Dragon Encounters

Combat scenarios for every monster, allowing them to utilize their combat potential to the fullest for the first time ever.


YOUNG GOLD DRAGON: Dignity in Battle and Moderation in Advice

Minions/allies

Combat Rating 12

 

1 Young gold dragon (CR 10)

1 Coutal (CR 4)

2 Awakened trees (CR 2)

 

Combat Rating 14

 

1 Young gold dragon (CR 10)

1 Werebear (CR 5)

2 Weretigers (CR 4)

2 Pegasai (CR 2)

 

Combat Rating 17

 

1 Young gold dragon (CR 10)

2 Githzeri zerths (CR 6)

1 Treant (CR 9)

1 Unicorn (CR 5)

 

Combat Rating 20

 

1 Young gold dragon (CR 10)

2 Devas (CR 10)

3 Fire elementals (CR 5)

1 Water elemental (CR 5)

 

How to Use in Moderation

As I often mention, the main problem with using powerful good-aligned monsters is figuring out why they don’t do the quests instead of you. Here are reasons for the young gold dragon:

  • The dragon was assigned to watch over an area by its parents, or similar creatures. So long as the threat seems like something the players can handle, it will not want to abandon its duties. To make this sympathetic, make it so that there’s an actual need for the dragon’s duties, even if it’s just a deterrent to petty crime.
  • The flip side of the above is to have the dragon be forbidden, again by its parents or similar, to take on that type of job or enter the quest area. Ideally, you’d play this as it being uncertain and the players insisting. One way to do that is if it’s giving them a magical item for support. A different way is if the players are motivated not to want NPC support [see below].

There are also a couple of ways to prompt the players to not desire the support:

  • They can be warned that if they let the dragon accompany them, it will lay claim to the treasure or the magical items. You can even have the dragon warn them. (It’s duty bound to obey its parents’ instructions, but that doesn’t mean that it agrees with them.) Similarly, it accompanying them might force it to kill someone who was forced into cooperation.
  • If the players had a bad experience with an NPC companion before, you might leverage that by having the young gold dragon seem to be behaving similarly. You can generally find a way to excuse its behavior afterwards, if needed. While you probably don’t want to create an undesirable NPC just for this, maybe if the NPC turns out to have actually been a villain…?
  • Finally, have the dragon come along, and then have a special weapon leave it near dead. It’s a known guardian, so it makes sense the villains would have prepared for it, and now the players have extra incentive to fight them. This idea is especially helpful should one of the other ideas fail.

While the dragon might not be willing to accompany them, it could well have valuable information and/or gifts for them. If the players are the ones who don’t want its help, you can use that information in the form of a warning instead.

To keep from giving too much information to the players, hide the matter that it’s warning them about behind similar danger. For example, if it warns them of the evil that hides in the waters of a specific location, let them encounter merrows, or water weirds. They’ll think that the warning passed after defeating them. In reality, it was talking about an aboleth further on.

With cursed items, or traitorous NPCs, it’s even easier. All you need is a trait that might be problematic, or even better a manifestation of the problem that seems minor. They’ll assume that they saw the whole thing.

In terms of gifts, this will probably be a powerful magic item meant to help them save the day.

Since this is a plot device, not a reward, you’ll want something that is equally usable by all the party, which means not a combat item. To keep it powerful but not OP, you might consider placing a restriction on it, such as the number of times that it can be used. Make certain that it can be recharged, because the players won’t wait for the times you intended.

Alternatively, you can put a price on it. Perhaps it costs spell slots (although this only penalizes the magic users, which isn’t ideal), perhaps it drains HP, or costs rare and costly ingredients.

Perhaps it can only be used in certain locations, and the same location can’t be used twice, or can only be used under certain difficult to achieve conditions (although they should be achievable, and not just via DM fiat), or draw enemies to them.

If you prefer simpler items, such as healing or other minor boosts, you could give them a number of items to choose from, and let each player choose one.

You could put a price that they’ll have to pay back, according to how many items they take. Make sure to define when they’ll have to pay back by, and have an idea in mind for what you’ll do if they don’t repay the debt.

Combat Encounter (difficulty 12)

Gold dragons are the ultimate good dragons. You’ll want them to show up in a dignified manner, both to impress your players and because it’s something that they would do. In addition, it would make sense for them to wait for the perfect moment to attack, rather than risk it all by attacking at first opportunity. (You don’t become a champion without learning some smarts.)

