The Unstoppable Black Dragon

[S'mon]

I'm going to assume the cave he's in is at least 15 feet high. Why? Because dragons aren't stupid, and if he's going to be able to defend himself well he's going to want a lair he can at least fly in. Or better yet, climb up to and cling onto the cave wall and unleash his breath weapon.

I can just about imagine a very small dragon clinging to a cave wall. But unless it's got magic levitation or a wing span under 20' (ie it's the size of a large eagle!) it's not going to fly in a 15' cave.

 

[Walking Dad]

My take: with just 2nd or 3rd level characters the fight would have been of different odds, and we're speaking of 4th level solo monster.

So, absolutely no problem with anything related to this dragon fight.
Anything BUT the flight.
A fight with a flying dragon could have been possible (always if we're talking of a little less difference between monster and party level) with just some cover for the PCs on the battleground and a bow armed fighter, maybe with some incendiary arrows to put some black flames from the braziers on.

Come on, we're talking about 3 levels lower party, the problem's all there.
I guess a 6th level party would eat the damn dragon for breakfast.

EDIT: In addition, I think the problem was with the dragon being a Lurker. To effectively fight a lurking beast like that, you need AT LEAST one character with high perception and initiative, which I guess was absent.

Yeah, a clumsy fly speed is really awesome

I think some of the most difficult dragon fights in 3.5 are then the DM "cheats" by ignoring the maneuverability rules...

 

[Jhaelen]

Yeah, a clumsy fly speed is really awesome

I think some of the most difficult dragon fights in 3.5 are then the DM "cheats" by ignoring the maneuverability rules...

There's some truth in this. I know that I don't really care about the maneuverability rules. Too complicated for my taste AND I don't have a 3D-battlemat, so who cares?
I'll usually just substract a couple of squares (yes!) from a clumsy flyer's movement rate (unless it's flying in a straight line) and don't let it do fancy stuff like hovering or turning in place.