Questions about a Crystal Dragon HELP!

[Vardandor]

Ok I have a group of 5 4th level players and I want the last boss in a dungeon to be a young crystal dragon but there are some things about how to play the creature that I don't understand. First off it says it can burrow now what kind of action is that standard or full? The breathe attack it has does sonic damage but just how much sonic damage can make a player def or does it even work that way? Oh and does anyone have any cool Ideas for how I could make the encounter more interesting im open to any ideas. thanks!

[clawoftiamat]

Burrow is just a form of movement. It is part of whatever action it is taking to move. The sonic damage will not deafen a character unless there is some specific ability on that creature that says it will.

[Vardandor]

clawoftiamat wrote:

Burrow is just a form of movement. It is part of whatever action it is taking to move. The sonic damage will not deafen a character unless there is some specific ability on that creature that says it will.

Thanks!

[Vardandor]

If I wanted to make it so that it's sonic breathe weapon could make them def if they get hit from it what would the mechanics of that be? Sorry for all the noob questions btw.

[Michael Sayre]

You'd probably want to give them a fortitude save equal to the normal save DC of the breath weapon. Deaf's a pretty nasty condition, I'd probably only have them make the fort save if they fail the reflex save first.

[Booksy]

Depending on how challenging you want to make it, I have 3 suggestions.

Easiest: If the dragon crits with the breath weapon, they roll a fort save, succeed or go deaf 1d4 rounds.

Harder: If the dragon crits with the breath weapon, they go deaf.

Hardest: Everytime the dragon uses its breath weapon, they roll a fort save, succeed or go deaf 1d4 rounds.

Also, if this is a sonic based creature, you may want to consider giving it blindsense(ie sonar), and having the party fight it in the dark. If its intelligent enough it may have powers/items to extiguish light or create darkness.
Either of these tactics can be particularly nasty with a 5th level party though, judge your group from past experience, some like a real challenge, others might get frustrated and rage/quit

[Troubleshooter]

Keep in mind, that would also increase the power of the creature. If you want to maintain the same strength but add in the ability because it would be cool, then you should shave off some statistics from elsewhere to compensate. However, if the party is already stronger than a typical party that should be encountering a creature, then it's more reasonable to add on power bumps.

I see you have a group of five 4th level characters, so if you've selected a CR 6 (tough battle) or CR 7 (dire threat) creature to be a boss, the extra player on the PCs side gives you some wiggle room for increasing the boss's power. The CR system assumes a party of four members, but the effective Average Party Level doesn't increase by a full +1 until they get a sixth party member, so you don't quite have a full extra CR to budget with.

I think it'd probably be fine if you make the deafening effect its own ability, but if you're going to piggyback it with the sonic breath weapon I'd suggest you scale something back to compensate. If your dragon's breath weapon hits and deafens the party spellcasters, those spell failure chances might make it start looking a lot more like a party of three or four effective characters again ...

[Vardandor]

Also, if this is a sonic based creature, you may want to consider giving it blindsense(ie sonar), and having the party fight it in the dark. If its intelligent enough it may have powers/items to extiguish light or create darkness.
Either of these tactics can be particularly nasty with a 5th level party though, judge your group from past experience, some like a real challenge, others might get frustrated and rage/quit

That's a really cool idea what spell creates darkness so that even characters with dark vision can't see?..

[Troubleshooter]

Deeper Darkness.

[Vardandor]

I am going to shave down the stats on the thing I just want to give it more interesting abilities.

[Bearded Ben]

Rather than mess with it further, you could just use burrow to have it retreat underground then reappear where the weaker party members were when it went underground.