Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5513491" data-attributes="member: 996">The MM Black Dragon was possibly my favorite Solo.  I run 'introductory' games a lot, so low levels, inexperienced/casual players.  The MM Young Black Dragon's much-maligned low damage is forgiving enough for such a party to survive beating it down.  It's darkness power adds a bit of Lurker drama without being overwhelming.  For a solo, it's hps and defenses aren't excessive, so not too 'grindy.'  And, it was easily re-skinned into a Water Elemental for a '4 elements' theme adventure I use for intros (4 encounters:  one solo, one Elite + STandards, one Standards, one Standards + Minions - showcases the range of encounters for new-to-4e players).I've also fought the MM Young Black Dragon - played with a little more malice by DMs dealing with an experienced party - and they were fun, dynamic - survivable - fights.I saw the MV Black Dragon preview, and went 'damn, I never want to fight one of these things.'  I mean, here, have vulnerability to my attacks, no attack roll, no save.  Breath.  Action Point.  Oh, you're dead?  Roll up a new character.  Next! (That's just what it /looked/ like at a glance, I figured, in play, maybe not that bad.)  Of course, there was one in Encounters.  In a lurker-favoring environment, with minions (who did acid damage).  Where Encounters is usually a cakewalk for my table, the Black Dragon killed one character outright, and effectively locked down another by litterally dropping her /each round/.  *Blat* the slayer's down. Slayer's action: made death save.  Warpriest Action: heal the Slayer, slayer's up.  Dragon: *BLAT* Slayer's down.   Definitely the most frustrating form of action denial I've ever seen.Back on topic: Judging from the differences in our impressions and experiences - and given that I run almost exclusively low-Heroic, and only ever played consistently into mid Paragon, while you've run extensively at Epic - I'm becoming convinced that Epic plays much more differently from Heroic/Pargon than I'd previously thought from just looking at it (and playing low Epic on rare occassion).  So, hey, an internet discussion has changed my mind on something...</blockquote>

Verification