So he calls himself "Dragonslayer"...

[Epametheus]

According to my 3.0E Monster Manual, a very young red dragon is CR 4.

I honestly cannot see a 4th level, 4-person party beating a creature with an 18 AC, nearly 100 hit points, and a 4d10 damage breath weapon that can do about 43 damage with one set of melee attacks (I'm taking low-side average, and it's not like a +14-+12 to hit is going to miss a 4th level character). A red dragon that that just came out of it's shell can kill an ogre in 1 round; killing one that's had a even few years to grow up is a pretty respectable feat.

What level are these characters? An 11th level character wouldn't have too much trouble mowing down a very young Red (and therefore it's not much of an accomplishment), but if he's 7th or 8th level, then damn straight he can brag about it. An 8th level character could easily go down in like 2 rounds of combat when facing such a beast.

The next logical step is foir the whelp's young-adult or adult parent come around looking for vengeance -- one of its progeny being vanquished in single combat with a puny human is a serious blow to a dragon's pride, after all..

 

[Plane Sailing]

According to my 3.0E Monster Manual, a very young red dragon is CR 4...

Upped to CR5 in 3.5e MM

 

[Bloodsparrow]

Is it justified for the paladin to call himself "Dragonslayer"? Or should a dragon at least be a young adult, or even older? Or is it a silly title anyway (my POW)? Should I smack the paladin's player silly, or should he smack me?
In short: what's your opinion?

I don't think this is something you really need to continue on a meta level. You've let him know that, as a Paladin, it might not be a good idea to make such claims, and he's made his choise.

When it comes right down to it, a person (PC) can say anything they want about themselves. Now having people believe it is another story all together.

But this guy is a Paladin, which brings up some sticky issues. I'm guessing that's what you're really asking about here.

It doesn't sound to me like the character doesn't think he's lying or bending the truth by adopting the title. So, you're not really going to get him there.

At the very least, you could call it vanity. It would depend on how strictly his Order, and his God, looked upon that.

It's been mentioned before, but I'll mention it again because it's a good point.

When you go around calling yourself something like "Dragonslayer", word gets around.

You remember the story of the Brave Little Tailor? Who killed seven flies with one blow? And he was so impressed with himself, he made a sash and had the words "Seven in one blow" stitched onto it. People saw him wearing that sash and assumed that he meant seven giants. So they sent him off to kill a giant that was ravaging his way across the country side.

Yes sir, when you go around calling yourself something like "Dragonslayer", things can get out of hand pretty fast.

 

[Squire James]

I view the PC who takes the title "Dragonslayer" as having a certain ambition. Perhaps he wants to specialize. Perhaps he will end up specializing whether he wants to or not. Punishing a character for taking such a title is silly... however it should be noted that following a line of logic to a reasonable conclusion is not "punishment". Doing so too quickly is.

Let it rest a while, let the paladin get used to the title, then spring a moderately unpleasant surprise. Give him a chance to prove his mettle and earn his title.

As for the "sorcerer-slayer" comment... if a PC wants to be considered famous for slaying sorcerers, why not? He won't make many friends among Ye Olde Brotherhood of Sorcerye, and he too may have to earn his title at some point!

 

[Epametheus]

CR 5?

I guess the Dragon CRs still assume that the party has prepped, then (a 4th level party that was fully prepped would probably die anyways, due to the lack of 3rd level spells).

Also, the dragon being only Large Sized really doesn't matter much -- nearly of the the other breeds don't reach Large until they're Juveniles or Young Adults -- in other words, a dragon that's only the size of a horse is still in the upper levels of the monstrous food chain and is fully capable of establishing a lair and terrorizing the countryside.

He might be in trouble when it's time for him to face an adult dragon -- but he might also get to prove the veracity of his nickname, and that could be cool.

 

[frankthedm]

boastful and exaggerating, but unless Wrymslayer is a SPECIFIC title only bestoyed by meating certain criteria [which then makes it full lie] it is best handled by NPCs if he won't shut up about it.

Perhaps he may cost his order favor with a cadre of good dragons for such a barbaric sounding name if it gets around . Or a dragon with the EARNED title of Paladinslayer will cross paths with him.

The say Pride goeth before the fall. This time pride will Bringeth the fall.

 

[Gwarthkam]

How about rewarding your PC for taking an interest in his character?

If I had killed a Dragon, no matter which, I would be proud of it. Your Player seems to be able to roleplay his characters pride and have actually thought up a name to fit the occasion. Thats called roleplaying and should not be punished but encouraged.

I can see why his new name could be turned into a plot idea, as outlined in this thread, but I fail to see why so many here actually want him to be punished for it.

the poster writes in a reply that he doesnt want his game to become a dungeon crawl due to lack of consequence. Instead I would fear a move towards dungeon crawl if roleplaying like this is punished.

