My 7th level party just killed a young adult dragon!

[Dieter]

Well, the worm drowned in the vile river of quasi-industrial waste.
Think of the substance being somewhere between the East River at NYC and the Exxon Valdez spill .

Two of the players jumped into the murky deep having to make fortitude checks (DC 20). Ok, one of them was the paladin..but again, I'm not bitter.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

(These comments are not aimed at the DM of this encounter, who I think did a fine job.)

The Wizard in question has been described as a Transmuter who can't cast Evocation spells.

If you as a DM cannot handle allowing the PC to reap the rewards and suffer the sorrow of casting hit and miss spells, you should politely discourage such a character concept in the first place. What is he supposed to do for offensive magic? Summon a trio of badgers?

I really wonder how you handle Hold Person and Hold Monster...

The reality of 3e is that impenetrable saves and SR no longer exist. Therefore single opponents (or lone PCs) are always at the mercy of the dice.

A few words of advice:

(1) Multiple opponents help smooth out the dice rolls. A 5th level cleric lackey with Dispel Magic is a good idea, too.

(2) Soften them up first. If the spellcasters are at full spells, it is guaranteed the Big Boss monster will get hit with the PCs' best spells. Then the dice may decide the encounter on Round 1. If they have a couple modest fights first, in my mind the spellcaster has definitely earned the full benefits of having saved a big spell. After all, he probably burned a lot of small stuff instead.

 

[Dieter]

I did have bait to get the party to fall into (what I thought was) the dragon trap. A fighter had been guarding a relic that they were looking for and he just-so-happened to be on the island. The trap was set, half the party was confronting the fighter while the other two were set to be occupied by the dragon. All was going well...so I thought.

I knew the wizard had polymorph and was waiting to use it on a big target, but what I didn't anticipate was the complete botching of my die roll. It was just a case of everything falling into place with everything that could go wrong, going wrong.

It wasn't poor planning that led to failure, just Dame Fortune making me her whipping boy.

 

[Sayburr]

My group just killed a young black dragon. They caught the dragon sleeping (I was going to give the pcs a free round so they would not get slaugtered) and the first person in, a sneaking thief, rolled 20, 20, 19... instant death in my campaign. Sigh. I had it all planned out too.

 

[Wolfspider]

Urk!

They caught the dragon sleeping? A dragon with preternatural senses? They must be awful quiet...like ethereal quiet.

And you gave the party a free round?!?

That must have dropped the dragon's challenge rating, what, six levels? Might as well have had them fight blind kobolds.

Tsk, tsk.

You too will be receiving a letter from B.A.D.D. sometime in the near future.

 

[James McMurray]

Diter:

Kudos on a job well done. may I make a few observations?

1) During a surprise round, you only get a partial action. that means that breathing wasn't "going easy", it was the perfect thing to do.

2) Darkness is a great ally for a dragon, however, there are a couple of problems with it: If you're not hasted, its your only allowable action. Also, if you cast it on the ground, the wizard simply moves out of the area of effect, then casts a spell at the dragon. Alternatively, you could target the wizard himself, but then you risk a saving throw. Finally, you could cast it on the dragon himself. That's the best alternative, but it doesn't help hid the location of the dragon from the party, just ensures they'll have a 50% miss chance when they aim their attacks at the center of the sphere.

3) Spring attack doesn't allow you to make all 6 attacks, as without a full attack action, you only get a single attak.

4) I congratulate you again on taking the hit in the chin and moving on, rather than cheating for the dragon and saying it beat the saving throw.

Sayburr: Even I wouldn't allow my party to catch a dragon sleeping! And I think at least a few people on these boards would call me decidedly anti-dragon based on my party's encounters with them

 

[Wolfspider]

McMurray: I'll convert you yet to the One Scaly Way!

 

[Altalazar]

Dragons DO sleep, however, it has a wickedly high listen, so sneaking up would require some fantastic silent move on the part of the rogue.

Also, some sort of alarm might be advisable.

 

[Wolfspider]

Dragons DO sleep....

That's just propaganda....

 

[James McMurray]

Altalazar: Yes, dragons sleep. But not only do they have massive listen scores, they also have blindsight due to their other keen senses. I know there's nothing in the rules to point one way or the other, but I personally would say, once you're in that radius, asleep or not, the dragon knows you're there and will wake up.