A few ways for the dragon to catch them off guard:

  • Have the dragon be waiting for your players when they’re in the middle crossing a bridge, or a river. It will be sitting there, giving the impression that it knew they would be here and was waiting for them.
  • Meeting them as they exit a dungeon, all worn out from fighting, is also a good strategy.
  • Attack them when they’re in a boat, especially if there are rapids or a waterfall nearby. If might or might not be worth setting fire to the boat, especially if it’s small, but fighting the dragon will make it hard to steer the boat.
  • Attack them while they’re traveling over the plains on horseback. The horses will panic, and the players will end up scattered in different directions, easy targets for the dragon.
  • You could also have the dragon bring soldiers. Have them enter a clearing to find half a dozen bows drawn back and aimed at them. If they’re smart, they’ll come up with a way to escape, and you’ll have a chase scene with the dragon flying after and trying to slow them down long enough for the soldiers to catch up.

Most likely, it will demand their surrender. If they accept, I suggest confiscating their weapons, focus objects, and/or some of their magic items first thing. Otherwise, the inevitable escape feels too easy. If they refuse, they have a fight in which they start at a disadvantage.

A further thing to note is that even young gold dragons will be intelligent and well taught enough to know when to retreat. I don’t normally advocate monsters retreating, as that ruins the fun of winning, but if the creature is supposed to represent good, it might be better to keep it alive than to [inevitably] end up excusing its death as not such a bad thing.

The typical way to use a repeating enemy of this type is to have them encounter him once or twice, then stage a meeting when they’ve just closed in on the main enemy (or are chasing him in hot pursuit). The players will have to run away from the gold dragon in order to take on their foe.

This will end with the dragon realizing that it’s time to reevaluate, and join in on the players’ side. (And by the end, with the dragon realizing he’s been wrong all along.)

How to Use Weakening Breath

Of all the non-damage breath weapons of the metallic dragons, weakening breath is by far the weakest. It’s the only one that I wouldn’t use barring special reason. That said, here are the three occasions that I could see a use for weakening breath.

  1. In order to enable a grapple or push: Against players, this will only help if the PC is a STR build. Grapple and push can now be made as part of an unarmed strike, which means that the gold dragon can use its breath, then grapple or push with a legendary action (in 2014 rules, it would have to wait a full round, which means it would only be relevant if an ally of the dragon was going to do the grapple or shove).
  2. To rescue someone being grappled. Even less relevant than the last one, unless you set it up specifically. You could have them capture a villain (who they need to take alive), then the dragon shows up, mistakes the situation, and helps the villain escape. (This is an interesting alternative for the final battle above). (Note: According to RAW 2024, this won’t work, unless they change weakening breath in the 2024 MM)
  3. You could also have the dragon set up a situation where it will help. One idea is an avalanche or rockslide, the other is a mud or quicksand trap. Either way, the dragon springs this on them (they may or may not know that the dragon caused it, at this point), they use strength on their turn to deal with it, then the dragon shows up on its next turn to weaken them and thus close the trap.

Summary – 6 Ways to Use

  1. To avoid having the young gold dragon accompany them, you can – A: have it be assigned by its parents to other responsibilities. B: Have the players meeting a creature that the dragon will feel obliged to fight, if it goes near.
  2. The young gold dragon is happy to give advice. A decent way to spin it, so it doesn’t help too much, is to give the players reason to misunderstand it. Example, it warns them of evil in the water, meaning an aboleth, but the players meet merrows first.
  3. A young gold dragon that is hostile to a party is a cunning opponent. It will position itself so that they see it waiting for them (for effect) at the worst time for them, such as when split up because they’re in the middle of fording a river.
  4. Have a young gold dragon attack when they’re on horseback traveling over the plains. The horses will panic, and the players will start the fight being carried in a bunch of different directions.
  5. Use the young gold dragon’s weakening breath, then follow it up with a grapple or push by its allies (against STR based PCs only). Or, have the dragon arrive just as they captured an enemy, mistake the situation, and use its breath to free him.
  6. The young gold dragon can set up a rockfall to fall on them, then as the STR based PC is holding up the rubble so the others can climb free, the dragon will use weakening breath.


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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.

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