He's a Juvenile white dragon (in between Young and Adult, smarter/tougher than a Young but not as strong as an Adult), I gave him some scaled-down Lair Actions (see below), and I'm using the Icingdeath's Lair map from Tactical Maps Reincarnated (it's the icy, snowy caverns with the people frozen in ice). Anyone got any tips, tactics, or ideas?
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:
Freezing fog fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the dragon can see within 100 feet of it. The fog spreads around corners, and its area is heavily obscured. A wind of at least 20 miles per hour disperses the fog. The fog otherwise lasts until the dragon uses this lair action again or until the dragon dies.
The dragon creates an opaque wall of ice on a solid surface it can see within 120 feet of it. The wall can be up to 30 feet long, 30 feet high, and 1 foot thick. When the wall appears, each creature within its area is pushed 5 feet out of the wall’s space, appearing on whichever side of the wall it wants. Each 10-foot section of the wall has AC 5, 20 hit points, vulnerability to fire damage, and immunity to acid, cold, necrotic, poison, and psychic damage. The wall disappears when the dragon uses this lair action again or when the dragon dies.
With White Dragons in particular being rather dumb (though still smarter than basic animals), their strategy isn’t going to be incredible. I’d go with the usual dragon strategy of breath weapon, then fly away and kite the players until it recharges. They would probably focus whoever dealt the most damage to them during the last round, unless a character is noticeably damaged (50% health or lower), in which case the dragon focuses them until they are knocked down.
The fog is still useful due to the dragon having a way to see through the fog, so you might want to throw that down before going into melee.
Be careful when equating low intelligence to being "dumb". Wolves have INT 3, while Dolphins and Apes have INT 6.
Dolphins and Apes are capable of some fairly sophisticated thinking, including tool use and trapping. While they won't be appreciating the subtlety of Shakespearian humor, creatures like the Young White Dragon are going to be very clever within their domain. Outsiders will be at a distinct disadvantage.
..Though only moderately intelligent, white dragons have extraordinary memories. They recall every slight and defeat, and have been known to conduct malicious vendettas against creatures that have offended them. This often includes silver dragons, which lair in the same territories as whites. White dragons can speak as all dragons can, but they rarely talk unless moved to do so...
A particularly young white dragon is likely to be rash and reckless. However, an older and/or more experienced white dragon is going to learn from past encounters out of spite.
Your "Juvenile" White Dragon might be experienced enough to leave piles of treasure or wounded creatures as bait to trick the party into going down a tunnel that it can collapse, or seal with a wall of ice.
Be careful when equating low intelligence to being "dumb". Wolves have INT 3, while Dolphins and Apes have INT 6.
Dolphins and Apes are capable of some fairly sophisticated thinking, including tool use and trapping. While they won't be appreciating the subtlety of Shakespearian humor, creatures like the Young White Dragon are going to be very clever within their domain. Outsiders will be at a distinct disadvantage.
..Though only moderately intelligent, white dragons have extraordinary memories. They recall every slight and defeat, and have been known to conduct malicious vendettas against creatures that have offended them. This often includes silver dragons, which lair in the same territories as whites. White dragons can speak as all dragons can, but they rarely talk unless moved to do so...
A particularly young white dragon is likely to be rash and reckless. However, an older and/or more experienced white dragon is going to learn from past encounters out of spite.
Your "Juvenile" White Dragon might be experienced enough to leave piles of treasure or wounded creatures as bait to trick the party into going down a tunnel that it can collapse, or seal with a wall of ice.
This. All creatures show behaviour they're pretty much born with, and most creatures learn some more things from a parent or an authority figure if they're part of a troop or clutch or pride or whatever collective noun is used for the creature in question. So, intelligence aside even a very young white dragon likely has some basic tactics to fall back on.
I'd expect something like the bait mentioned above, and possibly some basic traps or tools to make it harder to sneak up on it in its lair. Maybe a way out that requires flight, though that could make things very difficult for the players. More obvious paths to the lair likely have a killing ground with little or no cover against its breath weapon. Whites are hunters, so if it does have a way out via the roof it could use that to attack enemies moving in towards it lair from behind if it noticed them, trying to trap them in the lair to prevent escape.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Yeah, you’re right. I forgot about how intelligent Apes were listed at. With a Young dragon having a 6, and an Adult having a 8, your particular dragons stands somewhere in between an ape and your generic adventurer. That’s definitely smart enough for some more tactical planning than I originally suggested.
