What Classes Make the Best Dragon Hunters?

There is an upcoming game where the group will be hunting and slaying a dragon. It's a mini-arc that will be taking place while my main game is on a three week hiatus. I was working on some ideas and thought I'd throw this out to see what you guys and gals might have in mind according to that certain theme in our beloved game.

Please share.

I would think that a Paladin with the aura of courage can be a major help, though it does present a tactical issue with everyone grouped together to take advantage of it.

You might want to check out the Draconomicon. I believe they have several good dragon slaying classes. I remember Dragonslayer (what's in a name? huh)…and Dragonstalker. I can’t remember the specifics, but I think the Dragonslayer was more fighter toe to toe prestige class were the Dragonstalker was more roguish/ranger kind of prestige class. If you are using just core classes I would say paladin or fighter with a good flying mount and a heavy lance. Good luck dragons are scary.

Fizz

A Ranger/Rogue with dragons as your favored enemy would work as would a Fighter/Ranger. What kind of dragon is it? what level?

What kind of dragon is it? what level?

Don't know...I'm playing this one. So far I've been told 3rd-6th'ish. It's just a three session arc. There's a ranger already and I think there will only be three of us with a DMPC of a wiz. That leaves us with me and one other guy to come up with something. I was kinda thinking duskblade or fighter to get away from my roguish and clerical usuals.

Arctaris wrote:

What kind of dragon is it? what level?

Don't know...I'm playing this one. So far I've been told 3rd-6th'ish. It's just a three session arc. There's a ranger already and I think there will only be three of us with a DMPC of a wiz. That leaves us with me and one other guy to come up with something. I was kinda thinking duskblade or fighter to get away from my roguish and clerical usuals.

A duskblade could work, depending on the rest of the party (is the ranger emphasizing melee or ranged?). A knight might be a good choice, as well.

I played the Red Hand of Doom as a sorcerer, and it worked out very well. "Ray of Enfeeblement," "Enervation." "Enervation." "Enervation." "Enervation. I could do this all day." I really did want a Dragon Wraith, didn't work out that way tho.

Arctaris wrote:

What kind of dragon is it? what level?

Don't know...I'm playing this one. So far I've been told 3rd-6th'ish. It's just a three session arc. There's a ranger already and I think there will only be three of us with a DMPC of a wiz. That leaves us with me and one other guy to come up with something. I was kinda thinking duskblade or fighter to get away from my roguish and clerical usuals.

Duskblade is nice but don't overlook a Dragon Shaman (hate the name, its not really a shaman), d12 hd, decent armor, breath weapon, auras, decent BAB, constitution as an important stat(i.e. more hp). The lose of a +1 BAB at 3rd level when compared to a fighter or +2 BAB at 6th level when compared to a fighter is nothing compared to the extra abilities and auras. If you know what type of dragon is being encountered you can also pick your totem dragon to have a more effective breath weapon or to have the same breath weapon and use the aura of resistance to gain resistance to the BBEdragon's breath. Also 2 good saves is nice.

FH

In my homebrew campaign, we had a party that consisted of a Warlock, a Ranger/Fighter, and a Firebrand Paladin that absolutely CLEANED UP during a fight with a half-Farspawn green dragon.

You might want to check out the Draconomicon. I believe they have several good dragon slaying classes. I remember Dragonslayer (what's in a name? huh)…and Dragonstalker. I can’t remember the specifics, but I think the Dragonslayer was more fighter toe to toe prestige class were the Dragonstalker was more roguish/ranger kind of prestige class. If you are using just core classes I would say paladin or fighter with a good flying mount and a heavy lance. Good luck dragons are scary.

Fizz

The Draconomicon is a great source. The Dragonslayer is good with a fighter type but best when you use a cleric because it has 1/2 spell progression as a spellsword (CW). The feats from the book can help you out quite a bit. If you don't have the book let me know, either here or by private message on CF.

The ranger will probably be the best suited. They are the iconic "hunters" of D&D for a reason. A second one would be useful.

I'd actually reccommend a sorcerer. You can never have enough fly spells when you go off to face a dragon. Plus sorcerers are just fun to play.

But thats probably just my bias towards the core classes talking....

