Dragon 376 - MM3 Playtest: The Volcanic Dragon

[Nymrohd]

Have to say, he very much needs some attacks with a different keyword. Any way to gain fire resistance will completely gimp this dragon.

 

[Rechan]

Have to say, he very much needs some attacks with a different keyword. Any way to gain fire resistance will completely gimp this dragon.

From the dragon's claw attack:

"... and the target loses fire resistance until the end of the volcanic dragon's next turn."

 

[doctorhook]

Also seeing a dragon without a breath weapon is kind of bothersome to me.

I dunno... I'm actually fine with them replacing the breath weapon on this dragon with a "catastrophe". After all, how many "fire-breathing fire dragons" does this game need? I'm glad they managed to make this guy unique.

Incidentally, the artwork really makes me want to own a Huge mini of one of these. (Did anyone else notice that the Ancient form of this dragon is only Huge, not Gargantuan? That's different, but it also means we can expect cool new dragons that don't necessarily unseat the ol' champions, which is nice.)

 

[the Jester]

I'm expecting the catastrophe dragons to be reskinned oriental dragons (earthquake, typhoon- these, at least, were lung dragons in earlier editions, and some of the oriental dragons did not have breath weapons).

I really like the looks of the volcanic dragon, and I would totally dig using one sometime. I will have to look for the opportunity.

 

[Jack99]

I am definitely going to be using one at the first opportunity - just need to figure out when that is.

 

[MortalPlague]

What prevents you from taking a Solo Dragon and still adding help from the sidelines? Muhahaha...

I'm doing this to my players next session. My level 6 party is about to meet Avarice, a young Adamantine Dragon (L8 solo soldier). To aid him in his fight, he summons three Dust Devils who work crowd control. It winds up being a level 9 encounter, which should be challenging for the party (as dragon encounters ought to be, in my opinion).

 

[CapnZapp]

Any further advice running these suckers, now that they've been around awhile?

My party is level 10. I'm thinking a Young is too weak but an Adult is too strong. Not that the party can't handle an average Elite three levels above them; but I'm concerned this "take it out before it does that again" mechanism almost requires the critter to be of the same level as the party. To keep things simple, I'm considering taking 2 points off all its attacks and defenses, and shaving off 50 hp or so.

Thoughts?

 

[Zaukrie]

Just saw this (though I can't find it on the site). My group will be going into a volcanic area tonight. They may be facing an injured young volcanic dragon.....

 

[Dannager]

I just ran an adult Volcanic Dragon this past week against my party (along with an adult Battle Dragon and adult Blight Dragon in the same encounter). The volcanic dragon's biggest concern should be using all of his powers, as often as he can. He should be powering his aura every turn; using a standard action to bring it to bear initially is worth it. He should drop lava as often as he can - in fact, dropping it nearly on top of himself to help deal a little extra damage against opponents in melee helps a great deal. And this goes without saying, but claw those with fire resistance. All in all, a really fun creature to use.

 

[DarkMasterBR]

I just feel sorry for my players. They are lvl 9 right now, so the elite lvl 8 is not an option. That leaves us with... whoops.