mvpmack
2014-12-23, 06:34 PM
Hi, long time lurker, first time poster. I've done a lot of forum searching and picked up a wealth of useful info on the topic, but all of it seems geared to higher level parties and stronger dragons.
I'm a player in an E6 party, and we have the opportunity to make a large difference in our gameworld by slaying or capturing (latter somewhat unlikely) a Large white dragon. The encounter is optional at this point, so if you guys think it'd be too difficult we may just back out until we have better preparation.
There are a fair number of houserules and I'll try to cover as much relevant info as I can to help you guys out.
--
The scenario is that our party is leading a company of soldiers (approx. 100 fighting men and women, plus support) into a foreign country. The company is financed by a wealthy ex-diplomat/lawyer/aristocrat, and led by the party's fighter.
The country in question is similar to North America prior to European intervention, meaning relatively uncivilized tribals. The country is in the far south, and the climate is similar to real-world northern Russia or Alaska. The time of year is mid-winter. The overall "feel" of the people is a sort of Inuit or Eskimo type of vibe.
The country is in the middle of a civil war. There are two major tribal alliances; one is isolationist and wants to cut ties with the outside world. They're also militant and the aggressors in the war. The other alliance wants to build ties with the outside. If you've ever played Dragon Age, the whole situation seems similar to the Bhelen/Harrowmont faction war in the dwarven lands, except that the hostilities are open and span a region roughly the size of Alaska. Our DM has never played Dragon Age, so I found this particular correlation amusing.
Our player characters are outsiders, and their home country is at war with a third, northern country (meaning, closer to the equator in our case). The players have decided that a hostile force on a second front is a worst case scenario and have decided to intervene to make sure that the militant isolationists don't win the war.
We've arrived at an outpost/town of the friendly tribes and have offered our assistance. As it turns out, an enemy outpost that our convoy snuck past (using the fighter's exceptional knowledge skills to avoid likely patrol areas, she rolled a 35, wow) is a dire threat to the town. The town has a garrison of about 200 fighting men (plus a larger civillian population). The enemy outpost has approximately 400 fighting men. The catch is that they also have a white dragon. We only have a rough guess of how big it is: either M or L, and probably L. It goes without saying that if a L white dragon battles a conventional military force that the dragon will completely decimate the enemy. The outpost can hold -- the enemy won't risk the losses, including the dragon, of attacking into an entrenched force, so they primarily are using raiding parties to cripple supply lines and harass patrols. It is a losing proposition for our future allies if the situation cannot be dealt with in a few months.
This is an E6 world. The only way to deal with that dragon is with another dragon or a team of superheroes.
The currently brainstormed plan is to use the fighter's superior strategic knowledge to ambush an enemy patrol using only the PC party and deal enough damage (by killing people) to force the patrol to retreat. The patrol will then relay the information about a small group of well-armed raiders, and hopefully the dragon will go to deal with us. Then, we kill the dragon. Once we've done that, we can hopefully mount a counteroffensive and start cutting down enemy raiding parties with planned military action and/or PC badassery.
The problem is, well, killing the dragon. It isn't going to be a typical "uberdragon" relative to other campaigns; it's likely not very smart and has little or no casting ability, but we can expect it to have magic items of some kind. He may have some support from enemy troops, but due to his massive 300ft flight speed (much faster than cavalry), I suspect we have a good chance that it will act alone.
--
There are 3 player characters and 3 NPCs. The party is honestly not ideal, and we may not have the composition or availability of counters to a dragon. We have a slight lean-upwards and limited gestalt version of E6. Our DM is also very generous when it comes to giving out freebie feats, skill points, and other rewards for accomplishing goals, either personal goals or storyline goals.
PC#1
Homebrew half-fey bard 6 - Medium fey (Elf) - Neutral
The bard is my character. He's probably of the least value in the battle mechanically, and I suspect his main use will be his very high level of UMD. He is on the path towards gestalt wizard, so he may have a familiar and some level 0 wizard slots by the time this battle occurs (he is very close to a bonus feat).
