Want to make him really difficult?
Give him the following spells:
chain dispel, greater stunning breath, antimagic field, enervating breath (8th level in Draconomicon, 9th level in Spell Compendium), lifeward, plane shift.
Give him the following feat: breath weapon substitution.
Round 1: Open with a few avolakias using dispels to force PCs to use up their rings of counterspelling ;) Dragotha casts a chain dispel or reads a scroll of MDJ. Follow with a quickened clinging greater stunning death wind breath weapon. While the text in the module states that the breath weapon clings for 1 round, the 3.5 FAQ states that you can choose how long you want the breath to cling for. So, let's say it clings for the next 4 rounds(!).
Round 2: Cast antimagic shell, move to engage.
Round 3: Full-attack. Rinse, wash, repeat.
Also, it's perfectly reasonable to rule that Dragotha cannot fit into a forcecage. Just because a creature has a 20 ft. space, doesn't mean it's only 20 ft. x 20 ft. x 20 ft. in size.
Read through the entire forum. There's another thread dealing with this same idea, and it's not that old, either.
I had this to say:
The Balakarde buffs are a bit too much for my tastes. I'll probably remove them entirely...
Concerning beefing up the Dragotha encounter:
If the PCs still have a piece of the rod, any number of arch fiends could find him/her/itself fed up with sending vassals and slaves to kill the PCs for the rod. That arch fiend (or cadre of pit fiends, etc.) could appear alongside Dragotha, making the encounter twice as deadly. Heck, buy the time the PCs make it to Dragotha, rod or no, they should still have enemies enough to warrant the surprise appearance of a dozen angry pit fiends. ;-)
Create a mob (DMG II) of avolakais that swarm over the PCs in mad devotion to Kyuss and/or Dragotha.
Add templates, character levels, or HD to Dragotha. Make the red advanced, colossal+, with, as Mr. Jacobs suggests, plenty of feats, spells, and perhaps a prestige class from Draconomicon (or even different feats from the PHB).
Have the dragon simply destroy her abode, sending the entire structure down atop herself and the PCs. Unless they can shrug off thousands of tons of stone (or use teleport, dimension door, gaseous form, or some other spell with shattered bones, pulverized organs, completely immobile), they'll be hindered severely if not killed.
Add another dracolich. Add TWO additional dracoliches. Make them all two-headed dracoliches. ;-)
Make Dragotha's breath weapon a force breath weapon that can't be avoided with energy immunity or death ward. Give him another automatic gaze attack, forcing a save every round to avoid insanity, stoning, fear, etc. Surround him in a constant nauseating stench effect, forcing another save each round.
UPDATED: Really, Dragotha's paralysis gaze and touch should make things difficult for the PCs.
Definitely use Mord's disjunction. Unless the cleric readies an action, Dragotha will hit with the disjunction, rendering all spells instantly nulled, and possibly nullifying magical items as well. That cleric with the readied action will be ineffective while he/she waits for Dragotha to use Mord's. Even if the dragon uses it, and the cleric uses anti-magic to avoid it, the PCs would have to be within 10' of the cleric to avoid the disjunction. Then have Dragotha "bring down the house" on the PCs, using a quickened disintegrate or her own strength to bury the PCs, who are huddled together in a convenient bundle.
Have the dragon simply destroy her abode, sending the entire structure down atop herself and the PCs.
Dragotha is a dude.
Heh... At least you're paying attention. ;-)
From what I understand it's not that dragotha is too weak it's that the characters have the ability to prepare useing all their resources and focus their full power on dragotha. Beef up mother maggot and add a dragon cohort for him. Make sure he (or someone) has access to some type of dispelling. If you are pulling out all the stops for MDJ (which is certiantly warrented considering the items in his horde he would certiantly have no troubble in getting a scroll of it) then you should probably keep the fight closer to how it is written. You of course want to make sure dragotha is a memorable and difficult fight but when the time draws near that you dont overcompensate and garentee TPK.
I know it's not terribly exciting--and I'm definitely a fan of the template--but you may want to consider slapping the Evolved template from Libris Mortis onto Dragotha. Fast healing 3, +1 Natural Armor, +2 Str and Cha, as well as a free spell-like ability. With his unholy toughness and spells based on Charisma, this can give him a better numbers game with little rearrangement of abilities.
PCs vs Dragotha TONIGHT!!!!! :)
PCs vs Dragotha TONIGHT!!!!! :)
Give us a blow by blow wouldja? I really enjoy hearing about those high level battles and inevitably learn a ton from the discussion afterwards. I need all the help I can get preparing for that level of play.
Good luck!
