D&D 5E How do I create a fight with a Young Black Dragon...?

[tchad78]

The party I DM consists of 7 level 5 players (Barbarian, Warlock, 2 Rogues, Ranger (dragon is his favored enemy), Sword+Board Warrior, and a Druid of the Moon).

This is a magic item friendly campaign - so I think they might be ready to take on a Young Black Dragon.

If I simply plop the dragon down, he is an easy kill.

I want to make this fun and memorable; I'm looking for insight.

Here's my plan so far:The trek down a long winding path, from town - looking to rescue some horses and townspeople that were taken in the night by little doglike creatures and some brutes (Kobolds and 2 Ogres serving the Black). The forest path quickly turning in to a murky thick swamp, getting harder to walk through - cutting movement speeds down. The party comes up to a small clearing, with horses tied up outside - remains of one carved up and its flesh roasting on a spit near the cave entrance. 2 Ogres are tending the fire, the townspeople in makeshift wooden cages off to the side. No Kobolds to be seen, the cave is almost a peninsula with dark, deep appearing swamp nearly surrounding the cave, short of the path the party traveled down.

The YBD is aware of this invasion to his lair, but remains hidden in the depths, watching this play out.
- During the 1st round several kobolds; hidden, attack from the cave with short bows. 2-4 others come up behind the party so surprise attack them.
- Round 2 he would start with his Lair Actions; a wave possibly to knock prone the melee, the next round an insect swarm.
- On the 4th round, a magical darkness that he uses his blindsight advantage to breath acid on the group, if they are in line, or surprise attack the caster.
- IF he is near the caster on the start of the 5th round, he will attempt a grapple and fly 60' back over the swamp.

Obviously, we are getting a little in to the unknown, in regards to how combat will go. This warlock does have lots of escape tools. The odds of him actually getting hit, with Shield and Misty Step at his disposal is pretty unlikely - but the dragon doesn't know this, and would attack the one in the dress first.I'm expecting the dragon to take some serious damage and attempt to flee - looking for suggestions on how to round out this fight. A YBD of 40-50 years is brash, confident, malicious and unforgivingly cruel.

Thanks for any input.

 

[hejtmane]

The party I DM consists of 7 level 5 players (Barbarian, Warlock, 2 Rogues, Ranger (dragon is his favored enemy), Sword+Board Warrior, and a Druid of the Moon).

This is a magic item friendly campaign - so I think they might be ready to take on a Young Black Dragon.

If I simply plop the dragon down, he is an easy kill.

I want to make this fun and memorable; I'm looking for insight.

Here's my plan so far:The trek down a long winding path, from town - looking to rescue some horses and townspeople that were taken in the night by little doglike creatures and some brutes (Kobolds and 2 Ogres serving the Black). The forest path quickly turning in to a murky thick swamp, getting harder to walk through - cutting movement speeds down. The party comes up to a small clearing, with horses tied up outside - remains of one carved up and its flesh roasting on a spit near the cave entrance. 2 Ogres are tending the fire, the townspeople in makeshift wooden cages off to the side. No Kobolds to be seen, the cave is almost a peninsula with dark, deep appearing swamp nearly surrounding the cave, short of the path the party traveled down.

The YBD is aware of this invasion to his lair, but remains hidden in the depths, watching this play out.
- During the 1st round several kobolds; hidden, attack from the cave with short bows. 2-4 others come up behind the party so surprise attack them.
- Round 2 he would start with his Lair Actions; a wave possibly to knock prone the melee, the next round an insect swarm.
- On the 4th round, a magical darkness that he uses his blindsight advantage to breath acid on the group, if they are in line, or surprise attack the caster.
- IF he is near the caster on the start of the 5th round, he will attempt a grapple and fly 60' back over the swamp.

Obviously, we are getting a little in to the unknown, in regards to how combat will go. This warlock does have lots of escape tools. The odds of him actually getting hit, with Shield and Misty Step at his disposal is pretty unlikely - but the dragon doesn't know this, and would attack the one in the dress first.I'm expecting the dragon to take some serious damage and attempt to flee - looking for suggestions on how to round out this fight. A YBD of 40-50 years is brash, confident, malicious and unforgivingly cruel.

Thanks for any input.

The layout seems about right and softening up the players will make it harder for them on the Dragon because they spent resources.

If you want to really change it up have a NPC Monk/Warlock to be a special guardian that they fight first a level 8+ with 6 shadow monk/2 warlock with devilsight now he can see through the darkness and attack with advantage port and have him attack who ever you want in the cloud of darkness. That would be something the players would never suspect and may catch them off guard. Just a thought then they may not suspect the young Dragon because of the Monk thinking the Monk cast the spell with his Ki which he could have and now you have the dragon and the Monk leveraging the darkness.

