so young worm -B.A.D.D.

[jasper]

So young worm, you what to know some tricks to keep adventurers from gaining advantages in your lair.
Here is a couple ideas. Some will have drawbacks.

1. Adventurers can run and charge at a moments notice. Never let you lair be too flat. According to table Hampered Movement
bad surface cuts movement by half, very bad by a fourth. Every five square raise or lower by a foot. With short adventurers like halflings you will be giving them a cover bonus against your breath but the lack of speed will make up for it.

2. Now you have small 5 foot square pools in your lair. Fill them with water or oil. Just remember to relocate your more damageable possession.

3. Save those chests you emptied the contents out of. Fill with rocks or lead and place around the likely approaches. Small chests, bags, large chest what ever keep placing on the floor until they become obstructions. Plus imagine their surprise if they make a hit and run and carry off a bunch of rocks. They will think Charlie Brown was a genus.

4. What do you need with light sources. Darkness and fog will cut their movement by half.

5. Fly adventurers are a pain. A weighted net will bring them down. Plus stirges can be help full

6. concealment remember the best non magic light source is bullseye lantern which only extend out to 60 feet with a 20 cone at end. So with varying amount of darkness the adventurers miss chance goes up. Include the spells of darkness and remember most dark vision only gives them 60 feet. deeper darkness is great and you can use your blindsight to great affect.

7. Toss rocks and boulders at them especially if the rock have spells cast on them.

8. chests or pots of snakes are great missile weapons. Have your minions collect them for you.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

But what about style?

1. Adventurers can run and charge at a moments notice. Never let you lair be too flat. According to table Hampered Movement
bad surface cuts movement by half, very bad by a fourth. Every five square raise or lower by a foot. With short adventurers like halflings you will be giving them a cover bonus against your breath but the lack of speed will make up for it.

A few nice oak dinner tables will do the trick here, not to mention statuary. These serve as obstacles as well as tools for entertaining. Thuogh it pains me to say it, I would suggest ... reproductions. Gauche it may be, but we won't want to break anything priceless with a swipe of a tail should any gnome hide behind or underneath it. No one will really notice that you bought a moderately-priced imitation. Fellow dragons will understand, orcs have little taste in home furnishings, and drow you can always eat.

2. Now you have small 5 foot square pools in your lair. Fill them with water or oil. Just remember to relocate your more damageable possession.

Small fountians would be more appropriate, yes? If one has the means -- and raiding the odd kingdom will generate the neccessary revenue -- may I suggest the fountians all be potions of protection from good? Low-powered, yes, but it isn't something the rabble can really exploit.

3. Save those chests you emptied the contents out of. Fill with rocks or lead and place around the likely approaches. Small chests, bags, large chest what ever keep placing on the floor until they become obstructions. Plus imagine their surprise if they make a hit and run and carry off a bunch of rocks. They will think Charlie Brown was a genus.

Maybe a few of them as conversation pieces or a place to put knick-knacks on top of. But really, go with the statuary. Just don't go the cheap route and have a basilisk or medusa do your work for you. There's always someone with an annoying stone to flesh scroll. Honestly, you'd think someone was handing the things out.

4. What do you need with light sources. Darkness and fog will cut their movement by half.

What? But then how will people see me? I am the very picture of draconic beauty! I think it is more valuable to have random traps of darkness. That will accomplish what you are looking for, the minions won't notice if they accidently set them off, and everyone will be able to witness me for the handsome draconis noblis that I am.

5. Fly adventurers are a pain. A weighted net will bring them down. Plus stirges can be help full

These are good ideas ... but have you seen what stirges can do to the carpeting? An honest assesment of how much space one needs is more in order. A 60' celing should more than suffice, while at the same time preventing scalywags from flying amok. It also lends to a "cozy" atomsphere which I find comes in very handy when entertaining a lady dragon.

6. concealment remember the best non magic light source is bullseye lantern which only extend out to 60 feet with a 20 cone at end. So with varying amount of darkness the adventurers miss chance goes up. Include the spells of darkness and remember most dark vision only gives them 60 feet. deeper darkness is great and you can use your blindsight to great affect.

Here I agree.

7. Toss rocks and boulders at them especially if the rock have spells cast on them.

I can not sing the praises of statuary quite enough.

8. chests or pots of snakes are great missile weapons. Have your minions collect them for you.

A good idea. But anytime I have them get me something they always bungle the job. Don't get me started about the time I had them do a simple job, like getting me Waterdeep. Believe me, if there is a way to mess it up, they will. Sigh. You just can't oppress good help these days.

 

[apsuman]

I just got back from Cormyr and I tell you that statuary is out this year. The more fashionalbe are using golems. They are just as elegant, easier to move, and multipurpose too.

