What sort of tactics/knowledge should we use to our advantage to stand a chance of taking it down? So far we have one idea of boxing the dragon in a wall of force however we're unsure what could happen...
General Dragon rules apply... avoid getting grouped together in case of dragon breath. Anything you can do to keep the dragon on ground level is a boon... a dragon could just take off into the sky at any point, and just hang out while out of range of your attacks and wait for its breath weapon to recover... or just leave.
Yeah, building on what TDDS said, it looks like your party is mostly melee. Keeping the dragon grounded should absolutely be priority number 1, although how to do that could depend greatly on the environment in which you're facing it
If the wizard has wall of force they should use it to create a ceiling and not a box, so that the dragon can't get airborne. Even something like compelled duel from the paladin or earthbind from the wizard might be worth a shot to keep it from raining hell down on you
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
If the dragon has a lair, you want to do anything you can to avoid fighting the dragon inside it.
When it's flying you can try and drop it prone as that will bring it out of the sky to suffer fall damage and be a juicy target for melee fighters in the turn. Beware that this is particularly difficult for an adult dragon as they have legendary resistance to clear failed saving throws.
If you don't have a reasonable chance of dropping the dragon then you want to fire any ranged attacks and get under cover or underground so the dragon can't sit high and hit you with a breath weapon. If there's a chance to encourage it underground or in a large, enclosed space for a fight then do so to keep it out of the air, provided that location isn't it's lair.
Black dragon breath weapon goes in a line, so don't line up party members and if you can get around the simple corner of a doorway it can do a lot to prevent this. For the same reasons you want to avoid caves and cover that simply offer a straight line sort of hallway as the DM will likely have set it up with the intent that the dragon will land and just acid everything down the line.
If the DM is following the personality description of a Black Dragon then their favoured tactic is to target the party members (or other targets) they perceive as weaker first. They're also supposed to be particularly cruel and enjoy their victims begging for mercy or simply suffering. You might be able to use that to buy yourself a round of it gloating or mocking you, etc.
Beyond all of that, don't ever forget that if there's an opportunity to avoid a fight, you can seek to take it. If your primary goal isn't to slay the dragon then you could try to avoid it all together, run from it, sneak past it or distract it, etc. If your goal is to slay it and it isn't immediately aware of you then you might have some opportunities to choose and setup the battlefield to your advantage and determine a way of luring the dragon there. Take careful note of the nuances in your quests or goals as a DM can set you up with a difficult monster that acts as a prop not designed to be slayed but simply to make your task more challenging.
Frightful presence can be a real problem as well. If you can get an NPC to cast Heroes' Feast on you first that will be a HUGE help, If not try to stay in the paladin's aura.
Wall of Force wont work, you can't make a box or sphere large enough to contain it.
If you don't need to kill it pepper it with low level spells that it will want to burn a legendary resistance on (suggest command from the paladin, Earthbind from the wizard) and then polymorph it into something harmless (Dolphins are my favorite as they can't move) you then have an hour do what is required and escape.
Nets w/catapault spell for range increase, ropes of entanglement, or anything which might have a save to keep it out of the air. It will most likely make the save, but if you have a way to Hex its STR or apply DisAdvantage could cause it to fail for a round and maybe dropping it out of the air for some fall damage.
Be ready to go aquatic and chase it into some gnarly swamp area as well. If I remember, they use ambush tactics by staying just under the surface, rise up to use their breath weapon, then submerge and move around to attack from another angle. Buy a few Breathing Bubbles from The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, it is a common, wonderous item that grants 1hr of breathable air.
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IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
Since dragons don't hover when flying, trying to knock prone one can be a good tactic to help melee characters fight it more effectively.
With the right positioning, attacks and spells, the party can come out on top and kill it or injure it enough to flee and live another day.
A forgot about that, in one dragon fight the dragon was nearly dead and my druid cast sleet storm on it. Causing it to fall prone and drop to the ground with the fall nearly killing it, landing right next to the barbarian. It tried to escape and was promply killed by the barb's op attack.
Nets w/catapault spell for range increase, ropes of entanglement, or anything which might have a save to keep it out of the air. It will most likely make the save, but if you have a way to Hex its STR or apply DisAdvantage could cause it to fail for a round and maybe dropping it out of the air for some fall damage.
