The deadliest CR 18 in the world, courtesy of WotC

[Crothian]

Most people don't refer to a dragon as "this guy" so I was a little lost there...

 

[Diirk]

That guy is just crazy. Pretty much no matter what you have in your party this guy has an answer. Or if he doesnt he will summon someone who does.

Seriously he has a huge weakness vs Fire Seeds (both forms). Have your druid take a whiff of Incense of Meditation the night before (gives maximise effect to all spells for next day without level increase), Summon up a bunch of 20d6 acorn grenades before the fight (strand of karma beads, ioun stones etc if he's under 20), hand them out to the entire party.

536 hp dragon comes along and is subjected to a barrage of 120 damage ranged touch attacks... no SR, no save. And he's got 8 touch ac.

Without a druid the dragon is just plain mean tho, fire seeds is a VERY powerful spell.

 

[Scion]

Most people don't refer to a dragon as "this guy" so I was a little lost there...

I am not going to check under the dragons skirt to find out whether it is guy or girl

 

[Scion]

Seriously he has a huge weakness vs Fire Seeds

Unless of course he picked up a spell like fire immunity or some such An item that does something similar is not out of the question either, given that he has 3x the normal treasure for a CR 18 creature.

Being able to cast 9th level spells and lower should allow for all sorts of options.

 

[Tatsukun]

I am not going to check under the dragons skirt to find out whether it is guy or girl

Oh, the famous last words of Foggybottom, the ill-fated yet curious Halfling.

-Tatsu

 

[Diirk]

Oh... forgot the caster levels, might need a bunch of greater dispells to get rid of fire protection

 

[Destil]

Have you read the (pre-release) playtesting notes? They'd include things like, "We killed the monster with our level X group and didn't lose anyone, but the monster seemed a little hard. We tried it a few times with a level X+1 group and it was easier, but not too easy, so we made it CR X+1."

3.0 PHB survival guide, Mature Adult Red Dragon
312 HP, AC 32, SR 23
Bite +34(2d8+11) 2 claws +29(2d6+5) 2 wings +29 (1d8+5) & Tail Slap +29 (2d6+16) with 10 foot reach
9th level sorcerer spellcasing + clerical Fire, Chaos and Evil domains
Breath weapon 14d10 Fire (Save DC 28)
CR 13!?!?!

 

[Caliban]

People are still missing an important point... lack of equipment.

A 21st level fighter (or sorcerer) with no equipment is, oh, somewhere in the 12-15 range. So you can't directly compare class levels.

Among other things, the dragon doesn't have an inherent +5 charisma bonus and a +6 cloak of charisma.

Where are you getting a lack of equipment? The Great Wyrm Steel Dragaon has Triple the standard treasure for CR 18. This puts it on par with the wealth level of an 18th level character bonus. So it may very well have a cloak of charisma (or equivalent), in addition to various other magic items .

Since the great wyrm has a base Charisma of 24, it doesn't need much to equal or surpass a PC wizrd. And since it can cast 9th level spells, it may indeed have used wishes to pump it's charisma higher.

 

[CRGreathouse]

3.0 PHB survival guide, Mature Adult Red Dragon
312 HP, AC 32, SR 23
Bite +34(2d8+11) 2 claws +29(2d6+5) 2 wings +29 (1d8+5) & Tail Slap +29 (2d6+16) with 10 foot reach
9th level sorcerer spellcasing + clerical Fire, Chaos and Evil domains
Breath weapon 14d10 Fire (Save DC 28)
CR 13!?!?!

3.0 was well-known for under-CR'd dragons.

 

[CalrinAlshaw]

Damn, they really need a Lower Resistance spell for 3.X edition. Working just like the old version against magic resistance.

No saving throw, creature effected gets half-SR to avoid being effected by this spell. Their SR is lowered by 1 per 2 levels of the caster.
Make it a fifth level spell, lol.

Calrin Alshaw