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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 5121285" data-attributes="member: 15470">Well, the Young White Dragon is a Level 3 Solo Brute, right?Consider that to be about equivalent to four Level 3 monsters, in your planning. Consider the rage drake to be equivalent to a player character, assuming its the standard Level 5 monster, possibly ridden as a mount?I'd think three Level 3 characters would have a fairly easy time of it against four creatures, so I'd expect them to have a similarly easy time against one solo - unless the encounter features some terrain which suits the dragon, allowing it to slow people down, cluster them together for its Breath Weapon, avoid being flanked, use its flight to advantage, etc. That said, the fight is going to be very "swingy", e.g., subject to the luck of the dice: Level 3 characters will be quite vulnerable to it, especially if the dragon goes "all out": for example, an opening round attack of "Breath Weapon, move adjacent to the guy who got hurt worst by the breath weapon, Action Point, Dragon's Fury" .. If all for of those hit, average damage would be 15, 9, 8, and then 12 damage ... 44 hit points in a single round may not drop every Level 3 character, but it would drop most - it would've taken down my Level 3 fighter with 16 con and Toughness ... and at that point, the party could be in some serious trouble, especially if they don't have ready access to healing besides their Second Wind(s).On the other hand, if he misses with the breath and one of the claw attacks, he's done a meagre 9 damage, and the party haven't even broken a sweat yet. That's what I mean by "swing-y".The difficulty of the fight also depends how you want to play your dragon:Is he young, brave, and dumb?  If so, he might come in self-assured, land, figure he's "drawing them in", and bust out his action points early in attack. This is most likely to kill the PC's .. but its also the most likely way to result in a satisfyingly dead dragon at the end of the night.If he's already mature and a bit wise, and concerned most with surviving to be a very old dragon, he might save an Action Point and the Frightful Presence powers for when he thinks he's losing .. bloodied and out of breath weapon? Frightful Presence (hopefully stunning at least one adjacent enemy), then Fly maximum speed, then use an Action Point and Fly maximum speed, all the while gaining height so that he can get out of reach of the melee weapons and rage drake.For drama, it might be best to play the "young, brave, and dumb" version, but have him single out the rage drake from the get-go, all but ignoring the humans to challenge the biggest opponent ... its got several benefits from a story perspective: the dragon gets to showcase how dangerous it is, it doesn't risk a PC down in the first round, bloodying the rage drake will up the tension early, and the rage drake gets to show off its "when I'm bloodied" powers. That's classic "show off against the buff NPC to demonstrate how dangerous my BBEG is" ....In fact, after talking out the benefits, I think that's the strategy I'd write for him if I were facing two PC's and a Rage Drake. If I wanted him to be a recurring villain, I'd reserve the second action point so that he could try to escape at about one-quarter hit points ... if you want him to fight to the death, I think I'd still hold onto one action point and the frightful presence "in reserve" until he's bloodied, and have him break them out in succession: frightful presence, action point, attack ...The more I think about it, the more it feels touch-and-go for two Level 3 PC's .. Level 4 might be safer? .. but that said, a couple well-chosen or well-placed magic items can keep this fight well in hand:L2 Armor of Resistance, +1, Resist 5 coldL3 Stoneborn Armor, +1, 10 + ConMod Temp HPL4 Frozen Armor, +1, Resist 5 coldL3 Strongheart Weapon, +1, full damage when weakenedL4 Cloak of the Walking Wounded, +1, doubles Second WindL4 Potion of Resistance, Resist 5 coldNot to mention all of the items which have dailies that can apply "save ends" effects to the solo: sure, he makes 80% of his saves, but that means there's still a chance that L4 Lullaby Weapon could put the combat to an end by round two .. Also useful might be an L5 Poisoned Weapon (ongoing 5, weakened), an L2 Reproachful Weapon (-2 to hit), etc.If you want to avoid "cheese", you might set up the session to include one or two "before the dragon" encounters, which might include chances to get some of those items .. say, a skill challenge with the mayor of the village who, if impressed, may front the party two potions of resistance; a fight with some bandits who have a Cloak of the Walking Wounded, etc.</blockquote>

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