Dragon Encounters

The second part of this article and mini-campaign is to provide a way in which the players can fight back against the dragon, and kill it.

If you want to go with magical options, I already provided ideas in Prisoners of a Dragon and Quest for an Evil Dragon. Here I will be exploring non-magical solutions.

There are three different ways to do this that I can think of.

1. Leading the dragon into danger

Suggesting the idea:

 The players discover a different monster capable of taking down a dragon. Given the dragon’s high CR, the only monsters in the Monster Manual that seem capable of doing the job are the kraken and the tarresque, with the tarresque being the better option given that it lives on land and that it’s unintelligent. (There are some other monsters that would also work in other D&D books, but I’m confining this blog to the Monster Manual, at least until I finish it.)

Ideally, the players will think of this idea themselves. If they mention that they need something that can stop the dragon, you can encourage them to ask around, perhaps letting them know through a perception check that there are rumors about something dreadful living in a certain region.

If they bring up the dragon in conversation with NPCs, or if they join in to a conversation with NPCs talking about the dragon, you can have an NPC mention that the only creature worse than the dragon might be the one reputed to live in [name of region]. Hopefully this will encourage your players to figure out that they can use this to defeat the dragon.

If your players don’t think of it, then you’ll have to choose between going to a different method or just having an NPC guide suggest the idea to them straight out. Don’t have the NPC guide suggest it straight away, as it will look like you’re railroading them into the method you chose. Instead, have a small adventure or battle or similar, and then have an NPC advisor suggest it.

(Arguably, you are railroading, but arguably all adventures that aren’t sandboxes, and many that are, also railroad. Some direction is necessary for the adventure to move in a sensible direction. What matters is that the players not feel like their being forced to go in a specific direction, and that they don’t feel like their decisions are being shot down.)

Running The Idea:

In order to get the dragon into the area, they’ll have to let the dragon see them at the outskirts of the area, so that it will follow them. They’ll act as bait to draw the dragon into the trap.

In game, the reason this is necessary is because the area is too well shielded by the terrain for the dragon to notice them if they start inside. With the swamp, you can add a perpetual mist. Once the dragon sees them, it can blow away the mist, but if they don’t wait at the side, it won’t see them.

Alternatively, the dragon knows about the other monster, and is smart enough to stay clear. If it sees them, it will work itself into a rage, frustrated by their avoiding it for so long, but if they start by the monster, it will realize the trap and won’t take the bait.

The third option is that they have to wait around until the dragon shows up, and it’s too dangerous to do so any closer. Either because the monster will sense them and attack, or because there are various lesser monsters drawn to the vicinity that will all start going for them.

(Out of game, the reason is because the fight will be over too fast if they don’t have to run to the center. It will be hugely anti-climactic for the final part of dealing with a monster that has been hounding them for a while already.)

If the players are smart, they’ll scout the area before. If so, you’ll want a few minor terrain obstacles and/or minor encounters against lesser monsters that are in the area.

You’ll probably want a large map for them to scout out. If the area is swamp, I’d set up a number of islands, each of which is connected to multiple other ones. If forest, you’ll use clearings. If mountains, plateaus and/or valleys. With each, note on your map how easy or difficult each passage is, and any specific obstacles in any of the passages.

What the players will be looking for will be a fairly easy path to get to where the bit monster is. If they’re clever, they’ll also choose a path that winds back and forth, making it harder for the dragon to cut them off, and letting them take advantage of their movements being unpredictable to stay ahead of it more easily.

You’ll run this idea more or less the same as the pursuit above. Unlike in the pursuit above, in this one the dragon will remain in the air, not having a good place to land. (In the case of the swamp, most of the land isn’t big enough for the dragon to land on, not does it want to land inside the swamp and risk getting pulled down by the mud. Each fire breath attack will cause a large amount of steam, temporarily cloaking the PCs and letting them pull away.)

If they mapped out the area beforehand, you can make minor changes to complicate matters, but don’t place too many changes or too big ones, as they deserve to take advantage of their foresight in preparing the area beforehand. (This is especially true if they thought to map out the area on their own, not because you suggested it via NPC.)