I know I know kind of cruel but that be fun as hell

 

[Koren]

I just ran a couple of sessions with a young black dragon antagonist for one of my home games. Inhabiting the ruins of a city once ruled by a now-fallen lizardfolk empire, it was the god/chief of the remaining tribes of lizardfolk. It's interesting to see how someone else runs a very similar boss-type enemy.

- Round 2 he would start with his Lair Actions; a wave possibly to knock prone the melee, the next round an insect swarm.
- On the 4th round, a magical darkness that he uses his blindsight advantage to breath acid on the group, if they are in line, or surprise attack the caster.

I think it's been clarified that non-legendary creatures (dragons don't go legendary until Adult size) don't get lair actions. It would certainly make the fight tougher if they do, and if you feel they can handle the additional challenge they impose, by all means keep them.

- IF he is near the caster on the start of the 5th round, he will attempt a grapple and fly 60' back over the swamp.

Strength 19 has a carry capacity of 285 lbs, so flying with a dress-wearer is likely possible. I might reduce its flying speed some due to the load (would give the players a chance to hit him and make him drop the caster before he got to a terminal height).

My party was 5 level 6 characters, each with a magical item or two, and they managed to down the dragon the second time they engaged it. The first encounter was a fly-by breath/spells exchange while they were fighting lizardfolk outside its lair in a ruined palace partially sunk in the swamp, with the dragon flying off and diving into the water surrounding its lair at around half health to go get healed by one of the lizardfolk shamans.

I wore them down a bit with lair guardians, more lizardfolk groups led by shamans and directing the dragon's menagerie of poisonous creepy crawlies (giant poisonous snakes, giant scorpions). They had to fight through a gauntlet of these, culminating in an encounter with the dragon's elite guards, lizard king/queens.

It ambushed them again at a subterranean entrance to its lair while they were engaged with the final pair of of its elite guards, but good saves, attack rolls, and a wtf-smite nova by the paladin brought an end to it in three rounds, with over 50% health dealt in the final round, and before its breath recharged again. No party deaths, but a couple of characters knocked to 0 between the two encounters with it. The plan was to have the dragon fly off again under half health and come back to harry them on the way out, but the paladin's final smite was epic enough to give them the win, and their resources were too low for me to justify any hp-total fudging to add additional drama.

The characters' party:
6th level Vengeance Paladin with Sword and Board
6th level Open Hand Monk
6th level Chain Lock of the GOO with Darkness/Devil's Sight/HoH
6th level Battle Master Fighter with GWM
6th level Dragon Sorcerer (copper) with Fireball/Hypnotic Pattern as 3rd level spells

 

[steeldragons]

If you think/know plopping down a young black dragon is going to be too easy for this party, make it an adult dragon.

Play as a deviously intelligent foe (as every dragon should be).

Job done. *shrug*

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Sacrosanct]

Sounds like you have a pretty solid base plan. The thing about "boss fights" in 5e is that they really only work when you use the environment to their advantage, and have underlings (which makes perfect sense if it's in his home territory). If you just throw them down ala arena style solo fight, they will be underwhelming. For better or for worse, theorycrafting doesn't work well with 5e. You can't just compare stat blocks. The other factors play a huge role. Seems like you're on the right track with your plan.

 

[tchad78]

Sounds like you have a pretty solid base plan. The thing about "boss fights" in 5e is that they really only work when you use the environment to their advantage, and have underlings (which makes perfect sense if it's in his home territory). If you just throw them down ala arena style solo fight, they will be underwhelming. For better or for worse, theorycrafting doesn't work well with 5e. You can't just compare stat blocks. The other factors play a huge role. Seems like you're on the right track with your plan.

Ugh, I know. Swarm mechanics kind of trivialize a lot of BBEG fights. They have been clamoring to fight a dragon since level 4 - but a good breath attack from an adult could be a near instant TPK.

That said, an adult could simply be a cliffhanger for another day - flyover with a breath attack and move on. Not his trap, maybe he doesn't want to take any chances. But he would remember them...

 

[discosoc]

Fun fact:

One character (just not a halfling or gnome) can reliably grapple a YBD, preventing flight. He can then "shove" the dragon prone, and it's basically a gangbeat after that.

It makes no sense, but there you go. Also, a group of 7 characters is going to have no problem burning through the YBD's hit points. In fact, such an encounter would rank as "easy" for the group.

The best part? Your kobold ambush would prove way more lethal.