Why would a dragon NOT take Antimagic field?

[NewJeffCT]

The one critical thing your not understanding about AMF is that it's an emanation centered on the middlemost intersecting lines of the 5x5 square area the dragon is occupying. It's effect would barely make it outside the dragons chest cavity, i.e. useless fro what your intending it to do. Expect your PC's to argue that first if they are paying attention in the "red haze" will call it. Secondly, the APL of the party is 20 (not including any prep they have taken) and the CAEL of the impending battle is, from what I'm reading somewhere around 27-29. So I'll assume that you started the game with a higher difficulty setting (i.e. More than standard point buy) and have very skilled and clever players, which is good, for their escape here, cause that's about all they can hope to do or wipe by round 3-5. By round 2 if your accounting is correct you've "halved" the effectiveness of the party from 20 to 15, and placed the enemy groups AEL up to somewhere around 30. Meaning the encounter, in terms of APL vs. ECL is too far off the scale for standard expectations, so expect the unexpected. By round 3, Likely all of the party will have all but been subdued or killed and the living encumbered or helpless ones will be getting a mudhole stomped in them by the encroaching swarm of cultists. Good job... What now tough guy

AMF is an emanation, but it surrounds you & moves with you per the text. It's seems silly that the spell would be useless to a large, huge, colossal or gargantuan creature, which is why the text specifies that it surrounds you and is different than your typical emanation description. Heck, it's a level 6 spell, so would not be available to a red dragon until it reached level 12 as a sorcerer and was gargantuan in size, which makes it doubly pointless... it's not like it was Medium size and grew into being too big to cast it.

 

[GaimMastr]

Another thing I noticed that I missed

Also, if the AMF is up as you insist, any spellcasting that the dragon attempts will be supressed and therefore useless.

 

[NuSair]

Also, if the AMF is up as you insist, any spellcasting that the dragon attempts will be supressed and therefore useless.

That really depends... and it isn't always useless. The effect is suppressed, so once out of the field, it would take effect.

Also, there are ways to cast things inside an AFM.

 

[GaimMastr]

centering

If you cast in on yourself it emanates " from the center of yourself affecting the squares immediately surrounding you. If you cast it on a area you choose an intersection at it covers the 4 squares around that intersection and the 2 extending to the direct left/right up/down, but NOT the corners.

OXXO
XXXX
XXXX
OXXO

I had a dragon in one of my last 3.5E campaigns use antimagic field. It makes sense.



It's described as a 10 ft radius emanation centred on you (ie, the caster) which we always treated as excluding the caster's space.

If you don't exclude the caster's space, assuming a Medium caster occupying a single square, you end up with your emanation extending halfway through the outermost squares. The rules weren't clear on this so we just assumed that the intention was that the squares in a spell's area of effect were either affected or not affected which can only work if you assume that the emanation does not include the caster's space.

 

[Dark Dragon]

It can also be very boring when your players have studied the books so much that they have a contingency for everything and turn CR challenges that should wipe the party handily into walks in the park. In my worlds there's nothing better than a GM fiat. But then again I tend to me more visceral and stroytelling/refereeing, than tabletop wargamee.

In fact, the players don't tend to plan everything in detail in adavance or develop contingencies for situation x or y. Their style of play has some similarities to real life: you can't plan for everything, and sometimes life is mean (i.e. the dice do not favor the PCs) and you have to accept that. For me as DM, I play more on the storytelling side of the game. I don't like excessive battles (which are difficult to manage in the D&D system, IMO), and I don't like excessive buff orgies either (like piling some 5 or more numbers of spells on each PC, then DimDoor in to annihilate the evil guys). For the latter, there is consensus in the group to keep buff orgies to a minimum.

The upcoming fight is a rare exception and a major turning point of the storyline: the party directly faces for the first time an evil organisation that is seeking to capture the PCs' brass dragon companion for years, and now finally has the opportunity to achieve success. The PCs have fought strong dragons earlier, but those dragons were attacked either by surprise, or, if the dragon attacked the party, faced a team that worked well together and that was clever enough to realize when it was time to retreat ASAP.

