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DRACONIC ENCOUNTERSOther adversaries might be as intelligent, scheming,territorial, avaricious, or brutally powerful as dragons.Few combine all those traits in a single package.Combat EncountersEncounters should be as fun as they are challenging.In most cases, players will find ways to counterdragons’ tactics and advantages, but if a battle witha wyrm becomes too frustrating for the PCs, tone itdown and run the beast at less than full effectiveness.Although specifics vary, different chromaticdragons might resort to similar overall tactics. Inparticular, they use hit-and-run tactics and tacticsinvolving the terrain and environment.Hit-and-Run: Although only a few varieties (suchas blues and young greens) prefer hit-and-run overother tactics, all chromatic dragons are well suitedto such tactics. Even dragons that favor melee mightresort to hit-and-run when injured or when facedwith particularly powerful opposition. Fortunatelyfor their opponents, most dragons engage in strafingruns only for brief periods of time before bloodlust,impatience, or pride causes them to reenter melee.Terrain and Environment: Dragons frequentlytake advantage of, or even create, terrain and environmentsthat grant them the advantage in battle.Dragons know the features and hazards of their surroundingsintimately.Sample EncountersYou can drop the following encounters into youradventures without too much elaboration. You mightalso use them as examples on which to base your ownencounters. Each example includes the dragon type,environmental features of the area, and suggestedtactics.Swamped (Level 5): The nature of the creaturelurking in the murky swamp won’t surprise the PCs—but its actions might.Dragon: Young black.Water: The swamp’s water is deep enough thatSmall characters must swim. Medium characters canswim or walk, but if they choose the latter, the waterand muddy bottom are difficult terrain. The DC toswim here is 10, increased from the normal 5 due tothe grittiness of the water and unseen obstacles. Thewater is dark, thanks to the mud and detritus. Anythingunderwater is heavily obscured.Leeches: Bloodthirsty leeches swarm in the mudbeneath the water. Walking characters take 1damage per round when they start a turn standing inwater. The leeches ignore the dragon.Tactics: The dragon remains underwater. If thecharacters are in a raft or boat, the dragon attempts tocapsize the craft as its first action. It uses close attacksas often as it can. It tries to remain hidden in themurk, swimming away and coming back at the partyfrom different angles. If it catches any PCs alone, itattempts to grab them and hold them underwater,attempting to drown them before the other characterscan find them.On the Edge (Level 5): When climbing animposing cliff face, the PCs present a target tootempting for a dragon to pass up.Dragon: Young gray.Cliff Face: The cliff requires a DC 20 Athleticscheck to traverse. The cliff stands 50 feet high.Tactics: The gray dragon initiates combat using itsbreath weapon and then concentrates melee attacksand bull rush attempts on a chosen target, hopingto knock the target from the cliff. If the dragon succeeds,it follows the target to the ground, seeking tofinish the fallen enemy before its allies can descendto provide aid.Poison Ivy (Level 12): A hunters’ trail through theforest might prove easy to walk, but it is far from safe.Dragon: Adult green.Foliage: Due to thick shadows and overgrownleaves, the forest is lightly obscured.Difficult Terrain: The path is normal terrain, but therest of the forest is overgrown enough to qualify asdifficult terrain.Thickets: Several tightly packed thickets and bramblesgrow in the area. These features grant cover. Thedragon has also treated the thorns with poison. Anycharacter bull rushed or otherwise forced into one ofthese areas takes 1d8 poison damage, and ongoing 5poison damage (save ends). An attempt to climb themdeals 1 poison damage.Trees: The trees grant cover. Climbing a treerequires a DC 10 Athletics check.Tactics: The green dragon remains at a short distanceearly in the battle, using ranged and closeattacks and trusting the concealment of the foliage toprotect it. It uses luring glare either to bring a singlePC into breath weapon range or, when melee appearsinevitable, to move a PC off the path into difficult terrainor to shove a PC into a thicket.Sun-Baked Sands (Level 16): This encounteroccurs in the desert, near the base of a large sanddune, one of many in the area.Dragon: Adult brown.Sand: The sand is difficult terrain.Dunes: A dune grants cover against enemies on theground to a creature just over the top on the oppositeside.46CHAPTER 2 | DM’s Guide to Dragons