One of my favorite types of encounters is dragons, both as a GM and a player. I just love how ruthless and clever, or even kind and pragmatic dragons can be (depending on the type and personality). So, I'm curious, what have been your favorite encounters involving dragons? And I mean as a player or a GM, whether it was a fight or resolved diplomatically.
If it's from a published campaign, please use the spoiler format, so nothing gets spoiled.
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I really like the Jabberwock, but it makes me sad in the pants that said Jabberwock lacks any of the spellcasting abilities associated with most other dragons... so, when the opportunity presented itself to use a Jabberwock, I morphed it with a Wyrm Black Dragon. And not just any Wyrm Black Dragon, but Ilthuliak, herself.
Now, Ilthuliak has 6th-level spells and is equipped with her Acid Pool, Acidic Bite, Breath Weapon, Burble, Burn, Crush, DR/vorpal, freaking Eye Rays, and Whiffling.
When the party encountered her, she was at the top of a magnificant sundial located in the center of her swamp. This massive stone structure once had a circular stone courtyard around it, making the face of the clock/sundial, but Ilthuliak's swamp has reclaimed most of it. When the party arrived, she used her breath weapon, shooting a line of acid down the sloping back of the sundial... this line of acid goes racing down the sundial like a ramp, and seems to penetrate the ground at the base. Suddenly the stone courtyard starts to float to the surface of the bog around thr base of the sundial, like icebergs on a sea of boiling acid.
Then she dispelled the party's flying carpet. Lol.
The foggy swamp below is filled with endless ruins of stonework, broken walls, the remains of an absolutely huge stone chess set where the pieces are 20-foot statues... and all the stone appears to have bite marks, you can tell some structures have been reduced to literal crumbs from being eaten. By what? I'm glad you asked.
Another custom creation, Gorgotaurs! A mix of Gorgons and Minotaurs, these things have a breath weapon that can turn you to stone, as well as Powerful Charge and Trample. These beautiful beasts served as Ilthuliak's minions. And that petrifying breath weapon almost put an end to Dwayne "the Roc" Johnson (Roc Animal Companion)... would have, too, without those meddling kids (the party) expending resources to reverse Dwayne's failed save.
It was a fun encounter... Ilthuliak would appear out of the fog like the monster she is supposed to be, must be what the receiving end of an A-10 Warthog feels like... BRRRRRRRrrrrrt... straffing run after straffing run, disappearing back into the fog, leaving those spiraling swirls in the mist off the tips of her wings. And those freaking Eye Rays, man. It's hilatious because she can look at different things with each eye. Ilthuliak has them crazy eyes!
I had a blast throwing her at the party, no holds barred, complete reckless abandon. This was her one and only appearance, it was her time to shine, and I didn't want her dying with any tricks left uo her sleeve. She used her Acid Pool, she Burbled, she even used Crush when she decided to engage the party face-to-face. Pretty sure she casted over half her spells. It was probably the single longest encounter of the campaign, she lasted way longer than the BBEG. The party was in the habit of making quick work of everything I threw at them, but Ilthuliak did not go down without a fight.
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I know I'm quite junior to some players, but in nearly 14 years of gaming, I can't think of one really awesome dragon encounter. I know we've faced a few, even a few CR appropriate wyrmlings (which satisfied my beastiary nerd itch). I'm truly hard pressed to think of an encounter that stood out though.
I'll ponder, but in the spirit of the thread, I'll posit an encounter I hope to run in the next few months that I hope goes well.
I intend to shrink my party down using the rules from Microsized Adventures. Whilst adventuring in these dimensions (and hopefully being clueless) I intend to take the party into the lair of a youngish fairy dragon; still in the pinkish red faze of developement. From the party perspective this normally tiny beast should appear as a Colossal 3 sized Ancient Wyrm. As we will only be 5th level, I'm hoping an appropriate amount of panic ensues, before we engage the dragon. There are meant to be clues that will push this towards a social and/or skills encounter, hopefully with the party finally realizing they've been shrunk. I'm not above going a few rounds though, if my more impetuous players decide to push the big red button. :p
I highly recommend applying the Sorcerer Creature simple template to any-and-all Faerie Dragons you intend to use. Faerie Dragons already cast as 3rd level Sorcerers, so adding the template should make sense.
