Dragon magazine	-	Monster Manual III	-	Dragon #134
Physical attacks	Special abilities	Dragon magic	Razisiz the Regular	Razisiz redux

The dragons of legend are mighty indi-
viduals, but gamers can always use a few
suggestions to keep dragons interesting
and deadly. The suggestions herein can be
adopted for AD&D®-game dragons of any
sort ? even for Oriental dragons and
dragon turtles.

Physical attacks
Dragons will always be renowned for
their breath weapons. Any dragon should
be able to exhale a conical breath weapon
of the appropriate type with a 30° width,
extending at least 2? for every hit point the
dragon possesses. Both the physical dam-
age from a dragon?s breath weapon and
the total length of the area of effect should
equal the dragon?s maximum hit-point total
(as in the AD&D® game) rather than its
current hit points (as in the D&D® game),
because damage to the dragon?s hide has
little effect on the creature?s remarkable
chest muscles and lungs.

A dragon?s size and strength surely
increase as it grows. The maximum total
damage from any dragon?s claw/claw/bite
attack could be made roughly equal to its
hit points. This requires only a little extra
work when the DM creates the individual
dragon. A newly hatched (6 hp) white
dragon?s attacks might do only 1/1/1d4
damage points (enough to kill most zero-
level humans), but a huge, ancient (88 hp)
red dragon would do 5-20/5-20/4-48 hp
damage. Other writers for DRAGON®
Magazine have suggested similar systems,
and have also assigned extra damage from
a dragon?s rear claws, tails, and wings.
[See: "Dragon Damage Revised," in issue
#98; "Dragon Damage Revisited," in issue
#110; and, "Self Defense For Dragons," in
the Best of DRAGON Magazine Anthology,
volume III.]  Of course, would-be dragon-
slayers could be tossed into the air or
dropped from great heights by a dragon
in flight.

Since older dragons are far stronger
than most other creatures with equal hit
dice, it makes sense to add the number of
a dragon?s age category to its ?to hit? and
initiative rolls. Newly hatched dragons
have only a few hit points but are fero-
cious. Older dragons are truly exceptional
fighting machines. Dragons defending
their eggs or young are mad with rage;
these parents might get +4 on all ?to hit?
and damage rolls, while suffering an
armor-class penalty of -4.

Special abilities
Dragons in works of fiction have even
more subtle abilities. According to J.R.R.
Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, and other
authors, even talking with a dragon is a
severe test of one?s willpower. Thus, a
speaking dragon may at any time make a
reasonable suggestion  to all creatures
within earshot. Those who understand the
dragon may be required to make saving
throws vs. spells (with wisdom bonuses) or
else comply.
The mere presence of a dragon inspires
fear. If a dragon of adult age or older
roars or otherwise acts dangerously, but is
not flying overhead or charging its foes, all
creatures within sight must roll a saving
throw vs. spells (with wisdom bonuses) at
+4, or else flee in panic for l-10 rounds.
Only creatures with hit dice greater than
or equal to the dragon?s (and those crea-
ture immune to magical  fear)  are immune
to this effect. Additional bonuses of + 5,
+ 3, and + 1 apply against the presence of
dragons of adult, old, and very-old age,
respectively, as per the usual fear-aura
saving throws.

Most dragons could have personalized
abilities, and even nonspeaking dragons
can have unexpected special powers. A
dragon might surprise adventurers with
jaws of sharpness, a  hypnotic gaze, burn-
ing spittle, a roar of blasting, scales of
scintillating color, or even claws of cancel-
lation.  Subtle clues ? disarticulated skele-
tons, entranced victims, charred grass,
discarded items that might once have been
magical, etc.?may forewarn adventurers
in a well-managed campaign of the pres-
ence of a uniquely magical dragon.
Dragons can also make intelligent use of
most magical items; experiment with the
miscellaneous magical items table and see
what you get.