I think it's more fun for people to come up with ingenious ways of punishing a character than it is to find ways of rewarding one. At least thats my impression from most "what should DM do about this" threads on these boards, most of the time treating Players and Characters as though they were enemies of the DM.

I assume your group is playing D&D to have fun, try keeping it that way

 

[Silver Moon]

As other posters have pointed out, that name will come back to haunt him in the long run. Early in our campaign one of the players led the charge on the party's fight with an adult red dragon (our third and final encounter with this beast). Afterwards, the fighter had the body stuffed and put on display in a museum at his family's keep, to honor "his" accomplishment. Three years later the entire keep was destroyed by the mate and children of that dragon.

More recently, an NPC known as "The Dragonstalker", who had an undeserved past of dragon slaying, had the reputation came back to haunt him when a giant lizard planeshifted to the world, and the Queen sent him and his party to slay it. Two of his party members wound up permanently dead from the encounter. This is detailed in the Story Hour titled "Beast of Burden" (the module from Dungeon #100).

 

[Rhialto]

I'm going to be blunt here--this is classic "CRAWL WORM" style DMing that you're talking about here, punishing players for having initiative, for doing something that you personally don't like that doesn't have anything inherantly wrong with it. Let me tell you--this can kill campaigns. Players don't like being crushed for not following the DM-God's whims.

He killed a dragon--a fairly difficult dragon, and wants to have that fact acknowledged. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. Penalizing him to discourage it is the sort of petty behavior that can send your players running to the hills.

You've noted you don't want this turning into a dungeon crawl. A character giving himself a nickname will only do that if you let it. Actually such a nickname can be used to grant role-playing opportunities, without necessarily penalizing the character. After all, people who get reputations tend to attract the attentions of the powerful, or those seeking to be powerful. Perhaps in a town the party visit the two candidates for a public position attempt to curry favor of the Dragonslayer and his friends forcing the party into the arena of local politics. Perhaps a local lord decides his worthless son could use some shaping up, and offers the PCs rewards if they'll take him under their wing and keep him alive... There are lots of things you can do with this besides the typical "DM SMASH!!" responses.

And it always amazes me that dragons who are put into adventures to be killed, and who come from a species infamous for its brutality and callow behavior, all turn out to have devoted relatives willing to live for vengeance the moment PCs start taking pride in their accomplishment...

 

[Flyspeck23]

I'm going to be blunt here--this is classic "CRAWL WORM" style DMing that you're talking about here, punishing players for having initiative, for doing something that you personally don't like that doesn't have anything inherantly wrong with it. Let me tell you--this can kill campaigns. Players don't like being crushed for not following the DM-God's whims.

He killed a dragon--a fairly difficult dragon, and wants to have that fact acknowledged. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. Penalizing him to discourage it is the sort of petty behavior that can send your players running to the hills.

You've noted you don't want this turning into a dungeon crawl. A character giving himself a nickname will only do that if you let it. Actually such a nickname can be used to grant role-playing opportunities, without necessarily penalizing the character. After all, people who get reputations tend to attract the attentions of the powerful, or those seeking to be powerful. Perhaps in a town the party visit the two candidates for a public position attempt to curry favor of the Dragonslayer and his friends forcing the party into the arena of local politics. Perhaps a local lord decides his worthless son could use some shaping up, and offers the PCs rewards if they'll take him under their wing and keep him alive... There are lots of things you can do with this besides the typical "DM SMASH!!" responses.

And it always amazes me that dragons who are put into adventures to be killed, and who come from a species infamous for its brutality and callow behavior, all turn out to have devoted relatives willing to live for vengeance the moment PCs start taking pride in their accomplishment...

Ok, I'll be blunt too
Who's punishing anybody here? Is putting PCs into trouble punishment? Heck, I do that all the time. AFAIK, that's the way they like it.
Reports of the paladin being crushed by a Red Dragon Wyrm the following day are exaggerated. Really. And it's not going to happen - unless, for instance, the party actually meets a Red Dragon Wyrm and the paladin confronts the dragon with his "dragonslayer" routine ("I killed your kind before and didn't break a sweat - I'm a dragonslayer" or something like that)

You've provide some possible plot hooks and "roleplaying opportunities" there, and that's one of the reasons I started this thread.

The player can indeed call his character any way he wants, but this will have consequences - and I'm not talking punishment here, I'm talking adventures (which more often than not is the same as "danger"...).

The paladin, and therefore the whole party, will have to deal with it. As they have to deal with so many things (opposing the BBEG, for instance). And, let me tell you, I'm pretty sure it won't destroy the campaign.

What made you think I'm in a "DM smash" mood? If that was the case, it would be pointless to gather feedback like I'm doing now, don't you think?

I'm definetly not in the "Do what you want - hey, you're heroes!" mood either. If they commit crimes, if they confront the BBEG, if they put themselves in the spotlight, they'll have to deal with it.

( Hey, I didn't yell EVEN ONCE! And never would I've thought that this topic causes such a fuss...)