How do you imprison a dragon that can polymorph?

[Bubbledragon]

Nothing wrong with giving the red a few more sorcerer levels or whatnot, too.

Hey, if it works for orcs, it works for dragons!

Bubbles

 

[Caliban]

I'm preparing a adventure that revolves around an adult red dragon blackmailing a young adult silver dragon by threatening his captured mate (another young adult silver dragon).

Since silver dragons can polymorph, is there any way to keep one locked up short of throwing her in a cave & dropping a huge rock over the entrance (& hope she doesn't polymorph into something that can burrow)?

You have a couple of options:

1) Magic item: the adult red dragon has acquired a set of magical manacles that prevent you from teleporting or changing shape once they are locked about you. Since they are magical they will adjust to fit either very large or very small creatures.

2) Magic item: A headband that inflicts feeblemind upon the wearer until it is taken off.

3) The red dragon has somehow extracted a promise from the female dragon that she will not escape. The characters would need to somehow change the conditions of the promise, or show that the red dragon has broken the conditions of the promise before the female silver dragon will allow herself to be rescued.

4) Perhaps he is holding someone or something important to her. Perhaps she had recently laid eggs, and the red dragon captured her and her eggs.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Dammit KaeYoss, how am I supposed to abuse you if you agree with me?

Come on, make an effort, I know you find something

 

[kreynolds]

Since silver dragons can polymorph, is there any way to keep one locked up short of throwing her in a cave & dropping a huge rock over the entrance (& hope she doesn't polymorph into something that can burrow)?

Sure. You can nail her to the floor with obdurium spikes. Then again, there's that whole polymorph problem. OK. Maybe not such a good idea.

Caliban's 3rd idea is my personal favorite. I dig that one.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

"Got you! Now promise that you won't run away!"

I don't know. Should be really weird. If the campaign isn't that serious to start with, I think that's OK, but a simple Promise should not bind the Silver. Why should the Silver promise that, anyway? Maybe the red has her eggs, but then we're back with #4.

 

[Ketjak]

"Got you! Now promise that you won't run away!"

I don't know. Should be really weird. If the campaign isn't that serious to start with, I think that's OK, but a simple Promise should not bind the Silver. Why should the Silver promise that, anyway? Maybe the red has her eggs, but then we're back with #4.

C'mon, that's easy:

The red has an ability that's triggered unless it defuses it once a day, week, whatever. It could be a Wall of Force that prevents a lava flow from pouring over a village, or a sealed gate that prevents a flood of demons from washing over town. Whatever it is, it's bad, it's keyed only to the red dragon (perhaps a golem or enslaved demon that only obeys the dragon) and it will hurt a lot of people.

The silver has only discovered that after making contact with the red, perhaps to foil the dragon's bait activities (whatever a very intelligent CE critter might do, probably something akin to landing on a dock and tearing, tearing, tearing anything alive into sticky meaty bits) or perhaps to pay a social call.

Once in the red's presence, the silver is offered a choice: remain a "guest" in the red's house or the red stops maintenance on whatever is preventing the badness from flowing. The red will need to demonstrate its maintenance effect in such a way that the silver cannot duplicate the effect (use an evil magic item, perhaps) and the silver comes away absolutely convinced of the horror waiting to be unleashed on some poor innocent town.

In the meantime, the red continues its normal depredations, which are not covered under the terms of the promise (the red is smart and knows its enemy). Instant willing prisoner, as the silver cannot slay the red even if the silver's more powerful and the silver is bound by its promise.

Really, now, the promise is easy and it doesn't have to involve the Cliche of the Purloined Egg.

- Ketjak

 

[Ferret]

Adult reds have a caster level of 7. I belive imprisonment is a bit beyond it's capability. I was thinking feeblemind but i don't recall if it's a 4th or 5th lvl spell.

On it's own with no spell casting class levels...

 

[hong]

The red has an ability that's triggered unless it defuses it once a day, week, whatever. It could be a Wall of Force that prevents a lava flow from pouring over a village, or a sealed gate that prevents a flood of demons from washing over town. Whatever it is, it's bad, it's keyed only to the red dragon (perhaps a golem or enslaved demon that only obeys the dragon) and it will hurt a lot of people.

Of course, once you've got that far, you don't really need the pointless complication of having two silver dragons, one of which is a prisoner. The blackmail thang makes a quite sufficient plot hook in itself to keep any good dragons that may be around quiescent, assuming you need a good dragon at all. In fact, it's pretty much what I suggested in my first post.

Overcomplicated plots are great if you're Hitchcock or you're trying to recreate _The Big Sleep_, but generally not otherwise.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

C'mon, that's easy:

The red has an ability that's triggered unless it defuses it once a day, week, whatever. It could be a Wall of Force that prevents a lava flow from pouring over a village, or a sealed gate that prevents a flood of demons from washing over town. Whatever it is, it's bad, it's keyed only to the red dragon (perhaps a golem or enslaved demon that only obeys the dragon) and it will hurt a lot of people.

The silver has only discovered that after making contact with the red, perhaps to foil the dragon's bait activities (whatever a very intelligent CE critter might do, probably something akin to landing on a dock and tearing, tearing, tearing anything alive into sticky meaty bits) or perhaps to pay a social call.

Once in the red's presence, the silver is offered a choice: remain a "guest" in the red's house or the red stops maintenance on whatever is preventing the badness from flowing. The red will need to demonstrate its maintenance effect in such a way that the silver cannot duplicate the effect (use an evil magic item, perhaps) and the silver comes away absolutely convinced of the horror waiting to be unleashed on some poor innocent town.

In the meantime, the red continues its normal depredations, which are not covered under the terms of the promise (the red is smart and knows its enemy). Instant willing prisoner, as the silver cannot slay the red even if the silver's more powerful and the silver is bound by its promise.

Really, now, the promise is easy and it doesn't have to involve the Cliche of the Purloined Egg.

- Ketjak

Well, then the Silver didn't just promise not to go away. The Dragon has something to hold against the silver (it's basically the same as with the eggs). The promise-thingy sounds just as if the silver just says: "OK, I stay here!" and stays because he is bound to his word. But in the above situation, the Silver only stays because the red will kill someome. (But I don't think a Silver would care overmuch. He may be good, but he's still a damned Dragon. What's a couple of humans to her?)

 

[Errant]

Thanks to all for their advice. Well at least those that didn’t attack my story telling abilities in the process. I posted on the rules forum because I was looking for options within the existing rules to flesh out a plotline that I had already raised & developed elsewhere. I didn’t post the background to the dilemma because I didn’t think that relevant to the question, but if people want to hear it just say so & I’ll be happy to share.

In the end, I decided the red used an iron cage, a good old rock over the cave mouth, & brute force to keep the silver imprisoned. With six-inch thick bars spaced an inch apart, the sides fused together by the red’s breath weapon, the cage was strong enough to contain most forms the silver could polymorph into.

Hill giants and kobolds conscripted by the red to stand guard while he wasn’t personally able to do so provided enough muscle to physically subdue the silver if it changed to ooze form malleable enough to slip between the bars.

Primitive methods, but combined with beating the silver into submission the first few times she was caught trying to escape, & figured it good (evil?) enough to deter further escape attempts.

Sorry I didn’t get to reply earlier, but I’ve had trouble staying logged onto the boards & posting for some reason.