I’d say it’s smart enough to guess that the people in the back are usually squishier ranged characters, confirming the suspicion after a round (though something like a monk might confuse them at first), so it might even fly in to melee them, then Ice Wall the melee characters away from them. Alternatively, it walls in the backline characters so it can fly safer when burrowing isn’t an option.
In order to take advantage of Ice Walk, a white dragon would lair in snowy/icy places (obviously), and if the area wasn’t already difficult terrain, it would have either gathered deep snow or froze over the ground to make it so.
Threatening it, challenging its pride, or attempting to steal its treasures during the fight result in its full attention, probably even over low health characters (maybe do an Intimidation (Charisma) check contested by Wisdom (Insight) if a character WANTS to draw attention when there’s a much more enticing target for the dragon). Such offenders are immediately met with being boxed in by Ice Wall and torn to shreds.
Yeah, Icingdeath's Lair from Tactical Maps Reincarnated. It's the icy/snowy cave thing with people frozen in ice and lots of huge deep crevices in the floor (made by the burrowing dragon).
Yeah, Icingdeath's Lair from Tactical Maps Reincarnated. It's the icy/snowy cave thing with people frozen in ice and lots of huge deep crevices in the floor (made by the burrowing dragon).
Have a chance that loud noises or explosions drop ice stalactites from the ceiling. When I ran something similar, I dropped pieces of paper above the map to represent the falling ice.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
So, another thought on the intelligence thing: White dragons are NOT beasts, they're just bestial. Think of Sabretooth or Wolverine from Marvel, rather than The Hulk. They can be negotiated with, they can learn magic and they still like to collect things just as any other dragon does. They can even bond with people, as one famous White Dragon who loved her Wizard rider did in Forgotten Realms. She still has his frozen corpse on her back and pretends he's alive.
The key thing is that their strength is instinct, not analysis. They are apex predators in a way that Reds, Blues, Greens and Blacks are not. Every focus of their draconic being is on what matters to them: survival and acquiring food. They do so better than almost any other creature, perfectly suited to battle on the ice, in the air or beneath the waves. They value art, diamonds and the frozen, preserved remains of notable mortals. They are a lot more complex than just being giant lizards, if you want them to be.
One thing you could do is have the Dragon lead them into a hall of statues, where they are in a maze of frozen adventurers and monsters. It gives the Dragon a bonus to stealth, and it can use a lair action to do a sneak attack or have a 'statue' fall towards the players, as it knocks them over.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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He's a Juvenile white dragon (in between Young and Adult, smarter/tougher than a Young but not as strong as an Adult), I gave him some scaled-down Lair Actions (see below), and I'm using the Icingdeath's Lair map from Tactical Maps Reincarnated (it's the icy, snowy caverns with the people frozen in ice). Anyone got any tips, tactics, or ideas?
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:
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Extended Sig
With White Dragons in particular being rather dumb (though still smarter than basic animals), their strategy isn’t going to be incredible. I’d go with the usual dragon strategy of breath weapon, then fly away and kite the players until it recharges. They would probably focus whoever dealt the most damage to them during the last round, unless a character is noticeably damaged (50% health or lower), in which case the dragon focuses them until they are knocked down.
The fog is still useful due to the dragon having a way to see through the fog, so you might want to throw that down before going into melee.
I’d recommend reading up on this, specifically the parts that are relevant to you (Young Dragons and Lair Actions). https://www.themonstersknow.com/dragon-tactics-part-1/
Be careful when equating low intelligence to being "dumb". Wolves have INT 3, while Dolphins and Apes have INT 6.
Dolphins and Apes are capable of some fairly sophisticated thinking, including tool use and trapping. While they won't be appreciating the subtlety of Shakespearian humor, creatures like the Young White Dragon are going to be very clever within their domain. Outsiders will be at a distinct disadvantage.
A particularly young white dragon is likely to be rash and reckless. However, an older and/or more experienced white dragon is going to learn from past encounters out of spite.
Your "Juvenile" White Dragon might be experienced enough to leave piles of treasure or wounded creatures as bait to trick the party into going down a tunnel that it can collapse, or seal with a wall of ice.