In the end, the PCs need to find a way to extricate from the trap with their means at hand, possibly making some difficult and ethically questionable decisions for survival.

As for spending the extra time making the dragon so it can't be hit whist at the same time depleting the PC's resources and damaging them, why do this. It sounds like a bully tactic a GM would use and a GM i'd call off on 99% of the time as a player. It's also against the spirit of the game if you put this same amount of undue effort into every encounter or skirmish to use the correct term.

That's why I intend to use AMF as a back-up if the dragon's plan does not work out. I am not intending to make the dragon immune to all forms of attacks. But I intend to play the dragon as a smart and evil, cruel creature using possible advantages for himself while denying advantages to its foes. As I said earlier, it is a draco-centric campaign, and the old dragons are on the top of the hierarchy (along with some epic spell casters). Letting the PCs simply kill the dragon would reduce the monster to something more or less trivial, IMHO. Making it a worthy adversary or potentially a nemesis is more difficult but would show even epic PCs that they are not invincible per se.

From most earlier battles of any PCs vs. a big dragon, arcane firepower did the most damage and/or crippled the dragon's mobility (e.g. reducing its fly speed or have otherwise adverse effects on move options) over a considerable distance, unless the dragon was forced into melee combat (which meant that he was subject to the full power of the party and finished off even faster).

Even within an AMF, the dragon is not invulnerable: his AC will drop, the party fighter is a formidable foe even when blind and wielding a non-magical weapon, and he can't leave the battle quickly by magic means if hit by a critical attack and/or low on hp. To take out the arcane component and reduce the damage output of the melee guys, Blinding Breath and/or AMF seems fair to me.

It's also against the spirit of the game if you put this same amount of undue effort into every encounter or skirmish to use the correct term.

I fully agree! Most of my encounters are not designed to show the players that their PCs are still weak despite of being at level 25, just because the foes have the right spell or ability at hand to counter the PCs' abilities. This one special encounter however is designed to be difficult.

The earlier fight with the lavawight should have been easier (because the monsters did not have a plan and no magic backing), but it became deadly due to a lot of bad luck on the players' side (failed save, failed rolls to overcome SR, failed tumble checks), and a bit of good luck on the DM's side (two confirmed 20s, mostly high rolls for damage).

The one critical thing your not understanding about AMF is that it's an emanation centered on the middlemost intersecting lines of the 5x5 square area the dragon is occupying. It's effect would barely make it outside the dragons chest cavity, i.e. useless fro what your intending it to do. Expect your PC's to argue that first if they are paying attention in the "red haze" will call it. Secondly, the APL of the party is 20 (not including any prep they have taken) and the CAEL of the impending battle is, from what I'm reading somewhere around 27-29. So I'll assume that you started the game with a higher difficulty setting (i.e. More than standard point buy) and have very skilled and clever players, which is good, for their escape here, cause that's about all they can hope to do or wipe by round 3-5. By round 2 if your accounting is correct you've "halved" the effectiveness of the party from 20 to 15, and placed the enemy groups AEL up to somewhere around 30. Meaning the encounter, in terms of APL vs. ECL is too far off the scale for standard expectations, so expect the unexpected. By round 3, Likely all of the party will have all but been subdued or killed and the living encumbered or helpless ones will be getting a mudhole stomped in them by the encroaching swarm of cultists. Good job... What now tough guy

Four of the PCs are at level 25, the fifth just made it to 26. We used a 32 point-buy method for the stats. A few buff items are used in the group, but they are not maximized. Except for the straight fighter, all other PCs have multiclassed (some 3 to 4 classes including PrCs), so they are not optimized in their main class. Their two brass dragon allies are either a spectator (a very young brass dragon with 7 HD), or a potential threat to the evil guys (the juvenile vampiric brass dragon with an ECL of 29 which the cultists want to capture by any means and convert it to the evil side). The half golem is a nice but rather short-lived meat shield (97 hp, but with DR 10/adamantine and magic immunity). The party is still protected by Resist Fire (30 points), at full hit points (between 170 and 250 hp), and in possession of an evil artefact with some control over time (but its effects are usable only for the guy who carries the thing, which is the cleric in this case). They have only a few high-level spells left, which is a drawback.