Noteworthy spells for this situation:
Daze (lol), Ghost Sound, Silent Image, Inspirational Boost, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Alter Self, Invisibility, Haste. His spell slots are 3/4/3/2.
Noteworthy feats:
Extend Spell, Arcane Preparation, Melodic Casting (plus he has third level slots, lol), and Favored Enemy: Dragon (+4).
The favored enemy feat was a storyline bonus feat. It differs slightly from the traditional Favored Enemy in that he gets the bonus on spell penetration checks rather than damage (he has dealt 0 points of lethal damage during the entire campaign, and only 4 nonlethal), which will let him get through a young adult's SR16 on a roll of 6 or better.
Noteworthy items:
His WBL is bloated with trash (+1 rapier? wtf?). Blame the DM.
+1 rapier, +1 chain shirt, masterwork light crossbow, cloak of comfort +1, ring of silent spells, tome of worldly memory, type 1 bag of holding, plus some miscellaneous scrolls and potions. He has an air elemental gem, but I would REALLY prefer to trade it to people involved in the war effort (and get something useful) rather than use it here.
Noteworthy skills:
Perform (sing) over 9000, Diplomacy over 9000, UMD +15/+19 with scrolls, KS: Arcana +10, bardic knowledge +11.
Defenses:
36 hp (wow!), +6 Ref, +7 Will. His AC is "hope I don't get attacked." He has no special defense against frightful presence, but being shaken only hurts his saves against breath weapons since SR penetration checks aren't skill or ability checks, and forcing save DC isn't either. It will hurt his ability to use UMD a bit.
PC#2
Human fighter 6/gestalt rogue 1 - Medium humanoid (human, dragonblood) - Chaotic Good
Fighters are slightly buffed due to their general UP-ness in E6. They possess the warblade's ability to change weapon style feats, and level 6 fighters automatically qualify for fighter level 8/BAB+8 feats without having extra feat tax. She has a lot of skill points, but her STR is kind of low (only 14 with no buff items). She is also fully a 1st level rogue and has all 1st level rogue class features, including evasion and sneak attack +1d6.
Noteworthy feats:
Dragontouched, Dodge, Mobility, Combat Expertise, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Point Blank Shot, Improved Unarmed Strike, Combat Acrobat, plus all level 1 Rogue class features.
Noteworthy items:
+1 humanbane small longsword, masterwork longsword, masterwork composite longbow +2STR, 10x +1 dragonbane arrow, white dragon scale breastplate, +1 ring of protection, +1 amulet of natural armor, +1 cloak of resistance, armor crystal of arrow deflection: least. She can also use the tome of worldly knowledge. The small longsword has been regripped to avoid the -4 size penalty. DM specifically gave it to her so that she could use one weapon focus/spec (longsword) for both main and off hand, and ruled that longsword focus applies to both. How nice of him! She's made exactly one attack against one enemy for which humanbane applied. Less nice :(
Noteworthy skills:
Tumble +14, KS: Warfare (campaign version of martial lore; more oriented towards military strategy) +10, Jump +12. Stealth +9 (houserule; stealth and perception skills are merged, similar to PF)
66 HP, AC 20 (+1 dodge), Ref +5, Will +1.
Houserule (or interpretation): Dragonblooded characters are immune to frightful presence of dragons, so her awful Will save isn't so bad. This is not RAW, but due to the reading of dragonblood subtype, the DM agreed that the subtype should be considered "dragon" for frightful presence resistance, considering that dragonbane weapons and similar items harm dragonblooded characters (as RAW).
PC#3
Aasimar cleric 6/gestalt paladin 1 - Medium outsider (native) - Lawful Good
There is a significant homebrew cleric nerf in play: Clerics (and druids) get spells known as SRD clerics (or druids); if they want to know other spells, they must lose a SRD spell from their list of spells known. There are a few spells known that are freebies for the campaign setting. Domain spells are separate from known spells; a cleric can cast a domain spell even if it's not on his spells known (our cleric does not know Magic Weapon, but can cast it via his domain slot). Also, our cleric has a single smite pool, which he can use for either his domain smite or his paladin smite evil as he wishes. He is a battle cleric and follows a Neutral Good war deity. He has all abilities of a 1st level paladin.
