Dragon Encounters

The silver dragon has a lair that seems simple, but is actually a deadly maze to its enemies. Let’s explore why that is.

How to Use – The Silver Dragon’s Lair (difficulty 24)

 

Unlike with the other dragons, the silver dragon’s lair actions are actually better suited for the path to the dragon, as they make their way through the lair.

Fortress maze:

The dragon can turn fog into walls and structures, turning its lair (an abandoned tower or fortress) into a maze of blocked off corridors, stairs that go nowhere, and the like.

Given the fact that it takes days for the fog to harden, that would imply that the dragon can lock the fog in place with only a few hours or minutes of time, which means that there can also be walls of fog with open pits or other traps on the other side.

Another trick is for a wall of fog to all be solid except for a small doorway, which is normal fog. As they look the same, the entrance will be undetectable for any who don’t already know it’s there. They might find it by testing each part of the wall, but few people will think to do that.

The fog will also help hide the dragon’s treasure, which will be hidden behind false walls. When people have it in their heads that the dragon is using one type of way to hide areas, they won’t look all that hard for other ways. The dragon can also have a large number of empty boxes in various rooms around the lair. When they’re taking ongoing damage, they won’t be so eager to search each one.

Cold Wind Lair Action:

The cold wind lair effect does almost no damage, but will be enough to discourage the players from exploring every little area very carefully. (While it might take 100-200 rounds to take the players down with it, it will start to infuriate them after 10-20, and in doing so push them to move faster.)

In addition, it makes concentration spells just a little bit more unreliable, lowering the chances of them using spells to help move around. (Unless the caster has CON saving throw proficiency, in which case it barely matters.)

It requires the dragon to be within 120 feet of the players, but that’s not such a small amount. The dragon can move to be on the other side of walls, with hidden or small holes to let the effect through. It can and will change shape to assume smaller forms.

In general, this type of strategy is going to be very unpopular with your players. The reason to do it would be if they’re incorrectly attacking when they morally shouldn’t, or with adequate warning in a case where you want them to be attacking. The dragon, for its part, is doing this to wear them down, and will let them leave when and if they wish to.

Climbing Through the Dragon’s Lair

In designing this lair, you might want to create a situation or two where:

• A cloud wall is in the middle of a spiral staircase, but they can get around it by climbing to the stairs above the ones they’re on.
• A staircase is blocked off, and they need to cross the gap to reach an adjacent staircase.
• A catwalk has a cloud wall in the middle, that they’ll need to find their way around.

The Silver Dragon’s Captive Monsters:

The silver dragon is well positioned to hold dangerous creatures, paralyzing them and carrying them away, imprisoning them behind prepared walls of fog, and letting them out to attack the players when they’re out of position, as per the last paragraph.

Constructs are an obvious choice, as they could be the remains of a human civilization. Elementals also work, and if you establish beforehand that the dragon is in the habit of taking down evil beings, you could add evil fey, fiends, and undead to the list. (I’m selecting the creatures that don’t need to eat.)

You could also switch from cold wind to fog cloud, right when they get surprise attacked at a worst possible time.

Once you pull this off, it will be time to let them confront the dragon soon afterwards. The consequence of pulling something like this is them moving slowly and cautiously from then on, and that kills the game if it lasts any real amount of time.

Fighting The Silver Dragon

This is a list of moves that the dragon can use against them in the final confrontation.

Location: The location of the fight has to be large and open, to give the dragon adjustable movement. Probably a rooftop or an extremely large balcony.

Fog Defenses:

The dragon can set up the area with walls of fog. Some parts of each will be solid, the other fog that the dragon placed recently, that will stand like a fog wall but will let the dragon through. Since non-solid fog will move with the dragon’s movement (especially when flapping wings) I’d put a layer of loose fog around the solid fog as well. This way, all the fog will swirl around similarly. It will also look very fitting.

Breath Weapon: In the interest of appearances, provide the dragon with a platform of solid fog somewhere near the middle, from which it can face down the PCs. It can use its paralyzing breath, then fly over and grab a paralyzed spellcaster and bring them to the platform. The other players will have to rush over to rescue that PC.

Alternatively, it can use its cold breath when available, talk to them (basically, skipping its actions without looking like that’s all it’s doing), and use Fog Cloud to stop them from shooting back.

Fog Lair Action: It’s up to you if the fog cloud disappears for a moment before being renewed when taking the lair action twice in a row (if you do, I would portray it as swirling around, revealing the dragon for a moment. Same effect, but sounds more impressive), but if they start readying actions for this moment, have the dragon duck behind a fog wall once or twice, costing them actions and wasted spells.

