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How soon is too soon to fight a Dragon?
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<blockquote data-quote="blueherald" data-source="post: 6904878" data-attributes="member: 6854586"><p>I have recently embraced the philosophy that if you wait 'until they are powerful enough' for everything, you'll never do everything cool that you want to do in your game.</p><p></p><p>FWIW, my newbie players (an elf ranger, a dwarf cleric, a human fighter and a human bard) fought the young green dragon in Lost Mine of Phandelver at level 3 and survived. This is normally a deadly encounter for level 3, but the encounter is written to have the dragon flee once it is reduced to half hit points. This is likely designed to specifically reduce the recharge odds by reducing the rounds of combat.</p><p></p><p>They survived - but they were not unscathed.</p><p></p><p>They were smart enough to not bunch up immediately so they got a few rounds of combat in having only to deal with bites and claws. Eventually they did get breathed on, and the average 42 damage was higher than all their max hit points.</p><p></p><p> The ranger made his save because he had been inspired by the bard, but he was already injured and went down from the half damage.</p><p></p><p> The bard saved without advantage (cause you cant use BI on yourself) and stayed conscious after half damage but was wobbly.</p><p></p><p> The cleric flubbed the save but survived because of dwarven resistance to poison, also wobbly.</p><p></p><p> Before the battle the cleric had cast Protection from Poison on the fighter, so he similarly saved with advantage and survived, and was the least wobbly. Between Second Wind and the cleric and the bard having heal spells they were able to survive and get the dragon to half hit points before a recharge.</p><p></p><p>Had a recharge come and the dragon had a chance to breathe again, there likely would have been deaths. Maybe not a TPK because they did keep moving and not bunch up.</p><p></p><p>So, new players got to fight a dragon and live to tell the tale, and I think this hooked them into sticking with the game. Which might not have happened had I "waited" to use a dragon.</p><p></p><p>But it was tough and heroic and exciting and dangerous and not easy - as a dragon fight should be at any level.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="blueherald, post: 6904878, member: 6854586"] I have recently embraced the philosophy that if you wait 'until they are powerful enough' for everything, you'll never do everything cool that you want to do in your game. FWIW, my newbie players (an elf ranger, a dwarf cleric, a human fighter and a human bard) fought the young green dragon in Lost Mine of Phandelver at level 3 and survived. This is normally a deadly encounter for level 3, but the encounter is written to have the dragon flee once it is reduced to half hit points. This is likely designed to specifically reduce the recharge odds by reducing the rounds of combat. They survived - but they were not unscathed. They were smart enough to not bunch up immediately so they got a few rounds of combat in having only to deal with bites and claws. Eventually they did get breathed on, and the average 42 damage was higher than all their max hit points. The ranger made his save because he had been inspired by the bard, but he was already injured and went down from the half damage. The bard saved without advantage (cause you cant use BI on yourself) and stayed conscious after half damage but was wobbly. The cleric flubbed the save but survived because of dwarven resistance to poison, also wobbly. Before the battle the cleric had cast Protection from Poison on the fighter, so he similarly saved with advantage and survived, and was the least wobbly. Between Second Wind and the cleric and the bard having heal spells they were able to survive and get the dragon to half hit points before a recharge. Had a recharge come and the dragon had a chance to breathe again, there likely would have been deaths. Maybe not a TPK because they did keep moving and not bunch up. So, new players got to fight a dragon and live to tell the tale, and I think this hooked them into sticking with the game. Which might not have happened had I "waited" to use a dragon. But it was tough and heroic and exciting and dangerous and not easy - as a dragon fight should be at any level. [/QUOTE]
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