fix the new unearthed arcana link please

I was really impressed with how this article took me through the character design process and  involved me in the story of dragons.  I found my imagination creating a story and using the backgrounds. Thanks for helping spark my imagination.  

I being along time dm, love this article. Manly because it helped my players to understand my campaign and how that dragons are not something to worry about. because every time we had a dragon encounter, they would always hide and use the ranged weapons. Which, by the way, were blow darts

"You've never met a dragon. You've just always thought they were really neat" is definitely what my outlook would be.

I believe the new 2024 Heroes' Feast does not grant advantage on wisdom saves, even though the article mentions that it does.

Played this character since 2018. Have not adjusted him to 2024 rules yet. Looking forward to a better Arcane Archer. Probably will stick with Bronze Draconic sorcerer for the hit point bump. https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/8243549/552cb0

Please fix the character sheet for Barbarians so Denrik Dragonsbane automatically adds his Rage damage to his weapon attack damage ;)

I know I'm going to get heat on this. Building a character to survive a specific encounter is akin to giving someone a participation trophy. Just make a character you'd like to play. If it dies it dies, make another one. 

I meant to write this as notes for myself for future dragon and boss battles and felt inspired to do it now for dragongs at least.

 Rule nr 1: If doing all this talk to your dm about it if they are ok with using spells  and rules like this to defeat the dragon and write down what is ok or not by them. They want to run a cool boss and you want to defeat them but also have a cool fight. By preparing the dm it makes the encounter more fun and your strategies feel more rewarding and more likely to work without causing rules clutter and bitter discussions mid game.

metagaming notes on dragons: This might ruin the magic but you learn this quickly after facing a few dragons. Every dm should homebrew them. I think dragons have low defenses because in many myths dragons have been poisoned to death or weakened, blinded, tricked, captured,, frightened, charmed etc. These dragons are optimized for myths. I recommend increasing regional effects from 1 mile radius to whatever you feel is right for your dragon. It becomes to easy to find the dragon once things get strange and the regional effects don't matter much if you can walk out it in less than half an hour.

With only 1 damage immunity you can guess by playing a dragonborn as a new player and no other immunities even charm or frightened, unless its a fizband dragon but even then it is not that bad even for greatwyrms. 60ft blindsight  is the max in mm'25 meaning you can gloomstalk far away or cast greater invisiblity, invsibility etc and stay out of that range and get the benefits. It knows where the attacks come from though. Saves are +10 or below for ancients. With enough magic items at this level giving spellsave dc increases even a high save should be a 50/50 or even more in your favour. No dragon has magic resistance no attacks with more range than 120 feet except 1 dragon unless i missed something. None of them have teleportation for combat either. Dragon's breath is not magical so do not use circle of power, leoumund's tiny hut or anything like that for defense. 

If xanathar, tasha, fizband and other spells are allowed:

Earthbind will hold them down for the entire duration but is str save and suck that deals no damage or condition but there is also no repeat save for it which can be a worth it if you got enough prepared slots for it..

absorb elements grants resistance to what damage triggered it for an entire round and some worthless damage.

Tasha's mind whip (2nd lvl 90ft in save), it forces the target to only be able to move, take an action or bonus action and removes their reaction. Not being able to fly and attack is important for the dragon. Use it at the right time and it has to move on its turn so its legendary actions are useful.  

Raulothim's psychic lance (4th level 120ft special range int save) The worst save for most dragons and enemies alike. If you know their name you don't need to see them. This incapacitates the dragon, stopping their normal round (Action, bonus action, reaction,) and ends concentration on a spell. A bit expensive but works the fastest of all legendary save eating options besides antipathy/sympathy which needs a lot of  prep. More details below. 

2024 only below:

Good ritual spells to have up

Rary's telepathic bond (ritual) makes the party able to coordinate without talking out loud meaning you can synergize in combat without them knowing. Phantom steed and water breathing is also good to have up but are not relevant much here. The dragon is probably smart but cannot hijack telepathy. Mindblank is decent but unless the dragon has psychic attacks it is not important. Foresight is good to have on the fighter or monk as they attack the most. Is it worth the 9th level slot or not is up to you. If you follow my secret combo below. It could be very worthwile.

