Grappling a Dragon...

[NCSUCodeMonkey]

During our next session, my group is going to be red dragon hunting. We know that it is Large, has a nasty breath weapon, and no frightful presence, but our DM has probably changed many of its other statistics (and we're too goody-goody to look in the MM anyway).

The average level of our party is 9th, with a heavy dose of divine magic (Cleric, Paladin, Templar, Druid) and one arcane type (the predominently sorcerer Geomancer). Normally I wouldn't be too worried about a Large dragon, but this party is incredibly underpowered because we have almost no money and five magical items for the entire party. (That's not a complaint, btw, I love our low magic campaign but it makes things like dragon killing difficult.)

Basically, if the thing gets airborne we're toast (even with fire protection, she can blast every 1d4 rounds and we'll all die eventually because our fighters are useless at range). So what we want to do is use Summon Monster V to bring in a Giant Constrictor and use that creature's Improved Grab to keep the dragon stationary.

The problem is, if we have a Huge creature grappling a Large creature, can fighters of the group take shots at the dragon? I can't find reference to the ability to hit a grappled opponent besides the fact that the opponent loses his Dex. The closest rule that I can find is under bull rush, where you have a 25% miss chance when two creatures occupy the same square. Our DM is generally pretty strict on rules interpretations, so I'll need some sort of direct refence if there is no cover bonus, miss chance, etc.

Any Ideas on the grapphle issue, or a better way to keep the thing immobile, is welcome!

NCSUCodeMonkey

 

[Antikinesis]

I like it! The serpent will get a size bonus for the grapple, and the dragon loses it's dex bonus to AC (making it subject to sneak attacks, if you have a rogue in your party).

Since facing isn't supposed to be an issue in 3e, I think I'd ignore the serpent providing cover to the dragon with its coils... except perhaps from one direction (the serpent's head?), to allow for positioning.

Regarding a direct reference... see the rules under "Grappling", and note the lack of rules regulating cover, miss chance, etc. I'm not aware of anything official affecting the grapple rules in that regard.

-AK

 

[MadScientist]

Ranged attacks will have a 50% chance of hitting the Giant Snake instead.

All ranged attacks against the grappling giant snake and dragon will have a 50% of targeting either one. Melee attacks do not suffer from this diasadvantige though.

Also if the giant snake can manage to get the dragon into a pin in addition to no dex bonus to AC for the dragon other characters will recieve a +4 to melee attacks against the dragon. Ranged attacks will suffer a -4 to hit however (as if the dragon was prone).

I also think this is a great idea as a tactic against the dragon! I'm sure your DM will be very surprised. Good luck.

 

[mmu1]

If it's a Large dragon, you guys ought to be all right... Most of the ones in the CR10 range are already huge, I think, so this sounds like a relatively young one.

Also, unless you're expected to go in unprepared, don't be too afraid of the breath weapon - if it breathes, it can't cast spells or use its other attacks, and between all those casters in the party,
you should all be protected from it - just make sure not to bunch up too much.

Does your sorcerer have fly, or does the cleric by any chance have the Travel domain? That's one way of having the fighters close up. Even if they don't, there's always the cleric's Air Walk spell, although off the top of my head I don't remember if it allows enough mobility to catch up to a dragon - but, considering that the breath weapon has a limited range (should be something on the order of 50' or less), it might....

If you had a wizard, Evard's Black tentacles would have been a much better bet than the constrictor, there's a lot of them, and they get a hefty bonus...

Heh... If you really want to surprise the Dragon, have the Cleric cast Divine Power and Righetous Might on himself - he'll be a Large creature with 22 STR...

 

[Coredump]

Well, large red dragons have CR of 2,3,5 depending on age. (seems pretty low for what they are though....

But for your plan, it should be easy. In fact, the PC's aren't needed *at all*. (once SM5 is cast)
It summons a fiendish giant constrictor, that has a +2 DR and 15 points of fire resistance. The dragon can cast a few spells at it, but can't attack it. The strength will be close however, depending on age. Assuming the dragon lets the snake get close enough to grapple....


.

 

[Jeph]

I have no real advice, just wanted to know if you're an actual student at NCSU (North Carolina State University).

 

[NCSUCodeMonkey]

Re: Ranged attacks will have a 50% chance of hitting the Giant Snake instead.

Yeah I'm a student at NC State: Junior in Computer Science.

All ranged attacks against the grappling giant snake and dragon will have a 50% of targeting either one. Melee attacks do not suffer from this diasadvantige though.

Thanks! I see that now on the Attack roll modifiers chart. That's what we were missing!

Originally posted by mmu1
If you had a wizard, Evard's Black tentacles would have been a much better bet than the constrictor, there's a lot of them, and they get a hefty bonus...

Thanks for all the great ideas, I really wish that we could use them! Unfortunately everybody but the Paladin and the Druid are pretty heavily multiclassed. For example, our DM lifted alignment restrictions on Paladins and we have a Barbarian/Paladin/Templar (he might have another class, I can't remember). Of course my Geomancer has to have 3 levels of Cleric to get the PrC. And wizards are just flat out impossible...we can't even buy spells, we find the occasional scroll or spellbook from the 1% of the population that are wizards!

 

[Brekki]

Grappling the dragon is rather cool

But remember that if he isn't pinned in the first round, your constrictor gets all the dragons attacks. In MM2 you can read which attacks the dragon keeps in a grapple regarding to the size of the grappling creature.