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[How to slay a dragon] Final battle against Cirothe
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<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 7833449" data-attributes="member: 12377"><p>At 7th level, the party should have access to a few gonzo save-or-suck spells. <em>Banishment</em> is surprisingly helpful in allowing the party to pause, heal, and prepare for some super smack-down. <em>Polymorph</em> could also be used quite effectively. Of course, Legendary Resistance may impede these spells, but there are ways around that (make her blow her LR uses on <em>lightning bolt</em> and <em>stunning strike</em>). (Actually if the monk can get in close enough to <em>stunning strike</em> for a round or two that would really change the tide of battle.)</p><p></p><p>The big threat is the dragon's breath weapon. A smart dragon (and they're all smart) will breathe fire and then retreat, using hit-and-run tactics. The breath weapon does an average of <em>63</em> damage, which is ridiculous against a 7th-level party. It's basically an area effect save-or-die.</p><p></p><p>So the problem with this encounter isn't that it's too lethal, it's that it's too swingy. Too much relies on the dragon failing saves and on the PCs making saves. You could reduce this swingyness by extending the battle.</p><p></p><p>One easy way to extend the PCs lives a bit longer is to give them each a <em>potion of fire resistance</em> before the battle. I don't remember Act III well enough to suggest how to do this; maybe place them on the corpse of a dead adventurer in one of the upper rooms of the volcano. This means that the breath weapon is no longer an instant TPK, but still remains an effective weapon. It also makes the melee attack routine competitive with the breath weapon, which means the dragon might resort to more up-close tactics, which are much better for the party.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="77IM, post: 7833449, member: 12377"] At 7th level, the party should have access to a few gonzo save-or-suck spells. [I]Banishment[/I] is surprisingly helpful in allowing the party to pause, heal, and prepare for some super smack-down. [I]Polymorph[/I] could also be used quite effectively. Of course, Legendary Resistance may impede these spells, but there are ways around that (make her blow her LR uses on [I]lightning bolt[/I] and [I]stunning strike[/I]). (Actually if the monk can get in close enough to [I]stunning strike[/I] for a round or two that would really change the tide of battle.) The big threat is the dragon's breath weapon. A smart dragon (and they're all smart) will breathe fire and then retreat, using hit-and-run tactics. The breath weapon does an average of [I]63[/I] damage, which is ridiculous against a 7th-level party. It's basically an area effect save-or-die. So the problem with this encounter isn't that it's too lethal, it's that it's too swingy. Too much relies on the dragon failing saves and on the PCs making saves. You could reduce this swingyness by extending the battle. One easy way to extend the PCs lives a bit longer is to give them each a [I]potion of fire resistance[/I] before the battle. I don't remember Act III well enough to suggest how to do this; maybe place them on the corpse of a dead adventurer in one of the upper rooms of the volcano. This means that the breath weapon is no longer an instant TPK, but still remains an effective weapon. It also makes the melee attack routine competitive with the breath weapon, which means the dragon might resort to more up-close tactics, which are much better for the party. [/QUOTE]
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