social encounter
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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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YOUNG BRONZE DRAGON: How to Use Allies Without Overshadowing Players
How to Avoid an Overpowered Ally I already gave several reasons for why the dragon isn’t accompanying them on their quest, or fighting it for them. (Having an NPC accompany the players is generally a mistake. Even more so if it’s more powerful than the players, an thereby stealing the spotlight. [The young bronze dragon… Continue reading
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BRASS DRAGON WYRMLING: Hostile in the Heart of Flames
How to Use a Wyrmling as an Ally When I came to the first chromatic dragon wyrmling, I spoke out against using wyrmlings. I argued that dragons should feel like a formidable enemy, and that wyrmlings as villains make dragons feel weak. I should have added a caveat. That applies only when the wyrmlings are… 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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YOUNG BRASS DRAGON: Battles of Lies and Fire
How to Use – Avoiding an Overpowered Ally And so, after twenty-seven articles, we come to the good dragons. As is my typical style for good-alignment monsters, we’ll start with the reasons why the PCs are the ones getting sent on the quest, and why the much more powerful good monster isn’t doing it for… Continue reading
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On a Quest for an Evil Dragon
For the next article of how to use a dragon, we’re going to have the dragon be the quest giver. 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
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YOUNG GREEN DRAGON: How to Run Parley and Combat
With the green dragon, we have a unique type of dragon, in that it will try to avoid fighting when it can. Continue reading
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BLACK DRAGON WYRMLING: Using Darkness and Fog as Weapons
How to Use: Wyrmlings My first piece of advice regarding wyrmlings would be not to use them. Dragons are the most epic, the most awesome, of all fantasy monsters, and a dragon encounter should be a hard one, with the players struggling to survive. (Especially the first time you use a dragon.) Wyrmlings shatter this… 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.