Good feats classes and subclasses against dragons and some pointers

Notable powerful features like paladin aura, devotion smiting making their aura granting half cover, twilight cleric channel divinity once upgraded at higher level to grant half cover and dance bard's shared evasion if within 5ft of them can make any dex save breath attack into a joke if combined.

Glamour bard can cast command with a bonus action no spellslots required and other things with their main actions.

Eloquence (not 24), Lore bard both can use bardic inspiration to make it easier for the dragon to fail their saves. 

Sorcerer has heightened spell to also make the dragon have disadvantage against their spells. Wild magic subclass can also reduce it further with a d4 as a reaction

Wizard has most of the good spells mentioned and the abiltiy to cast rituals without filling their prepared list but Bard has all of them f they want and better class features like bardic inspiration to make saves.

Fighter has indomitable which allows them to make saves against dragons. Having trident (20/60ft) as a thrown option you can use the topple mastery at range to make the dragon fall from the skies. This works for all classes but fighter can action surge and have more attacks. 

Monk has proficiency in all saves at lvl14 and stunning strike at lvl 5. A cheap con save stun which does not knock them out of the air but it does make them easier to hit and lose a valueable turn. Open hand can also topple on a flurry of blows but is has to be melee. Reducing the speed of a downed dragon is really good though and  four elements can change their resistance to one that is good against the dragon.

Alert to go first and let the mage go first to cast shut down spells right away or rope trick to not die is really good.

Mage slayer is good for spell saves that dragon's have gotten more of and their minions or generally the entire game.

Shield master bonus action and reaction are both good against the dragon. Prone halfs its movements, adv to hit, reaction for when you succeed a dex save you can take 0 damage instead of half.

Resilient constitution and war caster to keep concentration up and res con makes it easier to survive half of dragon's breath attacks. There is also the famous fighter level 1 start into 19 in the class you want but that is more of a multiclass guide

Fate epic boon can be used no action required and after the result is shown to reduce the save by 2d4. per initiative, short and long rest. Use it every combat every time you force a save or even an ally. 

Rogue cunning strike poison each turn ask the dragon to succeed the con save or become poisoned which gives them disadvantage on all attacks. That is worth the 1d6 you pay for it even if the dragon does not use up a legendary save for it.

Barbarian brutal strike staggering blow makes the target have disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes

utility spells

Feather fall and fly: Elevation is a problem in dragon lairs and dragon fights have more improv in them than normal due to their size, reputation and ability to converse with the players, their hoards and sycophants, types of dragons and personalities etc.

Flying is very useful on martials to get to the dragon or explore the dungeon. Making the fly spell at times a decent pick but concentrating on it will give you less options to shut down the dragon in combat. The bard might be the one to upcast fly and spam command or the warlock might do it due to their pact slots.

Defensive spells: 

Rope trick is the best defensive spell against dragons usually. You can dodge the breath attack and pop out with a strong spell to then concentrate on it while inside rope trick. You can cast more rope trick spells in case the dragon tries to block one another group of PC's can do their work on the other rope trick further away. Tasha's bubbling cauldron can make casting modifier resistance potions with 1 hour duration. Wall of force, Stone and Fire are a bit unsual but could serve some purpose here if you do not really want to fight the dragon but keep it busy. 

Legendary resistance eating and anti air:

If you need to knock a dragon out of the air for cheap. Command "grovel" ( level 60ft 1st lvl wis save),  sleep, (1st level 60ft wis save) (Cast web (60ft range 2nd lvl dex save). sleet storm (150ft range 3rd level dex save),  hypnotic pattern, (120ft range, 3rd level wis save) dex saves and almost always a worse save for the dragon than their str save in MM'25 at least for ancient dragons and wisdom save is usually a bit worse to target but they are all within 6-10 to the save and hypnotic pattern is probably the best 3rd level spell. The same goes for web at 2nd level so neither is bad to prepare every day. Each spell  either makes them fall or takes a legendary save. The web ends if not anchored on something at the start of your next turn, hypnotic pattern stops working when they take damage and sleet storm is stuck high up but thats fine if you get a legendary save or knocked them down. It can also end concentration on a spell making it work as a psuedo dispel magic. In fact casting it mid air makes it less problematic for your allies. Hold action might be useful here if initiative order is not in your favour. Command is king here if you are within range. The halt command can stop them from taking actions and stand still Sleep is not as good at higher levels but if you got the space for it, go for it

