I wanted to reply to
this post back when I first read it, but decided to wait for the separate thread that was requested for this particular discussion.
Derren said:
Dragon: "MINIONS! Adventurers have intruded my lair. Now go away and hide while I fight the adventurers alone."
Minions #1: "But dragon, I have arcane might with outmactches everything those adventurers have. You know that because I always have to cast scry spells for you as you are unable to do so. And Minion #2 who places all the wards around your lair so that you are not completely helpless against your enemies is a devout priest of the dark god. Together with our apprentices and Minion #3 who crafted all traps in your lair we could aid you in the combat.
Dragon: "NO! I am a solo monster. You aiding me in combat would be an unbalanced encounter. Therefor you must leave."
Minions #1: "Very well. (To other minions) Lets go and let this dragon be killed by those well prepared adventurers who all have protected themselves against his element. Its a good thing they don't know that we are the real boss encounter in this lair and not the dragon as together we are much stronger than him. That way we can surprise the adventurers. (To dragon). If you somehow manage to win the fight you are allowed to keep 30% of the loot. And if you die make sure that your corpse block the exit of the lair."
Dragon:" But we agreed on 50%!"
Minion #1: "Don't be silly. Without our magical powers you would be helpless. Or do you think that your little fire tricks would allow you to amass any form of wealth?You would spend your time with raiding caravans for meager profit and threaten small villages. And sooner or later a band of adventurers will enter your unprotected lair, if you even have a lair, and kill you in your sleep. You need us more than we need you."
Dragon:"Ok boss"
That is of course a bit overdramatized but it does capture the problem dragons have when they don't have magic. They are unable to do anything big except looking intimidating and terrorizing small villages. For all other things they need minions which provide the dragon with magical and other powers. And that means that in the end the minions are more dangerous than the dragon.
The point I wanted to make is that the entire premise of that conversation is such an absurdly contrived situation it makes my head hurt. It's completely ignoring the concept of a dragon as a being of
innate magic and primal power. Quite honestly, I've
never run a dragon where its spells made the difference in a fight with a party -- its innate abilities are more than enough to make even a small army of PCs sweat and wonder if they'll see the next sunrise.
I'd hazard that a far more likely conversation between a dragon and its minions would be as follows:
-----
Minion leader: "Great one, adventurers have--"
Dragon: "I know. Deal with them."
Minion leader: "B-but, they seem more powerful than the last ones, Great one."
Dragon: "So? You have set the traps as I ordered?"
Minion leader: "Yes. The traps are set."
Dragon: "And the basilisks have been released?"
Minion leader: "I.... yes. Unfortunately three handlers were caught unprepared by them and were--"
Dragon: "I fail to see the problem, then. Deal with the adventurers, then. Or have you grown more spineless since the last time?"
Minion leader: "As you wish, Great one."
Dragon: "If they do reach my chamber, it had better be that they had to step over the carcasses of all of you. Don't even think of fleeing and hiding. I
will know. Oh and have those three unfortunate handlers brought to me. They'll make fine additions to my collection, don't you think?"
Minion leader: "One of them was my sister, Great one."
Dragon: "Ahh, a new centerpiece for my collection then. I know how proud you are of her, aren't you?"
Minion leader: "....."
-----
Minions are the expendable underlings and thralls that a dragon would use to keep uninteresting riff-raff from bothering it day and night; they're not beings it would even begin to consider as equals. They're there to do menial labor and handle tasks that the dragon considers beneath itself, and in a way, they're resources to be expended to determine whether or not a foe is worthy of the dragon's personal attention.