Domains: War, Destruction. DM ruled that the deity's favored weapon is bastard sword (technically not a martial weapon). I suggested it was assault rifle (she's a very pragmatic goddess) but he said that, given the circumstances of the world (assault rifles haven't been invented), bastard sword is the most appropriate choice. Also, the cleric's 3rd level domain spell for Destruction is the level 3 Inflict spell rather than Contagion (destroying enemy combatants and structures is the domain theme for her).
Noteworthy spells:
Impede, Wieldskill (spell compendium), Elation, Sound Burst, Knight's Move, Bladebane (houseruled to have no material component), Summon Monster (all 3 levels), Holy Storm, Resist Energy (mass), plus most useful SRD spells; I noted Summon Monster because it's part of my theoretical strategy.
Noteworthy feats:
Weapon Focus/EWP Bastard Sword (domain), Combat Casting, Shielded Casting, Power Attack.
Noteworthy items:
+1 bastard sword, masterwork composite longbow +2STR, masterwork full plate, +1 large shield, tunic of steady spellcasting, amulet of natural armor, healing belt.
His only noteworthy skill is KS: Religion +7, which will only be useful if the dragon or its help has divine caster class levels.
55 HP. His character sheet is so cluttered I have no idea what the hell his saves are. He has fear immunity since he's a first level paladin, so he's immune to frightful presence.
NPC#1
Lizardfolk sorcerer 5 - Medium humanoid (reptilian, dragonblood) - Chaotic Good
Note, he's not level 6 and doesn't have level 3 spells. He doesn't have racial HD. He's the draconic sorcerer variant, so he does not have a familiar and instead has Draconic Heritage (silver). I don't have his full character sheet so I don't know his exact stats.
Noteworthy spells: mage armor, ray of enfeeblement, grease, invisibility, glitterdust
Noteworthy feats: draconic heritage (silver), silver dragon lineage, draconic resistance (lot of cold resist), multiattack.
Noteworthy items: cloak of charisma +2.
NPC#2
Human sorcerer 4 - Medium humanoid (human, dragonblood) - Lawful Evil
He's an aristocrat looking to stake a claim in the war. He's a sorcerer (high CHA) so he is generally well-liked, except for the two paladins in the company (party cleric and a level 1 paladin) who have evildar. He is a blaster sorc, and we won't be keeping him around long-term. Still, please refrain from suggesting we sacrifice him to the dragon or something; my bard is banging his sister and his dad is a pretty big deal. Plus, you know, friends in high places and all that. I have never seen his character sheet and we only know what he's capable of by what he has used in previous encounters. He is also a dragonblooded sorcerer and doesn't have a familiar.
Noteworthy spells: scorching ray. We've seen him cast sleep too, but I don't think that will be helpful. He also has mentioned that he has color spray, and all spellcasters have prestidigitation.
Noteworthy feats: point blank shot, precise shot, draconic heritage (red). He might have weapon focus (ranged touch) too, but I don't know. He has never missed with scorching ray, though part of that might be inspirational boosted bardsong talking.
Noteworthy items: bracers of armor +2, cloak of resistance +2, three fireball scrolls. He also has at least one metamagic rod, but I don't know what feat it is. I suspect it's Empower, but he has never used it or even pulled out the rod for us to see. He is filthy rich and probably has many more items than this. Again, please refrain from "sacrifice the human sorcerer" plots.
Noteworthy skills: He has enough KS: Arcana to aid the bard; I think he's +8 or so. His spellcraft is also fairly good, though I don't know.
