So, the players are trying to escape a hostile town guard through the sewers. They need to pass through a section of sewers that have been cut off and used as a kobold lair, with the knowledge that the kobolds have something that forced everyone on the surface to leave them alone.
My plan is that the players go through the kobold lair, go through some traps, then they find the power the kobolds had: a black dragon on their side. HOWEVER, this dragon is actually a fake, made with the skin of a long-dead dragon, filled with random junk around the sewers to imitate insides, and powered by magic to act with the assistance of another Kobold controlling it with a magic crystal.
The players, of course, won't know this dragon is fake unless they damage the dragon too much and see it has no blood, or they succeed a perception/insight check to notice this dragon isn't acting normally. The players can then defeat the dragon (which they are WAY too under-levelled for if it was a real dragon) by taking the crystal from the Kobold hiding in the room among the garbage piles.
I am a bit scared about something going wrong with this encounter, any thoughts?
I think this is perfect, and I may well steal (cough borrow) this idea for a future adventure :)
Be prepared for the players doing weird imaginative things, or just running away, but then that is kind of what the Kobolds want anyway. you can always hint the players can go back when they are stronger, at which point they will quickly find out it's a ruse.
Sounds like a great encounter. The PCs, however, are really unlikely to engage the dragon. They'll presumably know they'd be too low level to fight it.
Start off by having them hear the "dragon"'s roars through the tunnels to scare them.
Does it walk around? If it does then make it slow and unnatural. Give a Nature check to discern that there's something off with it. If there's an Artificer, give them an Arcana check. The dragon shouldn't chase them (that would defeat the purpose of it).
It's quite likely that they won't discover the truth about the dragon if it's too convincing. Maybe after they encounter it there's a room with a schematic on the wall showing how it was constructed.
Maybe also have some steam and smoke in the room but let the players make an investigation/perception check to see there seems something a bit off with it. Give them small hints like, as you look at the dragon something doesn't seem quite right, or, the air isn't as hot as you would expect from a dragon lair.
As Sanvael says a nature check is a good option, use a scaled DC so a low DC simply gives the idea that this is not a typical dragon, a higher DC discerns more information (I usually use 3-4 levels increasing in increments of 3-5)
I think it's an excellent idea for an encounter. Really nothing to be worried about. If the hoped-for scenario is that the players figure it out, I'd probably reduce the DC to see through the setup with every round of interaction; whether they choose to engage the kobolds after realizing they've been played or decide not to waste time and just proceed to make their getaway doesn't even matter too much in the end, but just the fact that they came across a tribe of kobolds with an animated dragon puppet frightening off intruders is something they'll remember for a long time.
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I usually play characters as if they had only a rough idea about what enemies are stronger than others and such. Dragons are especially problematic because how strong they are depends entirely on how old/large they are. A black dragon has a CR of between 2 and 21. This means that if it were me, I would largely judge the level of danger based on the damage of the first hit taken, the number of attacks per action, whether any legendary actions were taken, and the strength and area of the breath weapon. If the kobolds can simulate these numbers, the dragon is about as dangerous as a real one, if they can't, your players may not see it as the threat it should be.
Also, is the perception/insight check going to be something you ask for or is it going to be something the players have to spend their action on? If it's the latter, it wouldn't surprise me if no one does.
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So, the players are trying to escape a hostile town guard through the sewers. They need to pass through a section of sewers that have been cut off and used as a kobold lair, with the knowledge that the kobolds have something that forced everyone on the surface to leave them alone.
My plan is that the players go through the kobold lair, go through some traps, then they find the power the kobolds had: a black dragon on their side. HOWEVER, this dragon is actually a fake, made with the skin of a long-dead dragon, filled with random junk around the sewers to imitate insides, and powered by magic to act with the assistance of another Kobold controlling it with a magic crystal.
The players, of course, won't know this dragon is fake unless they damage the dragon too much and see it has no blood, or they succeed a perception/insight check to notice this dragon isn't acting normally. The players can then defeat the dragon (which they are WAY too under-levelled for if it was a real dragon) by taking the crystal from the Kobold hiding in the room among the garbage piles.
I am a bit scared about something going wrong with this encounter, any thoughts?
I think this is perfect, and I may well steal (cough borrow) this idea for a future adventure :)
Be prepared for the players doing weird imaginative things, or just running away, but then that is kind of what the Kobolds want anyway. you can always hint the players can go back when they are stronger, at which point they will quickly find out it's a ruse.
Does the dragon attack, can it do damage to them?
Sounds like a great encounter. The PCs, however, are really unlikely to engage the dragon. They'll presumably know they'd be too low level to fight it.
Start off by having them hear the "dragon"'s roars through the tunnels to scare them.
Does it walk around? If it does then make it slow and unnatural. Give a Nature check to discern that there's something off with it. If there's an Artificer, give them an Arcana check. The dragon shouldn't chase them (that would defeat the purpose of it).
It's quite likely that they won't discover the truth about the dragon if it's too convincing. Maybe after they encounter it there's a room with a schematic on the wall showing how it was constructed.
Maybe also have some steam and smoke in the room but let the players make an investigation/perception check to see there seems something a bit off with it. Give them small hints like, as you look at the dragon something doesn't seem quite right, or, the air isn't as hot as you would expect from a dragon lair.
As Sanvael says a nature check is a good option, use a scaled DC so a low DC simply gives the idea that this is not a typical dragon, a higher DC discerns more information (I usually use 3-4 levels increasing in increments of 3-5)
You could have the dragon refer to itself as The Great and Powerful Oz if you think the players need a big clue.
I think it's an excellent idea for an encounter. Really nothing to be worried about. If the hoped-for scenario is that the players figure it out, I'd probably reduce the DC to see through the setup with every round of interaction; whether they choose to engage the kobolds after realizing they've been played or decide not to waste time and just proceed to make their getaway doesn't even matter too much in the end, but just the fact that they came across a tribe of kobolds with an animated dragon puppet frightening off intruders is something they'll remember for a long time.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I usually play characters as if they had only a rough idea about what enemies are stronger than others and such. Dragons are especially problematic because how strong they are depends entirely on how old/large they are. A black dragon has a CR of between 2 and 21. This means that if it were me, I would largely judge the level of danger based on the damage of the first hit taken, the number of attacks per action, whether any legendary actions were taken, and the strength and area of the breath weapon. If the kobolds can simulate these numbers, the dragon is about as dangerous as a real one, if they can't, your players may not see it as the threat it should be.
Also, is the perception/insight check going to be something you ask for or is it going to be something the players have to spend their action on? If it's the latter, it wouldn't surprise me if no one does.