Other legendary save eaters are: phantasmal force 2nd lvl 60 ft int save), tasha's hideous laughter (2nd lvl, 30 feet wis), suggestion (2nd lvl, 30ft wis save). Phantasmal force is dm dependent the others are short range. Failing suggestion is really bad while tasha's hideous laughter is better if cast right before the dragons turn (hold action). bane (1st level 30 ft, char save). Good if you can cast spells that are not concentration to eat saves. It might force a legendary save on its own but if not it makes command for example, that much stronger.  rarely useful legendary spells eaters:  Dissonant whispers (1st lvl 60ft, wis save) usually not that useful but it does force the dragon away and spend its reaction. If it can use its full movement it can at max move to its previous location. Unless its breaht weapon is back it might not be able to do anything like use its legendary actions effectively. Even so it might still have ranged actions. Blindness/deafness (2nd level 120ft, con save) reduces the dragon's vision to 60 feet and all attacks outside that range has advantage. This makes it harder for it to use its breath attacks, disdavantage on its few ranged attack options if any is really good.

op alert! Maybe save this for a one shot. Tell the DM about this one  if it is available all the time no exceptions! I do want to use this myself one day and if you feel the same come up with an agreement with the dm that this can be done in another dragon boss fight. Maybe this dragon is immune to this spell for lore reasons. Or just charm or frightened. Maybe they have mage allies that makes this harder to work. As long as the dm is not making it impossible to use or punish you for playing the game it should be fine.  Antipathy/Sympathy (8th lvl wis save 120 ft range duration 10 days) If you know the dragon  type you will face and have a few days to prepare this will passively eat saves by either charming or frightening or both as you cast it on your party members. The fear makes it move away safely (put it on mages and ranged) while the charm attracts (tanks or high charisma ) it The dragon if approaching within 120 feet must make a save per creature with this spell on it. It can move more than 120 ft away to repeat the save after it ends it turn but it is only immune for 1 minute and by then all its legendary saves are probably gone. If you charm it and damage it, it can repeat its save. RAW (rules as written) damage is hp loss phb'24 p.364. So you can grapple it if you are big enough, buff other players, roleplay what you are doing, convince it to surrender, ally with you etc?. With correct positoning and at the most optimal luck you can have 1 target hold the dragon next to it within 5 feet and the the rest of the party attack 120+ ft away, moving in and out with their frightened effect to land attacks. The party with fear effects on them covering every entrance while the charmer holds them in the open or draws then in a cage or something. You could maybe capture it.

Some more spells and 1 op combo.  Forcecage (7th level, 100ft 1 hour duration) combined with sickening radiance or similiar spells and telekinesis (5th level  60ft 10 minute duration str save and utility) are also good but limited to huge creatures. Telekinesis can move huge objects, be used on other enemies as well but takes your action each turn similar to eyebite which is also good with multiple targets. Eyebite is only good if legendary saves are spent and is also a wisdom save for the sleep effect Forcecage has a consumeable component and must be cast after the spell that will kill the dragon (hold action) in its cage form. Remember you cannot attack into or out of the Forcecage with spells and the slits are 1/2 inches. Some arrows are smaller than this but not all (remember rule nr 1). The dragon can breathe out of them as well. The dragon has no way to escape. Again ask your dm if it is ok to use this combo.

