What do you do when the rules don't allow something?

[delericho]

Then, just as I'm working on the lair, it suddenly hit me. The dragon just isn't dumb enough to get into melee with the group. And given it's lair is open terrain, the dragon has unlimited potential to just hit and run.

So either I play the dragon as dumb, or I have an encounter that will take forever and a day to complete as the players pling away at it with ranged attacks.

That's a problem for your players to solve. Ideally, you should construct the terrain to provide the PCs with some opportunity to corner the dragon and take it down, but once it gets down to it, it is for the players to have their PCs win the encounter. It is not the DM's responsibility to 'give' them the win.

But, how about this...

Let them hear about this particular dragon, its quirks, its personality, its flaws... this should give them some levels on the dragon's personality that they could use to force the issue. Perhaps it is particularly proud of a particular statue in its hoard, and if the PCs threaten that then it will rush to the attack. Perhaps the dragon's pride is such that it will swoop down to torment a single opponent in melee, so if the PCs use one of their number as bait it will rush to the attack. Perhaps there's a hatchling...

Now, regardless of system, that's a problem I'm sure lots of people have faced in their games. Even if the players get creative, how would I handle it? How do you play an intelligent foe in a situation where the rules don't really have any solution?

Remember that very intelligent people aren't immune to making mistakes. They don't make them as often, but they do make them. Indeed, quite often the mistakes that a very intelligent person makes are really quite bad.

Also, no-one is 100% rational 100% of the time. (Granted, in a fantasy universe some creatures may be, but these are by far the exception in D&D as written.) We all have quirks, neuroses, fears, emotions, flaws... I try to build these into my NPCs, and then have their behaviours reflect this. If the PCs are smart enough to research their foes in advance, they have an advantage. If the PCs aren't, they should still be able to work something out by observing the actions of their foes during the combat.

 

[Dioltach]

Wouldn't the simplest solution be just to make it a flightless dragon? Ramp up some other ability if you want to retain the challenge rating. Give it camouflage and rapid movement through undergrowth to make it difficult, but not impossible, to pin it down.

Remember, the rules are just guidelines to let you turn your imagination into a game.

 

[Nifft]

A dragon who is using hit-and-run tactics has left its hoard undefended. As a player, I'd take the money and run.

As a DM, once the players had the money, the dragon would stand and fight.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Kzach]

A dragon who is using hit-and-run tactics has left its hoard undefended. As a player, I'd take the money and run.

As a DM, once the players had the money, the dragon would stand and fight.

Cheers, -- N

A clever dragon hides its horde.

 

[Umbran]

Assuming you're not willing to redesign the lair, I'd suggest that you either

A) Allow the PCs to learn ahead of time what they'll be facing, and let them track down tools and methods--such as, perhaps, a one-shot magic item--that'll force the dragon to fight on the ground, or...

B) Give the dragon a reason to fight on the ground.

These are good advice.

a) It is a tactical problem - let the players know about it, and let them figure out the solution if they want to kill the dragon. That's their job, right?

b) The dragon is going to have motivations other than self-preservation (eveyrone does) - play on some of those to keep him in reach most of the time.

 

[Baron Opal]

It's okay if the dragon has to flee. Recurring villians, to a point, are cool.

 

[pawsplay]

The way I see it, the dragon is either an obstacle, in which case the players can look at ways of dealing with it, such as stealing it's hoard, going to the location it was guarding, or disrupting its network of minions, or else it is the target, in which the PCs, in the capacity of bounty hunters, are going to have to conceive of a way to lure or trap it.

 

[RangerWickett]

Use the same tactics humans did to defeat pterosaurs: drop a meteor on them and wait a few million years.

It's kind of a dick move to have a dragon just drop on the party on an open field, so usually the players should have an inkling that there's a dragon around before they fight it. In that case, they can do a bit of research, try to figure out where the thing lives, and make a plan to fight it. That plan could just be 'get a bunch of bows and hire archers to come with us.'

Of course, making a plan doesn't matter if the thing lives in a featureless plain. In the real world, no solitary creature does that because it's too open to attack and the elements. Even bushmen on the savanna have huts.

I think it's a flaw of the rules that ambushes aren't more effective. At best you might be able to coup de grace a sleeping dragon (if you're a bad-ass at sneaking), which could never kill it. And hot or cold weather could never kill a dragon. So yeah, RAW there's no tactical reason a dragon needs to sleep in a cave, except if he wants to keep his treasure protected.

I'd recommend giving it some sort of lair, just for the sake of making things interesting. I mean, he wants to have some place to meet with his minions, right?

 

[Doug McCrae]

It could be a wingless dragon. Otherwise I agree with CapnZapp, enemies that act dumb enough to permit a big climactic battle have been a staple of roleplaying games and fiction for about 12 million years.

 

[S'mon]

It needs a cliff or spire to jump off to start flying? Otherwise it's grounded.

Really, the difficulty of taking flight impromptu is the only reason why dragons would ever be encountered on the ground.