Fog Covered Pits:

Cover the ground with fog as well, perhaps partway up to their knees. This will look impressive, and can hide pits.

Once they fall in, logically the dragon should be able to use one of his legendary actions to push a stone over the top (using the push option instead of the attack action), push the stone by walking/flying into it, or set it so that the trapdoor slams shut as they enter. Failing all that, it’s easy to make it deep and with smooth walls, or an overhang.

The problem with this is that it can easily take several rounds for that player who fell to rejoin the fight, and that’s unfair to that player. You could take advantage of the tact that the silver dragon is good, and have him be generous and offer to pause the attack while they rescue their friend.

Once they go down to rescue him, the dragon can push the rock over the entrance and seal them in (this will be even more effective if he didn’t lock them in before. If he did, they’ll likely anticipate it.) He can also use his breath, and the water that is the fog, to freeze it to the ground. He only promised not to continue the fight while they rescue their friend.

He’ll also be using the cold air lair weapon to chip away at their HP while they’re down there.

(As far as the dragon is concerned, he’s trying to bring it to a cease fire by forcing them to surrender. He’d rather take them prisoner, or come to a compromise, than kill them.)

This trick can also be used with a well full of water. That is even more effective, as the cold water should hurt them and the dragon can close up the top with ice. The downside is that this idea is very lethal. Another variation is to paralyze them and push them in.

Frozen Waterfall:

Another move that might be available to the dragon is if you have the area only be open on three sides, with a wall on the fourth. At some place on the wall, there is a curtain of ice, which is actually a waterfall that the dragon froze. The dragon wants to get them behind this waterfall.

This can be done by paralyzing them and pushing them into a one-way revolving passage, or by providing an alcove for the spellcasters to duck into and then dropping a portcullis to stop them coming out. A tunnel will lead from where they entered to right behind the frozen waterfall. (And perhaps to some other, not combat relevant places, to prevent suspicion.)

The trick is that the top leads to a large tank of water, which isn’t frozen. The frozen waterfall is preventing more water from coming out of the tank, but when they break it to get past, the water will be able to come out again and will do so on top of them.

As the water is very cold, it should logically do some amount of cold damage to them, and/or leave them vulnerable, and thus taking more damage, to the cold wind lair action.

If the dragon hits them with its cold breath when they’re inside the waterfall, they’ll probably be encased in ice until someone rescues them, or perhaps if they spend an action, they can make a STR check to escape. The DC won’t be so low, however. The paralyze breath will cause them to start to drown, unless someone moves them.

The water will also spill over the ground, and freeze into ice when the dragon uses its cold breath, making the ground slippery.

Frozen Metal:

Frozen metal sticks to the skin, so if you disarm them and then their weapon is inside the area of the cold breath, it should handicap them (disadvantage, or perhaps a milder -2 to attacks). You could also put metal statues, or decorations on the wall as a trap. This requires them to have bare skin, and in the first case also metal weapons.

When overwhelmed and losing the fight, the silver dragon will attempt to use its fog cloud lair action to escape, and perhaps will also release prisoners. As letting the dragon escape will only result in a counter climatic battle later, I would suggest that one of the released prisoners gets in the dragon’s way, preventing escape, and you turn it into a three-way brawl.

Summary: 6 Ways to Use

• Getting to a silver dragon inside its lair means passing through a maze, the dragon having blocked random passages with hardened fog. Meanwhile, the dragon will stay close enough to hit them with the cold air damage lair action throughout.
• The dragon might collect ancient, still working constructs, or evil beings with its paralyzing breath. Wait until they’re climbing past an obstruction, release a monster, and hit them with a fog cloud.
• A fog wall that has been hardened into a wall looks the exact same as one that’s in the process of hardening. Create walls that are solid except for a door that looks exactly the same as the rest.
• Paralyze a PC and throw him into a deep pit. Offer the other players a cease fire while they rescue their companion, then close the lid on them when they enter and freeze it shut. This isn’t attacking, it’s pausing until they calm down and negotiate.
• Freeze ice in a frozen waterfall, then trick the players into breaking it. (Standing on the other side of it should work.) When they do, the water in the basin above that the ice was blocking should drench them, and the dragon can freeze them inside it.
• Frozen metal sticks to the skin. Have a minion disarm them, catch the sword inside the radius of the cold breath, then let them pick it up and handicap themselves.