The Unstoppable Black Dragon

[Filcher]

Defeating himis too easy IMO.

Round 1: [FIGHT!]

Minor Actions:Warlock curse, ranger quarries, paladin challenges, fighter marks. None of these require attack rolls AFAIR so the dragon is auto hit for a hefty amount of damage.

Standard Action: everyone unleasehs their daily.

FATALITY! FLAWLESS VICTORY!

Mark me jealous. (I played in games ranger quarry run 2 different ways --- one with attack necessary ... but that might be envy talking.)

Our group got it down to bloodied, but the cleric missed his daily.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

???

WHA

There were no braziers on our map

Hehe. Either one DM was soft, or the other forgot something. Or who knows, maybe they actually had multiple versions?



I think it's interesting to see that some parties actually managed to flee - was this just due to the dragon not following them, or was it actually something "supported" by the rules? (Chase Mechanic, monster slow enough, terrain features?)

 

[Stalker0]

Action points people! You can get 2 attacksper round with them AND double uses of quarry/cuse/etc.

So does the dragon Actually I would assume the dragon breaks the normal (1 action point per encounter) because it gets 2.

 

[Kordeth]

Action points people! You can get 2 attacksper round with them AND double uses of quarry/cuse/etc.

1) You can spend one action point per encounter. Not the same as getting two attacks per round, really.

2) Double uses of quarry/curse/etc. are meaningless against a solo monster, because they don't stack. Unless you mean "you can get two attacks that inflict extra damage." Which is true--once.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Andy Collins ran the adventure with the black dragon for us... maybe he threw in the black flames as a way to help the three PCs defeat the really, really tough dragon.

 

[Sitara]

But the draognonly gets one standard action. OTOH EVERY pc gets a standard action (so 1 SA vs 6 SA's)

Also note, many 1st level xp pc's also had higher level magic items like the frost warhammer.

Also, do not underestimate the warlocks witchfire, the round a warlock successfully use it, the dragon probably missed on all his attacks due to the -4 penalty.

 

[mhensley]

I used the same logic on the elemental immunity issue (wizard only preparing fire spells? too bad...) but the 4E crowd immediately shouted how unfair it was to expect players to create reasonable characters and how it ruins the theme of a elemental moron, sorry I mean wizard when he is forced to prepare other spells than direct damage fire ones.

But apparently the elemental wizard theme is sacred while the fighter with just his trusty sword (either anime inspired or old edition kensais) can be violated at will be requiring a ranged weapon.

Also I was talking about the fight with the black dragon at DDEX. The 50% of the samples characters only have some throwing hammers, a dagger or two handaxes as ranged weapon. Not very effective.

Sorry for the snark. This is a touchy issue for me as I have a couple of guys in my 3.5 game who min/maxed the hell out of their pc's for melee damage and then pout and whine whenever they get into a fight with something that flies.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

(2) The Rouse's "TIMES 10!!" rule.*

*Sara rolled a two and The Rouse yelled, "TIMES 10!!!" Andy looked up and said, "Okay. Give me a dollar." And the two became a twenty.

My understanding is that this will be a standard rule in the DMG as a way for DMs to finally get paid for all the work they do and all the extra books and gear they end up buying. It is part of their marketing plan to increase the number of people willing to DM.

 

[Zaruthustran]

If most characters need a 17+ to hit it, wouldn't it make more sense for 2-3 characters to use the "aid another" action instead of attacking? If you're likely to miss and do no damage, you might as well perform an action that no damage but just may help a buddy do damage.

Also: what was the terrain? Could you have retreated to a narrow area, and shoot plug the hole with your defenders while placing your ranged attacked far enough back so as to avoid breath weapon but close enough to shoot the dragon?

 

[takasi]

Mobility Question: With the exception of sleep, how did the party ground the dragon? Did the DMs run the dragons on the ground or in the air?