The dragons of legend are also sturdy.
Certainly, some of them can only be struck
by magical weapons. Dragons could regen-
 erate at least 1 hp per turn, and some
-might regrow severed limbs and wings
overnight,

Even with spells, it is difficult to conquer
a major dragon. Some dragons could be
assigned a magic resistance of 10% per age
category, and this could remain undimin-
ished even if the caster is above 11th level.
If a dragon fails its magic-resistance check,
its saving throws should still be easy. If the
spell normally allows a saving throw  (com-
mand, charm monster, hold monster, and
other popular antidragon magics), a DM
might give any dragon only one chance in
20 of failure. If the spell does not ordinari-
ly allow a save  (harm, magic missile,
power word, Otto?s dance, time stop, and
other easy dragon-killers), it still has no
effect if the dragon rolls its hit dice or less
on 1d20. Any dragon should be immune to
any natural or magical attack that dupli-
cates its breath weapon (fire, acid, etc.).
Because of their tremendous lung power,
all dragons are probably immune to gas
attacks, including  stinking clouds  and
cloudkill.

Surprising a dragon should be very
difficult. A silence, 15? radius spell or
silent movement must be used, or a group
of adventurers will surely awaken a sleep
ing dragon. Unless the dragon is upwind,
the smell of the approaching PCs should
be enough to awaken it. Many intelligent
dragons also keep lesser creatures as
lookouts. Talking dragons could have
personalities and political skills, and even
chaotic ones could arrange alliances with
monsters, humans, and other potential
helpers.

Dragon magic
Another way to individualize dragons is
to give them highly effective magical spells
[as is also done in "Serpents and Sorcery,"
in this issue].  Spells used by dragons might
require only verbal components, and they
probably have very short casting times.
Since spell levels are low, the spells them-
selves could be more powerful counter-
parts to the usual spells, and they might
have longer durations and larger areas of
effect.

The following spells would doubtless be
popular with dragons, and any DM can
have fun developing a ?dragon version? of
any other spell from any category. Each
shows how it could be altered when used
by any dragon.

Alarm:  This spell announces the type of
intruder to the dragon. If silenced, the
dragon still senses that the alarm has been
triggered, This always awakens a sleeping
dragon.

Burning hands: When used by a fire-
breathing dragon, this spell does double its
normal damage with twice the range.

Charm person: The saving throw is
made by victims at -4.

Charm monster: The saving throw is
made by victims at -4.

Dimension door: This spell becomes the
equivalent of  teleport without error.

Fireball:  This spell does 1d12 hp damage
per hit die when cast by fire-breathing
dragons, and 1d8 hp damage when cast by
any other dragon.
 

Haste: This spell enables a dragon to use
a claw/claw/bite attack routine plus a
breath attack in one round, or two claw/
claw/bite routines in one round. It also
improves armor class by 4 levels, and
automatically gives the dragon the initia-
tive in any round.

Hold person: The saving throw is at -4,
and the duration is one day per hit die of
the dragon casting the spell.
 

Invisibility:  This has the same effect as
improved invisibility when cast by a
dragon.
 

Lightning bolt:  This spell does 1d12 hp
damage per hit die when cast by lightning
breathing dragons, and 1d8 hp damage
when cast by any other dragon.
 

Magic missile: This produces bolts of
energy that do 3-6 hp damage per magic
missile.

Mirror image: When used by a dragon,
1-8 images are produced. Each image has
the same armor class as the dragon, and
each must be struck to make it disappear.

Polymorph other: This spell is equivalent
to the standard polymorph any object
spell.

Polymorph self: This spell grants the
special abilities of the new form, and is
equivalent to the standard shape change
spell.

Shield:  This spell improves a dragon?s
armor class by one level per hit die of the
dragon, and gives immunity to magic
missiles.

Shocking grasp. When used by a
lightning-breathing dragon, this spell
produces a charge which delivers 1-6 hp
damage per hit die of the dragon.

Shout:  This roaring spell permanently
deafens everyone in range who is not
wearing ear plugs or protected by magical
silence.  Deaf spell-casters have a 50%
chance of spell failure (see holy word, in
the Players Handbook, page 53). Cure
deafness or heal is required to remove the
deafness.

