Next Monday my party of 13th level Gestalt PC's will be encountering a Mature Adult Black Dragon. He has the added benefit of having Scrag Regeneration (overcome by fire and acid, and it only heals if he is submerged in water).
The last session ended on a "cliff hanger" where they were headed west to find a dragon. While shadow walking, they saw the ruins of a city (they knew there was a city out this direction), and know that sometimes the shadow mirror will display a rotting town where it is healthy in the real world. So they ended the shadow walk and returned to the material plane to find that it really was a ruined city beside a lake. The druid turned into an eagle to scout a bit, getting an idea of the city's size, and cast... whatever the spell is that gives you a mental map of the area, 50 miles in every direction.
As he flew down to rejoin the party, just as they were about to shadow walk once again, a shadow passed over them as the Huge black dragon crossed in front of the late afternoon sun, returning to his lair in the city. The dragon flew 300 ft over the party's heads, and over the city wall. They've found their dragon...
Now I need to plan the dragon's tactics. He's more intelligent than an average human (Intelligence 14), but less intelligent than the majority of my party (only the Druid//Sorcerer is lesser than the dragon). The dragon noticed them, but I'm planning to have him spend three rounds buffing himself with Scintillating Scales, Blur, and Shield as he arcs back around to deal with the party. He already has Mage Armor running. His stats will be in the spoiler below.
Andvari-Cursed Mature Adult Black Dragon - (Half-Fiend Scrag base)
Size & Type: Huge Dragon (Augmented Giant, Water)
Hit Dice: 22d12+110 (253 hp)
Initiative: +0 (Dex)
Speed: 60 ft., Fly 150 ft. (Poor), Swim 60 ft.
Armor Class: 29 (-2 size, +21 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 29
BAB/Grapple: +22/+38
Attack: Bite +28 melee (2d8+8)
Full Attack: Bite +28 melee (2d8+8), 2 Claws +26 melee (2d6+4), 2 Wings +26 melee (1d8+4), and 1 Tail slap +26 melee (1d8+12); or Crush (2d8+12)[Ref DC 23 half]
Face/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft. (15 ft. with Bite)
Special Attacks: Breath weapon, frightful presence, spells, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Immunities, damage reduction 10/+1, SR 23 (21+2), water subtype, blindsense, keen senses, immune to acid, water breathing, regeneration 5.
Saves: Fort +18, Ref +13, Will +15
Abilities: Str 27, Dex 10, Con 21, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 14
Skills: *Concentration +17 [12], Diplomacy +2 [ 0], *Escape Artist +0, *Hide +3 [11], *Intimidate +2 [ 0], Jump +20, *Listen +27 [25], *Move Silently +11 [11], *Search +27 [25], *Sense Motive +14 [12], *Spot +27 [25], *Swim +16*, [ 0], *Use Magic Device +27 [25]
Feats: Blindfight, Flyby Attack, Awaken Spell Resistance, Multiattack, Hover, Shape Breath, Recover Breath, Spreading Breath
Climate/Terrain: Any land
Organization: solitary, pair, or family (1-2 and 2-5 offspring)
Challenge Rating: 14 [GCR 13] [GCR 14 with Regeneration]
Treasure: Triple standard
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Advancement: 21-25 HD (Large), 26-37 HD (Huge), 38 HD (Gargantuan)
Breath Weapon (Su): A line of acid, 100 feet long (or a 50 foot cone), every 1d4-1 rounds; damage 14d4, Reflex half DC 26. (Note, a result of 1 means he can breath again the next round; a result of 0 does not allow him to breath twice in one round.)
Frightful Presence (Ex): The dragon can unsettle foes with its mere presence whenever it attacks, charges, or flies overhead. Creatures with fewer than 22 Hit Dice (except for other dragons) within 210 feet of the dragon must succeed at a Will save (DC 23) to avoid this fear effect, and remain immune to that dragon's frightful presence for one day. On a failure, creatures with 4 or fewer HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds.
Spells: Knows and casts arcane spells as a 5th level sorcerer.
