NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mirrorrorrim" data-source="post: 9253041" data-attributes="member: 7040132">When I imagine how many "town guards" there are in a 1,000-person town, I imagine a sheriff and their deputy militia... That's not a lot of people. And even if frontier families craft and train in the use of longbows, they are still low HD commoners who will scatter from dragonfear.A Large (young) dragon may have to use hit and run tactics, but ancient dragons with incredible armor and destructive breath weapons will be more like Smaug, and will not give a flip about pesky short range missile weapons.If I was running any Large (young adult) dragon that had decent intelligence, which knew that it could be hurt by volleys of arrows, I would have it use tactics that avoided such dangers.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Soar in quietly at night, using their breath weapon to alpha strike the target that would most demoralize the populace. A temple, lodge house, barracks, grain silos/food storage, the largest public house, inn, or stables, etc. They do not want to land yet and become a stationary target.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Many people will hide in their homes, but the guards/combatants will be mustering out to see what the heck is going on.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Rinse and repeat these flyback attacks for a short time, choosing the next most impactful target, which now includes a possible option where the combatants are mustering to share information and get orders. Killing a bunch of defenders at once is juicy.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Once the town proper has mustered a defense, the dragon stops attacking the town where the danger is. To really destroy the settlement, they just need to spend the night destroying every surrounding farm that supports the town. The dragon can land and eat people and livestock at this time, if they so wish. If the dragon is still fueled by rage, they can keep doing this all night.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The next day, the dragon can fly off to get some rest, or if they feel up to it, they can present themselves at a distance and lay siege to the town, taking out any groups running for town, or those trying to leave to get help. If the town has dangerous defenders, the dragon avoids them. They don't need to kill the dangerous ones yet. Destroying the loved ones of the dangerous humanoids is punishment enough. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">If the dangerous humanoids go on a quest to kill the dragon, the dragon can let them come, staying out of reach. Once they are far away from the town, take to the air, circle around, and hit more targets wherever those "heroes" aren't.</li> </ol></blockquote>

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