Dragon Tactics - How smart and original can you be?

[Grunk]

I still think one of the dirtiest tricks you can do is to make that Red Dragon look like a white dragon.
-cpd

In a game I ran, I had an adult Blue Dragon(Huge) who had a complex about his type. He had an alter self collar that was given to him by a friendly evil wizard. The dragon used this to appear as a red dragon. Because it stayed the same size, it appeared (especially to my rules savvy players) as a Mature Adult Red Dragon. He also perpetuated these thoughts by using his sorcererer levels to cast burning hands and such, holding off on the lightning till the right moment. eh heh heh.

Another tactic I like which I used in the same encounter; the dragon was at the top of a 110' or so foot, unlit cave with spider climb cast. Only two of the PCs had darkvision and that did them no good anyways. He knew they were coming, buffed up. They were pelted with firecentric sorcerer spells until the rouge PCs (who didn't have darkvision) made a mad dash for the treausure room (through the dark mind you). The dragon dropped onto the PC, used it's lightning line to great effectiveness, and it was only through Deus ex machina that the PCs lived to tell.

i love dragon tactics.

 

[S'mon]

FWIW IMC there were a couple of battles between a 3.0 Mature Adult red dragon and a large group of PCs & NPCs around 10th level. First fight the PCs ambushed him when he landed to collect his tribute from local town. 2nd fight the PCs had tacked him to his mountain lair. The dragon was buffed with Mage Armour, Stoneskin et al; he was totally unhittable by the PCs et al until their wizards started casting Dispel Magic on him; with the buffs negated he became beatable, though it was actually a Polymorph Other in the 2nd fight that defeated him by turning him into a frog - 3.0 was totally dominated by the Hasted wizards casting 3 spells/round (inc Quickened). As far as tactics go, 2 things:

1. Spell selection to enhance the dragon's natural abilities (mage armour, stoneskin) & minimise liabilities (energy resistance) is far more effective than direct spells like fireball or charm. Always Buff up before landing to collect the tribute of the local towns! And if your buffs are dispelled, fly away.

2. My red dragon lived in a cave, ca 100' into the cave was a pool at the base of a vertical cliff. At the bottom of the cliff were Shriekers, while the dragon lived in a cave at the top of the cliff. So the Shriekers made a handy warning system and the cliff protected against non-flying foes.

 

[yennico]

maddman75: is that site still online somewhere? The address in your profile (http://b_a_d_d.tripod.com/) gives an error

The new address is http://baddragon2.tripod.com/