Give Dragotha Arcane Strike from Complete Warrior.
Alternately, have him learn that the PCs are after him and give him some scrolls of astral projection, then have him attack the PCs multiple times with his astral projection.
Just checked the stat block for Dragotha. I noticed he had Arcane Strike in his Atk Options, though not as a feat--I just swapped Maximize Spell for the Arcane Strike feat (Complete Warrior), as he can't make the most of Maximize Spell anyway, IMO.
However, regarding Arcane Strike, would Dragotha gain the benefits from channeling a spell for all his natural weapons, or is the feat's description worded awkwardly?The text says, "you can channel arcane energy into a melee weapon, your unarmed strike, or natural weapons." The plural of "weapons" caught me. So, do you know if Dragotha can make even better use out of this feat with six natural attacks, or is he limited to assigning it to one (such as his bite)?
Think i might just have to make Dragotha colossal, seeing as how one of my players went out and bought the colossal red dragon "mini"! I will definitely be retooling Dragotha's spells.
Give Dragotha Arcane Strike from Complete Warrior.
You are an evil, evil man.
However, regarding Arcane Strike, would Dragotha gain the benefits from channeling a spell for all his natural weapons, or is the feat's description worded awkwardly?
The text says, "you can channel arcane energy into a melee weapon, your unarmed strike, or natural weapons." The plural of "weapons" caught me. So, do you know if Dragotha can make even better use out of this feat with six natural attacks, or is he limited to assigning it to one (such as his bite)?
The text of Arcane Strike includes the following: "you gain a bonus on all your attack rolls for 1 round equal to the level of the spell sacrificed, as well as extra damage equal to 1d4 points x the level of the spell sacrificed."
Therefore, the bonus would apply to all of Dragotha's attacks, not just one of them. (At least, that's how I read it...)
If you want to really scare the party, give Dragotha Arcane Strike and the epic feat Dire Charge (full attack with a charge if declared in the first round of combat).
I'm 2 sessions away from running the big, granddaddy of all encounters, so have been going over Dragotha's tactics and stats pretty heftily. I decided to make the following changes, only to his spell ist (Note: these spells all appear in Spell Compendium)
2nd Level) Replace Blindness/Deafness with Scintillating Scales. This spell changes Dragotha's natural AC into deflection, stopping some of those pesky rays and touch attacks.
4th Level) Replace Ice Storm with Life Ward. This spell is multifunctional, covering Dragotha's biggest weakness (positive energy) while also allowing an offensive application of stopping a PC's ability to heal.
5th Level)Replace Waves of Fatigue with Breath Weapon Substitution, letting Dragotha surprise everyone with different elemental energy than what they had buffed for.
Replace Telekenesis with Dispelling Breath. This makes it so Dragotha doesn't have to waste an action to strip away some defenses.
My personal pick is replacing Dominate Person with Righteous Might, upping Dragotha's attack damage and letting me use my Colossal Red Dragon mini...
I think I will also not use the DeathWind immediately as it suggests. While scary, it probably won't do a thing to a buffed, death warded party, at least not until their defenses are stripped down a little. Once a few dispels have gone off, I can hopefully kill off a few cohorts.
Give us a blow by blow wouldja? I really enjoy hearing about those high level battles and inevitably learn a ton from the discussion afterwards. I need all the help I can get preparing for that level of play.
Good luck!
I apologize for the tardiness, but we haven’t actually made it to Dragotha yet. The PCs just handled nine Avolakias, Venk and Zyrnth, and saw Mahudril momentarily, all in the birthing chamber (I elected not to animate the cage – I got enough going on as it were).
Dragotha should be next since I am going to move the Wormdrake into Dragotha’s lair (assume it will have a death ward cast on it) with Mahudril at their side. This should show my PCs whose boss. I will also borrow from the options above (although I am really on the fence with MDJ) such as Arcane Strike, Breath Weapon Substitution (this is a MUST), Lifeward, Colossal size, and Scintillating Scales (all very good ideas…thanks!) I am doing one more thing with Dragotha – I will assume I cannot dispel 20th Caster Level Death Wards. So I am replacing the Death Wind damage type (negative energy) with an ability similar to the Ravager of Tiamat’s “Profane Blast” (Draconomicon).
I am removing the Nightwalkers from the cave leading to Dragotha – this won’t promote the story and enough is enough already – besides, I plan on using a pair of these as bodyguards for Lashonna. Speaking of Lashonna, I am going to post a thread on her defenses against the PCs elsewhere… check it out if interested.
So the PCs should finish off the module in about two or three weeks since Christmas break is stalling us this week, and the week after is Savage Tide (and maybe a third character of mine will get killed in a row). I’ll report how it goes.