Dungeon's End is even selling traps that the golems to set off. That way you do not have to put up with those pesky rogue types.


g!

 

[Spider_Jerusalem]

Wyrmlings wyrmlings wyrmlings...

When you reach my venerable age you will understand that these delinquent travellers are not to be concerned with, less so encountered.

I try as best I can to keep pace in this age of change, and not wanting to sound ostentatious, but a mention of golems was made and I find that these are simply slow cumbersome machines capable of no original concepts, let alone an inspiring conversation.

And so I offer only two tips to the more advanced of our race out there:

One, use not golems but the new-fangled Shield Guardians. I don't expect wyrmlings like yourselves to be able to command such things being the ages you are, but they certainly are a rather dab hand at defence - aswell as a being in possession of a subtle wit wasted on the poor humans who craft them.

Two, walk among the creatures that wish to attack you as one of their own. This can seem somewhat uncouth to the draconis resplendant in his own skin, but serves a grand purpose for leading the would be attackers astray. But remember to acquire all items of worth before you depart.


In summary, most young things wish to attack and melt what they can. But once comfortable in your surroundings, only a suitably lethal defence will ward away those hundreds of flimsy attacks. You need never tarnish your claws on a travellers dirty armour again.

Listen and learn wyrmlings. For you are young and I am rich.

- A recording of Lissgrinth the Red, speaking for the first time at DracCon1371 (Shortly after this talk, Lissgrinth was reported to have teleported many times across Faerun, looting a great number of hordes in the absence of their owners).

 

[Xarlen]

Grra! Eat them! Freeze invaders! Plunder bodies! No need for traps, Grrra!

/More quietly/ Okay, you're white, I'm white, let's face it, they think we're dumb. So let's keep it that way.

First of all, your lair is your livelyhood. Don't get something cozy, something small, or something unfleeable. Find a good mountain. Knock a hole in the ceiling, if you have to. Your lair should be enromous, likely one large room, that you can utilize your wings. If you can't fly, you're dead.

Next, make sure that there's a frozen lake on the floor of your lair. If you have to go and get water to bring it, do it. Doesn't have to be enormously deep; ten feet or so will do, then cover the ice with snow. Adventurers, they like fire, especially dealing with us. One good fireball... and that ice, that snow, it's gone. If the ones in armor rush at you? Shatter the ice. They go in, they don't come up, and if they do, they're going to freeze solid soon enough.

Dispel magic. Infact, dispel magic traps. That's one of the best things you can do: You don't want them protected from your breath, since we got the meagerist of them all. And don't be afraid to knock stalagtites on their heads.

 

[Bob Aberton]

Adventurers are so annoying, aren't they?

I mean, not only do they try to sneak off with one's hard earned retirement money (cant keep raiding forever, can I?), but, worse still, they get bleed everywhere . I mean to say, if they're going to go through all the trouble of breaking into my lair so I can kill them, they could at least have the decency not to get blood all over my cave...

When I count my treasure, I generally take the coins and gems out of the chests.

Then, when I hear of adventurers coming near, I fill the chests with, yes, you guessed it, STIRGES!! Just as heavy as gold, and its soo funny when they open the chest, I laugh just imagining it. About 5 or 6 stirges to a chest, and about 10 to a bag is about right...

Then, of course, in my real lair, I have a pool of water, which I breath in to fill the room with steam. This has the advantage of blinding the adventurers and burning them as well.

Naturally that dragon sleeping there isn't the real me...it's just an illusion. The real me awaits in the darkness of the cavern ceiling, so I can surprise them.

And the final touch? Well, its one I'm very proud of. The gold is all in loose coins and gems, you see. This reduces movement to one quarter, and it is so funny to watch the pathetic "dragonslayers" slipping and stumbling over the coins, blundering through the steam in an attempt to reach the illusionary me, while the real me waits up in the roof of the cavern, to blast and burn them. Regrettably, most adventurers have the idea that they are better flyers than me. Fortunately, I have a magic of my own that is able to dispell other caster's magics...I always place a couple such traps on the ceiling, just in case, and I can always cast more.


When the adventurer's finally manage to get to the illusionary me, I swoop down, snatch one in my jaws, breath on him, and fling him away. I generally save this treat for the wizard. This is usually enough to kill any weakling mages...

Then, using my breath, I melt the gold coins. Such a waste, but I can always break them apart again when they are cool...and is hilarious to see the 'dragonslayers' drowning and burning as they fall into the gold.

From there, it is a straight on fight to the finish, although if I am loosing badly, I have 20 or 30 escape routes known only to me...and my children and wife always wait in the next room.