Ranger is the obvious class, especially if you play the ranged type and sit relatively safely out of the way. Iterating through the core classes:

Barbarian: Good for pure melee output against one opponent, and tough enough to tank the melee damage a dragon can give - at least for a while.
Bard: Kind of crap, but at least he can give that barbarian a +2, right?
Cleric: Harm isn't as powerful as it used to be against dragons, but he can certainly help everyone survive the attack - defensive buffs, breath-weapon-proofing buffs and healing do very well.
Druid: Likewise.
Fighter: Often better armoured than the barbarian, but slightly lower damage output.
Monk: Can't grapple, and dragons are difficult to stun.
Paladin: Smite, combined with mounted combat, can start the battle off with a fantastic bonus.
Ranger: As above.
Rogue: Hard to sneak attack a dragon due to its blindsense, unless you use flanking; flanking can put you at risk of tail attacks and melee is dangerous but it does at least let you sneak attack.
Sorcerer / Wizard: Depends entirely what spells you have at your disposal. Area effects are wasted on a single opponent like a dragon, but disintegrate is perfect. Don't fight a red dragon with fireball.

I think I'm going to agree with the general concensus here and say that ranger or ranger/fighter is the best way to go. Check out Favored Power Attack in either the Complete Warrior or the Complete Adventurer. It multiplies your bonus damage from Power Attack by 1.5 against your favored enemies... which, naturally, would be dragons.

If you know that the ranger in your party has dragons as a favored enemy, you could play a cleric and cast spells like Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, or other "buff" spells
If you work with your DM, you could make some nice anti-dragon spellls...
Like others have been saying, the Draconomicon could also be a good resource.

I tend toward the Cleric as well. Especially if more books are in use then just the core book - buffs, and healing are going to be critical for this fight.

I was two paragraphs into a post about the strengths and weaknesses of Dragons of a CR appropriate to a 3-6th level party but I think that maybe I'm giving to much away with that sort of thing.

So I'll keep it down to a couple of pointers. Don't go head to head with the Dragon. I don't care if your a Barbarian with 18 Con - the Dragon will kick your ass. Mobility is your friend. Avoid allowing the Dragon to make a full attack – it gets six of them. So even if you have to suffer an AoO to get away it will be worth it.

Its important to keep yourself spread out and unlikely to all be caught in the breath weapon. If your DM is using Drcanomicon and picking feats for the Dragon then its VERY important to keep yourself fairly spread out to avoid the breath weapon effecting more then one - or two at the most, characters.

I guess that's pretty much it - you need buffs to minimize the effectiveness of the Dragon's breath weapon. Also lots of healing - Dragons don't regenerate so if you can keep yourself from suffering the Dragons full attack and can minimize the damage being taken from the breath weapon with resist energy spells and potions you should prevail in the end. Buffing and healing will take you there. Oh and you need to do around 200 hps worth of damage - but again buffs are the sort of thing that will allow you to do just that. Buff yourself and buff your friends, if there is another cleric in the party so much the better.

The first thing that jumps out at me is Fighter/Ranger. But you already have a bunch of those. If the DMPC doesn't carry Resist Elements, maybe you should make a specialist Abjurer.

However, your party DOES need a Cleric/Druid unless you anticipate being able to one-round the Dragon. A Strength Domain Cleric may be a good bet given the noted level constraints. It has Endure Elements to take 5 off the breath weapon, and one of the buffs (Bull's Strength).

A Druid could combine the various energy shields and healing with Summon Nature's Low-HD Flanking Bonuses.

Rogue: Hard to sneak attack a dragon due to its blindsense, unless you use flanking; flanking can put you at risk of tail attacks and melee is dangerous but it does at least let you sneak attack.

Note that 3.5 Dragons tail attack is a 360' weapon. No facing in the game so the Rogue thats 'behind' a dragon is also in front of the dragon.

If I'm the DM that rogue dies when the dragons turn comes up. My dragon does the Claw, Claw, Bite, Wing Buffet, Wing Buffet, Tail Slap routine on the rogue. CR 7-9 Dragons have ~+20 to hit with all their attacks - they almost never miss unless the characters have ACs up into the mid 30s and I don't think its possible for a 6th party to get ACs like that. Presuming roughly 15 hps per hit with 6 attacks the rogue will be very lucky indeed to get off with just taking ~60 hps damage. A 6th level rogue with a good con might have ~45 hit points and thats being generous. In other words the Rogue almost certianly dies outright that round. There is really nothing he can do about it - except not be standing in front of the dragon in the first place.

For this reason flanking the Dragon is probably a bad idea. Its minor increase in to hit simply does not make up for the fact that the character standing there probably dies on the Dragons turn unless he is a fighter or Barbarian - in which case he looses 3/4s of his hit points and is rendered nearly useless until a lot of healing is pumped into him - certianly he does not spend a second round in front of the dragon.

A dragons breath weapon is bad news but with buffs and the chance at saving throws to reduce damage its a far better deal then facing their full suite of physical attacks.