Dragon Encounter

[Chester]

I'm looking for some feedback: what would be an appropriate dragon for an encounter with a level 7-8 party? 3, maybe 4 PC's?

I know the dragon would have to be young, but what would you recommend?

[TheMonocleRogue]

Depends on the environment. Every chromatic dragon has a preference on where they set up their lair. Monster manual should have further details on their personality traits, statistics, and stat blocks.

Black: Swamp, Marshlands, or any gloomy setting with high amounts of humidity.
Blue: Desert or a hot, dry subterranean setting.
Red: Wide variety of mountainous climates that aren't cold, or deep caverns with molten rock.
Green: Heavy forest climate. Sometimes within forested mountain regions.
White: Any cold climate, typically within a cave encased in ice.

[Jurai]

Good PCs would oppose Chromatics and ally with Metallics, assuming no homebrew setting-related malarky, and vice versa for Evil PCs. I would recommend getting an appropriately aligned Planar Dragon (Dragon Magazine, various issues, and Draconomicon), to oppose them. It's different, it's compelling, and an unlucky save on an alignment spell sends them home or debuffs them.

[Fouredged Sword]

Black Dragon - swamps - juvenile CR 7; young adult CR 9
Blue Dragon - Deserts - juvenile CR 8
Green Dragon - Forests - juvenile CR 8
Red Dragon - Mountains - young CR 7; juvenile CR 10
White Dragon - Cold - young adult CR 8; adult CR 10

Dragons are nicely scaled so there is always a good dragon to throw at the party from any color.

Anything CR 8-10 would likely be good. Mind, a 4 person level 8 party will have a tough time with a CR 10 dragon if they get caught unprepared. Dragons are very much an encounter that you are supposed to know to prepare for.

[Chester]

Black Dragon - swamps - juvenile CR 7; young adult CR 9
Blue Dragon - Deserts - juvenile CR 8
Green Dragon - Forests - juvenile CR 8
Red Dragon - Mountains - young CR 7; juvenile CR 10
White Dragon - Cold - young adult CR 8; adult CR 10

Dragons are nicely scaled so there is always a good dragon to throw at the party from any color.

Anything CR 8-10 would likely be good. Mind, a 4 person level 8 party will have a tough time with a CR 10 dragon if they get caught unprepared. Dragons are very much an encounter that you are supposed to know to prepare for.

Yeah, age is what I was looking for. We're in a jungle, so I'm thinking Black or Green.

[Runestar]

A single young adult black dragon (cr9) seems about right.