Spider climb: A creature struck by any
claw attack from a dragon who cast this
spell must save vs. spells or stick helplessly
to the claw. (DMs must decide how large a
creature can stick to any particular
dragon?s claw.) Only one creature can
adhere to a claw at any time, but the claw
can still injure other opponents.
Strength:  This doubles the damage
inflicted by each claw and bite attack.

Suggestion:  The saving throw is made at
a -4 penalty at best. No saving throw is
normally allowed (see  fear)  if the  sugges-
tion  is very reasonable.

Web:  This creates web-strands that will
not burn and are invulnerable to the
dragon?s breath, so the dragon can
breathe upon trapped creatures at its
leisure.

At the DM?s discretion, all magic-using
dragons might use detect magic, read
magic, dispel magic, vocalize, wizard
mark, and identify at will, once per round,
as often as desired. An adult magic-using
dragon could cast legend lore once per
day.
 

Finally, some AD&D®-game dragons
should have more hit dice or more spells
than usual (this is already true in D&D®
games). An ancient gold dragon with 20 hit
dice might be able to cast eight-level spells.
Such a grand creature might come in
response to a holy man?s  gate  spell.

Given the above suggestions for uprating
the dragon in AD&D® games, what sorts of
effects will using these ideas have? Let?s
look at two examples.

Razisiz the Regular
Razisiz (from the DMG, page 81) is a
huge, ancient, spell-casting blue dragon
(AC 2; MV 9?/24?; HD 10; hp 80; #AT 3;
Dmg 1-6/1-6/3-24; SA breath weapon, spell
use, high intelligence; SD  fear  aura, saving
throw bonus, detects invisible and hidden
objects; AL LE). He can breath a lightning
bolt 100? long and 5? wide. His spells are:
charm person, shield, shocking grasp, ESP
mirror image, strength, fireball,  and  haste.
He lives alone in a cave and has a huge pile
of treasure. Here, he is played according
to the usual rules on dragons.

One day, Razisiz is caught napping by a
small town?s leading citizens. The party
contains two 7th-level fighters with nor-
mal long swords, an unarmed 3rd-level
cleric, an unarmed 7th-level magic-user,
and a 5th-level thief with a normal short
sword. The fighters are naturally burly,
and one has 18/01 strength. Because of a
strength  spell from the magic-user, the
other fighter now has 18/10 strength. The
cautious magic-user has cast   vocalize  on
himself, and he used clairvoyance on the
dragon?s cave, so everyone knows Razisiz
is asleep. No one has armor because no
one can afford it.
 

Round 1:  The cleric sneaks into the cave,
stands 120? away from Razisiz, and casts
silence, 15? radius  on the dragon?s head.
The cleric flees the scene with two cure
light wounds  spells (he has a 12 wisdom)
to wait outside for the other adventurers.
The rest of the party approaches the
sleeping dragon.

Round 2:  The fighters and thief walk to
the dragon?s posterior and ready their
weapons. The magic-user casts  slow  on
the dragon while it continues to snooze,
making sure the other characters are out
of the area of effect.

Round 3:  The magic-user casts a  stinking
cloud  over the dragon?s head, away from
the fighters and thief. This awakens the
dragon but incapacitates it throughout this
round and the next (we assume Razisiz
makes his saving throw against the spell).
At the same time, the fighters and the
thief strike the dragon?s unprotected back-
side. When sleeping,  slowed,  or incapaci-
tated, the dragon?s effective armor class is
only 6, so the strong fighters need only a 7
or better on 1d20. Both hit; damage is
1d12, with a +3 strength bonus. The
fighters each do 10 hp damage (about
average). The thief, striking from behind,
needs a 13 or better. He succeeds and rolls
a 4 for damage which, tripled, gives 12 hp
damage (again, about average).

Round 4:  The fighters each hit again for
9 hp damage apiece, and are entitled to a
second attack this round. Both hit, and
they each do an additional 10 hp damage.
The thief runs away. The magic-user runs
to a distance of 110?, out of the range of
the breath weapon but in range for magic
missiles,  just in case the fighters miss and
the dragon is still alive at the beginning of
round 5 ? which it is.