The secret combo: Shining smite (2nd level on hit bonus action paladin only +subclasses) is an unusual spell. It grants advantage against the target no save and it cannot benefit from invisibility. All you need is to keep up your concentration. Unless you have some smites to eat a legendary save or something else important to do. Throw a  trident (20/60)ft javelin (30/120 ft) or something  and stick this to the dragon on hit. Now all thrown weapons roll without disadvantage making it so tridents can knock it down easier with the topple mastery along with it. This might be the most unknown way to take down a dragon. Once it is downed it is likely prone granting advantage that way. Slow mastery can reduce its speed by 10 feet. Standing up from prone is half your movement. If the dragon is in a spirit guardians now for example its speeds is now its walking speed on the ground  meaning its 40. Standing up from prone would norrmally be 20 as its half your speed. But by being slowed 10 feet by the mastery it is now 30. To stand up now takes 15 feet and it is has 15 feet movement. But it is in a spirit guardians and so it has half movement in the emanation. So it actually has 15 when it tries to stand up. Now it has 7.5 feet. It tries to leave the 15 feet of emanation but it cannot. Standing up from prone halves all speed. Your 80 feet flying is now 40 but in a spirit guardians its halved again while moving within the field so it is really a 20. But it was slowed earlier so it is reall 70 halved to 35 halved to 17.5 feet. Standing up from prone cost half your speed round down meaning it is really 15 feet. It can just exit spirit guardians and will have used up all its movement to 0. Now that it is outside of spirit guardians it no longer has halved movement from spirit guardians but it also has no speed left. The martials in this scenario takes out the saving throws while the spells deal their effects that requires no saves. Spirit guardian only requires a save to deal its full damage. The dragon have legendary actions that might move it away from there but the spirit guardian caster can use the dash action to get to the new crash site and repeat the cycle until something gives.

Trident: topple mastery fighter with action surge standing by, javelin for 120 feet thrown weapon range and slow shinning smiting paladin waiting for the hit to land, spirit guardians casting cleric standing near where the dragon will fall either casting useful spells like healing, legendary save eating, fighting or dodging. This strategy involves the party and costs little. Foresight on the trident throwing fighter might instead by better on the paladin so they can hit that javelin earlier as also aids their concentration check to maintain advantage, keeps them alive for longer which keeps their aura up for longer as they will group up with the most people which is where the dragon's breath will land. I am sure there is something that can replace spirit guardians a sort of difficult terrain emanation or field that affects the air as well. 

Vengance paladin the dragonslayer

While full casters have to hide to eventually lock down the dragon The vengance paladin flies up like Goku doing tanking, damage, anti air legendary save, positioning manipulation and shut down all at once with light healing and utility. You even have haste and misty step to catch up and with hover speed, losing haste is not that risky. Protection from energy resists the breath attack. banishment, hold monster, dimension door, bane even hunters mark if it runs away and you need to track the dragon. You have options though i recommend shinning smite for the martial shut down the other options can be worth it.If you want to make this combo the strongest possible. Keeep digging for spells to replace or aid spirit guardians to slow the dragon down with no save required both on the ground and in the air. The paladin or shinning smiter could use the combat prowess epic boon to automatically hit the first attack they miss or play a glory paladin for that.

Vengance paladin can fly 60 feet and grant themselves advantage at 30 feet range and their opportunity attacks can reduce the speed of the enemy to 0 which makes them fall unless they have hover speed like the vengance paladin does. They can in theory force the dragon stuck mid air. unless they accept the fall. If they get that close they can force topple saves in the skies with a maul, the trident or a battleaxe/quarterstaff if you prefer a shield in hand. The dragon also must make wis saves against your frightened condition aura making it harder for it to hit anyone if you are within line of sight in the middle in the air. You encourage it to leave but its going to hurt. You can follow it around as you nearly match its speed. Longstrider on vengance paladin nearly matches the dragon entirely. It has to spend legendary actions to move away from you. With misty step you have 100 feet movement for a turn. There is also the epic boon that allows for 30 feet teleportation after  attack and magic action. By forcing the dragon to use its half speed attack legendary action you make the dragon predictable and likely to waste it for just movment. With high saves, frightened condition to distrupt positioning, high ac especially with a shield, flying sentinel like ability, a way to grant yourself advantage, slow mastery, topple mastery  and the best ways to use both the Vengance paladin. You can chose where it goes, what it does unless it kills you quickly enough. Heavy armour master, war caster and tough will aid you the most for this role. Mage slayer is good even if the dragon does not use mental saves its minions might. Shield master will take your reaction and bonus action to use effectively but you might want to save the reaction for the opportunity attack or soul ov vengance. The bonus action is just another save for prone.  