NPC#3
Human rogue 4 - Medium humanoid (human) - Chaotic Good
Out of everyone in the party, he has the most problems with frightful presence. We may need a remove fear potion or something, since he will panic if he fails a save and his Will save is not good (probably +1 Wis bonus). I may just lend him my cloak of comfort and use the lizard sorc's cloak of charisma, I dunno. He is not fully trusted by anyone except the bard (who is a significant character in the rogue's backstory), but the other players are warming up to him since he has done nothing but good, loyal actions.
Noteworthy feats: point blank shot, precise shot. He might have others, I don't know.
Noteworthy skills: Very high stealth (I think around +9 or +10) and perception (+8, which is how I guessed his WIS bonus). Good or better in most other rogue skills.
Noteworthy items: masterwork shortbow, masterwork chain shirt, +1 flaming arrows of unknown quantity, +1 dragonbane arrows of unknown quantity.
--
A lone CR8 creature would be a fairly dangerous challenge for this group, which leads me to believe we're either facing a L young adult white dragon or a M juvenile white dragon with support (metagaming, ho!). Our first step is definitely to use Wieldskill, the tome of worldly knowledge, the human sorc's aid another and the bard's +10 KS: arcana to identify as much as we can about this specific dragon. Since the plan came together late last session, we did not have time to do that, hence the many unknowns about the dragon itself.
My tentative plan is to use the cleric's Summon Monster III and a scroll of Summon Monster III (ideally with augment summoning or something, but that would be lucky) to summon a pair of celestial bison. They have cold resistance and enough HD to get DR/magic, which allows them to bypass the dragon's DR, plus a lot of damage on their gore attacks. Once we get the dragon on the ground, we box it in with the cleric, fighter, and two bison and DPS it down; haste, scorching ray, sneak arrow attacks and smites should get it down very quickly.
The plan is also to use Shield Other and Spiritual Vestment on the fighter so that the fighter and cleric share HP totals. She's wearing a white dragon breastplate, she is extremely loud and arrogant, and younger white dragons are not very smart. Hopefully she can goad the dragon into coming down and facing her, upon which she will likely eat a few full attacks before the dragon dies. Shield Other will help her stay alive. Obviously, we'll use resist energy (mass) to help weather the breath weapon storm until the dragon comes down. Our cleric can also attempt to use holy storm after the dragon is boxed in. The problem with that is that the dragon might not be evil; unlike the stat block, white dragons are not always evil in this setting.
We will need to somehow get the fighter's longsword magical. I'm thinking that an oil or scroll of greater magic weapon (caster level 6) would be most ideal since the cleric only has a few level 3 slots. The same is true for the rogue's bow. Though he has magic arrows, they are expensive and this battle isn't in a vacuum. Also, he isn't fully committed to the party cause and might not want to spend his dinero cash dollars just because we ask (although he'd likely be compensated anyway, so it might not be that big of a deal).
We will need fear protection for at least the rogue, and ideally also the bard. The bard has inspire courage to help (with inspirational boost, so +2), but that is not really protection. If the rogue fails his save, he's out of the fight unless we can get to him and break the fear before he gets out of range.
Here's the big elephant in the room, though. How do we get the dragon to come down if he doesn't want to come down willingly? I saw Downdraft (in spell compendium, I think?) which is CLR3/DRD3 and will put the dragon on ground level if he gets in range to use his breath weapon. The main issue with that is that it takes up the cleric's valuable actions to use, and his actions will be very important early on. Also, the cleric is not as good as penetrating SR as the bard. The bard could UMD it, but there's the issue of possibly failing a frightful presence save plus he only has 12 WIS, thus he has to pass a very hard DC28 check to emulate 13 WIS. I'll have to bring a potion of owl's wisdom (or get buffed by the cleric) if I plan on doing that.
Scrolls, potions, and other ideas from 3.5 and PF are both fine. WotC books are OK; Dragon is not. Anything not SRD has to be approved by DM, but as you've probably already noticed, he's a nice guy and is willing to work with players. We may not have a lot of access to specialty magic items, so simple/SRD is best for solutions.
