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How do you slay a red dragon?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 3064535" data-attributes="member: 704"><p>Its one thing when players take a moment to buff up before entering a room in a dungeon. But the steps they will take when they know they are about to throw down with a dragon will cover pretty much every angle they can possibly cover. They will take as long as they need to review every spell and item they have access to. If given the opportunity, they will activate every defensive ability they have, buff up their attacks, and try for an overwhelming first round ambush.</p><p></p><p>Every party is different, so the exact preparations will differ. There will be overlap in the defensive measures. Only a fool wont try for some measure of fire protection, and you can be pretty sure that any buff to AC and saveing throws will be used too.</p><p></p><p>My suggestion would be to take a shot at reversing the situation a bit. Give the dragon two lairs. One where he keeps his hoard. And one where he actually lives.</p><p></p><p>The hoard lair would be the typical dragon lair. Hard to get to, some reasonable traps, and well guarded. But not by the dragon. Let the dragons minions worry about guarding the dragons hoard. Half dragon fire giants perhaps. Or maybe some hatchlings. Or any other sort of minion you find adequate. Just so long as the minions are weak enough that they wont cross the dragon. This lair would also have an escape route that the dragon could use to vacate the lair if it was ever facing a losing fight within this lair.</p><p></p><p>Continuing the dual lair setup, I would have the lair that the dragon lives in be a place that the dragon can go to safely recover. I would make this lair something like the summit of an active volcano, which does constant heat / fire damage to those not protected. I would also have the lair be a place that the dragon would get the benefit of faster healing, so that one full day in that lair puts him at full HP. </p><p></p><p>Let the players raid the hoard lair, and then let them wonder where the hell the big dragon is. Let them squirm for a while over it. And let the dragon hit them on the way out after they burned off their buffs and protections against the minions. Its not beyond the realm of possibility that the dragon would have some way of knowing if its lair was raided. I would bet that a dragon could find a way to mark and track every single coin, gem and jewel in his horde.</p><p></p><p>You can hit the players on their way down the mountain, or a few days later at an Inn, which gives you an excuse to have the dragon raze a few towns. You could make it clear that the anyone caught with this dragons treasure is under the curse of "The angry mature dragon that can find you and will kill you". They could have the treasure, but they might not be able to safely keep it until they do kill that dragon.</p><p></p><p>If you want to make the dragon fight memorable, simply letting the dragon fight on terms of its choosing will have the most impact in negating most player anti-dragon strategies. Just consider the implicatoins of a Dragon hitting the players fully buffed with Stone Skin, Improved Invisibility, Haste, and maybe even Spell Turning? Consider the effect of the dragon having the means to just up and fly away as soon as the players start to get the upper hand. Such a dragon will scare the crap out of your players.</p><p></p><p>END COMMUNICATION</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord Zardoz, post: 3064535, member: 704"] Its one thing when players take a moment to buff up before entering a room in a dungeon. But the steps they will take when they know they are about to throw down with a dragon will cover pretty much every angle they can possibly cover. They will take as long as they need to review every spell and item they have access to. If given the opportunity, they will activate every defensive ability they have, buff up their attacks, and try for an overwhelming first round ambush. Every party is different, so the exact preparations will differ. There will be overlap in the defensive measures. Only a fool wont try for some measure of fire protection, and you can be pretty sure that any buff to AC and saveing throws will be used too. My suggestion would be to take a shot at reversing the situation a bit. Give the dragon two lairs. One where he keeps his hoard. And one where he actually lives. The hoard lair would be the typical dragon lair. Hard to get to, some reasonable traps, and well guarded. But not by the dragon. Let the dragons minions worry about guarding the dragons hoard. Half dragon fire giants perhaps. Or maybe some hatchlings. Or any other sort of minion you find adequate. Just so long as the minions are weak enough that they wont cross the dragon. This lair would also have an escape route that the dragon could use to vacate the lair if it was ever facing a losing fight within this lair. Continuing the dual lair setup, I would have the lair that the dragon lives in be a place that the dragon can go to safely recover. I would make this lair something like the summit of an active volcano, which does constant heat / fire damage to those not protected. I would also have the lair be a place that the dragon would get the benefit of faster healing, so that one full day in that lair puts him at full HP. Let the players raid the hoard lair, and then let them wonder where the hell the big dragon is. Let them squirm for a while over it. And let the dragon hit them on the way out after they burned off their buffs and protections against the minions. Its not beyond the realm of possibility that the dragon would have some way of knowing if its lair was raided. I would bet that a dragon could find a way to mark and track every single coin, gem and jewel in his horde. You can hit the players on their way down the mountain, or a few days later at an Inn, which gives you an excuse to have the dragon raze a few towns. You could make it clear that the anyone caught with this dragons treasure is under the curse of "The angry mature dragon that can find you and will kill you". They could have the treasure, but they might not be able to safely keep it until they do kill that dragon. If you want to make the dragon fight memorable, simply letting the dragon fight on terms of its choosing will have the most impact in negating most player anti-dragon strategies. Just consider the implicatoins of a Dragon hitting the players fully buffed with Stone Skin, Improved Invisibility, Haste, and maybe even Spell Turning? Consider the effect of the dragon having the means to just up and fly away as soon as the players start to get the upper hand. Such a dragon will scare the crap out of your players. END COMMUNICATION [/QUOTE]
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