The players have managed difficult encounters earlier (this group meets for some 10 years now, IIRC, if not for longer), so far, they were clever enough

Something about the topic...

If you cast in on yourself it emanates " from the center of yourself affecting the squares immediately surrounding you. If you cast it on a area you choose an intersection at it covers the 4 squares around that intersection and the 2 extending to the direct left/right up/down, but NOT the corners.

OXXO
XXXX
XXXX
OXXO

Agreed, as posted by Scorpio616. Let's have a look at the SRD:

Antimagic Field
Abjuration
Level: Clr 8, Magic 6, Protection 6, Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 10 ft.
Area: 10-ft.-radius emanation, centered on you
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: See text

An invisible barrier surrounds you and moves with you. The space within this barrier is impervious to most magical effects, including spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. Likewise, it prevents the functioning of any magic items or spells within its confines.

An antimagic field suppresses any spell or magical effect used within, brought into, or cast into the area, but does not dispel it. Time spent within an antimagic field counts against the suppressed spell’s duration.

Summoned creatures of any type and incorporeal undead wink out if they enter an antimagic field. They reappear in the same spot once the field goes away. Time spent winked out counts normally against the duration of the conjuration that is maintaining the creature. If you cast antimagic field in an area occupied by a summoned creature that has spell resistance, you must make a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against the creature’s spell resistance to make it wink out. (The effects of instantaneous conjurations are not affected by an antimagic field because the conjuration itself is no longer in effect, only its result.)

A normal creature can enter the area, as can normal missiles. Furthermore, while a magic sword does not function magically within the area, it is still a sword (and a masterwork sword at that). The spell has no effect on golems and other constructs that are imbued with magic during their creation process and are thereafter self-supporting (unless they have been summoned, in which case they are treated like any other summoned creatures). Elementals, corporeal undead, and outsiders are likewise unaffected unless summoned. These creatures’ spell-like or supernatural abilities, however, may be temporarily nullified by the field. Dispel magic does not remove the field, though Mage's Disjunction might.

Two or more antimagic fields sharing any of the same space have no effect on each other. Certain spells, such as wall of force, prismatic sphere, and prismatic wall, remain unaffected by antimagic field (see the individual spell descriptions). Artifacts and deities are unaffected by mortal magic such as this.

Should a creature be larger than the area enclosed by the barrier, any part of it that lies outside the barrier is unaffected by the field.
Arcane Material Component

A pinch of powdered iron or iron filings.

The AMF wording says "10-ft.-radius emanation, centered on you". Again, the SRD:

Area

Some spells affect an area. Sometimes a spell description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area falls into one of the categories defined below.

Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the spell originates, but otherwise you don’t control which creatures or objects the spell affects. The point of origin of a spell is always a grid intersection. When determining whether a given creature is within the area of a spell, count out the distance from the point of origin in squares just as you do when moving a character or when determining the range for a ranged attack. The only difference is that instead of counting from the center of one square to the center of the next, you count from intersection to intersection.

You can count diagonally across a square, but remember that every second diagonal counts as 2 squares of distance. If the far edge of a square is within the spell’s area, anything within that square is within the spell’s area. If the spell’s area only touches the near edge of a square, however, anything within that square is unaffected by the spell.
Burst, Emanation, or Spread

Most spells that affect an area function as a burst, an emanation, or a spread. In each case, you select the spell’s point of origin and measure its effect from that point.

An emanation spell functions like a burst spell, except that the effect continues to radiate from the point of origin for the duration of the spell. Most emanations are cones or spheres.