Adding Complications:

The most likely problems that they’ll face in running this solution is if the dragon cuts them off, forcing them to go via a different route than the one they preferred.

The dragon might also cause they’re path to be obstructed, by demolishing land bridges (swamp), knocking down trees or setting the area ahead of them on fire (forest), causing landfalls (mountains), or throwing obstacles into their path (any). This will force them to decide between spending time finding a way to get past the obstacle, or choosing a different way.

Aside from these, the dragon’s fear can provide a major problem. Once it activated its fear, any PCs caught in its aura won’t be able to continue (assuming the dragon places itself in that direction.) They’ll have to wait for it to wear off, and try to avoid the dragon in the meantime.

The Finish:

Once they’ve reached the center, they’ll have to wake up the tarresque (or other monster). I like the idea of it being underground, with a breathing hole it left itself that is big enough for an elephant to fall into. Perhaps they’ll dash into the middle of the clearing, perhaps they’ll roll a boulder across where it’s buried to get its attention, or cast a spell down at it from up close. They can decide how to wake it.

Finally, it will come roaring out of the ground. It will grab the dragon, which will fight back, and there will be a battle royal. If the players have sense, they’ll flee. If not, have them get hit by fire, thrown debris, and/or have either the dragon or the other monster accidently knock into them. Sooner than later, they’ll realize that they have to flee.

To make fleeing a challenge, have the ground shaking under them force DEX saves to avoid falling prone, have a piece of thrown rubble pin one of them down, forcing the others to rescue that PC, and have parts of the land around them break off, resulting in fissures (small chasms), falling trees or rocks blocking their path, water rushing it due to the land getting torn up, etc.’.

If they still have a lot of health after escaping, you can have a nice amount of lesser monsters that they have to get past. These monsters were drawn by the commotion, and will attack the PCs on sight.

Traps

The idea:

This forms the second way to fight against a larger foe. You set a trap to catch them, and then you have at least a certain advantage on fighting them. [trap ideas below.]

The best way to introduce this idea to your players is if several of these traps are used against them. Then introduce a small scenario where an NPC hires them to help build and set a trap against a smaller monster that the NPC wants to capture. Also introduce an NPC who will help them with their plans, thereby allowing you to give them advice (in particular, flaws in their plan that they can figure out how to fix, and letting them know about the existence of fantasy materials that they might need), and to suggest the trap idea if and when they don’t think of it.

Getting the materials for the trap can by a side quest in and of itself.

(Like above, be careful of suggesting the idea too soon. You don’t want them to feel like you’re pushing them into it. Break with a small adventure if you aren’t sure.)

Various Traps:

Different traps that the players can use include the following:

Net: Requires NPCs. The idea is that they lure the dragon into a certain place. The net is mostly held back against a cliff or trees, but there is a rope that goes over a pulley in the opposite cliff, so that when the rope is pulled the net is extended. Then the ropes holding it up can be cut, allowing the net to fall down onto the dragon. Add weights, or more ropes pulling it down, to have it pull down the dragon.

It should go without saying that the ropes of the net will need to be extremely strong. Either they buy a small fortune in really thick rope, or you introduce some magical rope that is almost unbreakable. A more workable solution might be a magic oil that will make ordinary rope strong for a little while.

Sticky Trap, Rope Trap: Two variants on the net are the sticky and rope traps.  The sticky trap in where you coat part of the floor with a powerful glue, so that when the dragon steps there, or slams its claw into the ground while trying to take down a PC, it gets stuck. The rope trap is where a loop of rope closes tight around the claw, leaving the dragon stuck in place.

The traps are sometimes combined, with the rope being rendered sticky instead of the floor so that it’s twice as hard for the dragon to pull free. Other variants are where the dragon grabs a sticky log inside a pit, perhaps thinking it’s grabbing a PC, and then can’t get itself free, as the edges of the pit are narrower than the log. Another variant, where they shoot large barbed crossbow bolts through the dragon’s wings. The bolts are connected to ropes that are fastened to the ground, stopping the dragon from flying away.

Avalanche/rockfall: The lure the dragon to the side of a mountain, and then trigger an avalanche or release a rockfall which falls down onto the dragon and traps it.