Round 5:  Razisiz is enraged ? but the
slowed  dragon can only strike at the end
of the round. The magic-user opens fire
with magic missiles as the fighters attack
once more ? and the fight is over. The
fighters scream in triumph, and the cleric
and thief return to celebrate. The magic-
user sighs; he never got to use his other
three magic missile  spells or his  ice storm
spell. Rats!

Razisiz was almost the worst possible
evil dragon, but he has been killed by five
middle-level characters without magical
items or protection, and without doing any
damage to them. Two of the attackers even
fled the battle!

Razisiz redux
Razisiz II (using a few of the above sug-
gestions for improving the dragon) is a
huge, ancient, spell-casting blue dragon
(AC 2; MV 9?/24?; HD 10; hp 80; #AT 3;
Dmg 5-20/5-20/4-40; SA +8 ?to hit? and to
initiative, breathes  lightning  in a 30° arc
extending 160?, spell use, high intelligence,
SD  fear  aura, magic resistance 80%,
detects hidden and invisible objects,
saving-throw bonus; AL LE). His spells are:
charm person, shield, shocking grasp, ESP
mirror image, strength, fireball,  and  haste.
He owns and uses a wand of conjuration.
Razisiz has a set of spell books and has
cast find familiar; he loves his cat very
much. The lawful Razisiz keeps careful
records, gives receipts for the required
annual tribute from surrounding lands,
and styles himself a polite and honorable
businessman providing ?protection? to
?his? people.

Of course, Razisiz?s demands are exorbi-
tant. Razisiz?s cave is finally approached by
an attack squad composed of the nation?s
five toughest adventurers. The party
includes two 13th-level fighters (100 hp
each), a 12th-level cleric (80 hp), a 13th-
level magic-user (40 hp), and a 13th-level
thief (60 hp). The fighters are wearing
gauntlets of ogre power  and carry  long
swords + 5. The cleric carries a mace + 5,
and the thief carries a  short sword +5.
The magic-user carries a dagger +5, and
casts minor globe of invulnerability, mir-
ror image, (four duplicates), and Tenser?s
transformation  (giving him 40 hp more).
These spells were selected because of the
known difficulty of affecting Razisiz
directly by magic. All party members have
constitutions of 16 or higher. Each has
purchased druidical protection from light-
ning,  so that each will take only half or
quarter damage from Razisiz?s fell breath
and gain a +4 bonus on saving throws vs.
lightning. Each carries many protective
devices and now has AC -4, but Razisiz
needs only a 6 on 1d20 to hit each one.

Razisiz was asleep when seen by  clair-
voyance  a few minutes ago, and he
appeared unguarded. But when the black
cat spotted the adventurers, it awakened
its master and warned him. Now Razisiz is
only playing possum. With his mouth just
out of sight beneath one of his rich tapes-
tries, he begins conjuring silently, taking
advantage of his natural vocalize  ability.
He casts his dragonish versions of  shield,
shocking grasp, haste,  and  strength  on
himself.  Shield  drops his armor class to
- 6. Shocking grasp gives his body an
electric charge which will deliver 10-60 hp
damage to the first opponent he strikes or
who strikes him with a metal weapon.
Haste  enables Razisiz to use both a claw/
claw/bite routine and his breath weapon
(or two claw/claw/bite routines) in the
same round; it also lowers his armor class
   further to - 10 (now the fighters will need
to roll 10 or better to hit him; the thief
and cleric will need 15 or better to hit; and
the transformed magic-user will need 13
or better to hit). Strength doubles the
damage from claw and bite attacks to 10-
40/10-40/8-80. Finally, Razisiz manages to
conjure six orcs with his wand, and he
tells them to attack anyone who tries to
cast a spell.

Round 1: The party enters the cave. The
cleric casts silence, 15? radius on the
?sleeping? dragon. Razisiz can no longer
feel the vibrations of the approaching
party, but he can smell them and can still
cast his spells, thanks again to his  vocalize
ability. When the dragon can smell the
party is within striking range, he casts
mirror image,  obtaining three duplicates.
The battle is on.

