Player Bad Luck (Nearly) Ruins Boss Fight, News at Eleven

[Schmoe]

No, no one was bored-looking, that's for sure.

If they weren't bored, and if they were engaging with the encounter (rather than just "I swing - and miss"), then I would consider this a great outcome, even if the player dice went cold. So good job!

Sometimes if a battle gets into a repetitive cycle I'll consciously try to mix it up by having the opponent change its approach. I like to have opponents talk to their prey (er, the PCs), so after 2-3 rounds of complete failure on the part of the PCs, the dragon might hold its attack and offer mercy if they agree to serve it, with a healthy dose of taunting, of course. Or the dragon may get bored and try to snatch one PC and fly away with him/her. Or the dragon may just continue the same effective tactics but begin gloating about how it's going to capture them and eat them slowly, over a week, while their companions watch. The key point here is that you have one interaction (combat) that is in an uninspiring cycle. You can either directly introduce some change into that interaction, or you can introduce another dimension of interaction that can provide a diversion while you're waiting for the combat to get more interesting.

 

[Eltab]

I actually kept him mostly on the ground – the last dragon they fought, Glazhael Cloud-Chaser, mostly kept to the air, so I didn’t want the fight to be the same thing as the last white dragon fight.

I did the reverse.
I had the Giant lord come down into his basement with the PCs, because I didn't know if they would need help. (They didn't.) Glazhael epic-failed his Stealth roll to hide clinging to the ceiling but the group made their Perception check. They began peppering him with arrows and thrown weapons. When the Giant Lord's turn came, I had him cast Shatter at the ceiling; the dragon failed another roll (DEX check) to hang on. He crashed clumsily to the floor. The Giant told the PCs "now you can deal with him," and stood back to watch them pound the dragon flat. The dragon tried to escape at 10% HP, not successfully.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That’s a great way to break up the action in a fight, and get some RP into combat. I will definitely try to use that more in the future.

Sometimes if a battle gets into a repetitive cycle I'll consciously try to mix it up by having the opponent change its approach. I like to have opponents talk to their prey (er, the PCs)

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

They were outright told by an NPC that all the previous adventurers had died, so they ought to have had an inkling. And I did mention that Arauthator goes back a ways in the lore, at the very least to a Dragon magazine article in the mid-nineties.

I don’t mind putting the PCs through the wringer now and then, but I like it to be honestly tough, not just because they all somehow had bad luck at the same time.

but I would also drop enough clues leading up to the fight that this isn't going to be a walk in the park.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Nice! My PCs did very well versus Glazhael, which was why I figured I ought to make Arauthator that much harder. The funny thing was, they gleefully marched down to fight the white dragon in Skyreach Castle, but were utterly terrified of running into the vampire.

I did the reverse.
I had the Giant lord come down into his basement with the PCs, because I didn't know if they would need help. (They didn't.) Glazhael epic-failed his Stealth roll to hide clinging to the ceiling but the group made their Perception check. They began peppering him with arrows and thrown weapons. When the Giant Lord's turn came, I had him cast Shatter at the ceiling; the dragon failed another roll (DEX check) to hang on. He crashed clumsily to the floor. The Giant told the PCs "now you can deal with him," and stood back to watch them pound the dragon flat. The dragon tried to escape at 10% HP, not successfully.

 

[Quickleaf]

Feeling in need of a little venting about last night’s session. Everything had been going swimmingly with the game. People had done some great role-playing with an NPC (so they were all full-up on Inspiration) and then we get to the big fight with the dragon. The fight opens with some solid hits on both sides.

And then…the ranger rolls a nat 1 with her shot using the Arrow of Dragon-Slaying. And from there, all the players’ rolls tank. The table is a large one, yet we still went whole rounds without anyone landing a hit on the dragon. The PCs’ HP are dropping. I can see the frustration and exhaustion building on the players’ faces. I suggest stopping mid-battle and picking up next time, but no one wants to do that.

I shave some HP off the dragon to speed things up (being a large table, as stated above, I tend to increase monster HP for the big fights so they’re not over in two or three rounds. But when they can’t even hit it, that doesn’t matter much. I think about throwing a cave-in to change things up, or having the damage lower the creature’s AC. But nothing feels right, doesn’t feel like it would just cheapen the win.

In the end, the PCs were triumphant, but it was such a slog. I know that there’s not much I can do about fickle dice, but I always try to improve my game. Any thoughts on what I could’ve done differently in this situation?

