ideas for building a dragon killing druid (needed for backstory)

[Darklone]

Dragons spot and listen advantage: See above. Sure, druids are good with these skills, dragons are better.

So... I'm a dragon with Int 12. Let's assume (and some here including me aren't so sure about that) that a druid manages to pester me for two days, hurting me a bit. What will I do? Lets even forget that most tricks mentioned above will probably only work once or twice (except the full assault with summoned monsters and the buffed druid in wildshape).

Let's even assume that the dragon won't find the druid in the wilderness... something we don't agree on as well.

Now what would I do if I were that dragon?
Option A: I gonna move. Angry. Disappointed. And be sure that I will try to get revenge later. Not a nice option for that druid (let's forget perhaps the typical D&D world where the druid will be level 20 half a year later).
Option B: I will simply burn down a village. Put the druids friends on stakes. I'm an evil dragon, what do you expect if you annoy me?

Personnally, I'd go for a combination of first B), then A).

So far for druid hit and run tactics.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Now what would I do if I were that dragon?
Option A: I gonna move. Angry. Disappointed. And be sure that I will try to get revenge later. Not a nice option for that druid (let's forget perhaps the typical D&D world where the druid will be level 20 half a year later).
Option B: I will simply burn down a village. Put the druids friends on stakes. I'm an evil dragon, what do you expect if you annoy me?

Personnally, I'd go for a combination of first B), then A).

So far for druid hit and run tactics.

B is ineffective, because the dragon doesn't know who is attacking him, and therefore cannot know his friends. I suppose he could try to attack a random village on the off-chance that he's facing a Neutral-Good druid who lives in the same swamp, but really, without the dragon knowing the druid, it's just as likely he's a Neutral-Evil foreign druid who's heard there's a black dragon in the area and wants to sell the carcass to an evil wizard in exchange for a Druid's Vest.

I totally agree with A. A dragon can do this, and really I think after a few days he'll realize that this is his only option. He can leave, then figure out a way to identify the druid and kill him later. In terms of lifespan, time is on the dragon's side. Eventually he'll be able to polymorph into human form and start investigating the druid in villages and towns, maybe even getting a cleric to cast Commune to help him track down his "dear friend."

But in the short term, driving off the dragon is a victory for the druid. Either the dragon stays and dies, and the druid wins, or the dragon finds a new home, and the druid wins. Though if the dragon flees, the druid may have the whole affair bite him in the rear at a later date.

 

[Derren]

And what will the survivors of the random town attack do?

1. Nothing.
2. Attack the dragon.
3. Hunt the druid/give information about the druid.

Most likely 3, especially if the dragon threatens to kill them when the druid continues the attacks.

 

[Darklone]

Agreeing with Derren, I even forgot about the possibility that the dragon may ask the villagers (before eating their children) about the druid... well, I simulated Int 12 and an angry dragon

He's bound to hit the druids village sooner or later and he will probably not sleep in the same place every night which means that the druid has to search him again every day... and every day the dragon can recover.

 

[Joker[ZW]]

And what will the survivors of the random town attack do?

1. Nothing.
2. Attack the dragon.
3. Hunt the druid/give information about the druid.

Most likely 3, especially if the dragon threatens to kill them when the druid continues the attacks.

What village? Why should there be a village nearby? why should they even know the Druid in question? Why should the Druid automatically care about them?

Neither do I see how the villagers, even if the know the druid, should be able to tell the Dragon anything of importance.

If the Dragon decides to sleep somewhere else every night he has to abandon his lair to do that. AFAIK summoned creatures keep what you give them when they are unsumonned, the Druid could just let some of his summoned creatures grab some of the dragon's lair...
Not many Dragons would leave their lair unattendet for several days when they know that there is an enemy nearby, they are far to greedy for that.

 

[Darklone]

Summoned creatures drop what they would otherwise be holding after the duration of the spell runs out.

Lair: This is my personal humble opinion: Either the dragon has several lairs to start with and keeps his hoard hidden somewhere else (and possibly protected somehow) or he's mobile. Young dragons have to be mobile, having a lair makes them sitting ducks for stronger predators. Whether this dragon is old and strong enough to have a stationary lair is up to the DM.

Villages: Did I misread something from the original poster?

