How to run a Shadow Dragon

[Grimmjow]

This week or next (depending on how much play and how much talk happens around the table) i will be running a young shadow dragon against my party. All im looking for her eis tips, both in the terrian i should put into the encounter and how to use my dragon to make it fun for the players. This is the first dragon, not only in this game, but that this group as ever face so i want it to be a great experience.Warpriest, Elementalist, pally, avenger, and bladesinger are the class i will be up against. The encounter is going to take place in the shadowfel, but not a city setting. The players will be more in a rural area, so trees and rocks for it to hide behine maybe? i was thinking a dark forest, with alot of fog so he can fanish and show up behind the players. If not that then a rong of tall rocks, with bodies in them (being his past victoms) when the dragon comes to fight th players the spirirts of all the people hes killed in the past rise up, blocking the players exit. Then the dragon and go up and hide behind the rocks and strike at different agnles, and the spirits give the encounter somthing of an ominissee feelingAny other ideas on how to add to one of these two fihts, or maybe one that would work better? which players should i target first, i dont want to kill them but like i said first dragon ever...so it needs to be fun. What powers should i use the most?

 

[MortalPlague]

Man, you still haven't replied to the other thread... lol.

Anyway, dragons can be a lot of fun. The shadow dragon could be a really evocative monster; you're on the right track with it hiding and moving around in the fog. An unnatural fog that makes it so they can't see more than 5 squares could make things really tense.

That said, there's a few things I'd do to spice up the monster. The dragon weakens with its bite attack, which is a pretty frustrating condition as a player. I might swap that out and put in ongoing necrotic damage instead, or maybe grant vulnerability? Something like that.

Also, the young shadow dragon is one of the older solos, and it can be vulnerable to stunlock. If your party has any sort of daze or stun or dominate effects, that could hit your monster pretty hard. In Monster Vault, they added an ability for a solo to get an extra attack or shrug off an effect at it's initiative count +10. I'd recommend adding that on, it really helps make solos feel more dangerous.

From the Monster Vault black dragon, for instance:

Instinctive Devouring
On an initiative of 10 + its initiative check, the dragon can use a free action to charge or to use bite. If the dragon cannot use a free action to make this attack due to a dominating or stunning effect, then that effect ends instead of the dragon making the attack.

 

[Grimmjow]

lol okay i went and did that one before i did this one.
Anyway...no, the group doesnt have alot of powers to stop him from moving. My brother can pull him 5 squares or somthing like that but with the fog or rocks i doubt that will be a problem, of course the group just level up to level 5, and they all were secretive about the powers that they picked so they might have somthing i dont know about lol. oh well i still think id be able to out smart them as far as getting around that kind of stuff.

As long as i got a fourm up about dragons, what other kind of dragons would mix well in a campnge around the undead invation??

 

[rasguy]

My party fought a Shadow Dragon in very similar circumstances. While dragons should never be under estimated, we found the Shadow dragon to be a bit squishy. As a skirmisher it hits hard but has relatively low defenses and hp. If you have a party that knows how to coordinate their attacks, it goes down pretty quick. We thought it really needs a few allies so the party can't just focus fire and go nova on it.

 

[Grimmjow]

hmm i kinda wanna put this dragon by itself any ideas on how to make it better the group is only level 5 would that change things?

 

[rasguy]

One of the dragon's better powers is the globe of darkness because it gives you immediate combat advantage. However, your party looks like it will have plenty of radiant powers to drop the globes. Mobility is your best defense. Your attacks have Reach 2, so stay above your party to avoid getting locked into melee. That was we defeated our dragon, we able to get it to the ground and knock it prone. It took a pounding until it was able to get airborn.

Make sure you are up on hidden and invisible rules. The dragon has a pretty high stealth modifier, so once it goes invisible it has a pretty good chance of going hidden. Use this to hit and run. When the dragon is hidden remove the token or mini from the map to add some tension, so the players don't know what direction to plan for the next attack. They will want to avoid bunching together to avoid breath attacks, so that leaves the softer PC's vulnerable. If they bunch up, well that's when you unleash the breath attack.

This isn't a creature that does well standing in one place trading blows for blows with a Paladin (due to being marked) while getting hammered by the rest of the party.

 

[Incenjucar]

Terrain is really important. Make it difficult for the party to get to a globe to check it for dragons.

 

[Grimmjow]

so i just sat down and looked at that breath weapon, removes necro resistance. Ive got ttwo people that have that it'll be great to scare them a bit by dumping it hehehehe

 

[Grimmjow]

plus, most of the attacks my players can do don't have great range, just the sorc, so destroying my globes should be to much of a problem

 

[rasguy]

Do the Paladin and WarPriest have any radiant burst attacks? Remember the dragon doesn't have that ability to strike in the middle of a move action. So when he bites and claws he'll have to be close to the PC.