All of these traps are restraining traps. They’re aimed at keeping the dragon down, whereupon the players can start attacking the dragon. Arguably, the dragon should have disadvantage and the players advantage, given the restrained condition, and with some of them you can argue that the dragon should have less attacks, with one of its claws unavailable and/or its head not being able to reach them while they attack from behind.

Even if this is enough to let them kill the dragon (and I find that unlikely), it will give a very long, slow end to the battle. (I’d guess about 10 rounds of rolling attacks before the dragon dies.) It would be very anti-climactic, and kind of boring.

What I would suggest would be to have the NPC advisor warn them not to trust to a single trap. Tell them that they should line up several backup traps if they want to be sure of taking down the dragon. Then you can let the dragon escape after 2-3 rounds, and move on to another trap. You can use a different one of the traps mentioned above, or if you’d prefer here are some traps aimed at doing damage instead of restraining, perfect for this situation where you can say that the dragon is having trouble flying after the wounds he already took.

These traps can also be run in combination with the traps mentioned above. As in, have one trap grab the dragon and hold him in place while a second trap does the damage.

Like before, using some variant of these traps against the players previously isn’t a bad way to give them the idea for using them against the dragon.

Swinging Log: A heavy log is tied to a rope, which is then pulled back and held in place. When released, the log swings forward and smashes into the creature in its path.

Rolling Boulder: A favorite trap to use against players, it also works against their enemies. Also, as their enemies don’t cry unfair, there is no reason not to set it off right next to the dragon, or just drop a boulder on it from the top of a cliff.

Poisons: The dragon is hit with a pile of logs, or something else flammable, and responds by setting it all on fire. A large amount of something that gives off poisonous smoke is added to the wood, so that when the dragon burns it the dragon takes a large amount of poison damage.

Heavy Crossbow: Not so much a trap as an ambush. The problem is that large crossbows aren’t portable, especially not easily portable, so that the target has to be brought to them and prevented from dodging. Pairing such a crossbow together with a restraining trap is one way, the other is to carefully lure the dragon into a specific spot and then distract him so he doesn’t dodge. Also, the crossbow should ideally be aimed at the more vulnerable underbelly.

Swarm: This probably has to be used with a restraining trap. The idea is that the players weaken the dragon in a place where there are other monsters that will join in as soon as they see that the dragon is weak enough to be taken down. This should probably be the final part of killing the dragon.

The challenge is that the players have to take down the dragon, and fight it until the other monsters are drawn to the fighting and start to join in. Then the players have to manage to escape, as the swarm monsters are likely to target the PCs as well. 

Army Fort

The third non-magical way of killing a dragon with low-level adventurers is with allies, fortifications, and heavy weapons.

Setting up the Idea: Finding a way to convince an army outpost to ally with them against an enemy as formidable as a dragon will be an imposing task. I would suggest some quest that they desperately need the party to fulfill, such as obtaining a rare herb to save someone from a sickness, or (if you’re up for something harder to DM), rooting out a well-placed conspiracy.

(I’m suggesting a conspiracy where some people that are supposedly loyal to the army or part of them are in fact traitors, the people in charge won’t know which ones, which is why they won’t work against them directly.)

In addition, you probably need a reason why they also agree that the dragon is a problem, and not just because of the devastation its causing in pursuit of the PCs (that could conceivably be called their fault). Perhaps there is evidence that the dragon may be willing to ally with an enemy of theirs, perhaps the dragon’s lair is situated where they can’t get to an important sine or magical spring without going near it, and that will create retaliation by the dragon, perhaps the dragon committed some crime against their country.

In the last two, I would give a reason why the dragon has become more of a problem recently. (If not, why are they only fighting back now?) Perhaps the dragon keeps expanding its territory, or its activities, and it is starting to get to be too much to ignore.

Preparing the Idea: To take down the dragon, they are going to need to prepare a special weapon or two. I would use a massive siege crossbow, designed to be strong enough to pierce the dragon’s armor, but you or they may have either ideas. If your players will cooperate, have a planning session where they meet with the people in charge, and work out a plan.