Round 2: The hasted dragon automati-
cally has the initiative. Razisiz sprays
lightning on the magic-user (all  mirror
images)  and one of the fighters. Each saves
and takes only 20 hp damage, thanks to
the  protection from lightning  spells. Razi-
siz?s claw attacks miss the same fighter,
but the bite succeeds, doing 38 hp dam-
age. The bite also delivers the shocking
grasp  charge (34 hp), but the lightning-
protected fighter takes only 17 hp damage.
Each fighter strikes twice and scores one
hit; one hit struck a mirror image and
caused it to disappear, but the second
struck Razisiz and delivered 20 hp dam-
age. The thief misses. The magic-user
strikes twice and hits once, destroying
another mirror image. The cleric had
planned to try a  harm  spell but realizes he
now has very little chance of touching the
dragon. He is also mobbed by six orcs.

Round 3: The dragon breathes more
lightning on the magic-user and the
injured fighter. Each saves and takes 20 hp
damage. The dragon also claws and bites
the same fighter; this time, a claw attack
does 18 hp and the bite does 42 hp, killing
the fighter. The second fighter strikes
twice and hits once, destroying the last
mirror image. The cleric and the thief
each kill an orc. The magic-user misses
twice.

Round 4:  The dragon uses two claw/
claw/bite routines against the second
fighter. Two bite and two claw attacks
succeed, doing total damage in excess of
100 hp; the second fighter is killed. The
cleric and the thief are still preoccupied by
the orcs, and each kills another. The
magic-user strikes twice at Razisiz and hits
once for 9 hp damage.

Round 5:  The dragon uses two claw/
claw/bite routines against the magic-user,
and five of these hit. Four of them destroy
the four mirror images, while the fifth is a
claw attack that does 18 hp damage. The
magic-user wisely chooses to flee. The
cleric and the thief kill the last two orcs.

Round 6:  The dragon uses his breath
weapon against the fleeing magic-user. The
magic-user fails his saving throw, and 40
hp damage from the dragon?s breath kills
him. The dragon then uses his claw/claw/
bite attack against the thief. Each suc-
ceeds, and the thief takes 65 hp damage,
shredding him. The cleric casts dispel
magic  on the dragon, in order to remove
one or more of the haste, strength, and
shield  spells.

Round 7:  All but one of the high-level
party members is dead, and the dragon is
not badly injured. Did the cleric succeed in
dispelling the dragon?s magic? Does the
cleric now beat the odds, deliver a success-
ful command spell, and conquer the
dragon? Or does the cleric throw down his
arms and appeal to the dragon?s vanity?
Does the dragon charm the cleric or
throw a  fireball  at him? Does the dragon
hold the cleric hostage or eat him immedi-
ately? As the battle nears its end, the odds
are definitely in the blue dragon?s favor.

Other groups of adventurers may
develop other strategies to deal with Razi-
siz, and not all DMs handle combat details
in the same way. Other DMs will think of
ways to enhance dragons that are much
better than my own suggestions. But
dragons like Razisiz will always command
respect. Defeating such a monster
deserves a substantial reward in fame,
experience, and wealth. A dragon should
be a foe to remember ? forever.

Other articles which have appeared in
past issues of DRAGON® Magazine con-
cerning the uprating of dragons include
the following:

"Rearranging and Redefining the Mighty
Dragon," in issue #38, which discussed
some of the points made above;

"True Dragons," in issue #50, which also
discussed some dragon-improvement
points;

"Dragons and Their Deities," from issue
#86, concerning clerical dragons, their
spell-casting powers, and worship; and

"Tailor-Made Treasure," from issue #98,
concerning the con tents of a dragon?s
treasure hoard.