By the wording and assuming that a gargantuan dragon completely covers 20x20 ft (i.e. including the corners) one could say that the creature could be harmed by aiming spells at its "corners". At these corners however, SR, DR, and ongoing spells cast prior to AMF would work as well!
An AMF'ed dragon could place its head in one of the corners (remember, there's no facing in D&D), and use its breath weapon. Overall this would make the use of AMF not really useful UNLESS the dragon snatches or jumps/crushes a foe to deny access to magic means (like DimDoor or healing).

The AMF-snatch combo would work even if we assume that the dragon is not protected at its "corners" by the RAW. A snatched PC between the teeth of an AMF'ed dragon (or even swallowed) is not capable of casting spells (exception: Invoke Magic, as was pointed out earlier) or use magic items other than artefacts. A dragon who seeks out to kill nasty spell-slinging would-be dragon hunters still would refer to this strategy: cast AMF, fly-by & snatch, kill. Rinse, repeat.

A dragon who wants to be on the safe side would take Widen Spell to fit into an AMF. I did rule it earlier by following the RAW and used once a dragon with a widened AMF, but I had (and still have) some doubts if ruling AMF by RAW follows the spirit of the rules for several reasons:

1) A dragon is not a cube. A gelatinous cube is a cube, a Borg cube is a cube. A dragon is not. A gargantuan dragon has a wing span pretty much extending a 20x20 ft area, but this is not covered by the rules. A dragon gliding in for an attack is technically a cube with scales and pointy weapons that may suddenly protrude from the cube.

2) Using the RAW, parts of that dragon are simultaneously protected by AMF and other ongoing spells, e.g., earlier cast spells like Haste, Greater Magic Fang, Protection from Energy, ... would still work despite the AMF because they could happen to be on those limbs that are just outside the AMF. This makes batteling an AMF'ed + spell-pimped dragon a very nasty thing. I don't think that the developers of D&D had in mind that AMF (and other short-ranged emanations) could be cast by gargantuan creatures...

Looks a bit like "DM's ruling needed"...

 

[jasper]

Why would a dragon NOT take Antimagic field?
Because with Antimagic field his Lucky Charms are not magically delicious.

 

[Empirate]

Might I also suggest a slight variation in tactics: Ray of Enfeeblement is a weak spell for a dragon of this caliber to even consider using. A Split, Empowered or Split, Maximized one might be useful, I'll give you that, but the effects still go away inside an AMF, so why bother? How about just "buffing up" with some Shivering Touch (holding the charge) right before combat starts, and use it as part of the first claw/claw/bite/wing/wing/tail slap routine?

Also, concerning spell and feat selection, I'd really like to see Practiced Spellcaster (instead of Wingover, maybe), and Scintillating Scales (instead of Invisibility, which is redundant). Recover Breath, too, is a wasted feat IMO, since you'll probably only use one breath attack all combat long - it's just better to replace it with Maximize Breath or something to really punch home that one breath, or use Quickened Breath to do other stuff in the same round. Why not both?

Scintillating Scales is a spell no high-level dragon should be without, as touch AC is really the one big, glaring hole in its defenses. Turning natural armor into a deflection bonus is a nice way of dealing with this. Also works great with Barkskin.
Magic Missile, seriously? Silent Image at least has some potential use. But eh, that's 1st level spells in a CR 21 anyway, so whatever.

 

[GaimMastr]

I give...

Whatever your doing is apparently working for your gaming group. I simply cannot more succinctly state my opinion beyond that.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Might I also suggest a slight variation in tactics: Ray of Enfeeblement is a weak spell for a dragon of this caliber to even consider using. A Split, Empowered or Split, Maximized one might be useful, I'll give you that, but the effects still go away inside an AMF, so why bother? How about just "buffing up" with some Shivering Touch (holding the charge) right before combat starts, and use it as part of the first claw/claw/bite/wing/wing/tail slap routine?

