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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 4457126" data-attributes="member: 996">We had our first battle with a dragon this weekend.  Young Black Dragon + a custom level 4 artillery, vs party of 6 level 3 characters (taclord, TH-fighter, archer-ranger, pretty paladin, AD(D) rogue & staff wizard).  Setting was a swamp with lots of trees that hampered movement some (they counted as filling thier squares, so you couldn't cut diagonally across them) and a few ponds (& part of a lake), around a fairly large clearing.   The Dragon's ally confronted us and initiated hostilities, then the dragon came out of the lake.  The opening salvo of Breath + Frightful Presence was pretty nasty, but it didn't hit as many of us as it might have.  Two PCs lost thier first round of actions vs it.  The warlord used Pin the Foe and flanked with the Rogue, while the pally & archer dealt with the custom artillery pretty decisively.  The Dragon used it's darkness, so the melee types scattered away from it and the wizard filled the darkness with her Shock Sphere (if I'd known what Freezing Cloud did, I'd have called for that instead, to help drive it out of the zone).  The dragon exited the darkness to attack our back rank (the melee types having scattered, remember), and the whole battle moved across the clearing.  The ranger (an eladrin ported away) and the wizard backed off and cast icy terrain, so the rogue could SA after running across the clearing.  The melee types got back into range (re-activating Pin the Foe, so it couldn't shift), bloodied the dragon, took it's 'bloodied breath' with pretty grim results (the warlord was saved only by the Paladin's Martyr's Blessing), the wizard followed up with her Freezing Cloud, and another round of attacks later, the archer finished it with a critical hit.If the dragon had taken to the air, it might not have done much better.  It's breath didn't recharge often (if at all), and the party's archer puts out whithering damage, plus the wizard's long range attack ability and some throwable weapons, and it might've had a tough time with the hover & breath tactic.  I thought there was more to the darkness ability - that it could be maintained or something, maybe I 'm remembering it wrong.  Retreating to the lake would have saved it, but it would have to have run on the round it's darknes expired (it wasn't bloodied at that point, and we were on the run) - all the other rounds, it was Pinned (unable to shift) and adjacent to the Fighter (who could cancel a move with her OA).  The warlord, rogue & wizard unloaded dailies, and, since we'd just had a milestone, everyone used an Action Point, (enhanced by the warlord's Tactical Presence & Assault).</blockquote>

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