My group fought Gotrrod a couple of session ago.
I'd have to go back into my recordings to see exactly how it went down, but my recollection is that they had a tough time with this fight. They learned quickly not to stand to close together and broke out the ranged weapons, but it's not their forte. If your group doesn't have the ability to fly or strong ranged attack capability, it's pretty easy to get a TPK here. I can't remember if G. has the Hover feat, but if he does, moving over Jared's burning hut and using it is always cool.
Also be prepared for the inevitable "We killed a dragon! Now we part it out, what can we recover and sell from his body?"
My party didn't have too much trouble... but one of them was a dragon slayer :)
It's not too bad, since he doesn't have a lot of the powers that make dragons so tough. SR and spells aren't really an issue and that makes things a little easier.
Dedekind
My party has one ranged combat guy, so between him, the necromancer, and the cleric summoning a celestial hippogriff and casting spiritual weapon, they managed to drive him off.
My party kept trying to disbelieve Gottrod, because fighting a red dragon at their level was crazy, crazy I tell you. And probably because some of them spotted Crazy Jared use his wand to transform himself into kingly robes.
They kept trying will saves right up until the fighter went down.
Eventually the wizard started sucking up to Gottrod, and because they hadn't done any damage to him until then, Gottrod came down to eat Jared and be worshiped by these newcomers.
That was when they pounced. In two rounds he was dead.
My party didn't have much range and the wizard had all fire spells, but they did have crossbows.
Gotrod breathed on the party, the party spread out and pulled out the crossbows.
I was even rolling 1-2 for recharge time, but that still means that Gotrod spends 2 rounds doing nothing. He went down just after his 3rd breath. The crossbows where enough to do him in.
Your party has the advantage of knowing the fight is coming, as they can see the fight before they get there.
It makes no sense for Gotrod to hover at 30 feet unless he needs the full spread of his breath weapon. At 20 feet he kicks up a debris cloud that hinders ranged attacks.
My party cleric hit Gotrrod with a holy smite, blinding him right after he breathed for the first time. Ranged weapons and MM did the rest without much problem, plus I rolled a 4 for his recharge time, the poor bastard.
It was over quickly. Since I needed to bolster party treasure, I let them find the lair, which contained 4 wyrmling reds... Gotrrod was a she! They had fun with the wyrmlings and got some loot crafted to help in future battles.
And yeah, be prepared for the "how many suits of armor/shields can we make out of these guys" questions. Be prepared for ajudicating skinning (knowledge nature, anybody?) and selling skin or crafting items from it. Dragonhide info is in the DMG.
My party cast Web on Gottrod, he failed his Reflex Save and down he went. Two Melee rounds later he was dead.
What did they anchor it to? When I ran it, from the description I just assumed it was a big wide open space. (Other than Jared's "castle", of course.)
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My party kept trying to disbelieve Gottrod, because fighting a red dragon at their level was crazy, crazy I tell you. And probably because some of them spotted Crazy Jared use his wand to transform himself into kingly robes.
You too? I had the party cleric disbelieving the dragon for 3-4 rounds before he was finally convinced it was real. It was only when the party was caught in a breath attack that he finally decided that, yeah, these burns are probably real.
Party took Gottrod down pretty easily at that point. We had a party archer get in several good shots from far away. The party's lack of flight was a bit of a problem, but between the archer and wizard, he went down pretty fast.
First & second breaths (1 round apart) took out the cohort cleric and had the party scrambling to avoid more death from above. Bard cast glibness and Gottrod thankfully failed his saving throw. One ridiculously high Bluff check later, the bard had the dragon convinced that his prey was somewhere to the west. Dragon left, but promised death and worse for everyone if the bard's words proved false. Of course, the bard died spectacularly in the next encounter, but... eh... it's always good for the party to make dragon enemies at relatively low levels. ;)
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My party kept trying to disbelieve Gottrod, because fighting a red dragon at their level was crazy, crazy I tell you. And probably because some of them spotted Crazy Jared use his wand to transform himself into kingly robes.
You too? I had the party cleric disbelieving the dragon for 3-4 rounds before he was finally convinced it was real. It was only when the party was caught in a breath attack that he finally decided that, yeah, these burns are probably real.
Party took Gottrod down pretty easily at that point. We had a party archer get in several good shots from far away. The party's lack of flight was a bit of a problem, but between the archer and wizard, he went down pretty fast.
Good Times!