 

[Joker[ZW]]

With several weeks (or months) of preparation the Druid should be able to find most, if not all, of the Dragon's lairs thanks to Commune with nature and Speak with animal and similiar spells.
If the Dragon doesn't leave his lair the Druid destroys it, the Dragon won't have any way of knowing who did it. He can close the Dragon's other lairs using Rock to mud/Mud to Rock/stone shape or even trap them using Fire Trap. He can send summoned or dominated creatures into the lair to attack the Dragon without ever beeing seen, he can poison the meat that the Dragon propably keeps in his lairs (black Dragons like to "pickle" their meat by letting it rot for a while, though that will propably only function once).
Using dozens of burrowed holes with nothing more than breathing holes as hideouts, Treeshape and Wildshape the Druid can rest without the Dragon having a realistic chance of finding him.

The original poster did'nt say anything about villages, but he had the idea with the guerilla tactics, so the Druid is propably safe from having his village attacked.



I didn't find anything about summoned creatures dropping what they hold when the spell expires, is that from a FAQ?

 

[Sejs]

Assuming there is some form of villiage or settlement in the area, I agree that it would be perfectly reasonable for the dragon to make some kind of retaliatory strike against the villagers after a few days of harrasment. This doesn't necessarily mean that the druid will have any connection with the village, or that the villagers will know who the druid is, where he lives, that he's attacking the dragon, or why he's doing it - but it is a perfectly sensable jump of logic for the dragon to conclude that I'm being attacked, I should go lean on the locals.

Personally, given that the dragon is a reasonably intelligent creature,I think it would get attacked a couple of times, go hit up the village and strong-arm them into giving up any information they have on the attacker. If they don't know anything, raze the village just to be punitive (Stupid worthless humans, that'll teach them to not tell me what I want to know), go back home, get attacked a couple more times trying a few new plans to get the drop on his attacker, get frustrated when they don't work, search the area as best as possible, get even more frustrated when it turns up nothing, get attacked one more time, pack up his belongings and leave for greener pastures.

Then set up a home somewhere else, settle in, and then turn his efforts to finding out who his attacker was and how best to kill them. Short term victory for the druid, possible long term victory for the dragon because the dragon can apply the same logic to the situation that the druid did: how can I construct a scenario where the factors are engineered to heavily favor me winning.

 

[Storyteller01]

With several weeks (or months) of preparation the Druid should be able to find most, if not all, of the Dragon's lairs thanks to Commune with nature and Speak with animal and similiar spells.
If the Dragon doesn't leave his lair the Druid destroys it, the Dragon won't have any way of knowing who did it. He can close the Dragon's other lairs using Rock to mud/Mud to Rock/stone shape or even trap them using Fire Trap. He can send summoned or dominated creatures into the lair to attack the Dragon without ever beeing seen, he can poison the meat that the Dragon propably keeps in his lairs (black Dragons like to "pickle" their meat by letting it rot for a while, though that will propably only function once).
Using dozens of burrowed holes with nothing more than breathing holes as hideouts, Treeshape and Wildshape the Druid can rest without the Dragon having a realistic chance of finding him.

Given the dragons speed and abilities, these other lairs can literally be half a world away. Use Frightful Presence while on the move, and said druid will spend months (if not years) tracking down animals who saw the beast and noted what direction it was going.

Even if the additional lairs were found, you still have to deal with an angry dragon with a grudge, a few hundred years to plan revenge, and a memory of what happened last time (so it most likely will not go to a lair that is suseptible to a similar attack).

Sending sommoned creaures into a lair gives the dragon the advantage (that whole Int of 12 thing. If I have a base, it will be as well protected as possible). It might also be considered an eveil act (you want us to go WHERE!?)

I have a question for the masses: can a black dragon take Craft (Traps) as a skill? If not, my last arguement may be a moot point... :\

 

[Lord Pendragon]

3. Hunt the druid/give information about the druid.

Most likely 3, especially if the dragon threatens to kill them when the druid continues the attacks.

Right. Because if the CR11 black dragon can't find the druid, surely the village full of commoners will have better luck.

I agree with Sejs about the likely scenario. The druid may pay for it later if he doesn't get any companions in the meantime, but in the short-term, the field will belong to the druid.