well, can't complain about the die this time - still in shock

Over to you Drake, then the dragon to complete it's turn

In reply to Froodle (msg # 531):

HOT DIGGITY. WOOT WOOT. All that.

Oof, nice hit. I guess he'll only get to charge with his 1d8+4 (+1d6) bite. C'est la vie.

Yep couldn't stop the charge, here's hoping the dice gods are still in our favour when he gets there

In reply to Froodle (msg # 534):

Errr me and Froodle have swapped dice .... a decent Miss doh

Paul over to your finished charge eeek
This message was last edited by the player at 14:47, Mon 05 Apr 2021.

Oof, nice hit. I guess he'll only get to charge with his 1d8+4 (+1d6) bite. C'est la vie.

The dragon is next to Rottimer, to the north of the west pillar and the ice. I don't think Froodle or Drake will have to get onto the ice to attack it.

Stat block still shows Drake and Froodle engaged. Want me to remove that?

In reply to Rottimer Lind (msg # 538):

Huh, yes, please.

Apropos of nothing, I feel like the dragon's being pretty rational. It can suck up damage, but it can't suck up being prone, and the other two are harder to hit, even with the mark penalty. Now, if the dragon's breath ever recharges that's going to be a different story.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 540):

I think the roleplay is rational for sure. He's pissed at Rottimer and he should be.

But as far as damage output, his charging so much has reduced it considerably while exposing himself to can't miss damage.

In reply to Rottimer Lind (msg # 541):

I don't see how his damage output is that much less. He's somewhat less likely to hit Drake at all, and wouldn't drop him if he did hit. Taking out Rottimer will free him up significantly.

Yes, he's taking damage, but the lesson I learned from all the complaints about 4th Edition fights taking too long is that monsters should care less about damage as an absolute thing. HP are the coin they pay to get to do more than flap uselessly against the defender. This guy's a brute, and so sucking up hits to smack the softies is pretty much all he has going for him.

I suppose I could shift and charge next time. Thanks for the suggestion!

shift and charge, you read Froodle's mind, anything for a +1 on the attack roll

He's at the stage now where a basic attack is as good as his favourite at will as there is just one foe.

I'm with you on the roleplay aspect, the pursuit of one character who is the greatest perceived threat, even if damage is coming from elsewhere. I think it's good roleplay to play through the mind of the beast / character rather than a more calculated "board game" approach of the DM / player. I don't mean players shouldn't collaborate, of course they should, as characters would, utilising each others strengths.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 542):

The less damage is trading a single bite opportunity for 2 claws and a possible bite.

I'm happy with how you're playing it. I'm with Froodle, no complaints from me. It's what I'd hoped Rottimer could goad the dragon into doing, which is to lose that 3 hit combo. Rottimer just knows that by taking his bait, the dragon can't deploy his heavy bread and butter multi attack and takes damage equal to as if Rottimer was left alone plus OAs. If the dragon were respecting the mark and doing his double attack with a potential 3rd, we'd be in a world of hurt. The initiative order favored the dragon initially rendering my prone effectively useless. By chasing Rottimer, he forced him into later initiative that was actually beneficial to the party.

I'm not too worried about the standard attacks, they miss as much as they hit, but the breath, if that recharges it could be a game changer

In reply to Froodle (msg # 545):

Agreed. It's a particularly nasty breath weapon. That's why I"m trying to stay in the opposite direction, to minimize grouping.

I'm not simply not using dragon's fury. It's why I risked a move last turn, and took even more damage: if I move next to Rottimer, then I can use that. Otherwise, my only option is to charge. If Rottimer didn't have that shift 2, the dragon wouldn't have to move at all.


What concerns me is that I'm coming across as playing this dragon like a clumsy idiot, instead of any kind of a serious threat.

I don't see it as "bait" if it's clearly a good choice, without significantly greater downsides than some other choice. The dragon can take damage. It's really his only defensive shtick as a brute. But getting knocked prone repeatedly makes it more likely that he won't even have the option of burning his copious HP to attack a target he might drop.


I'm not seeing it.

Taking out Rottimer would improve the dragon's odds significantly, and he doesn't need dragon's fury to do that. I'd gladly use it to make it more likely to drop him (potentially even drop him to negative bloodied), but one bite will do the trick.

The full attack against Drake is more likely to hit, but very unlikely to change anything; odds are that both or only one claw would hit, and even if both hit, the odds are that the bite wouldn't, leaving Drake standing. And it leaves the dragon there to take at-wills (more precise, and temp HP to have to claw through), and probably while prone. After a round, Frug would get thundering armor up, sealing Drake away even further.


Simply readying an action on your part forced that. You could also have just delayed at any time.

You guys are running a great strategy right now. I had my doubts about double defenders and no striker against a single opponent, but you are making it work. But I don't want to come across as a doofus here with how I'm running the dragon. I doubt it's an optimal strategy. I sort of hope it's not, so I'm trying not to do any serious number crunching. I'm sure there are DMs who would pull out their hair at how I'm not taking more advantage of flight, but also my goal here isn't really for the dragon to survive. That's just setting myself up for disappointment. No, I just want it to make a decent showing, which I think it has done. I love making controllers having to dig into their bags of tricks to stay alive while the defenders hack away to no apparent effect.


This is what I'm saying. I could probably do OK if I just used total defense until breath weapon recharged. That's too cheesy for me, though, right up there with hovering out of the party's reach and attacking with the dragon's reach - which isn't even much of an option, until Mr. Proneypants is fileted.

Nothing doofus. It's all good. As long as Rottimer can keep that double/triple attack off the table, he's happy.

In reply to Rottimer Lind (msg # 548):

As long as Froodle can keep stopping the dragon's movement, yeah, I don't see a way to get much use out of it.

C'mon dragon breath.

Not if you have to attack Rottimer there's not. :) WHich is the basic strategy. Keep you after me so you can only attack once and take auto damage instead of attack my homies up to 3 times and force me to roll a hit for the same damage.

In reply to DM Paul (msg # 547):

I’m enjoying how this fight is going down. The next time the dragon hits I get an attack bonus and will use it with my +4 invocation. It’s all about that +1 leader bonus from the Thundering Armor for now.

Me too. Getting charged, having to shift to get a shot off and having good reasons to switch between my stances has made this a fun combat for this character to play.

Please disregard that latest roll. My tab refreshed and so of course that makes it roll again. And of course it was a crit. Ugh.lol

In reply to Rottimer Lind (msg # 553):

Another miss, surprisingly enough. I’m glad to keep the Thundering Armor going though. Trying to imagine what frustration that Frug is experiencing and making him act accordingly. He’s usually a quiet gnome, but just shouted.

In reply to Frug (msg # 554):

Finally a decent strike ... come on team let’s see if one last round will be enough!!!

Back to you Paul