Best spells/tactics for dragons?

[kerbarian]

I've been thinking some about how dragons would best make use of their relatively limited sorcerer levels, and I've come up with some interesting options for 1st-3rd level spells.

At 1st level, the obvious choices are AC buffs: Mage Armor and Shield. Protection from Good can help, too. Another very nice spell is Blood Wind from SC -- it lets the dragon make a full attack with natural weapons at range.

At 2nd level, Mirror Image is great. It protects against melee/ranged attacks, but more importantly, it protects against targeted dispel magics. Wraithstrike is also huge -- with a full power attack, Wraithstrike could let a dragon deal an extra 100 damage in a round.

Levitate is another interesting option, so that the dragon can hover and make a full attack without having to spend the move action first for the hover feat. It does result in some attack penalties, though. In combination with Blood Wind, it would let a dragon swoop in and use its breath weapon on the first round, then hover and make a full attack at a target on the ground.

Scintillating Scales is a good defensive option -- it gives the dragon a great touch AC to protect against spells.

At 3rd level, one spell that stood out is Blacklight. Dragons are often solo combatants, and the only disadvantage to Blacklight is that it's not very party-friendly. If you're not fighting alongside a party, it's as good or better than improved invisibility.

Haste is always good as well, and Dragonskin (ironically enough) can provide another good boost to AC.

Putting all that together, a dragon that can cast as a 7th-level sorcerer and gets the drop on the party (as any good dragon should) could:
Buff up ahead of time with Mage Armor, Shield, Protection from Good, Levitate, and Mirror Image (maybe a couple copies of it). Perhaps cast them at 6th-level and also pile on a bunch of Read Magics at 7th level to absorb area dispel magics.

Then, while coasting in towards the party, cast Haste and Blacklight. Land next to an arcane caster (or other juicy target) and breathe on the party. Maybe cast Shock and Awe if you get surprise . Next round, full attack using Wraithstrike if anyone is still in melee range, or make a full attack using Blood Wind otherwise. If they have earthbound attackers, fly up to levitate (or hover using the feat if you have an extra move action) and hit them from above with Blood Wind.

What other good options are there that I've missed?

 

[Shayuri]

Don't forget elemental protection against the dragon's "weakness." If any.

If you're using Spell Compendium, the Ray Deflection spell, though 4rth level, is awesome. It completely obviates ray spells...something dragons are ordinarily very vulnerable to. A wand of it, perhaps?

Don't forget too that even the lowly Blur makes sneak attacks impossible.

Also, Lesser Orbs or spells that use energy other than the dragon's breath weapon is a good idea. Opponents will probably come protected from the dragon's breath...a white dragon hitting you with Scorching Ray could be a rude surprise.

 

[Question]

One question : Why is it the fluff about dragons and draconian races constantly harp on how powerful sorcerers they are, how talented they are at sorcery, blah blah blah.......

But in actuality a human of the same ECL would easily be far, far more powerful, sorcery wise?

 

[kerbarian]

One question : Why is it the fluff about dragons and draconian races constantly harp on how powerful sorcerers they are, how talented they are at sorcery, blah blah blah.......

But in actuality a human of the same ECL would easily be far, far more powerful, sorcery wise?

I don't think it really works to look at fluff in terms of ECL. Compare the average dragon to the average member of any other race. Odds are, the dragon is far better at sorcery. True, there may be the occasional human who becomes a high-level sorcerer within 50 years while it takes dragons 1000 years to get there, but every dragon ends up as a high-level sorcerer if he lives long enough. Probably less than 0.1% of humans are sorcerers/wizards at all, while 100% of dragons are.

To look at it from a mechanics perspective -- ECL roughly represents how capable a creature is. If you take a creature whose only meaningful capabilities are spellcasting (e.g. a human sorcerer) and a creature that has spellcasting as well as other capabilities (flight, natural armor, SR, etc.), then of course the ECL of the second creature will be higher for the same level of spellcasting ability.

 

[mikebr99]

You could also just give your Dragon's the Arcane Strike feat... "sacrifice one of your spells for the day... but gain a bonus to all your attack rolls for 1 round equal to the level of the spell sacrificed, as well as extra damage (1d4 x spell level)."

Mike

 

[Infiniti2000]

Don't forget this extremely important rule: "Some dragons can also cast spells from the cleric list or cleric domain lists as arcane spells."

That puts cure spells at any level on the list of must haves, as well as shield of faith.

With their high HD, I also think bear's endurance is a great spell, as well as cat's grace and even bull's strength.

 

[Mort]

The nastiest spell I've seen for Dragons is Dispelling breath. It's a 5th level spell (so higher than your contemplating, but I still think it needs to be mentioned) in the Spell Compendium (originally Draconomicon I believe). The spell is a swift action that subjects everyone affected by the dragons breath weapon to a targeted dispell magic (max +15 modifier). The spell explicitly states that the targeted dispell is resolved BEFORE the breath weapon is applied.

I'm not sure I would use this spell against a party because 1 lucky roll and the dragon has an easy TPK (protective spells what protective spells)?

 

[kerbarian]

Don't forget this extremely important rule: "Some dragons can also cast spells from the cleric list or cleric domain lists as arcane spells."

That puts cure spells at any level on the list of must haves, as well as shield of faith.

Don't they only get access to the domains listed in their descriptions? e.g. blue dragons get Air, Evil, and Law, brass dragons get Chaos and Knowledge, etc. None of them have the healing domain listed.

With their high HD, I also think bear's endurance is a great spell, as well as cat's grace and even bull's strength.

I had considered and rejected Bull's Strength (it's good, but not compared to, say, Wraithstrike), but Bear's Endurance is interesting. It could add 40+ hp, but there's also the danger of it being dispelled -- dragons will often face higher-level casters than themselves. One to consider, though...

 

[Len]

Don't they only get access to the domains listed in their descriptions? e.g. blue dragons get Air, Evil, and Law, brass dragons get Chaos and Knowledge, etc. None of them have the healing domain listed.

No, blue dragons for example

Can also cast cleric spells and those from the Air, Evil, and Law domains as arcane spells.

Note the "and".

 

[Jack Simth]

Tactics-wise, a dragon's best bet is to choose the time and place of confrontation, recognize what spells are going up, and leave.

Seriously. Fly off if they buff up (Invisibility is good, Nondetection is... meh; although with Practiced Spellcaster, it can be viable for the more magically inclined dragons).

Then come back after an appropriet length of time, and see if they buff up again. If they do, leave, wait a while, and come back. If they don't, attack.

Sure, dragons are proud.... but it's good tactics, which dragons should be proud of. The dragon forces the party to waste recources, or flee. If the targets don't use the buffs, dragon hurts them until they do (potentially killing them). If the targets do use buffs, the dragon forces them to be wasted by not sticking around to feel their effects.

Disguise Self is particularly useful for a dragon - change colors. Goes great with a Ring of Undectable Alignment. As a White, pretend to be a Red. Bluff when you get hit with a Cone of Cold. As a Red, pretend to be a white. Or, as a Red, pretend to be a Silver. Why are you after me, Mr. Paladin? With a Ring of Undetectable Alignment, Detect Evil doesn't even blip.....