Shivering Touch is not (yet?) available in my group. The splat book selection is limited to FRCS, PGtF, MoF, MonoF, Complete Arcane, Divine, Warrior, Adventurer, Scoundrel, Mage, Champion, Dragon Magic, Draconomicon, PHB, DMG, MM, MM1&2. The DM can of course use whatever he/she sees fit, I use for instance LoD, DoF, and BoVD as well.

But I consider Shivering Touch very close of being broken: 3d6 DEX DAMAGE for a level 3 spell without a save??? And it does not say that the spell is discharged after the attack (duration: 1 round/level). Other spells like Vampiric Touch, Contagion, or Poison (+/- same level) are instantaneous, with a save or slow damage progression, Touch of Idiocy just gives a non-stacking penalty... I may be mistaken about touch spell discharge however. I guess they are discharged on the first successful attack, but I rarely use them in-game...

IIRC, holding a spell charge and subsequently casting another spell would discharge the first spell. So it would not work if the dragon casts Blinding Breath immediately before his attack...

Agreed about Ray of Enfeeblement, it complicates matters somewhat if AMF joins in. Chill Touch would be an alternative, but as you said, 1st level spells for a CR 21 creature are, well, not tipping the balance that much. Shield is always nice, though.

Also, concerning spell and feat selection, I'd really like to see Practiced Spellcaster (instead of Wingover, maybe), and Scintillating Scales (instead of Invisibility, which is redundant). Recover Breath, too, is a wasted feat IMO, since you'll probably only use one breath attack all combat long - it's just better to replace it with Maximize Breath or something to really punch home that one breath, or use Quickened Breath to do other stuff in the same round. Why not both?

Hmm, I don't see much gain if the dragon takes Practiced Spellcaster... Scintillating Scales is nice, if you take the version from Spell Compendium. If you use the Draconomicon version, it is not as good: deflection bonus equal to CON modifier, natural armor decreases by 1/2 CON modifier. Still it is a good spell, and it would give the dragon a free ring slot (remove the RoP +3). Did I miss an erratum about Scintillating Scales?

Indeed, Quicken and Maximize Breath are worthy alternatives. Drawback: Maximize Breath is a full round action, so no fly-by attack. And it can't be combined with Quicken Breath... But I have to consider Quicken Breath!

Magic Missile, seriously? Silent Image at least has some potential use. But eh, that's 1st level spells in a CR 21 anyway, so whatever.

True, but I always keep in mind that the dragon did not pop into existence as a very old creature but it developed and learned spells that were good in the beginning, and that faded in power later. Magic Missile is nice because it also hits incorporeal creatures, and dragons have as all other corporeal creatures their difficulties with ghosts and co. As all other dragon that the PCs encounter, this one has a background as well, and it may happen that the group learns some bits and bites about it.

Whatever your doing is apparently working for your gaming group. I simply cannot more succinctly state my opinion beyond that.

And I appreciate your thoughts very much I know that this encounter is a thin red line regarding storyline, playing evil foes in an evil way, game balance, and fun. A TPK is no fun at all, and the same holds for killing a PC when he cannot fight back at least. Still I hope that the party uses its abilities and equipment efficiently. The use of the evil artefact would offer some helpful options, but it is ethically very questionable and will have a negative impact on the cleric's alignment (he is LG, but the artefact's evilness has become obvious on several occasions; remember the One Ring?! ). The group knows this, but they saw no other options but to keep it so that an evil guy cannot get it without a fight...

For AMF (and other short-ranged emanations) I was thinking about if the emanation starts on the surface of the caster. This would make AMF and dragons even more powerful though, and be in violation of the RAW, but it would remove some strange situations with big creatures being partially protected by an AMF, while their limbs could be enhanced by spells and attacked by foes with magical energy. The latter point is even contradictive to the rules that say that there is no facing, and there are no called shots to limbs or heads UNLESS specifically said otherwise (like heads of a hydra, eyes of a beholder). A dragon in an AMF is theoretically not subject to called shots, and the DM could rule that it is still protected by the spell even if it does not fit into the sphere at 100 %.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Update

Last sunday, the battle took place... right after some delicious chocolate cake and some cups of coffee At the beginning of the session I asked to put up the big battle map onto the table...