Fear aura save, 2 topple attack saves or prone, 1 shield master save or prore, opportunity attack no save 0 speed. Shinning smite for allies to hit or haste to force another topple prone save. That is 3-5 saves a turn depending on your feats and spells up which if done mid air forces the dragon down or to stay down in a permanent prone stance or pay up with legendary saves. The first legendary move provokes opportunity attack and if you fly above the dragon it has to move away on foot for a while if frightened.

Possible Dm and player mistakes during boss fights and lair exploration 

As a player you want to do all the cool things but also be challenged by the enemies and learn what secrets they hold. As a dm you want your cool monsters to do all its cool things as well as the players. The game should be a mix of both. Try to avoid these 2 scenarios with boss fights especially. I admit it is a bit more on the dm side here. The players should give you advice on how to beat their strategies if you as dm cannot figure it out. Challenge is fun. Instead of drowning the board with so many enemies it becomes a stomp on either side because you have no idea what you are doing play it smart. A decent tip is to make something work well the first time then make it a little harder. Sometimes the players try something new b

Scenario 1: The autowin combo always wins making every combat the same. This frustrates the dm and bores the players after a while if each combat becomes grapple death squad. Save this for one shots. True polymorphing the entire party into cr17-20 dragons and run through a dungeon can be fun. You return to normal if reduced to 0hp. The party could pull a fun prank of them for losing their form first and reward the ones that last the longest or something else. If every dungeon run starts like this the dm needs to make missions time sensitive and have some dispel magic available and some tough enemies so the party can let their wings fly high. This kind of combat can also take a long time. avoiding autowin gets easier with experience. Scenario 2 happens to better tables. This is usually problem for the less experienced dm but can happen even to the best as they try to figure out the party. Level 20 one shots can become a massgrave for the pc's or children with lighters ontop of an anthill.

Scenario 2:  Every attempt to shut down the enemy is shut down. Every attempt to sneak into the lair fails, every attempt of stealing from the lair fails, every attempt of sneaking out of the lair fails. Some examples are.: No boss can be forcecaged + sickening radiance, telekinesis + wall of fire, wall of force + many damage field spells, spell that causes restrained or worse condtions never work as the enemy is immune or has such high saves nothing works.  (Do not make the enemy immune to incapaciated condition please i beg you no monster is immune to it for a reason.) Stealthing around in a dungeon with 30+ stealth at the lowest only to turn a corner and crash into enemies we didn't hear despite being skeletons that are not trying to hide and even walk our direction. There is also the opposite side of the coin. An encounter or dungeon can be autowon by the dm forcing something to work or letting these strategies work against weak enemies the players would not put much effort into anyways. It might be funny for them if a scenario happens so they make the dc very low and practically beg you to do it in and out of game. Stealth might be imposed on the players even without trying. It is a sort of railroading where some scenarioes are scripted a way and you must follow it. Try to avoid doing this as a dm ask the players if there is something they want to do in combat like spell combos, strategies, conditons to impose on a boss etc. Try to think about the player's tools and let them use them. Encourage players to make characters that work well with each other. Martials that force saving throws that eat legendary saves or grant disadvantage on saving throws the mages want to target. Unconcious, Paralyzed, stunned restrained grant advantage to attacks to martials and the first 2 makes the attacks crit at 5 feet distance. This feels good for both the caster and martial to do. Casters should talk about their spells and which one they might want to cast together or take at higher levels. Read up on conditions and spells that hold someone in place, cause disadvantage or autofail on a saving throw type. Something as simple as removing an enemy's ability to do harm while dealing no damage yourself is its own fun and very useful. 

Short summary

do not reduce bossfights to bag of hit points flying edition. Give the dragon allies to cover its weaknesses and make it worth it for the party to try to bring it down from the skies and let the martials crit the boss at the end. And goodluck dealing with a level 20 vengance paladin with your dragons. Don't be too mean and give the dragon all kinds of immunities and ignore opportunity attacks. Frightened immunity is very common at high level. This might the only time that does something against a boss.