Personally, I like the Kobold Bloodline, but you can obviously choose whatever you want. The Kobold Bloodline arcana and the Faerie Dragon's Invisibility SLA seem like a decent fit, though. And I actually like the Trap Runes Bloodline Power for a Faerie Dragon, although you could probably find something more useful.
The template affords you the opportunity to add spells to your Faerie Dragon... depending on the party's average number of hit die, Color Spray could essentially end the encounter.
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I had a character who ran into a hostile green dragon whilst she was out shopping for a ballgown, so wasn’t wearing armour at the time. He was in human form, tossed a couple of spells and tried to take me hostage.
I can’t remember the exact string of events from there on, but it did end up with the party magus flying at a cliff pursued by the dragon, and demonstrating at the last minute that he had a better turning circle, which made dealing with the (now stunned) dragon rather easier.
*****
There’s a faerie dragon in Hell’s Rebels which I’m currently playing, though he’s less an encounter than an ongoing problem… because he gets bored easily. Most of our secret revolutionaty council meeting include a ‘whose job is it to keep the dragon amused this week?” Segment.
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The red dragon Firekragg, in Baldur's Gate II. It raised the bar high enough that I never tried GMing such a battle myself. Maybe some day...
No matter whether you remember it or missed it: Here is the music theme.
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Running Pzyruxal from "Green Lady's Sorrow" was an incredible experience. I wanted so badly to tell that story I wrote my first post on paizo.com about it. And it remains my favorite dragon encounter after all these years.
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This was from a home-brew game long ago. The characters were adventuring in the snow-capped mountains, I forgot exactly why they were there, but I'll never forget their encounter with a large wyrm. As they traveled, they spotted a white dragon fly overhead. They tracked it back to it lair, prepped their fire spells and cold defenses for the fight, snuck in while it slumbered, and attacked! It was then they noticed the dragon's pinkish eyes as it breathed fire in defense, It was then they realized their mistake... they were fighting an albino red dragon!
These are some pretty awesome stories.
I love having dragons in human form traveling with the party for a bit, learning what they can about them. It's a lot of fun.
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I would love to learn how to really present a dragon like I imagine they are supposed to be...
Even within the printed Paizo material, I wish I knew how to utilize everything they already have. And I have heard of people that can best party after party using the same old dragon, just using it well.
Dragons do not come of age by being foolish. It is hard to show a thousand years of cunning and guile in an encounter with the party, since a wise dragon would likely avoid such an encounter at all costs. Even a hoard can be replaced, so long as the dragon is alive to replace it.
A dragon with specific enough interest in the party to take on a humanoid form to befriend them seems insane, to me. They could either tell a minion they already have to act as an ambassador and go liason with the party, or pay/hire the exact right "person" for the job. Taking on such a risk oneself is a fool's errand. A dragon old enough to perform such tricks theirself would be experienced enough to know that the information one could possibly gain is information you already know... avoid these murderhobos of you want to live.
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OOOoooh! You should have seen the one that got away!
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OOOoooh! You should have seen the one that got away!
That's what I'm saying... I am not a good enough GM that any of my dragons have gotten away. Lol.
Ilthuliak probably could have bounced instead of crushing the party and engaging them face-to-face, but it was towards the end of the AP anyways and she only really has the one appearance... essentially just a speedbump before the BBEG. But a glorious speedbump she was. Quite possibly the longest single encounter I have ever run.
Ilthuliak was an amalgation of a Wyrm Black Dragon and a Jabbawock, she was built to last, and had many tricks (both offensive and defensive). If there was ever an opportunity for me to play a dragon "correctly", Ilthuliak was probably it. But it was endgame, she was not the BBEG, and I am not a very good GM... if anything, Ilthuliak is the one that got away from me, not the party. Lol.
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I would love to learn how to really present a dragon like I imagine they are supposed to be...
Even within the printed Paizo material, I wish I knew how to utilize everything they already have. And I have heard of people that can best party after party using the same old dragon, just using it well.