Try to involve the players in getting ready. As there is no interesting way to roleplay construction work or forging, see if there are any difficulty materials that they need for the weapon, and give them a mini-quest to get it. (The quest can be to get it straight out, or to get an item that will allow them to trade for it.)

If any of the players have the relevant tool proficiency, narrate them working on it, try to give a decision or two for them to make, if you can, and then let them realize that they need stronger rope, or something like that. If they don’t have any of the tool proficiencies needed, the people working on it will tell them that they need it, either at the beginning or after you narrate an amount of time.

The quest could also be in order to convince a craftsman to help them.

In addition to creating a special weapon, they might create a trap or two to slow down the dragon, weaken him before the main battle, and/or prevent it from fleeing. See the traps in the previous section for ideas.

Finally, they’ll need to do something in order to lure the dragon in. Going somewhere where it can see them is the typical way, and you might want to run a short version of the “Leading the Dragon into Danger” pursuit mentioned above.

The Fight:

The fight will involve at least two stages: Below are my suggestions for the stages.

First Stage: The dragon attacks the walls directly, while the PCs and soldiers work to fight him and mostly fail.

The dragon’s turn: The dragon will spend the bulk of his moves attacking the wall, mostly by pounding it with his tail with his legendary actions. During his turn, he’ll sweep the walls with his claws and teeth, or breath fire. Either way he’ll mostly target soldiers, but I would suggest one attack land on a PC each turn. I would not minimize the damage, as the fight will be more incredible when they see how powerful the dragon is, but the wall will force the dragon to attack whichever PC is in front, thus letting the cleric heal anyone knocked unconscious. (If they try to put the healer in front, have the soldiers try to dissuade them.)

When the dragon breathes fire, the wall and the numbers of soldiers will limit its effects. I would still have it hit 2-3 PCs, but you can halve its damage, using the excuse that the walls and men prevented the full force from hitting them.

All of these reductions are only meant for the PCs. The NPC soldiers should lose 3-4 soldiers to each claw/teeth round (even though according to the rules, the dragon couldn’t take down that many), and several times that to a breath weapon turn. In addition, they might lose two or three to falling off the wall as the dragon pounds at it.

The soldiers’ turn: The dragon doesn’t have that many hit points, by the standard of its CR. I would probably narrate the soldiers’ weapons as being mostly useless against it, and if I rolled, I would fake the results. It’s fine for it to lose 15-20 HP a turn against it, just not significantly more. The players, of course, will do full damage.

The special weapon that they built won’t be used at this stage, mainly so as not to end the fight too soon. The in-game reason is that they need the dragon inside the courtyard so that he can’t dodge, and they need him to have committed to the attack so that he can’t retreat. Even so, he wasn’t meant to get through so fast.

Second stage: After two rounds, the dragon tears a big enough hole in the wall to push his way through and start entering the courtyard. All survivors retreat toward the keep. On the positive side, this will put the dragon into range of the big crossbow. It’s time to activate it.

Below are various ideas for the next stage of the fight. Use as many as you think best. The ideas have been placed in optimal order.

• The dragon has gotten through far faster than expected. The captain needs the players to hold the dragon back at least one turn, so that his soldiers have time to flee. The challenges are twofold. Holding the dragon back, and managing to flee themselves. (If you get stuck on the second, have the captain sacrifice himself for them.)
• The dragon, anticipating the retreat, snuck minions in to cut them off. There aren’t that many minions compared to the soldiers, and the amount that the PCs have to face are even less. In addition, they’re fairly weak, even compared to the players’ current level. Still, they don’t have much time to get past.
• The dragon hurls a stone at the crossbow platform, causing it to tilt or killing the bowman. The players have to get past all obstacles (fires, rubble, cracks in the floor, minions), climb up to the platform, and man the crossbow themselves. This is meant to let them get the kill. Variant: the rock scatters the crossbow bolts. They have to retrieve them also.
• The dragon’s position doesn’t allow for a clear shot, perhaps because a building is in the way. They have to taunt or otherwise trick the dragon into following them. (Note: This one doesn’t have as clear instructions for the players as the other ideas. It’s meant for players that are able to improvise.)