Additionally, the dragon Flame, from
"Into the Fire" in DUNGEON® Adventures
issue #1, is highly instructive in terms of
that dragons use of magical items, tactical
planning, defensive construction in his lair
and treasure-hoard composition. The
crippled dragon Ancagaling, from "The
Wounded Worm" in DUNGEON® issue #8, is
also interesting for the same reasons, and
is worth a DM?s study.

THE FORUM
I greatly enjoyed the special attraction on
dragons in issue #134, but the article "Give
Dragons a Fighting Chance" left me disgusted.
Dragons don?t need any terrifying abilities?they
already have all they need, and their best assets
are their brains. Dragons are very intelligent
and have centuries to learn "every trick in the
book,?" quoting the excellent "Ecology of the Red
Dragon" article by Gregg Sharp. <Dr.> Friedlander
's blue dragon, Razisiz the Regular, is better
called Razisiz the Dumb Beast; how he survived
400 + years is beyond me. Now, here is this
same creature using its abilities and possessions
to full effect.

Razisiz the Smart: AC 2; MV 9?/24?; HD 10;
hp 80; #AT 3; Dmg 1-6/1-6/3-24; SA breath
weapon, spell use, fear aura, saving-throw
bonus, detect invisible and hidden objects. His
spells are: charm person, reduce, shield, darkness
15? radius, invisibility, mirror image, fireball,
and phantasmal force. He is asleep deep in
a cave located near the top of a mountain. His
cave is approached by the same ?+ 5 everything
? adventurers who, in Mr. Friedlander?s
scenario, tried to assault Razisiz II. Since Razisiz
the Smart has no magic resistance, the party
wizard memorizes project image and chain
lightning instead of Tenser?s transformation.
Looks like poor Razisiz hasn?t got a chance,
right? Wrong.

Long before the party has approached the
cave, the PCs have been spotted by the dragon?s
charmed servants. Most of them are zero-level
peasants, but one is a 4th-level illusionist who
uses his whispering wind spell to alert a 5thlevel
charmed thief sitting just inside the cave?s
mouth. The thief promptly wakes her master,
and Razisiz prepares for battle.

He casts invisibility upon himself, followed by
phantasmal force, creating an illusion of himself
sleeping. The adventurers? clairvoyance will
now show the dragon where he is not, and the
cleric?s silence spell will miss the head. The
dragon?s charmed thief picks a magic dagger
from the treasure pile and slips into a side
passage.

As the party enters the cave, a magic mouth
in the ceiling emits a quiet, batlike chirp. The
adventurers notice it, but they think the dragon
is silenced and hears nothing. They are wrong.
Having heard the alarm, the invisible Razisiz
casts his darkness spell at a hole in the ceiling
that leads to the surface, followed by reduce (on
himself), shield, and mirror image, in that order;
the shortest-duration spell is the last. As the
adventurers negotiate a small chasm across the
cave, Razisiz, now 10? long, spreads his wings,
picks a wand from the treasure pile, and flies
out of the cave through the darkened hole in
the ceiling. The battle begins!

Round 1: The party crosses the chasm and
reaches the dragon?s chamber. Before the PCs
realize just where the monster has gone, Razisiz
(back to his normal size) drops a barrel of oil on
the PCs from the hole in the ceiling, followed by
a fireball. The spell does 40 hp damage, and the
oil explosion adds 25 hp more. The wizard,
protected by minor globe of invulnerability,
takes only 25 hp; the thief and both fighters
make their saves and take 32 hp apiece; and the
cleric fails his saving throw and gets the brunt
of the attack.

Round 2: The wizard extinguishes the flames
with a cloudburst spell; the cleric brings himself
up to 30 hp with a cure critical wounds spell;
and the thief uses his wand of illumination to
light up the hole in the ceiling. One of the fighters
drinks a potion of flying and prepares to
chase the party?s adversary.

Round 3: The wizard casts a fly spell and
takes off behind the fighter. As they near the
opening, a magic mouth shouts a warning, and
Razisiz, no longer invisible but safely out of
sight, pulls on a stout bush, which in reality is a
trap lever. A portcullis gate in the chute leading
outside crashes shut and traps the wizard in the
cave. Now the fighter must face the dragon
alone.

