Black dragon down, four PCs down

[Captain Marsh]

So I've been posting about my clumsy efforts to DM the clash between a party of eight 10th level PCs and a somewhat overpowered black dragon

(I'm using the Ancient specimen from the PFRPG Bestiary).

Here's the "final" outcome:

After ducking under the marsh to partially heal herself, Mala Blackskull came raging to the surface, spewing acid.

She also called for help from a hill giant sorcerer (draconic bloodline, obviously, one of her progeny).

Between them, they managed to kill a ranger (cut in half by the dragon's tail) and a fighter (decapitated by Mala's jaws).

They also knocked a monk into negative territory (he's since been healed up to about 40 HP) and rendered a wizard unconscious using Touch of Idiocy.

The good news for the party is that they managed to take Mala out, mostly with a flurry of fireballs.

So now they're desperately trying to kill the hill giant sorcerer, hoping that one more show of strength will frighten the rest of the hill giant clan into fleeing.

I played the dragon very aggressively.

In fact, my one give-away was that I played Mala pretty straight-forwardly. She stood and fought even when grievously wounded.

My in-story rationale was that she was a fairly degenerate, half-mad dragon, in a rage. She had also dropped two of the party in quick order, so she could taste victory.

My DM rationale was that the players had fought well, paid a heavy price. A lot of entertainment value would have been lost had I withheld a final resolution.

Fortunately, I don't need Mala as a recurring villain. In fact, it adds to the story if the other dragons in my plot have a particular reason to hate these adventurers.

One final note: I found a local Army surplus store that makes cheap dog tags. Each of the players got a set to commemorate their role in the black dragon smackdown.

Thanks again for all the advice.

--Marsh

[Evil Lincoln]

I really enjoyed hearing about these exploits over all three threads. Good work, man!

[Dragonborn3]

The dog tags were a nice touch! Good job on the dragon vs. player fight.

[M P 433]

Good stuff, sounds like your players earned those tags!

(Read Touch of Idiocy spell description again, though.)

[Madcap Storm King]

Fun stuff! Fighting a powerful creature does really give you a rush. Knowing the bitter end is just a bad roll away, and the triumph in bringing it down when and if you do is one of the great things about combat.

I think you handled it very well. Thanks for keeping us updated!

[hogarth]

How did the PCs handle the dragon's spell resistance? Did you drop it to a reasonable level?

[Captain Marsh]

I actually DMed the Touch of Idiocy accurately: the wizard was reduced to 1's for Int and Wis. He wasn't unconscious, just sort of blithering and useless.

One of the players had actually taken some feats that boosted his spell penetration - so his fireballs landed pretty handily.

Most of the magic used against Mala was buff magic - specifically True Strike spells cast on the fighters.

Here's an interesting note:

In the days after the battle, I heard from all the players -- even the ones who 'died' -- and they were really pumped about the whole experience, ready for the next chapter.

Except for one, whose character jumped into the swamp and kept failing his strength checks to maneuver through the thick muck.

Again, as a DM I was oblivious to the fact that this player felt really frustrated and "left out."

Worse was the fact that he was actually trying to do something cool: rather than a frontal attack, he was trying to be sort of sneaky and clever.

Sigh.

The DMs balance of being an 'entertainer' and a 'rules enforcer' is slippery, especially when you're trying to manage so many variables in real time.

--Marsh

[Evil Lincoln]

Captain Marsh wrote:

The DMs balance of being an 'entertainer' and a 'rules enforcer' is slippery, especially when you're trying to manage so many variables in real time.

Quoted for Truth.