(6/8/6/2)
0 (6) - Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation
1 (4) - Shield, Obscuring Mist, Mage Armor, Nerveskitter
2 (2) - Blur, Scintillating Scales
3 (1) - Protection from Energy
Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day - darkness (70 ft. radius). These abilities are as the spells cast by a 7th level sorcerer (save DC 12 + spell level).
Immunities (Ex): All dragons are immune to sleep and paralysis effects. All black dragons are also immune to acid.
Water Subtype (Ex): Creatures with the water subtype always have swim speeds and can move in water without making Swim checks. A water creature can breathe underwater and usually can breathe air as well.
Blindsense (Ex): Dragons can pinpoint creatures within a distance of 60 feet. Opponents the dragon can’t actually see still have total concealment against the dragon.
Keen Senses (Ex): A dragon sees four times as well as a human in shadowy illumination and twice as well in normal light. It also has darkvision out to 120 feet.
Water Breathing (Ex): A black dragon can breathe underwater indefinitely and can freely use its breath weapon, spells, and other abilities while submerged.
Corrupt Water (Sp): Once per day an adult or older black dragon can stagnate 10 cubic feet of water, making it become still, foul, and unable to support animal life. The ability spoils liquids containing water. Magic items (such as potions) and items in a creature's possession must succeed on a Will save (DC = Frightful Presence DC; DC 23) or become fouled. This ability is the equivalent of a 1st-level spell. Its range is equal to that of the dragon's frightful presence (210 feet).
Regeneration (Ex): Fire and Acid deal normal damage to a Scrag, though they regenerate only if mostly immersed in water. If a scrag loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 3d6 minutes. The creature can reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump.
Shape Breath: If you have a line-shaped breath weapon, you can opt to shape it into a cone (50 feet long). Likewise, if you have a cone-shaped breath weapon, you can shape it into a line. When you use this feat, add +1 to the number of rounds you must wait before using your breath weapon again.
Spreading Breath: You can modify your breath weapon so that it fills a spread centered on your head instead of taking its normal shape. The radius of the spread for a Huge dragon is 25 feet.
When you use this feat, add +2 to the number of rounds you must wait before using your breath weapon again.
So far I'm planning to give him a Ring of Counterspells (w/ Dispel Magic), a half-charged wand of Cure Serious Wounds, and a half-charged wand of Fireball. After he swings back around to the party, he will fly just over the top of the wall (~45 feet) and breathe down on the party with a cone of acid (shape breath feat) while using flyby attack, so he can end his turn ~135 feet from the party. He will spend the rounds waiting for his breath weapon to recharge turning back around to the party, and hitting them with fireballs from his wand.
One thing I'm debating about doing, is him having small caches of scrolls hidden throughout the towers of the city. A leather sack stuck inside an upper-story window. So the first thing he could do before engaging the party at all, is hover by a tower, pull out a sack, and have a few scrolls on hand. Something like Greater Invisibility would be mean, but could be easily countered by my players with see invisibility + glitterdust, but that might be advantageous, because it will disguise the presence of Scintillating Scales, and would then cause my party to more hesitant to try and dispel him.
Is it just too mean for their first flying dragon encounter to be with a dragon under
Greater Invisibility?
After the initial passes on the party (two breath weapons, plus fireballs in between), the dragon will pull back a bit, trying to pull the party over toward the lake-side of the city, so if they do happen to bring him down, he'll fall into the lake, and start regenerating.
I have a feeling that the party will engage for a few rounds, then retreat and formulate plans for the next day, as they weren't really loaded out for fighting an actual dragon this day. Though, they will probably do some more reconnaissance later in the evening this same day.
A dragon of this CR should have 51,000 gp in loot, though for story reasons he probably shouldn't have quite that much. I'll just assume he laid waste to an adventuring party or two, and thus he's got a fair bit of wealth, but mostly the kinds of things adventurers might typically carry. Thus the 5th CL wands of fireball and CSW, and the 4k gp ring. So far I've only described about 16,000 worth of treasure.
So, what tactics should this dragon use, having returned home to find an adventuring party snooping outside the walls of his ruined city? And what items should I give him to help in those tactics?
