A quartet of spell weavers?! Ewwww!

 

[Mouseferatu]

I can't be the only one who imagines the attack as a blast of fiery flatulence.

Yes. Yes, you can.

 

[Szatany]

A quartet of spell weavers?! Ewwww!

Nope, there is this monster in Monsters of Faerun that casts Magic Missile as 9 level sorcerer or something. I had a swarm of, like 64 of them IIRC, resulting in CR 21 (it was cr 7 I believe and each doubling adds +2 to CR).

 

[zoroaster100]

I liked what I read in this article about the fight with the dragon. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the possibility that 4E will bring great improvement in game play. The only thing I was really upset about in this article is the dragon drawing. If that represents the red dragon, and all the chromatics have that ridiculous nose spike, I'll be really disappointed with the 4e art for dragons. What would most bother me about that is that we'll be stuck with WOTC dragon miniatures that all have that silly nose spike. Thank goodness most dragons were already produced as miniatures. But I really wish we had gotten the rest of the 3e chromatic dragons as miniatures before the change to 4e.

 

[frankthedm]

I liked what I read in this article about the fight with the dragon. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the possibility that 4E will bring great improvement in game play. The only thing I was really upset about in this article is the dragon drawing. If that represents the red dragon, and all the chromatics have that ridiculous nose spike, I'll be really disappointed with the 4e art for dragons. What would most bother me about that is that we'll be stuck with WOTC dragon miniatures that all have that silly nose spike. Thank goodness most dragons were already produced as miniatures. But I really wish we had gotten the rest of the 3e chromatic dragons as miniatures before the change to 4e.

It will only take a wire cutter and a tiny dab of paint to fix that nose spike on a DDM.

 

[Andor]

Facing: I prey over the blood of a thousand sacrificial goats that this never comes back into D&D. Played it, hated it with a deep & burning passion which the strongest antibiotics cannot cure.

Something stabs me in the back & I can't even spin around for 6 seconds? It's like every combatant is stumbling around the battlefield with blinders on and polarized magnetic boots strapped to their feet that lock them into facing a single direction.

Who says that's how it works? If I personally had been involved in the design process you could take an immediate action to change your facing whenever an enemy closes to within melee range of you, or damages you if you weren't aware of the movement due to invisibility or a succesful sneak. Then you have the fun of decideing which threat to face or to split the difference.

 

[Shade]

I can't be the only one who imagines the attack as a blast of fiery flatulence.

I wanted to make a clever link to that buffalo-like creature from mythology that leaves trails of flaming excrement...but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called. Anyone?