Goals of Team Evil aka the Cult of the Dragon (1x necromancer 11/wearer of purple 3, 1x cleric 9, 1x wizard 7, 1x very old red dragon, 14x gnoll rgr 2, 1x gnoll chief: bbn 4/ftr 4/rgr 2):
1) capture the vampiric brass dragon
2) survive the battle
3) kill as much adventurers, if goals 1 and 2 allow to do so

Team Evil does not know that the PCs are low on spells, nor they do know anything about the artefact (Klorr's Timepiece) that the cleric/pious templar carries.

The gnolls would immediately flee once the red dragon would be gone.

The adventurers and their pseudodragon familiars left the cavern not tightly packed (which was good for them), the half-golem in front, the two brass dragon youngsters (one vampiric dragon, and his younger brother) being airborne already, circling above the group. They were still protected by Resist Fire (30 pts), which helped a lot. But they were very low on spells. One PC is a lycanthrope, and it is her first full moon

In the surprise action, the very old red dragon Sjachixen - prepared with a range of protective spells: Disguise Self (as a Black Dragon: gives a bonus to Hide in a dark night; and I don't have a gargantuan red dragon miniature ), Protection from Cold, Resist Acid, Stoneskin, Shield, Protection from Law, See Invisibility, Greater Invisibility, Death Ward - cast Evard's Black Tentacles ("EBT", CL 13) into the center of the group. In the spell's area were the warmage, the wizard/enlightened fist, the fighter, and the ftr/mnk/druid, including their pseudodragon familiars. Except for the ftr/mnk/druid, THEY ALL FAILED their grapple checks!!! The half-golem, the mnk/clr/pious templar and the two brass dragons were outside the area. The gnolls started to fire arrows, the NPC very young brass dragon is hit twice.

Round 1: roll initiative.
- The cultists just readied actions to counter any sort of teleportation, they would not play a role in the coming fight, though.
- the druid leaves the EBT area, and dismisses her familiar (standard action, works similar as a paladin's special mount)
- the enlightened fist succeeds her grapple check and leaves the EBT area
- Sjachixen breathes his Blinding Breath, hitting the pious templar, the warmage, the fighter, the enlightened fist, the golem, and the remaining pseudodragons. Except for the pseudodragons (but which have Improved Evasion), now most of them MADE THEIR SAVES! I rolled up 111 damage, but only the ftr and the pseudodragons were blinded (most were badly beaten). I rolled the dragon's recharge time: he could breath again in the next round thanks to Recover Breath...
- the ftr dismissed her pseudodragon
- the pious templar tried to dispel the EBT but failed (the player rolled a 2), he then ordered the golem to search and attack any enemy archers and also ordered his pseudodragon familiar to fly to safety
- the golem marches in the direction of the gnolls, as ordered
- the NPC very young brass dragon got nervous and asked the enlightened fist what to do (he has not seen the PCs fighting a big dragon before...)
- the vampiric brass dragon located the invisible and camouflaged red dragon by chance via blindsense and breathed some fire. The flames shortly outlined the red dragon's silhouette, showing the PCs that something very big and hot is out there
- the warmage dismissed his pseudodragon, but had to stay in the EBT
- the gnolls fired the next volley (no damage)

Round 2:
- the druid decided to find the enemy archers and moved towards the gnolls, finding one and killing him
- the enlightened fist dismissed her familiar
- Sjachixen moved, used another Blinding Breath as a fly-by attack, hitting again the pious templar, the ftr, and the warmage. I rolled 89 damage only, but the warmage and the ftr failed the saves. The red dragon now felt his breath power was a bit exhausted: recharge time 3 rounds.
- the ftr succeeded her grapple check and stumbled out of the EBT area (she was close to its border anyway)
- the pious templar moved to the blinded ftr and cast Remove Blindness
- the golem spotted a gnoll archer and cut him in half
- the NPC brass dragon searched the enemy archers as well, spotted two of them hidden in a gully, and incinerated them.
- the vampiric brass dragon has lost track of Sjachixen, and decided to delay
- the warmage succeeded his grapple check and just made it outside the EBT area
- the gnolls kept on firing, the lycanthrope (the druid) is hit (I rolled a 20) and now turns into a weretiger (the moon light was covered by ash clouds from the volcano, so I decided that damage starts the transformation)