Be ready to go aquatic and chase it into some gnarly swamp area as well. If I remember, they use ambush tactics by staying just under the surface, rise up to use their breath weapon, then submerge and move around to attack from another angle. Buy a few Breathing Bubbles from The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, it is a common, wonderous item that grants 1hr of breathable air.
I'd say to grab the bubbles (or cast Water Breathing before the fight) as a precaution against it trying to pull party members underwater rather than as a tactic of deliberately going into the water after it. It's going to be much more dangerous underwater. Especially if it's in the dragon's lair.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
What sort of tactics/knowledge should we use to our advantage to stand a chance of taking it down? So far we have one idea of boxing the dragon in a wall of force however we're unsure what could happen...
Any advice helps!
There is not nearly enough information given.
What kind of magic items do these PC's have? What are the stablocks for the PC's? Where is this fight going to take place? Does the Dragon have spell-casting abilities?
Don't overthink it. Black Dragons are (arguably) one of the weakest dragons because they don't have a spellbook, per se. They have their default attacks, and they are vicious. 9th level characters? Shiiiii--my 7th level group ran Aulicus off in about 5 rounds. Dragons are smart enough to run away if they can. Mine always do when they reach half health: in the dragon's mind, the juice isn't worth the squeeze. He might get a crunchy metal snack, but they aren't suicidal. I can't remember the last time any of my players have actually killed a dragon. Even with legendary resistances, which can dissolve in a flash, Dragons are solitary predators and they do not have the overall advantage.
Anyway, Dragons are fearsome and fearful--depends on your campaign setting. Dragons I come up with are scared stupid that every jackass with a knife is trying to kill them. Evil dragons don't even talk. It's on as soon as they see each other.
My opinion, which is no more valid than any other, is that Dragons don't fight for xp. They don't fight for loot. They don't fight for food (mostly). A dragon is fighting for its life, every single time. The party can screw up endlessly, lose half a dozen NPCs, freak out and kill each other (whatever), to use that trope, the dragon only has to screw up once. So, I mean, if you're designing fights with the intention of losing...that part is pretty freaking easy. A 7th level chud with an axe can hatchet a quarter of his health down every round. 4 party members could (in theory) kill him in a couple rounds if they don't do the stupid things and he sits there and takes it. He can absolutely erase one of them every round, but he won't last long if he sits still.
Last but not least, my reason for thinking black dragons are 'weak' would be their 'beam' breath weapon; because if the party spreads out even a little this is essentially a powerful single-target attack. Wing Attacks are better at CC than its breath weapon.
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General Dragon rules apply... avoid getting grouped together in case of dragon breath. Anything you can do to keep the dragon on ground level is a boon... a dragon could just take off into the sky at any point, and just hang out while out of range of your attacks and wait for its breath weapon to recover... or just leave.
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Yeah, building on what TDDS said, it looks like your party is mostly melee. Keeping the dragon grounded should absolutely be priority number 1, although how to do that could depend greatly on the environment in which you're facing it
If the wizard has wall of force they should use it to create a ceiling and not a box, so that the dragon can't get airborne. Even something like compelled duel from the paladin or earthbind from the wizard might be worth a shot to keep it from raining hell down on you
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
If the dragon has a lair, you want to do anything you can to avoid fighting the dragon inside it.
When it's flying you can try and drop it prone as that will bring it out of the sky to suffer fall damage and be a juicy target for melee fighters in the turn. Beware that this is particularly difficult for an adult dragon as they have legendary resistance to clear failed saving throws.
If you don't have a reasonable chance of dropping the dragon then you want to fire any ranged attacks and get under cover or underground so the dragon can't sit high and hit you with a breath weapon. If there's a chance to encourage it underground or in a large, enclosed space for a fight then do so to keep it out of the air, provided that location isn't it's lair.
Black dragon breath weapon goes in a line, so don't line up party members and if you can get around the simple corner of a doorway it can do a lot to prevent this. For the same reasons you want to avoid caves and cover that simply offer a straight line sort of hallway as the DM will likely have set it up with the intent that the dragon will land and just acid everything down the line.
If the DM is following the personality description of a Black Dragon then their favoured tactic is to target the party members (or other targets) they perceive as weaker first. They're also supposed to be particularly cruel and enjoy their victims begging for mercy or simply suffering. You might be able to use that to buy yourself a round of it gloating or mocking you, etc.
