spicing up dragon encounters?

[Grunk]

wanted to get some ideas for spicing up dragon encounters so here's a few that I used recently
from something on the WotC site that suggested having a dragon using alter self to appear as a different color to confuse players. I made an adult blue dragon who had a crown of alter self, alter himself as a red dragon. Thus, he was a huge size (from being blue) and therefore appeared to be a mature adult (red dragon). he also had mostly fire spells from his sorcerer levels so that he used them to "complete the effect" scared my pcs something awful, especially when the dragon that had just shot flames at them (simple burning hands spell) proceded to shoot a line of lightning.

also, had his lair enterance a 100 ft wide hole in a side of the mountain. inside the lair it was pitch black, and 160ishft tall. the dragon used spider climb and waited at the top of the cave out of the range of the magic users arcane sight, and well out of the elves' darkvision.

this encounter went preety badly for the PCs. The party sent the assassin in first and he discovered the treasury (but didn't notice the dragon, it knew he and the party were coming). the assassin came back got the rest of the pcs and they went down the tunnel (stupidly, they didn't buff up at all first). then they began walking towards the treausry. that's when the dragon began shooting flame based spells at them, and they surmised that it was red. the wizard shot a freezing sphere at it and was severely disapointed when it didn't do much. the assassin and the rouge were preety much useless as the dragon attacked from the cieling. the rouge asked which way to the treausure room and the assassin directed him. the rouge than took off running in that direction---sans darkvision. he hears a thump in front of him as the characters with darkvision see him get knocked back into the negatives. the party cleric stabilizes him while the dragon moves up and hits the assassin and wizard with a line of lightning, blackening the wizard to a crisp. that's half the party in the negatives without anyone even doing anything to the dragon.

this encounter was supposed to go badly for them. it was a means with which to throw the PCs in a labyrinthene dungeon (Tomb of Horrors) but they were supposed to get a little damage in there somewheres. Ah well, any other ideas?

 

[Crothian]

good dragon tactics!! that Gamers Against Disposible Dragons group would be very happy with you!!

 

[Kae'Yoss]

good dragon tactics!! that Gamers Against Disposible Dragons group would be very happy with you!!

That's B.A.D.D - bothered about disposable dragons (mocking the original bothered about dungeons and dragons)

 

[DMH]

Ah well, any other ideas?

Half dragon offspring, enslaved behirs and other reptile monsters, goblin or orc tribes that worship the dragon, unique magic items the dragon made for its own use that are way too large for the PCs to handle, or a cave in (the draong has other ways of getting out of it lair).

 

[Evilhalfling]

In a lair, any traps that the dragon is immune to, pits filled with whatever the dragon breathes (if acid/gas). A high level dispel magic trap - to strip off those buffs. A stationary illusion of sleeping dragon, could also be a great resource waster.
I loved the dragon hiding 120' ft away, I am working a dragon focused campaign
and enjoy theses dragon threads.

Things dragons would like to prevent
Heavily buffed adventures
Teleporter Raids
Other Dragons
Attackers exploiting elemental vulribility

 

[Archibald Theocliste]

I recently used a Rattelyr Dragon in a game for lvl 10 characters. A dragon from Shining South that is unable to fly. I wanted him to use alter self to turn into a flying dragon, if possible one with an opposite weakness (they're from the Fire subtype). Alas even if they're small for a dragon (an adult is still size Large) I was unable to find a dragon both able to fly, with less than 5 HD and no more than medium sized. I find Alter Self usually not very usefull for dragons unless they're really young since you can't turn into a creature of more than 5 HD and more than one category size away from you.

On the other hand, he toyed with both the fighter and the archer thanks to mage armor and shield, +8 AC to a dragon severely diminish the fighting capabilities of a party. The only drawback is that their spellcasting level is usually not very high (=easy dispell), but as someone mentionned in another thread you can compensate with Practiced Spellcaster.