Round 4: The cleric, the thief, and the second
fighter hurry toward the main cave opening,
while the wizard, begins casting project image.
As the first fighter rushes out into the open, he
finds Razisiz and his three mirror images flying
down at him. The dragon breathes lightning
into the cave, bringing down the boulders that
were carefully arranged beforehand to cave in.
Fighter number two is the only one actually
struck by the lightning; he makes his save and
takes quarter damage (20 hp), but he is also
buried under the tons of rock, as are the thief
and the cleric; all three take another 15 hp
damage from the cave-in.

Round 5: The charmed thief leaps from the
shadows and backstabs the wizard for 11 hp
damage (triple damage with a dagger +2).
Meanwhile, Razisiz uses his wand of polymorphing
on the charmed illusionist, turning
him into another blue dragon! Now the flying
fighter is confronted by five dragons (three are
mirror images), and while the wizard might
help him with projected image, the wizard has
his own problems (the next hit from the dragon
?s puny servant may very well kill him).
Which way is the fighter going to fly?

Five rounds have passed, and although all
adventurers are alive, they are separated from
each other and badly wounded. Except for the
wand of polymorphing, the dragon used only its
standard abilities; the portcullis trap was made
by some dwarven thieves in exchange for an
irresistible amount of gold. Razisiz still has two
breaths and one spell left. Chances are that at
least two adventurers will escape alive, but
without any prizes.

It should be clear by now that a dragon can
find a way out of almost any situation, even if
he cannot win in direct combat. To those who
claim a dragon is too proud to use thieflike
tricks, I say you do not live to the age of 400 by
doing everything honorably! And if you really
need a slicing, dicing, PC mincer, there is always
Juiblex.

Ilya Taytslin
Albany NY
(Dragon #149)
 

With respect to the dragon articles that appeared
in DRAGON issue #134, I have something
else to add. While dragons rarely need to
be beefed up as much as suggested in "Give
Dragons a Fighting Chance," the author is quite
correct in saying they are underrated. The
problem is not in the physical aspects of the
dragon but in the mental.

Dragons are smart, believe it or not. Furthermore,
they have lived waaayyyy longer than
any human, dwarven, or elven party that ever
marched up to any dragon cave. The surviving
dragons, by trial and error, have learned a lot
about life in general. They will have a whole
network of human spies and informants across
the surrounding region (contacted while in
polymorphed form, probably), who will warn
the dragons of the general power and renown
of characters launching an attack. If a dragon
knows a party is coming, he might be in his
cave?and he might not. If he is in his cave, he
will certainly have all manner of traps and
guardians (perhaps unintelligent ones?a few
well-placed green slimes can wreak havoc on a
party), more than one escape route, and probably
some cursed items marked by the dragon?s
wizard mark (so that the dragon doesn?t use
them accidentally) lying around with the rest of
the treasure. Certainly the dragon will not be
alone in his lair; there may be a stone golem
concealed in a rock as well. Charmed bodyguards
will protect their ?friend? from the
?greedy, power-hungry adventurers.?

If the dragon is not in his lair, as will probably
be the case, he will perhaps polymorph into the
shape of a henchman and offer to accompany
the party on its quest to destroy a dragon. This
pseudohenchman will destroy the party?s items
along the way and will eat other henchmen
during the night, appearing astonished in the
morning. The pseudohenchman will charm
characters and plant suggestions of devious
sorts on the way to the cave. He will suppress a
grin as the party comes across the dragon?s
inner lair (actually a false one; the real one is
farther into the mountain), use all the cursed
items, be attacked by a mound of disguised
goldbugs, carry off the gold-covered copper
pieces, and wonder where the darn dragon
went, anyway. The pseudohenchman then stays
a little way behind the party, polymorphs back
into a dragon, uses a few breath weapons (not
fire, of course; that would melt all the party?s
valuable items), then picks up the party?s magical
items and treasure and hauls it all back.

