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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nullzone" data-source="post: 5449596" data-attributes="member: 97538">I would agree he needs allies, probably minions; one target means players go nova and just wreck it, minions add something else to the equation that the players potentially have to concern themselves with.  Preferably something that inflicts a condition and not just deals damage, as you want them to care about the minions and make a conscious choice to deal with them instead of the dragon.Vulnerable fire would be fun, really get the fear of those fire powers into them (especially once Burning Blood kicks in).  The evil side of me would make it vulnerable save ends but if you wanted to pull a punch you could make it until next turn so the hurt only happens as long as the minion can keep hitting.As for using the cliff as the encounter's "hazard", the issue there is that the dragon doesn't have to do anything but hit someone to grab them...and then he's free to throw them overboard.  There's not a tactical consideration involved, it's simply a matter of luck.  If you want it to be tactical, then give him a wing buffet that pushes everyone 2 squares (gotta get those dwarves somehow...); do it every Instinctive Assault (Don't let the dragon throw the players if he grabs them, in this case).  This will prompt players to notice the effect and be more cautious around the cliff edge.  Depending on your area geometry it will make them think carefully about whether or not to attempt to get flanking.  For more flavor, make it an attack vs Fort, pushed 2 and knocked prone on hit, pushed 1-2 on miss.Make the cliff 80 feet tall and put a ledge 40 feet down.  Players can potentially save (Athletics) at the 40 foot mark, which means they only need one running action to reach the top again, or two if they fall all the way down.  Taking someone out of combat for more than a single round is never fun for the player.  Plus those 2d10 pulled from the full fall will help cut down on insta-deaths.  That's a loooot of potential damage, and it doesn't account for the pain the dragon is already dishing out.  I like the idea of random "safe fall" areas as well, make them more prevalent than not if you're really going to lean heavily on fall damage though.</blockquote>

Verification