Another very nice feats for a close combat oriented dragon are Improved Toughness and Large and in Charge (I say you won't come closer boy !) instead of Weapon Focus (Claw) and (Bite) that I find totally useless with such a high BAB, even if you power attack a lot. Also even if it is said that dragons usually don't like to grapple, you can't imagine how funny is is to grab someone (archers are perfect targets for a grapple ^^) then look at that menacing spellcaster and say "Well, weren't you about to cast another Lightning Bolt ? I sure hope you're good at aiming !" Then if you're really evil you can release the grapple on your next action, full attack your victim and restart a grapple with your last attack ^^, but that would be really evil Even more evil would be that even if your attacks kill your victim, grab him with your last action and say "Hmmmm... I think he's still breathing. Aren't you supposed to save him ?"

 

[Grunk]

good ideas! anyone have anything else to add?

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

The most important thing for a dragon is to fight outside. When a dragon can move freely, preferably at night when its vision is superior to basically any other creature's, it's all but invincible.

Most large dragons can make flyby attacks with their breath weapons, then get out of spell range while they wait their few rounds to recharge. Dragons have the hp (and ac) to soak up almost any amount of missile fire; their saves (and, later, SR) make spells next to useless. The Strafing Breath feat from the Dragonlance Campaign Setting takes this effective tactic and makes it almost insurmountable.

Even if the PCs can fly (most can, by this level), they probably can't outpace the dragon, and it can grapple them to pick them off one by one. Grappling and carrying off individual enemies is hugely effective for most dragons; they will win every grapple check without even rolling, and that's against a dedicated grappler PC.

IMX, dragons that use other tactics (spells, traps, spell-like abilities, even straight on-the-ground physical combat), do so because they enjoy it. If they're seriously threatened, almost all flying dragons should use the same tactics, and they should never be in any real danger once they do.

 

[ChaosEvoker]

I'd say make a dragon's lair advantagous to its type

Black Dragons have lots of underwater pasageways to spring surprise attacks, Red dragons perhaps have lava and fire pools, you get the idea

 

[GuardianLurker]

Dragon Tactics

Number one best trick a dragon can use Invisibility - Improved Invisibility if you can get it. Also good are the Flyby Attack, Hover, and the Metabreath feats (and spells). Metabreath feats are found in Draconomicon.

Number two trick is get them outside, or three-dimensional.

Number three - full attack sequences are the dragon's friend.

Beyond that - be creative.

Here are a few examples:
In 2e, the party consisted of a 15th level mage, a 15th fighter-archer, and a 12th level ranger. They were going up against a Very Old Shadow Dragon. The dragon went Invisible, and then used Improved Phantasmal Force (now Major Image) to create an illusion of himself. While he approached the party from the rear, preparing for a stafing run, the illusion approached the party from the front, readying a strafing run from a slightly greater distance. The party swallowed it hook,line, and sinker, unleashing *all* of their biggest guns at the illusion. At that point, the dragon, having reached optimal firing range itself, breathed on them, breaking the invisibility, and dropping the illusion.

Two sessions ago, the party encountered an Adult Red Dragon. Each spotted the other 15 miles away. Unhappily for the party, that's only an hour's flight for a dragon, well within the time limit of invisibility. The party is 6 characters averaging 12th level. The dragon opens up with an Enhanced Breath Weapon - it's both blinding (spell) and clinging (metabreath feat). The damage wasn't so bad, but 2/3 the party was blinded. Then it was snatch, drop from 200+ feet, invisible. The dragon let them live, since he started the combat as a play-with-the-mortals-and-build-my-reputation thing. The party did *extremely* well - when the dragon broke off, it had taken close to 200 hp of damage, and every character was alive and could see. The dragon failed in one thing - the party was supposed to be afraid afterwards, instead, they're just very pissed.

If they had taken the sea-route (instead of the land), they would have encountered an Emerald Dragon (water-dwellers in my world). This one would have lept out of the water, hovered in front of the ship, and used Wingstorm to stop the ship in it's tracks. This would have then been followed by a likely successful Intimidate-check, as the dragon held up the ship for toll.

Oh, and other feats that I'm looking forward to inflicting on my characters: Swallow Whole, Improved Snatch, Rapidstrike, Multiattack, ..., ah heck - I'm just going to work my way through the Draconomicon's feat least.