Minions for a Green Dragon?

[Dunjin]

Demons would be cool, but maybe too much. The party are of pretty low level, and they should be challenged but not defeated. The dragon wants to make followers; sheh doesn't have them yet.

Maybe a troll might work, though that's also way too high a CR for this party. I could work one down to, say, CR 4 or so, perhaps, by halving the hit points and dropping its attack bonus and such, I suppose.

What's the rule for CR adjustments for <CR 1 creatures? If I make a kobold a half-fiend, would it then be CR 2 1/8? That's an option; the dragon might have come across a band of fiendish kobolds or something. Though honestly, I think my group might have seen enough kobolds lately, and I'm certainly ready for something new.

Would leaving pools of acid about effectively lower the CR of a battle with a troll?

 

[Epametheus]

It's only a juvenile? It wouldn't be that hard for an elven city to kill the thing if it got out of line. At the moment, anyways.

Evil forest fay and renegade elves could be interesting minions. The elves are going to notice if the creature starts gathering an army of monsters, but if it plays it subtle and employs local spirits and mercenary groups isntead, then the dragon might be able to get away with a bit more.

Greens are lawful; it could also try working with the elves. The elves might be a lot more tolerant of L'il Greenie if it's actually helpful. Also, it's a creature that the elves would know they can handle, and it probably wouldn't be practical to drive it out of the area, and thus make a vacancy for something dumber or more powerful.

Wait, the PCs are level 3?

A Juvenile green dragon would slaughter them. Seriously. It might be small fry as far as dragons go, but they're much smaller fry as adventurers. Unless it fears retribution from the elves, there's no reason that L'il Greenie wouldn't snuff a bunch of newbs that are violating its lair.

Edit: Ah, the point is to not be noticed by the dragon. Hmmm. That'd be a pretty good trick.

 

[Krug]

Really big frogs.
Mutated big frogs striking from a distance with their tongues.. poisonous too. And leaping away with the prey in their mouth.

 

[Nifft]

3rd level PCs? The minion of choice is the lowly Kobold. If you want a more interesting variant, check out my PC-strength Kobold (particularly the green one ):

Kobold 2.0
Size: Small (+1 attack, +1 AC, +4 Hide, -4 Grapple, 3/4 carrying capacity)
Speed: 30 ft.
-4 Str, +2 Dex
Darkvision 60 ft.
Natural Armor bonus +1
Daylight Blindness: Dazzled by Daylight spell or natural sunlight, no save vs. Flare spell

Draconic Heritage: Choose one chromatic Dragon type, which is your ancestor. Your scales are tinged with this color, and you have Energy Resistance 5 against damage of this energy type:
- Red: Fire
- Green: Acid
- Blue: Electricity
- Black: Acid
- White: Cold

Skill Bonuses: +2 Climb, +2 Jump, +2 Move Silently, +2 Spot, +2 Search, +2 Craft (Trapmaking), +2 Profession (Miner)

Favored Class: Sorcerer


Special: Kobolds may take a 4-level Racial Prestige Class. (As a PrC, these levels cannot cause an XP penalty.)


Kobold PrC
HD: d6
BAB: Half (as Sorcerer)
Good Saves: Reflex, Will / Bad Save: Fortitude
Skill Points: 4 + Int bonus
Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowlege (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis) and Swim (Str).

[u]Level   BAB   Fort	Ref	Will	Spellcasting		Special Abilities[/u]
1	+0	+0	+2	+2	--			Energy Resistance 10,
                                                                Elemental Spell Power +1
2	+1	+0	+3	+3	+1 Level Sorcerer	Sneak Attack +1d6, 
                                                                Natural Armor +2
3	+1	+1	+3	+3	--			Draconic Ability, 
                                                                Elemental Spell Power +2
4	+2	+1	+4	+4	+1 Level Sorcerer	Breath Weapon, 
                                                                Natural Armor +3

Special Abilities:

• Energy Resistance 10 (Ex): This replaces (does not stack with) the racial energy resistance that the Kobold chose at character creation. His scales become more vibrant in color.
• Natural Armor (Ex): The specified value replaces the Kobold's racial Nagural Armor bonus.
• Elemental Spell Power (Su): When casting spells with the energy descriptor that matches the Kobold's energy resistance, the character's Caster Level gains the indicated bonus.
• Draconic Ability: The Kobold gains one ability based on its scale color as follows:
  - Red: Extra +1 Natural Armor bonus (Ex)
  - Green, Black: Water Breathing (Ex)
  - Blue: Create Water (Sp): 3/day, caster level = character level
  - White: Icewalking (Ex)
• Breath Weapon (Su): The Kobold may use this special attack up to 4/day as a standard action once every minute. The DC is 10 + 1/2 the Kobold's character level + Con bonus, and the breath weapon deals 4d8 damage in the type & shape indicated:
  - Red: 15 ft. cone of Fire
  - Green: 15 ft. cone of Acid gas
  - Blue: 30 ft. line of Electricity
  - Black: 30 ft. line of Acid
  - White: 15 ft. cone of Cold

-- N

EDIT: made table not so darn wide

 

[Dunjin]

Hey, I really like that kobold! It fits the concept in my world of kobolds of different colors coming from different draconic blood--The PCs have already run into red and white ones, and a half-silver-dragon kobold, as well. I may have to use that.

I'd like to give them a break from kobolds for now, though. Maybe renegade elves would be nice. It'd explain why the elves didn't get a hint of the dragon building an army already, because the renegades were looking for something new to do and consequently have been working for the dragon from the inside. I like that. As soon as they hear the PCs have been sent out to bug the dragon's lair, the elves would head out to stop them--or at least, send spirits and magics to do so. Enter the mischievious nixies and assassin vines. Nice.

Also, there's going to be some damn spiders in the lair. Because I said so.

This green dragon is young, yeah, and she's new to the area. And yeah, she'd slaughter a level 3 group, but they're not there to kill her. In fact, I don't plan on having her be there at all for the adventure; She's off to the north negotiating with the Young Adult White who winters in the mountains to the north and making friends with the Lawful Evil city nearby. She's met the elves and they've found a certain peace. The elves serving the dragon might indeed be a faction who believe the dragon is entitled to live in peace as part of the natural order. Only demons and angels in my world are always Evil or Good, after all. You can't point to a Monster Manual entry and try and convict a dragon based on that.

The elves consist of a lvl 10 cleric, a lvl 8 sorceress, and a level 7 druid, and the rest are largely level 2 ranger-types and commoners. This is a refugee area for elves who are rejected from the aforementioned Lawful Evil city, where the governor-general is frightened of and hates elves. There are maybe 200 elves there in the forest, with the number fluctuating wildly over time. The Juvenile green dragon knows she couldn't kill the elves on her own, but she (and they) knows that she'd take a lot of them out with her, if only through her breath weapon. For now, both sides are content to lay down a non-aggression pact and live and let live.

Meanwhile, a faction within the elves wants to see the dragon allowed to live in complete peace, happy to have a dragon (a truely magnificent beast) living in proximity. Like a town with endangered wolves living nearby, the wolves might steal cattle or whatever, but the people grudgingly want to protect them.

At some point, it may come to direct confrontation with the dragon. For now, though, the party's job is to get in, place "bugs", and get out before the dragon gets back. If they uncover an elvish conspiracy while they're doing it, een better.

I like.

 

[Dunjin]

Blast! Double post!