Also, what are some possible feat builds for the dragon? Give me some worst-case scenarios please! Thanks in advance guys!
I'm a player in an E6 party, and we have the opportunity to make a large difference in our gameworld by slaying or capturing (latter somewhat unlikely) a Large white dragon. The encounter is optional at this point, so if you guys think it'd be too difficult we may just back out until we have better preparation.
There are a fair number of houserules and I'll try to cover as much relevant info as I can to help you guys out.
--
The scenario is that our party is leading a company of soldiers (approx. 100 fighting men and women, plus support) into a foreign country. The company is financed by a wealthy ex-diplomat/lawyer/aristocrat, and led by the party's fighter.
The country in question is similar to North America prior to European intervention, meaning relatively uncivilized tribals. The country is in the far south, and the climate is similar to real-world northern Russia or Alaska. The time of year is mid-winter. The overall "feel" of the people is a sort of Inuit or Eskimo type of vibe.
The country is in the middle of a civil war. There are two major tribal alliances; one is isolationist and wants to cut ties with the outside world. They're also militant and the aggressors in the war. The other alliance wants to build ties with the outside. If you've ever played Dragon Age, the whole situation seems similar to the Bhelen/Harrowmont faction war in the dwarven lands, except that the hostilities are open and span a region roughly the size of Alaska. Our DM has never played Dragon Age, so I found this particular correlation amusing.
Our player characters are outsiders, and their home country is at war with a third, northern country (meaning, closer to the equator in our case). The players have decided that a hostile force on a second front is a worst case scenario and have decided to intervene to make sure that the militant isolationists don't win the war.
We've arrived at an outpost/town of the friendly tribes and have offered our assistance. As it turns out, an enemy outpost that our convoy snuck past (using the fighter's exceptional knowledge skills to avoid likely patrol areas, she rolled a 35, wow) is a dire threat to the town. The town has a garrison of about 200 fighting men (plus a larger civillian population). The enemy outpost has approximately 400 fighting men. The catch is that they also have a white dragon. We only have a rough guess of how big it is: either M or L, and probably L. It goes without saying that if a L white dragon battles a conventional military force that the dragon will completely decimate the enemy. The outpost can hold -- the enemy won't risk the losses, including the dragon, of attacking into an entrenched force, so they primarily are using raiding parties to cripple supply lines and harass patrols. It is a losing proposition for our future allies if the situation cannot be dealt with in a few months.
This is an E6 world. The only way to deal with that dragon is with another dragon or a team of superheroes.
The currently brainstormed plan is to use the fighter's superior strategic knowledge to ambush an enemy patrol using only the PC party and deal enough damage (by killing people) to force the patrol to retreat. The patrol will then relay the information about a small group of well-armed raiders, and hopefully the dragon will go to deal with us. Then, we kill the dragon. Once we've done that, we can hopefully mount a counteroffensive and start cutting down enemy raiding parties with planned military action and/or PC badassery.
The problem is, well, killing the dragon. It isn't going to be a typical "uberdragon" relative to other campaigns; it's likely not very smart and has little or no casting ability, but we can expect it to have magic items of some kind. He may have some support from enemy troops, but due to his massive 300ft flight speed (much faster than cavalry), I suspect we have a good chance that it will act alone.
--
There are 3 player characters and 3 NPCs. The party is honestly not ideal, and we may not have the composition or availability of counters to a dragon. We have a slight lean-upwards and limited gestalt version of E6. Our DM is also very generous when it comes to giving out freebie feats, skill points, and other rewards for accomplishing goals, either personal goals or storyline goals.
PC#1
Homebrew half-fey bard 6 - Medium fey (Elf) - Neutral
The bard is my character. He's probably of the least value in the battle mechanically, and I suspect his main use will be his very high level of UMD. He is on the path towards gestalt wizard, so he may have a familiar and some level 0 wizard slots by the time this battle occurs (he is very close to a bonus feat).
