Old Black Dragon - how best to defeat?

[JonasHoiby]

XP does not matter in this question ..
And my group of 6 has all advantages possible ..

Quest:
My character needs the hide of an old black dragon for an item set an NPC is putting together for me.

I am a level 14 Rogue, Dark Elf (Drow) ..

My companions are:
- Level 21 Bard
- Level 18 Sorcerer/Level 1 Cleric
- Level 14 Barbarian (with special advantages regarding shaping of earth + shapeshifting to greater werebear form)
- Level 18 Fighter - with a nice dragonlance
- Level 17 Ranger

Scenario:
- I have cought an old black dragon in a small glass-like ball - magical ..
- I have a special drill-bit that can make a hole in this class-like ball and get the dragon in its tiny tiny form out
- I can afterwards break the glass-like ball to make the dragon it's normal size ..

The the question at hand is:
- Where or how best to defeat the dragon, as it will most likely be mad and not knowing where it is?


Ideas i have had myself:
- I thought about making a small cave-pocket underground and letting it cave-in when the dragon has become normal size?
- Making a cave-pocket underground with tubes from another location so the sorcerer can shoot magic into the pocket?
- Maby some anti-magic zone so the dragon cannot escape via some teleport or something?


Any ideas is much appreciated ..
- Just want the beast dead to use it's hide.. =)

 

[Dandu]

Have you tried The Power of Friendship?

 

[kitcik]

Just to be clear:
- you have a party of 6 characters between 14th and 21st level, including a 19th level full caster
- you have and old black dragon trapped in a glass ball and can bring it out under any circumstances you choose

And you need suggestions from the internet on how to defeat it?

So sad.

Brute force comes to mind. Trapping it in a landslide or whatever seems too whimpy.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I have to agree with @kitcik , with a party like that, bust it out in an open field, and then battle!

I mean, why cheapen the adventure of going toe to toe with an Old Black Dragon by killing it without giving it a chance to fight back? And make a show out of it?

My suggestion would be to Plane Shift to Ysgard, knock on Kord's door at The Hall of the Valiant and ask to use his arena or go next door onto the Plain of Ida, invite the retired 'Heroes of Olde' to watch your event, and make it a spectacular show!

This way, you can kill the dragon, skin it, keep the hide, and the dragon comes back to life the next day. As do you all, if any of you happen to die.

Expect to make friends with all the followers of Kord afterward. Spend a week or a month or whatever drinking Ale, dancing and engaging in wrestling matches. Trade for exotic equipment. Swap stories with heroes that have been dead for ages.

Than wave goodbye to your new friends, Plane Shift back to the Material Plane, leave the dragon behind or bring him back and thank him for the experience, and continue whatever it was you were doing.

 

[Jackinthegreen]

Many of your companions could solo this dragon, since it's CR 16 and thus someone of 18th level could probably do it. With your party, you guys could easily kill it in one or two rounds without taking any damage.

If you want the absolute fastest and easiest way to kill it though, there's a lovely 3rd level cleric/sorc/wizard spell called Shivering Touch. It numbs the target, doing 3d6 Dex damage for an average of 10.5. All True Dragons have 10 Dex baseline. When a creature's Dex is damaged to 0, it is paralyzed and thus subject to Coup De Grace. Best to use a weapon with a x4 crit mod such as a scythe since CDG is always an auto-crit.

Shivering Touch is, oddly enough, a melee Touch spell, which many casters won't fancy. Use Spectral Hand to deliver the attack, however, and there are no worries about wading into melee. Depending on how one reads the rules, using Spectral Hand to deliver the attack means it's not subject to SR, negating the only defense a dragon has against Shivering Touch.

At your levels though, I agree with [MENTION=6674868]RUMBLETiGER[/MENTION]. Better to put a show on and make some extraplanar friends than just kill the dragon outright. If you decide to let it live, perhaps give it a large sum of coins as a thank-you? The description for a Black Dragon mentions they're especially fond of the shinies.

 

[Talonblaze]

Diplomacy.
???
Profit.

All else fails, turn it into a pet. Since it doesn't sound like its really much of a threat.

 

[SirAlexanderCourt]

You are skinning a rational animal for some item you need, and you are currently enslaving it?

Isn't this highly immoral?

 

[Jackinthegreen]

You are skinning a rational animal for some item you need, and you are currently enslaving it?

Isn't this highly immoral?

The OP didn't mention any alignments other than the assumed possible alignments because of being a Barbarian or Bard.

 

[rgard]

You are skinning a rational animal for some item you need, and you are currently enslaving it?

Isn't this highly immoral?

Doesn't matter. This is D&D.

For the OP: As others suggested, duke it out with the dragon. If the DM has a sense of fairness, your captive's mother and siblings will show up to even the odds.

 

[Talonblaze]

Doesn't matter. This is D&D.

Well depending on the characters involved it could affect their alignment with such and pose a problem. Not everything is hack and slash.