Yes. I've been in a similar situation as a DM several times. What worked for me is to narrate failed rolls in increasingly interesting/tense ways & to describe the cause of missed attack as something external to the PC. I've noticed this minimizes player frustration/exhaustion. It also gives the players something to build off of and potentially exploit.

Here's an example, using your scenario:

Ranger rolls a 1 to hit with Arrow of Dragon Slaying. You describe the dragon uttering the name of another dragon (its ancient rival), and the arrow veers off course, hurtling into the clouds and the horizon to seek out that rival dragon. Now the players have a bit of a mystery they can explore if they wish, and might even seek out that rival dragon later (e.g. if they have to retreat & seek out allies to take down the dragon).

From the player's perspective, something interesting happened even though their attack was technically a miss. Notice that I didn't use the language "the PC missed". This can help reduce that sense of frustration from a series of bad rolls. With my specific example, it also establishes that this dragon has magic powers outside of what the players are familiar with. You can continue playing up that theme with further bad rolls for the PCs' attacks; maybe the sorcerer's fire bolt ricochets off the dragon's hide and scorches a passage with a flammable gas pocket.

The more you respond in this way as a DM, the more players will pick up on these "throw away" narrative bits and begin to use the environment/circumstances to their advantage.

 

[Imaculata]

Ranger rolls a 1 to hit with Arrow of Dragon Slaying. You describe the dragon uttering the name of another dragon (its ancient rival), and the arrow veers off course, hurtling into the clouds and the horizon to seek out that rival dragon. Now the players have a bit of a mystery they can explore if they wish, and might even seek out that rival dragon later (e.g. if they have to retreat & seek out allies to take down the dragon).

I've had a foe snatch an arrow out of mid air once as a consequence of a critical failure by the players. It made the opponent pretty intimidating.

But what I also do is set up various stages of the fight, that change the player's priorities. Rather than having only one opponent to beat up on, maybe they also have to stop reinforcements from coming in. Having multiple goals appear during the fight, creates interesting choices for the players.

 

[Eltab]

Nice! My PCs did very well versus Glazhael, which was why I figured I ought to make Arauthator that much harder. The funny thing was, they gleefully marched down to fight the white dragon in Skyreach Castle, but were utterly terrified of running into the vampire.

I began in my group as a player, and transitioned into DM'ing half-way through Skyreach Castle. I decided to finish this up as quickly as I could (reasonably) and get into the other book with a clear field.

I took the vampire out of the fight by using her (fake Dracula accent and all) to explain what the Cult of the Dragon was and why it was suddenly plundering everything in sight. The vampire teamed up with the group, as a representative of the Old Guard (undead) Cult, to fight the Red Wizards and hinder the New Guard (dragons) Cult leaders. One of the Red Wizards survived the group's Alpha Strike on their room, turned invisible, and jumped out the window (wearing a Ring of Feather Fall, but the PCs did not know that). The vampire was hanging out - pardon the pun - in bat form above the balcony, ready to pick off fleeing foes. She was last seen power-diving off the edge of the balcony as if in pursuit of something. (She tracked the invisible wizard using sonar.) With her and her charm gone, the Giant Lord decided he was going to be his own boss not merely a delivery driver.

When we got to Arauthator, I had a healthy respect for the group's DPR potential. I made him an Ancient White instead of an Adult, max'ed his HP and everything else that could be rolled, and planned out three turns worth of what he was going to do. It almost worked! - I should have planned out a few more turns instead of stopping to hover and taunt the PCs and make it up on the fly.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Oh my. They must have been some serious damage dealers to take on an Ancient wyrm at that point in the module!

When we got to Arauthator, I had a healthy respect for the group's DPR potential. I made him an Ancient White instead of an Adult, max'ed his HP and everything else that could be rolled, and planned out three turns worth of what he was going to do. It almost worked! - I should have planned out a few more turns instead of stopping to hover and taunt the PCs and make it up on the fly.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Sound advice. I do try to make Nat 1’s more interesting than just embarrassing failures. In hindsight, I probably should’ve had the arrow of dragon slaying stick into the ice, rather than shatter. That way, it would’ve created drama and tension, with the potential for an up-beat moment if they can free it in time.

Yes. I've been in a similar situation as a DM several times. What worked for me is to narrate failed rolls in increasingly interesting/tense ways & to describe the cause of missed attack as something external to the PC. I've noticed this minimizes player frustration/exhaustion. It also gives the players something to build off of and potentially exploit.