Noteworthy spells for this situation:
Daze (lol), Ghost Sound, Silent Image, Inspirational Boost, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Alter Self, Invisibility, Haste. His spell slots are 3/4/3/2.
Noteworthy feats:
Extend Spell, Arcane Preparation, Melodic Casting (plus he has third level slots, lol), and Favored Enemy: Dragon (+4).
The favored enemy feat was a storyline bonus feat. It differs slightly from the traditional Favored Enemy in that he gets the bonus on spell penetration checks rather than damage (he has dealt 0 points of lethal damage during the entire campaign, and only 4 nonlethal), which will let him get through a young adult's SR16 on a roll of 6 or better.
Noteworthy items:
His WBL is bloated with trash (+1 rapier? wtf?). Blame the DM.
+1 rapier, +1 chain shirt, masterwork light crossbow, cloak of comfort +1, ring of silent spells, tome of worldly memory, type 1 bag of holding, plus some miscellaneous scrolls and potions. He has an air elemental gem, but I would REALLY prefer to trade it to people involved in the war effort (and get something useful) rather than use it here.
Noteworthy skills:
Perform (sing) over 9000, Diplomacy over 9000, UMD +15/+19 with scrolls, KS: Arcana +10, bardic knowledge +11.
Defenses:
36 hp (wow!), +6 Ref, +7 Will. His AC is "hope I don't get attacked." He has no special defense against frightful presence, but being shaken only hurts his saves against breath weapons since SR penetration checks aren't skill or ability checks, and forcing save DC isn't either. It will hurt his ability to use UMD a bit.
PC#2
Human fighter 6/gestalt rogue 1 - Medium humanoid (human, dragonblood) - Chaotic Good
Fighters are slightly buffed due to their general UP-ness in E6. They possess the warblade's ability to change weapon style feats, and level 6 fighters automatically qualify for fighter level 8/BAB+8 feats without having extra feat tax. She has a lot of skill points, but her STR is kind of low (only 14 with no buff items). She is also fully a 1st level rogue and has all 1st level rogue class features, including evasion and sneak attack +1d6.
Noteworthy feats:
Dragontouched, Dodge, Mobility, Combat Expertise, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Point Blank Shot, Improved Unarmed Strike, Combat Acrobat, plus all level 1 Rogue class features.
Noteworthy items:
+1 humanbane small longsword, masterwork longsword, masterwork composite longbow +2STR, 10x +1 dragonbane arrow, white dragon scale breastplate, +1 ring of protection, +1 amulet of natural armor, +1 cloak of resistance, armor crystal of arrow deflection: least. She can also use the tome of worldly knowledge. The small longsword has been regripped to avoid the -4 size penalty. DM specifically gave it to her so that she could use one weapon focus/spec (longsword) for both main and off hand, and ruled that longsword focus applies to both. How nice of him! She's made exactly one attack against one enemy for which humanbane applied. Less nice :(
Noteworthy skills:
Tumble +14, KS: Warfare (campaign version of martial lore; more oriented towards military strategy) +10, Jump +12. Stealth +9 (houserule; stealth and perception skills are merged, similar to PF)
66 HP, AC 20 (+1 dodge), Ref +5, Will +1.
Houserule (or interpretation): Dragonblooded characters are immune to frightful presence of dragons, so her awful Will save isn't so bad. This is not RAW, but due to the reading of dragonblood subtype, the DM agreed that the subtype should be considered "dragon" for frightful presence resistance, considering that dragonbane weapons and similar items harm dragonblooded characters (as RAW).
PC#3
Aasimar cleric 6/gestalt paladin 1 - Medium outsider (native) - Lawful Good
There is a significant homebrew cleric nerf in play: Clerics (and druids) get spells known as SRD clerics (or druids); if they want to know other spells, they must lose a SRD spell from their list of spells known. There are a few spells known that are freebies for the campaign setting. Domain spells are separate from known spells; a cleric can cast a domain spell even if it's not on his spells known (our cleric does not know Magic Weapon, but can cast it via his domain slot). Also, our cleric has a single smite pool, which he can use for either his domain smite or his paladin smite evil as he wishes. He is a battle cleric and follows a Neutral Good war deity. He has all abilities of a 1st level paladin.
