Combat rating 23
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DRACOLICH: How to Use Immortality as an Unfair Cheat
How to Use – Dracolich “Suicide” Tactics Fighting back isn’t the only way a villain can respond to the heroes’ aggression. Another way is to go after a city, or other civilians, forcing the heroes to either risk themselves in order to save the civilians, or to suffer the effects of massive unpopularity. [See below].… Continue reading
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DRAGON TURTLE: Battle of the Living Island
How to Use Combat Encounters Ideas 1 (difficulty 18): Dragon Turtle Island Legends tell of islands that are actually giant sea beasts. This likely inspired D&D’s dragon turtle, and this is my first combat encounter. When setting this up, we’ll immediately run into two problems. The first is that the dragon turtle doesn’t have quite… Continue reading
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ADULT GOLD DRAGON: Robbing a Dragon, and What Comes Next
When players are forced to rob a gold dragon to gain the item they need, we get to see just how powerful Dnd’s adult gold dragon is. How to Avoid Using – Keeping the Players in Charge Let’s start with my usual. The list of possible reasons for the good-alignment creature to refuse to join… Continue reading
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ADULT BRONZE DRAGON & Fighting Alongside a Powerful Ally
This article will discuss ways to have the dragon say no in a realistic manner when the players push for help, and also a interesting lair encounter against the dragon, but our main focus will be on how to team up with an overpowered ally in D&D without overshadowing the players. Tips for balanced storytelling… Continue reading
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ANCIENT BRASS DRAGON: The Hidden King and His Deadly Domain
How to Use – A King in DnD Why Monarchs Must Impress By the time a brass dragon is ancient, it’s established its reputation enough to be a king, or at least to be on the highest tier of society that it cares for. In some genres of fantasy, it has become accepted that the… Continue reading
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ADULT BRASS DRAGON & Uses for a Powerful Non-combatant
Ways to prevent an Overpowered Ally I begin my article with reasons why the dragon doesn’t just do the quest instead of the players, this being one of the most common problems with good-alignment monsters. How to Use – The Neutral Friendly Dragon The brass dragon is a non-combatant when possible. There are numerous other… Continue reading
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SHADOW DRAGON: Unleashing terror From Amidst the Darkness
In the last post, I mentioned that shadow dragons keep their presence hidden, and enjoy spreading a dark unknown fear instead of announcing their strength the way every other dragon does. Before going into the details of how it does that, I felt the need to discuss how to use horror in D&D. Now is… Continue reading
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ADULT WHITE DRAGON: Defenses of the Frozen Lair
How to Use the Dragon’s Lair Exploring the obstacles of the white dragon’s lair. There are three main parts. Reaching the lair, reaching the dragon, and fighting. Reaching a White Dragon’s Lair The entrance to the dragon’s lair will be high up on a mountain. The side of the mountain will be too slick to… Continue reading
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ADULT RED DRAGON: Battle of the Burning City
Perhaps the most interesting place to put a red dragon is in the middle a city that it’s attacking. Fighting in the city forces the PCs to split their attention between the dragon, the fires, and any people that might need help. Let’s look at them individually. Continue reading
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ADULT GREEN DRAGON: Threats, Trickery, Minions, and Magic,
Before I discuss the adult greens dragon’s tactics, I want to discuss the spell Hero’s Feast, and how to deal with it. Continue reading
About Me
I’ve been a DM since I was about 10 years old. (Not of D&D, admittedly, but still.) After growing bored of fights that were all the same, dungeons heavily populated by one monster type, and a general shortage of ideas, I figured I’d embark on my own trip through the Monster Manual, one monster at a time. Feel free to join the quest.