My plan is to end my campaign with the PCs save their island by bringing back an ancient bronze dragon who was protecting their island until 100 years ago. But I can't figure out what could have possibly captured/incapacitated/put to sleep/imprisoned an ancient bronze dragon, short of a god (and these aren't going to be god-killing caliber PCs yet). Is there a magical item, or an exceptionally cheap combination of spells, or something, that could have put an ancient bronze dragon in such a position?
Lore wise, Dragons and Giants typically war with each other. A powerful giant defeated the dragon.
The Vampire Lord Strahd defeated a dragon. Have a big enough army, anybody can take a dragon down.
Monks and Rogues can evade most dragon breaths.
Somebody cast a wish spell to put the dragon to sleep.
Dragon ate too much or the food was drugged. Food coma.
Very, very few dragons are so powerful that a deity is needed to defeat them. The Forgotten Realms has some CR 40 dragons but those are extremely rare. And only exist because Forgotten Realms has been around since players could reach level 40.
homebrew dragon- entrapping ritual cast by the campaign BBEG who wanted the dragon out of the way so they could go ahead with their plans
This is along the lines of what I'm thinking of. Someone somehow in league with the empire that has taken over the island who has somehow gotten the dragon out of the way and who might be the campaign's big bad.
You pretty much need something plot device, for the simple reason that creatures capable of imprisoning a dragon like that could also just kill it without meaningfully greater effort, so there has to be a reason why it was asleep instead of just dead. I suggest some sort of trick or trap.
The other thing to remember is that there's no requirement that the responsible party is still around; it could be something arbitrarily powerful that just did whatever it was after and left.
Perhaps a volcano was going to erupt to destroy the island and the dragon made a deal with a Dawn Titan or other extremely powerful earth/fire elemental or djinn to prevent the disaster (since even a dragon would have trouble stopping a volcano). In exchange the dragon gave up its freedom and form for a time allowing the primordial elemental an opportunity to explore the world as a dragon capable of assuming humanoid forms (Something like True Polymorph but requiring the dragon to be placed in an eternal slumber to maintain the effect).
The party then has to convince the elemental that a century of carousing on the prime material as an ancient dragon is sufficient and it is time to return the dragon to its body.
their curiosity lead them to something better left buried, and it incapacitated them
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My plan is to end my campaign with the PCs save their island by bringing back an ancient bronze dragon who was protecting their island until 100 years ago. But I can't figure out what could have possibly captured/incapacitated/put to sleep/imprisoned an ancient bronze dragon, short of a god (and these aren't going to be god-killing caliber PCs yet). Is there a magical item, or an exceptionally cheap combination of spells, or something, that could have put an ancient bronze dragon in such a position?
Just off the top of my head....
Lore wise, Dragons and Giants typically war with each other. A powerful giant defeated the dragon.
The Vampire Lord Strahd defeated a dragon. Have a big enough army, anybody can take a dragon down.
Monks and Rogues can evade most dragon breaths.
Somebody cast a wish spell to put the dragon to sleep.
Dragon ate too much or the food was drugged. Food coma.
Very, very few dragons are so powerful that a deity is needed to defeat them. The Forgotten Realms has some CR 40 dragons but those are extremely rare. And only exist because Forgotten Realms has been around since players could reach level 40.
Another dragon.
It fell in love with a mortal, changed shape to be with them, and has yet to return.
A homebrew dragon- entrapping ritual cast by the campaign BBEG who wanted the dragon out of the way so they could go ahead with their plans
The donjon card from a deck of many things.
It wasn’t trapped, it went into a self-imposed exile to avoid something even worse than leaving the island unprotected.
This is along the lines of what I'm thinking of. Someone somehow in league with the empire that has taken over the island who has somehow gotten the dragon out of the way and who might be the campaign's big bad.
You pretty much need something plot device, for the simple reason that creatures capable of imprisoning a dragon like that could also just kill it without meaningfully greater effort, so there has to be a reason why it was asleep instead of just dead. I suggest some sort of trick or trap.
The other thing to remember is that there's no requirement that the responsible party is still around; it could be something arbitrarily powerful that just did whatever it was after and left.
Perhaps a volcano was going to erupt to destroy the island and the dragon made a deal with a Dawn Titan or other extremely powerful earth/fire elemental or djinn to prevent the disaster (since even a dragon would have trouble stopping a volcano). In exchange the dragon gave up its freedom and form for a time allowing the primordial elemental an opportunity to explore the world as a dragon capable of assuming humanoid forms (Something like True Polymorph but requiring the dragon to be placed in an eternal slumber to maintain the effect).
The party then has to convince the elemental that a century of carousing on the prime material as an ancient dragon is sufficient and it is time to return the dragon to its body.
their curiosity lead them to something better left buried, and it incapacitated them
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Shrek
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