Round 3:
- the weretiger druid turned towards the gnoll that hit him, ripping him apart
- the enlightened fist cast See Invisibility, and spotted the Sjachixen
- Sjachixen cast Antimagic Field, became visible, and landed in front of the pious templar and the warmage. The guys now face the dragon and the EBT partly blocks their retreat path.
The players were quite shocked when I put that gargantuan black dragon "miniature" on the battle map It made clear that this dragon IS business.
- the vampiric brass dragon charged towards Sjachixen, provoking an AoO. He was hit, but damage was low (thanks to DR 10/silver). The vampiric dragon did not hit Sjachixen.
- the ftr activated her Boots of Flying and moved into charge position
- the pious templar considered using the artefact which would allow him to age Sjachixen to death (takes 2 rounds). The artefact is wholly evil, and the pious templar is (still) LG. He decided not to use it, but moved away from the red dragon (no AoO left for Sjachixen)
- the golem searched for more enemy archers
- the NPC brass dragon found another gnoll, but had no further attack action
- the warmage drew a potion of Remove Blindness, stumbled back into the EBT (and out of the AMF), made his grapple check, and consumed the potion.
- the few remaining gnoll archers moved and fired a few arrows (no damage)

Round 4:
- the weretiger run away into the darkness, hunting more gnolls
- the enlightened fist cast Mordenkainen's Disjunction, and successfully dispelled Sjachixen's Antimagic Field, but turning him invisible again in the process.
- Sjachixen (incorrectly) assumed that the party seems too well prepared, has enough power to dispel her wards, and is now positioning for melee combat. He attacked the vampiric brass dragon successfully, snatched him, and started to fly up, snarling: "I leave for now, I have my prize."
- the ftr followed Sjachixen (better: she followed the still visible vampiric dragon), but she could not keep up with the big dragon's speed
- the pious templar could not do much
- the golem did not find more gnolls
- the NPC brass dragon desperately followed Sjachixen (who has his elder vampiric dragon brother in his grasp)
- the vampiric brass dragon made escape attempts, and noticed that Sjachixen was protected against negative energy and potentially domination as well. Now a plan came to his mind... He told the pursuing ftr and his younger brass dragon brother: "Don't fight, follow my tracks..." He spoke this words in Chondathan language, hoping that Sjachixen would not understand (he did not).
- the warmage used the time to heal a bit
- the remaining gnolls broke and fled

Round 5:
- the enlightened fist had not heard the vampiric dragon's words, she cast Earthbind (I feared that this would come) on Sjachixen, but she did not overcome his SR (she rolled a 2, a 3 would have been enough... )
- Sjachixen realised that he is now in potential danger of loosing his flight ability and decided to move away as fast as possible, taking his "prize" with him
- the ftr returned to the party
- the NPC brass dragon followed Sjachixen in a safe distance for a while
- the vampiric dragon feinted some escape actions, but he was willing to get carried away to find out more. And Sjachixen's wards would run out eventually...
- the cultists have observed the battle from a camouflaged place (covered by an Illusory Wall), then they teleported back to a meeting point, hoping that Sjachixen would show up with the captive vampiric dragon.


I have ruled that AMF begins at the "surface" of a creature and extends 10 ft. in every direction. This is not strictly RAW, but it avoids strange effects that big creatures are only partly protected by their own AMF.

Next session is next sunday, and the party will meet the Cult of the Dragon again.

EDIT: Stupid typos...