Will this Lead to a TPK? [updated 3/16]

[roguerouge]

Back this dragon down to juvenile size and play without handcuffs, man!

CR 11 (plus the missing 3 makes for a real CR 14) It's size large, so still impressive. No DR/Magic. Only 1st level spells. AC 23 and HP 142, which are improvements, at least. Breath weapon average damage of 36. Best melee attack at +19.

You're going to want to use those ruins, for cover from the BW and cool exploding wall effects. You're going to want a morale factor, where it'll flee at half hit points. You'll want to kill the giant and the thingy first, to give your PCs a chance. You'll need to give them magic arrows (disposable) for long bows to shoot from cover. You'll want to give wands with long range offensive spells, such as fire ball and acid arrow.

And, since this is an ambush, you want that ambush to occur in a place where a Web spell might work. Again, a ruin without a ceiling might help here. (Dragon lands impressively before the puny humanoids hiding in a ruin without a ceiling only to discover: it's a trap!)

 

[moritheil]

Its going to be outdoors - they are in the middle of the desert.

Taking on a blue in the desert gives it a definite home-ground advantage. What's to stop it from snatching up one character and flying away to kill it, then returning hours later after the party's buffs drop to kill the next one?

 

[Lord Zardoz]

I decided to kick off my second series of adventures with an exciting challenge for my players: a fight with a dragon!

My players characters are mostly 7th level:
Human Rgr 5/ Master of many shapes 2 (using UA Ranger Variant)
Human Fighter 7
Half-Ogre Rgr 2 / Fighter 2
Human Sorcerer 6
Elf Rogue 2 / Cleric 4

The dragon in question is an adult blue (CR 14).

I say retool this encounter. A big fight is only rewarding for the DM if the DM does not have to pull his punches. If you play this on as hard as you can, your going to get a TPK. Your players do not exactly have much in the way of healing.

I would go with a Young adult (CR 11) dragon. This will get you basic Damage Reduction and Spell resistance, and a Reach attack for size. The breath weapon will be fairly brutal, but being a line effect, your not going to get many chances to zap multiple targets with it. I would also find a way to avoid giving the players any help on this. So why not work a Con against the players? The Giant does not like the dragon, but why share the loot with the players? Let the Dragon 'drop' the giant and then when the players have won, the Giant gets back up and takes a shot at the severely depleted and damaged players.

If you want to run the fight as described, I strongly suggest that instead on one massive dragon you go with a Dragon + a number of Half Dragon minions of whatever type you care to use. This will let you keep the fight difficulty high, but give you a better means of adapting the encounter mid stream.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[bento]

Thanks everyone for all the ideas!

From your suggestions I think I now have several alternatives that I can work with on game night that will be satisfying to the players and help move the story along!

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Thanks everyone for all the ideas!

From your suggestions I think I now have several alternatives that I can work with on game night that will be satisfying to the players and help move the story along!

I take it that you won't be leaving the encounter as you originally planned?

Olaf the Stout

 

[bento]

I'll say this - nothing in D&D truly goes as planned.

 

[shilsen]

I'll say this - nothing in D&D truly goes as planned.

Don't forget to come back and post about how it didn't go as planned

 

[Mark]

Don't forget to come back and post about how it didn't go as planned

Yes. Those are the bestest D&D stories of all.

 

[bento]

Yes. Those are the bestest D&D stories of all.

Oh - I'll definately give you an update next weekend!

 

[S'mon]

Thing about a CR 14 dragon - it's intended to be a tough fight for a fully prepped 14th level party! Dragon CRs are all at least 2-3 points lower than their real threat level.