aboyd
Explorer
I'm not sure if anyone said this, but learn about readying actions. The dragon can do flyby attacks, so it's possible for it to attack and then be far away during your turn. Rinse & repeat, and even a young dragon will be able to kill off many foes without suffering a single injury.
The answer to this is readied swings. As in, when the dragon comes within range, I swing. Then you are at least assured to get a swing in each time the dragon comes in to attack. Of course, by doing this you put yourself in harm's way and will probably die, but at least you'll die knowing you wounded the dragon.
Because you're a fairly earth-bound group, you should expect that you'll fail to kill this dragon if the DM plays it right.
The over-the-top suggestion to explore necromancy and acquire undead skeleton archers is actually not over-the-top, in context. The truth is, you'll need such things if you intend to fight for real. Maybe practice saying to your DM, "Yeah, I know it's ridiculous, but I really *am* going to a graveyard to animate as many as I can afford."
Other ideas: siege warfare machinery. Is there a town nearby with mobile catapults, ballistas, trebuchets, or the like? Hire their mercenaries, and get the machinery away from the town (maybe mount it on a hillside and camoflauge it). Don't keep these weapons of war near the town -- the dragon will just wipe out the citizens in retaliation and you'll have lost a safe haven. (If your DM doesn't know about stats for such items, let him know that there are stats for at least ballistas in the DMG, I think.)
You know what's really miserable? If the DM is playing the dragon properly, then it will know in advance almost *everything* you try. One of the rarely played aspects of most dragons is that they can polymorph into utterly normal looking humans. Thus, one of the town militia members might actually *be* the dragon, playing the role of a normal guy in a day job. Then at night he's terrorizing the countryside, with full knowledge of the radius and timing of each patrol, so that he can murder & eat innocents without any resistance.
Ugh. I mean, dragons are just *hard* if your DM wants to be mean.
Other ideas that are maybe hopeless but at least give you a tiny chance might include cleric save-or-stun spells. For example, the 1st-level spell Sound Blast (Spell Compendium, I think), has a chance to stun a victim for 1 round. There's another one that blinds. If you can find a way to keep the dragon from flying away for a round or two, maybe you can get ropes over it and pin it to the ground. You'll probably still die but once it's on the ground you'd at least be able to hit it repeatedly. If your DM is nice, once you've got it on the ground, he may allow you to try some called shots or something to slash at the wing membrane, thus imposing some kind of house-ruled penalty to flight for the dragon. That too might even the odds somewhat.
The suggestion to use flasks of Alchemist's Fire is a good one too. They only have to hit the dragons touch AC, which is much easier than its normal AC. They also inflict extra damage in the 2nd round, which is cool.
Good luck.
The answer to this is readied swings. As in, when the dragon comes within range, I swing. Then you are at least assured to get a swing in each time the dragon comes in to attack. Of course, by doing this you put yourself in harm's way and will probably die, but at least you'll die knowing you wounded the dragon.
Because you're a fairly earth-bound group, you should expect that you'll fail to kill this dragon if the DM plays it right.
The over-the-top suggestion to explore necromancy and acquire undead skeleton archers is actually not over-the-top, in context. The truth is, you'll need such things if you intend to fight for real. Maybe practice saying to your DM, "Yeah, I know it's ridiculous, but I really *am* going to a graveyard to animate as many as I can afford."
Other ideas: siege warfare machinery. Is there a town nearby with mobile catapults, ballistas, trebuchets, or the like? Hire their mercenaries, and get the machinery away from the town (maybe mount it on a hillside and camoflauge it). Don't keep these weapons of war near the town -- the dragon will just wipe out the citizens in retaliation and you'll have lost a safe haven. (If your DM doesn't know about stats for such items, let him know that there are stats for at least ballistas in the DMG, I think.)
You know what's really miserable? If the DM is playing the dragon properly, then it will know in advance almost *everything* you try. One of the rarely played aspects of most dragons is that they can polymorph into utterly normal looking humans. Thus, one of the town militia members might actually *be* the dragon, playing the role of a normal guy in a day job. Then at night he's terrorizing the countryside, with full knowledge of the radius and timing of each patrol, so that he can murder & eat innocents without any resistance.
Ugh. I mean, dragons are just *hard* if your DM wants to be mean.
Other ideas that are maybe hopeless but at least give you a tiny chance might include cleric save-or-stun spells. For example, the 1st-level spell Sound Blast (Spell Compendium, I think), has a chance to stun a victim for 1 round. There's another one that blinds. If you can find a way to keep the dragon from flying away for a round or two, maybe you can get ropes over it and pin it to the ground. You'll probably still die but once it's on the ground you'd at least be able to hit it repeatedly. If your DM is nice, once you've got it on the ground, he may allow you to try some called shots or something to slash at the wing membrane, thus imposing some kind of house-ruled penalty to flight for the dragon. That too might even the odds somewhat.
The suggestion to use flasks of Alchemist's Fire is a good one too. They only have to hit the dragons touch AC, which is much easier than its normal AC. They also inflict extra damage in the 2nd round, which is cool.
Good luck.
