Prep to kill a dragon

[buzzard]

OK, I'm asking a little late, but better late than never eh?

This evening our party of 17th (more or less) level has to take on a Great Wyrm Red Dragon. We have the luxury of prepping for the the fight and I believe the dragon won't. There might be other constraints on the dragon as well, but I don't know them.
party:
human ranger5/fighter4/deepwood sniper 9
human cleric 18
elf wizard 16
human rogue/fighter lasher 16 (total)
half ogre fighter 15
half ogre fighter/barb total 15

It's a high power game and people are pretty well equipped. We don't have an opportunity to buy any spells for the wizard (I don't have the whole spell list handy) or equipment in general. Most of his spells are Boom spells anyway, so I can't expect too much buffing from him. He does have Limited Wish, so that act as a catch-all for spells he doesn't have though. The Cleric can go to town.
The way we work is it's allowed if it's in one of our books. The following books are available:
(All 3.0)
Core
Splatbooks
AEG Evil
AEG Dungeon
AEG War
RR+RR2
BoEM&BoEM2

So far I have these notions:
Polymorph Other the Half Ogres into Storm Giants.
GMW on all weapons to get them to +5
Elemental Kiss on Half Ogres (8th level from RR2)
Elemental Immunity(Fire) on everyone else.
Bless and Prayer of course.
Fly on everyone
Magic Vestment on half ogres
Endurance on everyone
(other stat buffs are covered by items in general)
Remove Fear on everyone

I have a few more things written down at home, but this is all I can remember.

So what am I missing? I rather expect us to get slaughtered in this fight, but I'd just as soon the Dragon knew we were there. It's the last bit before we move onto a new DM and campaign, so exp loss isn't an issue. Any advice would be quite welcome.

buzzard

 

[MerakSpielman]

Buy some Greater Arrows of Slaying (Dragon). Use a ghost-touch bow so the arrows will ignore the dragon's natural armor.
edit: since you have a deepwood sniper this might actually work. See if you can find a way to reduce it's CON first to lower that gawd-awful Fort save.

 

[Allanon]

If played right (ask any B.A.D.D. member how that is accomplished) he will be unbeatable and this will end in an TPK.

Oh.. you asked advice... a have a wand of teleport without error ready to get the hell away as soon as the fight begins

 

[kirinke]

use the limited wish to make the dragon smaller or turn it into something completely harmless. then squish it. or something similar.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

You're facing a CR25 creature. On top of that, Dragons are usually underestimated, CR-wise. Your average party level is approximately 17, you say? Unless the Dm plays the dragon very poorly and gets terrible rolls, this indeed SHOULD end in a TPK.

AR

 

[MerakSpielman]

I guess you could go for the good 'ol Harm+Magic Missile combo, and hope you beat the SR...

Anything that works to kill it is going to involve cheesy tactics.

 

[kirinke]

use limited wish on the dragon. (i say that often). here are a few suggestions on the theme
teleport: teleport the dragon deep within the earth, crushing it.
Wall of stone: same idea. drop the wall on the dragon.
Transmute rock to mud under dragon, then mud to rock, trapping it.
Permanent blink on party
create a Summon monsterVI wand (use alot)

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Where do you think you'll encounter the beast?

AR

 

[Epametheus]

By all rights you're screwed, though being able to make the party immune to fire will prolong your lives by a couple rounds.

The dragon isn't going to fail a save unless it rolls a 1 (okay, it might fail reflex saves; I hope your wizard is REALLY good), and it could smash any prepping you've done in a single round with a Wish or a Disjunction.

Also, it can heal itself.

Your best bet might to teleport it into the middle of a glacier (or the bottom of the ocean), and then collapse the glacier on it. Unfortunately, it could just teleport right back out of that predicament.

Limited Wishes for auto-crits by the warriors-turned-giants might work.

Actually, you have a L18 cleric. Miracle should be able to do something nice for you.

 

[Sejs]

Indoors or outdoors? Will the dragon have the advantage of maneuverability, or will it be a restricted-terrain slugfest?


Get the biggest druid you can find. He who controls the earth can conquer heaven.


Additional: just checked on the average Great Wyrm Red's casting abilities, saves and SR. Yeah, that wizard would probably be best served in doing what buffing he can, and then once the fight itself gets started focusing on making sure the dragon doesn't get off many spells of its own. Counterspell overwatch. If you've got something that can hurt it, doesn't allow for a save or SR, by all means, go right ahead. But making sure that dragon can't toss around as many of its spells would be quite handy. Particularly when it tries to strip your party of its buffs, or Heal itself.

Any red dragon with half a brain in its head will have Heal as one of its 6th level spells. Of which it'll have access to 7 per day. Possibly more.