I'm prepping a a combat encounter for my players involving a black dragon. I was looking through its stats and realized there's no ability for the dragon to fly in, attack, and then fly out without incurring an opportunity attack. This makes little sense to me. No dragon of any intelligence would leave itself at the end of its turn in a position to get ganged up on by player characters. A smart dragon would fly in, attack, and fly back out of range. Didn't there used to be a flyby attack option where opportunity attacks were not possible?
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C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Many dragons also have reach. If they can attack from 10’ or 15’ away, most PCs won’t be close enough for an OA.
And like all creatures, they can use part of their move, attack and keep moving. Worst case, they draw an OA from the one they attack, but not everyone.
Many dragons also have reach. If they can attack from 10’ or 15’ away, most PCs won’t be close enough for an OA.
I think most usually only have reach on their bite and tail attacks, but the multiattack is bite + two claw attacks, and the claw attacks are usually 5 feet. Most dragons do also have a Wing Attack legendary action that does area damage, can knock targets prone and then gives them an extra move; while being prone doesn't prevent opportunity attacks it does make them less likely to hit.
But yeah, for a flying dragon it's really all about the breath attack; just blast everything with a strafing run then circle around till it recharges. Part of what is so challenging about dragons is getting them somewhere you can actually fight them properly to begin with, and luring them into a trap isn't easy.
Usually that means attacking their hoard (or one of them), which will usually be somewhere secure where flying may effectively may be difficult. However they will usually then have lair actions to compensate, so aren't necessarily less dangerous.
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Despite the versatile collection of monsters in this book, you might be at a loss when it comes to finding the perfect creature for part of an adventure. Feel free to tweak an existing creature to make it into something more useful for you, perhaps by borrowing a trait or two from a different monster or by using a variant or template, such as the ones in this book. Keep in mind that modifying a monster, including when you apply a template to it, might change its challenge rating.
I think the assumption is that most times that a party would encounter a dragon, the dragon is already old/big enough that it's difficult to imagine them being graceful enough to do Flyby Attack (as opposed to a Giant Eagle or Giant Owl). Personally, I think it makes sense for Medium or even Large sized dragons to have Flyby Attack, but not ones that are bigger than Large.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Adult Dragons are all as strong or stronger than Hill Giants. It's not hard to imagine a creature literally as strong as Giant picking up small boulders, dead trees, cows, etc. and dropping them on opponents from 100 feet up. While breath weapons probably do more damage, a dragon doesn't always have a breath weapon available and most breath weapons have less than 100-foot range.
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I'm prepping a a combat encounter for my players involving a black dragon. I was looking through its stats and realized there's no ability for the dragon to fly in, attack, and then fly out without incurring an opportunity attack. This makes little sense to me. No dragon of any intelligence would leave itself at the end of its turn in a position to get ganged up on by player characters. A smart dragon would fly in, attack, and fly back out of range. Didn't there used to be a flyby attack option where opportunity attacks were not possible?
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Sure, every dragon has one - the breath weapon.
It would also look for an opportunity to fly in, grapple a person that is separated from the others, and carry them away.
Many dragons also have reach. If they can attack from 10’ or 15’ away, most PCs won’t be close enough for an OA.
And like all creatures, they can use part of their move, attack and keep moving. Worst case, they draw an OA from the one they attack, but not everyone.
I think most usually only have reach on their bite and tail attacks, but the multiattack is bite + two claw attacks, and the claw attacks are usually 5 feet. Most dragons do also have a Wing Attack legendary action that does area damage, can knock targets prone and then gives them an extra move; while being prone doesn't prevent opportunity attacks it does make them less likely to hit.
But yeah, for a flying dragon it's really all about the breath attack; just blast everything with a strafing run then circle around till it recharges. Part of what is so challenging about dragons is getting them somewhere you can actually fight them properly to begin with, and luring them into a trap isn't easy.
Usually that means attacking their hoard (or one of them), which will usually be somewhere secure where flying may effectively may be difficult. However they will usually then have lair actions to compensate, so aren't necessarily less dangerous.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
There is a monster Trait called Flyby such as the Perython's possess but dragons don't have it unless you decide to give it to them
I think the assumption is that most times that a party would encounter a dragon, the dragon is already old/big enough that it's difficult to imagine them being graceful enough to do Flyby Attack (as opposed to a Giant Eagle or Giant Owl). Personally, I think it makes sense for Medium or even Large sized dragons to have Flyby Attack, but not ones that are bigger than Large.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Adult Dragons are all as strong or stronger than Hill Giants. It's not hard to imagine a creature literally as strong as Giant picking up small boulders, dead trees, cows, etc. and dropping them on opponents from 100 feet up. While breath weapons probably do more damage, a dragon doesn't always have a breath weapon available and most breath weapons have less than 100-foot range.