Domains: War, Destruction. DM ruled that the deity's favored weapon is bastard sword (technically not a martial weapon). I suggested it was assault rifle (she's a very pragmatic goddess) but he said that, given the circumstances of the world (assault rifles haven't been invented), bastard sword is the most appropriate choice. Also, the cleric's 3rd level domain spell for Destruction is the level 3 Inflict spell rather than Contagion (destroying enemy combatants and structures is the domain theme for her).
Noteworthy spells:
Impede, Wieldskill (spell compendium), Elation, Sound Burst, Knight's Move, Bladebane (houseruled to have no material component), Summon Monster (all 3 levels), Holy Storm, Resist Energy (mass), plus most useful SRD spells; I noted Summon Monster because it's part of my theoretical strategy.
Noteworthy feats:
Weapon Focus/EWP Bastard Sword (domain), Combat Casting, Shielded Casting, Power Attack.
Noteworthy items:
+1 bastard sword, masterwork composite longbow +2STR, masterwork full plate, +1 large shield, tunic of steady spellcasting, amulet of natural armor, healing belt.
His only noteworthy skill is KS: Religion +7, which will only be useful if the dragon or its help has divine caster class levels.
55 HP. His character sheet is so cluttered I have no idea what the hell his saves are. He has fear immunity since he's a first level paladin, so he's immune to frightful presence.
NPC#1
Lizardfolk sorcerer 5 - Medium humanoid (reptilian, dragonblood) - Chaotic Good
Note, he's not level 6 and doesn't have level 3 spells. He doesn't have racial HD. He's the draconic sorcerer variant, so he does not have a familiar and instead has Draconic Heritage (silver). I don't have his full character sheet so I don't know his exact stats.
Noteworthy spells: mage armor, ray of enfeeblement, grease, invisibility, glitterdust
Noteworthy feats: draconic heritage (silver), silver dragon lineage, draconic resistance (lot of cold resist), multiattack.
Noteworthy items: cloak of charisma +2.
NPC#2
Human sorcerer 4 - Medium humanoid (human, dragonblood) - Lawful Evil
He's an aristocrat looking to stake a claim in the war. He's a sorcerer (high CHA) so he is generally well-liked, except for the two paladins in the company (party cleric and a level 1 paladin) who have evildar. He is a blaster sorc, and we won't be keeping him around long-term. Still, please refrain from suggesting we sacrifice him to the dragon or something; my bard is banging his sister and his dad is a pretty big deal. Plus, you know, friends in high places and all that. I have never seen his character sheet and we only know what he's capable of by what he has used in previous encounters. He is also a dragonblooded sorcerer and doesn't have a familiar.
Noteworthy spells: scorching ray. We've seen him cast sleep too, but I don't think that will be helpful. He also has mentioned that he has color spray, and all spellcasters have prestidigitation.
Noteworthy feats: point blank shot, precise shot, draconic heritage (red). He might have weapon focus (ranged touch) too, but I don't know. He has never missed with scorching ray, though part of that might be inspirational boosted bardsong talking.
Noteworthy items: bracers of armor +2, cloak of resistance +2, three fireball scrolls. He also has at least one metamagic rod, but I don't know what feat it is. I suspect it's Empower, but he has never used it or even pulled out the rod for us to see. He is filthy rich and probably has many more items than this. Again, please refrain from "sacrifice the human sorcerer" plots.
Noteworthy skills: He has enough KS: Arcana to aid the bard; I think he's +8 or so. His spellcraft is also fairly good, though I don't know.