This. All creatures show behaviour they're pretty much born with, and most creatures learn some more things from a parent or an authority figure if they're part of a troop or clutch or pride or whatever collective noun is used for the creature in question. So, intelligence aside even a very young white dragon likely has some basic tactics to fall back on.
I'd expect something like the bait mentioned above, and possibly some basic traps or tools to make it harder to sneak up on it in its lair. Maybe a way out that requires flight, though that could make things very difficult for the players. More obvious paths to the lair likely have a killing ground with little or no cover against its breath weapon.
Whites are hunters, so if it does have a way out via the roof it could use that to attack enemies moving in towards it lair from behind if it noticed them, trying to trap them in the lair to prevent escape.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Yeah, you’re right. I forgot about how intelligent Apes were listed at. With a Young dragon having a 6, and an Adult having a 8, your particular dragons stands somewhere in between an ape and your generic adventurer. That’s definitely smart enough for some more tactical planning than I originally suggested.
I’d say it’s smart enough to guess that the people in the back are usually squishier ranged characters, confirming the suspicion after a round (though something like a monk might confuse them at first), so it might even fly in to melee them, then Ice Wall the melee characters away from them. Alternatively, it walls in the backline characters so it can fly safer when burrowing isn’t an option.
In order to take advantage of Ice Walk, a white dragon would lair in snowy/icy places (obviously), and if the area wasn’t already difficult terrain, it would have either gathered deep snow or froze over the ground to make it so.
Threatening it, challenging its pride, or attempting to steal its treasures during the fight result in its full attention, probably even over low health characters (maybe do an Intimidation (Charisma) check contested by Wisdom (Insight) if a character WANTS to draw attention when there’s a much more enticing target for the dragon). Such offenders are immediately met with being boxed in by Ice Wall and torn to shreds.
Thanks everybody, this is really helpful!
I'm the Valar (leader and creator) of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Anything Tolkien Cult!
Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
If you want some casual roleplay/adventures in Middle Earth, check out The Wild's Edge Tavern, a LotR/Middle Earth tavern!
JOIN TIAMAT'S CONGA LINE!
Extended Sig
Are you using a battlemat?
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Yeah, Icingdeath's Lair from Tactical Maps Reincarnated. It's the icy/snowy cave thing with people frozen in ice and lots of huge deep crevices in the floor (made by the burrowing dragon).
I'm the Valar (leader and creator) of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Anything Tolkien Cult!
Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
If you want some casual roleplay/adventures in Middle Earth, check out The Wild's Edge Tavern, a LotR/Middle Earth tavern!
JOIN TIAMAT'S CONGA LINE!
Extended Sig
Add a baby dragon at the end who bonds with a character!
Lover of pugs, dinos, dragons, and chickens
FEAR AND LOVE ME MORTALS!
Leader of the cult of bwba (barbarians with big axes)
I got something better. An egg that’s about to hatch!
I'm the Valar (leader and creator) of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Anything Tolkien Cult!
Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
If you want some casual roleplay/adventures in Middle Earth, check out The Wild's Edge Tavern, a LotR/Middle Earth tavern!
JOIN TIAMAT'S CONGA LINE!
Extended Sig
Have a chance that loud noises or explosions drop ice stalactites from the ceiling. When I ran something similar, I dropped pieces of paper above the map to represent the falling ice.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
So, another thought on the intelligence thing: White dragons are NOT beasts, they're just bestial. Think of Sabretooth or Wolverine from Marvel, rather than The Hulk. They can be negotiated with, they can learn magic and they still like to collect things just as any other dragon does. They can even bond with people, as one famous White Dragon who loved her Wizard rider did in Forgotten Realms. She still has his frozen corpse on her back and pretends he's alive.
The key thing is that their strength is instinct, not analysis. They are apex predators in a way that Reds, Blues, Greens and Blacks are not. Every focus of their draconic being is on what matters to them: survival and acquiring food. They do so better than almost any other creature, perfectly suited to battle on the ice, in the air or beneath the waves. They value art, diamonds and the frozen, preserved remains of notable mortals. They are a lot more complex than just being giant lizards, if you want them to be.
One thing you could do is have the Dragon lead them into a hall of statues, where they are in a maze of frozen adventurers and monsters. It gives the Dragon a bonus to stealth, and it can use a lair action to do a sneak attack or have a 'statue' fall towards the players, as it knocks them over.