How about giving Dragotha a cohort in the form of a Dracolich Ilthane? That would add a second fairly tough opponent. Also to make teleportation more difficult Dragothas lair could be protected by Anticipate teleportation (from the complete arcane) giving him a few rounds to prepare.
A simple addition would be to plant Abyssal Blackgrass around Dragotha's Lair. Abyssal blackgrass cuts the effective ness of all 'healing' type spells and magic itmes in half. So the party would have to deal with Dragotha with all their cure spells/potions/wands/rods at half power.
I want to say the material came from Heroes of Horror, but I am not 100% sure. It has a 30 foot radius of effect, and appears in areas that have had gates/portals opened to the abyss.
Stan
It would appear that Dragotha encounters the same problem that most single bad-guys face when dealing with PCs: sheer numbers. Where Dragotha is maybe taking one to two offensive actions a round, the PCs are taking at least quadruple that number, especially if cohorts, planar allies, animal companions, and mounts are involved. Its not so much that Dragotha isn't a badass, its that he tactically cannot keep up with the sheer mathematics. Four PCs can easily dish out a chunk of Dragotha's HP while simultaneously mitigating the damage dealt with their own defensive and healing abilities, and round after round, this adds up. Add in the Balakarde buffs and their own pre-buffing, and you've got the makings of a severe monster beating.
Do you allow the PCs to do this? Dragotha is pretty tough, so rewarding a good plan and sound tactics at the expense of a dramatic fight can help some players feel a sense of accomplishment. especially after they spend a week or so planning their attack. Obviously, if Dragotha's minions have all been slain, there is little to prevent the PCs from cornering and killing the Dracolich at their best time. If they fail to take Balakarde's advice and teleport in, it should be guaranteed TPK with Dragotha, the WormDrake, its gate ability, and the rest of the tabernacles minions.
Me personally, I like a dramatic and deadly fight, especially after its been built up the entire campaign. I won't be running the encounter for probably a month (game on hiatus due to it falling on Christmas Eve/ New Year's Eve), but want to make it as memorable as possible. This is why I've changed a few of Dragotha's spells(earlier post), given him Arcane Strike, and given him four unique Kyuss knight minions: 3 of an adventuring party that accompanied Balakarde and one of a former cohort... Hopefully, this will help against the six PCs plus 3 cohorts plus Gold Dragon Mount plus Gated in Solar/Ranger 5 plus Zulshyn....
I'm going to surround Dragotha with a number of dread wraiths. It makes sense, considering that his signature breath weapon turns creatures into wraiths.
This is why I've ... given (Dragotha) four unique Kyuss knight minions: 3 of an adventuring party that accompanied Balakarde and one of a former cohort...
Hey, Rakshaka - would you be willing to share the details of your unique Kyuss knights (who they were in life, and what unique gifts you gave them)?
This is why I've ... given (Dragotha) four unique Kyuss knight minions: 3 of an adventuring party that accompanied Balakarde and one of a former cohort...Hey, Rakshaka - would you be willing to share the details of your unique Kyuss knights (who they were in life, and what unique gifts you gave them)?
In development right now, I've got a three-day holiday weekened, so I'll try and post on Sunday. I have their PC classes: Human Druid, Human Paladin, Dwarven fighter, but beyond this, the devil is still in the details...The gifts are the hardest thing to approximate. Hope to post soon! (And to non-interested, sorry to take up space with my creative antics.)
Rakshaka’s write up on the Kyuss Knights were nice….good job.
My PCs faced Dragotha last Friday. I knew Dragotha would be teamed up with at least Mother Maggot (I love that name), but I flirted with the idea of adding the Wormdrake as well. Since our party was minus two players (we still had four), they fought the Wormdrake on its own before facing Dragotha.
In the final fight, Mahuudril took on the most important job of talking – I portrayed her as a haughty, evil, rich person – think Cruella De Vil. She was also combat ineffective, but at least she had some attacks directed at her instead of Dragotha. I rounded Dragotha’s HP to 800, gave him a Profane Blast in lieu of the Death Blast, added Life Ward, Arcane Strike and Breath Weapon Substitution. He more than held his own. For the first time in a long while I saw my PCs scramble for their lives. The resident fighter had some buffs knocked off of him (including Death Ward), and Dragotha hit him with Destruction. He must have tried his Fort save four times (burning three fate points in the process), and came up on the short end each time, so he was the only casualty. The fight took about 4 hours, and about 12-15 combat rounds – I’m not sure, I didn’t really count them. I think everyone had a good time.