How does one do it? Dragons usually already have everything they need from a treasure hoard, to a comfortable lair, to immense amounts of notoriety, respect, and prestige.
Our GM is having our five 5th-level characters (1 barbarian/monk, 1 cleric, 1 ranger, 1 rogue/sorcerer, & 1 sorcerer) venture into a swamp to find and recruit an (ancient?) green or black dragon (can't recall which) for our party benefactor (the 2nd in command of a powerful nation who is having us recruit an army of evils to aid int he coup against his ruler brother).
My character, the sorcerer, is extremely good at swaying people, but usually she benefits from her charm abilities. Against something as powerful as this dragon (who presumably has everything already) I'm at a loss as to how I am even going to begin bargaining for our lives (much less the beast's aid).
Any ideas on how we can make our venture succeed? The game starts exactly 3 hours from this post's posting time. Please, help me brainstorm for good ideas. This campaign is so unbelievably fun its crazy. I don't want it to end here with us all becoming dragon food.
Ask it what it wants?
or
Beat it into submission then tell it what you want.
Hopefully your GM has thought this through and knows how to nudge you guys into the right direction. If it was me I'd have the dragon send you on some sort of quest or another for it's services. There's some things a dragon just can't do, or doesn't want to do.
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How does one do it? Dragons usually already have everything they need from a treasure hoard, to a comfortable lair, to immense amounts of notoriety, respect, and prestige.
Many dragons have plenty of these things, but always crave *more* of them. (Pray it's a green dragon, they are bigger on talking and not just killing petitioners!)
If the man hiring the dragon is poised to become ruler of the adjacent kingdom, the party could offer specifically the gratitude and opportunity to have the neighboring king in his debt. Tithes to the dragon of livestock, or lore, or even coin (this should be the *last* thing offered, obviously, as livestock can be bred and replaced and lore transcribed, but coin given away is lost from the treasury for good) could be offered, as well as a decree from the new ruler that the lands surrounding the dragon aren't just his territory by dint of force, but by royal decree, made into a 'royal hunting preserve' or something, into which the neighboring people are forbidden to enter.
The sales pitch should make very clear to the (probably very arrogant) dragon that he 'obviously' has no need for any sort of 'royal protection' from his human neighbors, kings or not, but that such a thing would simply be a gesture of respect, and a convenience for the dragon. Offers of tomes of lore from the royal library, and annual tithes of livestock of choice (horses, pigs, cattle, whatever the dragon prefers, up to, if the party / local wannabe rulers is cool with that, humans) sweeten the pot.
But all of these offers should be stressed to be secondary, as 'of course, I would never presume to know what things you would find desirable in exchange for this alliance, and you can perhaps think of some specific troublesome service or task that would be a waste of a personage of your talents to deal with yourself, that we could perform for you as a show of good faith?'
Just be careful to not talk yourself into agreeing to something that is not possible to accomplish, or to make too open-ended of an offer!
Always offer to do 'a' thing, not 'any' thing!
Very good points brought by Set... (as usual, i hate that guy) (jk)
Something to consider also is that, as powerful they might be, dragons often have themselves powerful enemies. And among them, often are... dragons.
An an oath to form a raiding party against a dragon's nemesis and to slay the beast would be a good thing in the balance, which would as a bonus bring more respect from the dragon, considering how easily his enemy would have been slaughtered.
If it doesn't work, well, there are always virgins... ;)
When recruiting evil dragons or any other extremely proud and powerful evil creature for an evil overlord's army of evil, I would recommend you use the following argument as an aid to your Diplomacy bonus:
Then the First and Foremost, who had resumed his hairy body and bear head, turned to the Nome and asked:
"Do you still demand our assistance?"
"More than ever," answered the General, firmly.
"Then tell me: what can you offer the Phanfasms that they have not already?" inquired the First and Foremost.
Guph hesitated. He really did not know what to say. The Nome King's vaunted Magic Belt seemed a poor thing compared to the astonishing magical powers of these people. Gold, jewels and slaves they might secure in any quantity without especial effort. He felt that he was dealing with powers greatly beyond him. There was but one argument that might influence the Phanfasms, who were creatures of evil.
"Permit me to call your attention to the exquisite joy of making the happy unhappy," said he at last. "Consider the pleasure of destroying innocent and harmless people."
"Ah! you have answered me," cried the First and Foremost. "For that reason alone we will aid you. Go home, and tell your bandy-legged king that as soon as his tunnel is finished the Phanfasms will be with him and lead his legions to the conquest of Oz. The deadly desert alone has kept us from destroying Oz long ago, and your underground tunnel is a clever thought. Go home, and prepare for our coming!"
Rather than trying to come up with the idea now... why not use the first meeting to present a gift? A small herd of cattle and a minor magic? You could try to draw out from the dragon what it wants, or what problems it has. If you can answer those wants, or solve those problems, it may agree to help you with yours.
I'd worry though about entering into an agreement with a hugely intelligent and powerful being. A well defined agreement could end up twisted into something onerous over time.