NPC#3
Human rogue 4 - Medium humanoid (human) - Chaotic Good
Out of everyone in the party, he has the most problems with frightful presence. We may need a remove fear potion or something, since he will panic if he fails a save and his Will save is not good (probably +1 Wis bonus). I may just lend him my cloak of comfort and use the lizard sorc's cloak of charisma, I dunno. He is not fully trusted by anyone except the bard (who is a significant character in the rogue's backstory), but the other players are warming up to him since he has done nothing but good, loyal actions.
Noteworthy feats: point blank shot, precise shot. He might have others, I don't know.
Noteworthy skills: Very high stealth (I think around +9 or +10) and perception (+8, which is how I guessed his WIS bonus). Good or better in most other rogue skills.
Noteworthy items: masterwork shortbow, masterwork chain shirt, +1 flaming arrows of unknown quantity, +1 dragonbane arrows of unknown quantity.
--
A lone CR8 creature would be a fairly dangerous challenge for this group, which leads me to believe we're either facing a L young adult white dragon or a M juvenile white dragon with support (metagaming, ho!). Our first step is definitely to use Wieldskill, the tome of worldly knowledge, the human sorc's aid another and the bard's +10 KS: arcana to identify as much as we can about this specific dragon. Since the plan came together late last session, we did not have time to do that, hence the many unknowns about the dragon itself.
My tentative plan is to use the cleric's Summon Monster III and a scroll of Summon Monster III (ideally with augment summoning or something, but that would be lucky) to summon a pair of celestial bison. They have cold resistance and enough HD to get DR/magic, which allows them to bypass the dragon's DR, plus a lot of damage on their gore attacks. Once we get the dragon on the ground, we box it in with the cleric, fighter, and two bison and DPS it down; haste, scorching ray, sneak arrow attacks and smites should get it down very quickly.
The plan is also to use Shield Other and Spiritual Vestment on the fighter so that the fighter and cleric share HP totals. She's wearing a white dragon breastplate, she is extremely loud and arrogant, and younger white dragons are not very smart. Hopefully she can goad the dragon into coming down and facing her, upon which she will likely eat a few full attacks before the dragon dies. Shield Other will help her stay alive. Obviously, we'll use resist energy (mass) to help weather the breath weapon storm until the dragon comes down. Our cleric can also attempt to use holy storm after the dragon is boxed in. The problem with that is that the dragon might not be evil; unlike the stat block, white dragons are not always evil in this setting.
We will need to somehow get the fighter's longsword magical. I'm thinking that an oil or scroll of greater magic weapon (caster level 6) would be most ideal since the cleric only has a few level 3 slots. The same is true for the rogue's bow. Though he has magic arrows, they are expensive and this battle isn't in a vacuum. Also, he isn't fully committed to the party cause and might not want to spend his dinero cash dollars just because we ask (although he'd likely be compensated anyway, so it might not be that big of a deal).
We will need fear protection for at least the rogue, and ideally also the bard. The bard has inspire courage to help (with inspirational boost, so +2), but that is not really protection. If the rogue fails his save, he's out of the fight unless we can get to him and break the fear before he gets out of range.
Here's the big elephant in the room, though. How do we get the dragon to come down if he doesn't want to come down willingly? I saw Downdraft (in spell compendium, I think?) which is CLR3/DRD3 and will put the dragon on ground level if he gets in range to use his breath weapon. The main issue with that is that it takes up the cleric's valuable actions to use, and his actions will be very important early on. Also, the cleric is not as good as penetrating SR as the bard. The bard could UMD it, but there's the issue of possibly failing a frightful presence save plus he only has 12 WIS, thus he has to pass a very hard DC28 check to emulate 13 WIS. I'll have to bring a potion of owl's wisdom (or get buffed by the cleric) if I plan on doing that.
Scrolls, potions, and other ideas from 3.5 and PF are both fine. WotC books are OK; Dragon is not. Anything not SRD has to be approved by DM, but as you've probably already noticed, he's a nice guy and is willing to work with players. We may not have a lot of access to specialty magic items, so simple/SRD is best for solutions.
Also, what are some possible feat builds for the dragon? Give me some worst-case scenarios please! Thanks in advance guys!