Whether the dragon is in its lair or secretly
accompanying the party, it will notify its dragon
friends (if there are any) in other regions and
have a sending spell ready to call for aid, just in
case. If the party is caught in any of the traps,
there is nothing the dragon will like better than
breathing down on the group or just waiting
until the entire party dies (which won?t take
very long), then collecting all of the party?s
possessions.

A letter to ?Forum? that appeared a long time
ago contained an example of a perfectly misplayed
dragon. It showed how a group of 25thlevel
characters would not consider a dragon
that came from the D&D Companion Set a
challenge. In the letter, however, the dragon just
jumped out from behind a rock and attacked
the characters; even so, the party lost one of its
fighters in the example. Now if the same party
had to work its way to the dragon?s lair, descend
through caves (a veritable dungeon in itself)
filled with who knows what, then finally meet
the dragon at the bottom, while following all the
suggestions in that long-ago ?Forum? letter, I
don?t think the PCs would be so casual. They
would have used up most of their spells by that
time, and the dragon would have attempted to
kill the mage in the night, long ago. The characters
would never know if one of them was
subject to the dragon?s charm or was actually
the polymorphed dragon. They wouldn?t know
which of their items had been switched for
cursed ones, what was in the dragon?s lair, who
the dragon?s contacts were, or even if the
dragon was there by the time they got there.

The suggestions in ?Give Dragons a Fighting
Chance? were good, if only one such suggestion
was used on a dragon. The nonspeaking, nonmagic-
using dragons may be fit for lower-level
characters, but if you want to use them for
higher-level PCs, at least play them with the
brains they have.

And if you ever do run into a dragon and kill
it before it wakes up?sorry, it probably wasn?t
the real dragon.

Toby Myers
Hamilton NY
(Dragon #150)
 

It was a pleasure to see the response, both
positive and negative, to my article ?Give Dragons
a Fighting Chance? (in issue #134). Douglas
Porter (issue #139) and Ilya Taytslin (issue #149)
confirmed my prediction that any player could
offer better suggestions than my own. I especially
enjoyed the recent DUNGEON® Adventures
feature in which a small green dragon
challenges a medium-level party with traps and
tricks (DUNGEON issue #16, ?Vesicant?).

I decided to omit any consideration of Razisiz?s
possible ?thieflike tricks? for two reasons. First
was the classic example of Brazzemal (cited by
Doug), from a time when the AD&D game was
closer to its roots in military simulations. Second
was the variability in how DMs adjudicate these
situations. This was amply documented in
previous ?Forum? controversies over D&D game
dragons and AD&D game ?killer kobolds.?
Razisiz the Smart?s stratagems could have been
executed just as effectively by a kobold witch
doctor supplied with several medium-level
magical items.

Before planning a raid on a dragon?s lair,
thoughtful local clergy ?bringing Razisiz his
tribute money? might cast detect charm on
?peasants? foolish enough to live near a dragon?s
lair. We can hope that adventurers cast clairvoyance
from cover before they arouse suspicion. If
one of the fighters is a dwarf, he could recognize
(and perhaps topple) Razisiz?s boulder trap.
Clerical true seeing is a better choice than cure
critical wounds when expecting a crafty foe,
and applying it on two characters just before
entering the cave would have countered most of
Razisiz?s strategems. Dispel magic on a victim of
charm person or polymorph other could generate
a grateful ally before or during combat.
Strength, knock, or dimension door can deal
with a portcullis, and hopefully no wizard is
really foolish enough to cast project image
unguarded from an unknown lair. Who?s
?dumb? now?

Both Ilya and I noted a dragon?s need for
lookouts. But a dragon who depends on traps
and tricks must also depend on stealth or allies
when raiding and extorting. In classic heroic
fiction, the supreme fighting opponents are
dragons, not filth creatures. It was gratifying to
see upgraded dragons in the AD&D 2nd Edition
Monstrous Compendium.

Nevertheless, the best AD&D game battles are
battles of wits. I hope all DMs will incorporate
Doug?s and Ilya?s insights as models for their
own dragonish planning.

Ed Friedlander
Kansas City KS
(Dragon #153)