Low level dragonoid boss fight?

[Kaeso]

Hello there playground.

First of all: Vechel, if you're reading this then get out :smallannoyed:

I'm currently running a campaign for a friend of mine, it's a solo campaign but I'll play a DMNPC that mostly sticks around for support (and more or less a plot device if there's any danger of the campaign coming to a grinding halt). In the spoiler below I'll put some information that might be nice to know but isn't vital.

My friend is playing a firelord dwarf (dragon magic) warblade and he's planning to take some levels in bard (4 if I'm correct) combined with the song of white raven feat, so the typical bardblade. He's planning to use a dwarven waraxe and shield (for shield bashing) and his warcry as his 'instrument'. My character is a human beguiler who focusses mostly on supporting spells and healing (through wands) which means all of the spotlights are usually on my friends character.

Anyway, the story behind this campaign is that my friends character is a dwarf that wants to join a famous, almost legendary order of (mostly human) knights. To prove himself, the grandmaster of one of five chapterhouses has sent him on a few errands to see if he's worthy of becoming a member. All the while his son (the beguiler DMPC) will keep a close eye on him and manage all of his quests.

His current quest is escorting a caravan with gifts to a foreign king, and I'm planning to make his next quest an excursion into a mine where he has to mediate between the dwarves and humans, who are at odds with eachother because said mine has become increasingly dangerous and neither party is willing to send their own warriors in there.

Then, if all goes to plan and my friend doesn't make any unsuspected choices (if he does, I'll adapt), he'll be sent into the mine to deal with this threat. However, I'm planning to make this threat some draconic scheme that goes far beyond this single mine, which means that I'll need a miniboss, preferably a dragon or something related to dragons.

tl;dr: I need a low level boss that's a dragon or dragon related. Preferably I'd like said boss to be at least a young adult, because he needs the mental faculties to be part of a large conspiracy. My friends dwarven warblade will most likely be level 5 or 6 when he gets there.

So my question to the playground is, what do you think would make a great, dragon themed boss fight for this dungeon?

[AmberVael]

Given that this is a solo game, and it seems to me that it would be easiest to tailor a class based enemy to the right power level, I would recommend a Dragonborn (Races of the Dragon).

Change the flavor a bit to make it a person favored by Tiamat, then customize to fit to the game and the right level of challenge you want. Maybe some evil person aspiring to be a knight in an order devoted to Tiamat or [insert whatever evil dragon force you want here], so there is a cool conflict between the position of the dragonborn and the position of your player?

(Also, if you're in mines and working with a dragon themed plot... kobolds. You gotta have kobolds somewhere, if not all over the place).

[Runestar]

Dragonkin from draconomicon. At cr3, that gives you some room for customisation via templates/class lvs (though however I look at it, it seems quite undercosted for the 7 monstrous humanoid HD and impressive physical stats).

If you want a variation of a typical dragon fight, get a skeletal dragon (draconomicon, these buggers have an amazingly low cr for their stats), have awaken undead cast on it to restore its int, then slap on the spellstitched template. Fluffwise, you could say it is some kind of dracolich involved in an experiment gone wrong; the mine is one of many schemes to muster enough resources to restore it to its full strength. You should be able to get a large dragon at cr5 (I would stop there, since there are just the 2 of you, and this may be deceptively stronger than its cr lets on, even by draconic standards). :smallredface:

[Kaeso]

Given that this is a solo game, and it seems to me that it would be easiest to tailor a class based enemy to the right power level, I would recommend a Dragonborn (Races of the Dragon).

Change the flavor a bit to make it a person favored by Tiamat, then customize to fit to the game and the right level of challenge you want. Maybe some evil person aspiring to be a knight in an order devoted to Tiamat or [insert whatever evil dragon force you want here], so there is a cool conflict between the position of the dragonborn and the position of your player?

(Also, if you're in mines and working with a dragon themed plot... kobolds. You gotta have kobolds somewhere, if not all over the place).

That sounds quite cool, but I'm already planning such a thing for the BBEG (A dragonwrought kobold dragonfire adept to be specific), so I'd rather have this miniboss be something else.


Dragonkin from draconomicon. At cr3, that gives you some room for customisation via templates/class lvs (though however I look at it, it seems quite undercosted for the 7 monstrous humanoid HD and impressive physical stats).

If you want a variation of a typical dragon fight, get a skeletal dragon (draconomicon, these buggers have an amazingly low cr for their stats), have awaken undead cast on it to restore its int, then slap on the spellstitched template. Fluffwise, you could say it is some kind of dracolich involved in an experiment gone wrong; the mine is one of many schemes to muster enough resources to restore it to its full strength. You should be able to get a large dragon at cr5 (I would stop there, since there are just the 2 of you, and this may be deceptively stronger than its cr lets on, even by draconic standards). :smallredface:

Sounds good, I'll try to get my hands on draconomicon then, I especially like the plot you created around it. I'll be sure to incorporate that into my story. However, I'm worried about the fact that you said they have an insanely low cr for their stats. I'd rather have my friends character survive this battle.

EDIT: Where is the awakan undead spell from by the way?

[Keithicus]

Awaken Undead is in the Spell Compendium (along with just about every other awaken spell I could find with a quick search)

Edit: if you're worried you could lower the stats, remove hit dice, move some feats over to toughness :P or possibly make it a younger dragon? If I remember correctly there's a WOTC source that covers weakening monsters if only I could find it.

[Big Fau]

Dragonspawn of Tiamat (MM4) are tailor-made for this.

[Runestar]

Awaken Undead is in the Spell Compendium (along with just about every other awaken spell I could find with a quick search)

Edit: if you're worried you could lower the stats, remove hit dice, move some feats over to toughness :P or possibly make it a younger dragon? If I remember correctly there's a WOTC source that covers weakening monsters if only I could find it.

I think he should, as I believe the lower than usual cr was to compensate for their lack of an int score, so the awaken undead spell might negate that as they are now capable of more complicated tactics.

A juvenile white dragon is cr6 and has 12 HD. I think this could work as a base. With spellstitched and 10 wis, it gets 2 1st lv spells useable 4/day, so you have it buffed with mage armour, and can still cast some SLA like magic missile 3/day. Cr4 on paper, but may be closer to 5 or even 6.