Beyond all of that, don't ever forget that if there's an opportunity to avoid a fight, you can seek to take it. If your primary goal isn't to slay the dragon then you could try to avoid it all together, run from it, sneak past it or distract it, etc. If your goal is to slay it and it isn't immediately aware of you then you might have some opportunities to choose and setup the battlefield to your advantage and determine a way of luring the dragon there. Take careful note of the nuances in your quests or goals as a DM can set you up with a difficult monster that acts as a prop not designed to be slayed but simply to make your task more challenging.
Don’t use any acid damage.
Frightful presence can be a real problem as well. If you can get an NPC to cast Heroes' Feast on you first that will be a HUGE help, If not try to stay in the paladin's aura.
Wall of Force wont work, you can't make a box or sphere large enough to contain it.
If you don't need to kill it pepper it with low level spells that it will want to burn a legendary resistance on (suggest command from the paladin, Earthbind from the wizard) and then polymorph it into something harmless (Dolphins are my favorite as they can't move) you then have an hour do what is required and escape.
Other spells you may want to consider: Comand, Suggestion, Shatter.
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]Since dragons don't hover when flying, trying to knock prone one can be a good tactic to help melee characters fight it more effectively.
With the right positioning, attacks and spells, the party can come out on top and kill it or injure it enough to flee and live another day.
Nets w/catapault spell for range increase, ropes of entanglement, or anything which might have a save to keep it out of the air. It will most likely make the save, but if you have a way to Hex its STR or apply DisAdvantage could cause it to fail for a round and maybe dropping it out of the air for some fall damage.
Be ready to go aquatic and chase it into some gnarly swamp area as well. If I remember, they use ambush tactics by staying just under the surface, rise up to use their breath weapon, then submerge and move around to attack from another angle. Buy a few Breathing Bubbles from The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, it is a common, wonderous item that grants 1hr of breathable air.
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
A forgot about that, in one dragon fight the dragon was nearly dead and my druid cast sleet storm on it. Causing it to fall prone and drop to the ground with the fall nearly killing it, landing right next to the barbarian. It tried to escape and was promply killed by the barb's op attack.
I'd say to grab the bubbles (or cast Water Breathing before the fight) as a precaution against it trying to pull party members underwater rather than as a tactic of deliberately going into the water after it. It's going to be much more dangerous underwater. Especially if it's in the dragon's lair.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
There is not nearly enough information given.
What kind of magic items do these PC's have? What are the stablocks for the PC's? Where is this fight going to take place? Does the Dragon have spell-casting abilities?
Don't overthink it. Black Dragons are (arguably) one of the weakest dragons because they don't have a spellbook, per se. They have their default attacks, and they are vicious. 9th level characters? Shiiiii--my 7th level group ran Aulicus off in about 5 rounds. Dragons are smart enough to run away if they can. Mine always do when they reach half health: in the dragon's mind, the juice isn't worth the squeeze. He might get a crunchy metal snack, but they aren't suicidal. I can't remember the last time any of my players have actually killed a dragon. Even with legendary resistances, which can dissolve in a flash, Dragons are solitary predators and they do not have the overall advantage.
Anyway, Dragons are fearsome and fearful--depends on your campaign setting. Dragons I come up with are scared stupid that every jackass with a knife is trying to kill them. Evil dragons don't even talk. It's on as soon as they see each other.
My opinion, which is no more valid than any other, is that Dragons don't fight for xp. They don't fight for loot. They don't fight for food (mostly). A dragon is fighting for its life, every single time. The party can screw up endlessly, lose half a dozen NPCs, freak out and kill each other (whatever), to use that trope, the dragon only has to screw up once. So, I mean, if you're designing fights with the intention of losing...that part is pretty freaking easy. A 7th level chud with an axe can hatchet a quarter of his health down every round. 4 party members could (in theory) kill him in a couple rounds if they don't do the stupid things and he sits there and takes it. He can absolutely erase one of them every round, but he won't last long if he sits still.
Last but not least, my reason for thinking black dragons are 'weak' would be their 'beam' breath weapon; because if the party spreads out even a little this is essentially a powerful single-target attack. Wing Attacks are better at CC than its breath weapon.