Dragons do not come of age by being foolish. It is hard to show a thousand years of cunning and guile in an encounter with the party, since wise dragon would likely avoid such an encounter at all costs. Even a hoard can be replaced, so long as the dragon is alive to replace it.
A dragon with specific enough interest in the party to take on a humanoid form to befriend them seems insane, to me. They could either tell a minion they already have to act as an ambassador and go liason with the party, or pay/hire the exact right "person" for the job. Taking on such a risk oneself is a fool's errand. A dragon old enough to perform such tricks theirself would be experienced enough to know that the information one could possibly gain is information you already know... avoid these murderhobos of you want to live.
I would agree with you to a point. True Dragons are hyper-intelligent, highly magical beings. They are wise, clever, and devious (regardless of color and type). I agree that adult and higher-aged dragons would be too smart to get themselves into trouble. Maybe some younger ones would be more reckless as they don't have the experience.
However, one of the reasons why I love running dragon encounters is because I believe dragons have ranges of personalities and desires.
For example, I had a party run into a Cloud Dragon who had a hoard of spoons. Just spoons. All nd of spoons. Fancy spoons, princess spoons, worthless spoons, common everyday spoons. She just loved spoons. She wouldn't let the party move through her domine unless they gave her a spoon. Thankfully, they happened to have one (I think it was made of clay).
As for dragons never putting themselves into a position to interact directly with a party, I must respectfully disagree. I think some might, but not all. I think many dragons, though wise and intelligent, are also arrogant. And let's be honest, who's going to mess with an ancient dragon? Not many people; adventures are crazy, after all. I can easily see a dragon being like, "I'm so powerful, no one would dare piss me off or try to harm me. No one is that suicidal. What do I have to fear from this party and their petty magic and puny weapons?"
Such was the case of an encounter with an ancient silver dragon in a campaign I ran. He was LG and considered the area they were in his domain to protect. He was also very nature-aligned. He didn't want the animals that lived in his territory to be harmed. He considered himself the law of the land, and he (secretly) ruled and protected it. The party ended up finding a roc nest, climbing inside, killing the roc, and taking the egg. The dragon discovered this and visited the party, appearing like an old wizard. He approached them at their campfire. They instantly did not trust him and questioned him, and all they could learn was that he was very magical (they failed their checks to see that he was polymorphed). He asked if he could camp with them and use their fire. They didn’t trust him, but he showed them that he had no weapons and meant no harm. They agreed though they were cautious. He asked them of their adventures, and they brought up the Roc. The following day. He told them that he protected this land and found the dead roc and wanted to know what happened. He was giving them the benefit of the doubt; he is good after all. After the party told him they needed the egg and the roc attacked them. The dragon-in-human-form questioned them and learned that they provoked the roc when they tried to take the egg and defended itself and its young.
He told them that they must make reparations for their crimes. They were to hatch the egg and find someone to care for the baby roc until it could be released into the wild and find someone who knew about rocs to do this. The party was like, “Who are you to order us?” He told them he ruled this land and the creatures were under his protection, and he would allow them to make it right. They threatened him. He told them that he would raze their city to the ground if they did not do as they were told within X amount of time. Then he simply walked away. The Ranger drew his bow and attacked.
This Ranger was optimized up the wazoo but still missed the AC, but I fluffed it that he turned and caught the arrow (despite not having that feat, it was more fluff to show them how powerful he was). He broke the arrow in half and stated their deadline again. Then they were freaked out because they figured his shot should have hit a wizard. The Ranger attacked again. This time he actually hit. After taking damage, the dragon turned and said something along the lines of, “We’ll do this the hard way then,” and transformed, and instantly the party realized their mistake, and by then, it was too late. Now, the ancient silver dragon could have wiped the floor with them, but instead, he killed only the Ranger (I think he flew him up 200 feet and dropped him) and told them that they had a deadline to do as he said, then flew away.
Then they tried to find ways to kill the dragon but eventually decided just to comply; it would be cheaper and better than the alternative.
It was a fun encounter. They later made amends with the dragon, and though never fully friends, they became allies.
So, in conclusion, I think it depends on the dragon and the situation on whether or not they would disguise themselves and walk among the adventurers. But yeah, I like running dragon encounters.