Fleshing out an adult green dragon

[Pinjata]

Part of my campaign will soon reach a point where players will encounter a large forest within which live (among other standard D&D/Faerun things) Elves and an adult green dragon. I'd like to flesh out green dragon, his modus operandi, his relations to all other factions/relevant parties in the region and his minions. What I have so far is a dragon who separated from his flock as wyrmling (flock of wyrmlings flying around until they grew up a bit and bickered and fought among themselves to eventually dissolve the flock and become lone alpha-ish predators). In his decades of young dragon, this green tried all sorts of evil and grand plans, pretty much all of them failing due to lack of patience and overconfidence. More then often it was only his large HP pool that enabled him to fight another day, being mauled by owlbears, being hurt by elven magic or hail of goblin sling-tossed stones. He did however leave an imprint in the forest by hunting anything that was not strong enough to defend itself. Elves in the forest were not stupid and would attempt to kill any green dragon they saw (same as goblins, orcs, owlbears...), but had failed and now green has become a scarred and rather experienced adult. He wants hoard, minions and I guess ... rulership of the world? He has lived as long as adult greens live, so he should have ample info of the region.

Now. I'd appreciate any additional questions about environment/setting and then get advice on how to shape out this dragon.

thanks

[Whit]

If this will be a few scenarios i suggest basic map with the camps fir each race elf goblin dragon lair. Perhaps hermit who can provide info.
Is the dragon to big? Adventures make uneasy alliance with goblins or they work for dragon now because he's a lot bigger.
Or dragon pays them.
As for green dragons. I like how they did cyane bloodbane in dragon lance.
Smart and sly.
You said he was brash and lost to elves goblins etc. so he could be more cautious with age. Otherwise. Does he live in a lake or swamp in the forest or cave. Remember they are smart. So perhaps dialogue before combat.
Then go at it. Do you want him to die or get away to be a future enemy.

[GlenSmash!]

If this will be a few scenarios i suggest basic map with the camps fir each race elf goblin dragon lair. Perhaps hermit who can provide info.
Is the dragon to big? Adventures make uneasy alliance with goblins or they work for dragon now because he's a lot bigger.
Or dragon pays them.
As for green dragons. I like how they did cyane bloodbane in dragon lance.
Smart and sly.
You said he was brash and lost to elves goblins etc. so he could be more cautious with age. Otherwise. Does he live in a lake or swamp in the forest or cave. Remember they are smart. So perhaps dialogue before combat.
Then go at it. Do you want him to die or get away to be a future enemy.

Yup. i always think of Cyan Bloodbane when I think of green dragons. The way the party journeyed through the corrupted dreamlike elven nation was really eerie.

[Pinjata]

Well I'm not really sure if PCs will engage him, but I think he will be a challenge in any case. Being so close to forest for so many decades, dragon gets all sorts of bonuses in forest and also has his lair there. Lair is "open top" and enables the dragon to use his greatest advantage and fly. At this point he is smart and cunning - he wants to enslave or obliterate all sentient creatures within "his" region. As for his minions I was thinking kobolds, some bugbears and some orcs. Any other ideas/critique is appreciated.

[Chugger]

In literature dragons are known for holding villages hostage, demanding that they leave a young woman every year or so tied to a post - that sort of thing. Look for synergy with some of the dragon's allies. What else is resistant or immune to its breath? Any ally not poison resistant or immune might have died unless it knew to get away during a breath - dragon doesn't care if it damages its allies when it breathes, at least in some cases. But an evil dwarf or some poison resistant thing would have or could have survived over the years - might be his major domo.

Have a surprise ally of the dragon. In other words, have a dwarf or gnome or some supposed-to-be-good-guy creature befriend the party and help them in minor ways - earn their trust - but this is actually the dragon's spy. He could set them up and lead them into an ambush.

Don't be too standard and straightforward here. That risks getting boring. What odd but not too bizarre creature might be the dragon's ally or slave? What if the dragon has a paladin's wife in a cage and it extorts the paladin (or similar person) to do what it wants - in exchange for not killing the wife and maybe letting the paladin visit her on occasion? Or it could be a husband in the cage and so on. Or someone's child.

A dragon doesn't have to be one-dimensional - i.e. all encounters w/ it end in a fight. A dragon, especially if it really outclasses the party but recognizes that the party is "useful", might exchange doing a service (a quest) for not eating them. This quest might start off seeming inconsequential but might challenge their alignment status if they aren't careful or clever. Homebrew a dragon "geas" type effect to punish the party if they blow it off, perhaps - but maybe a high level spell could end the effect. Dragons classically let players bribe their way out of trouble, i.e. pay off the dragon - they love gold and gems and such. If this dragon can turn into a human (or an elf), it could possibly trick them. What if this dragon has a child that is a dra. race? Does it hate its dragon parent? Not know? Work for the dragon parent?

The dragon might crave something really strange but very hard to get. Maybe the dragon has in its horde a nice magic item - a +2 sword or a wand or something party would really love to get. Maybe the dragon is willing to trade it for this really strange thing, if they can find one. Maybe they have to go on a serious quest (to the fay or underdark or farther away) to get it. The dragon doesn't have to "geas" them - if it sees they could be useful and isn't afraid of them (it's too powerful for them) - it might realize that offering a magic item it doesn't really need or want that badly for something it really really wants is a good deal for it. Maybe this strange item in some weird and unexpected way makes the dragon even harder to kill (it could improve the lair - give the lair a really powerful defensive thing) - and so if the party wants to kill the dragon later on having that magic sword or wand or w/e is nothing compared to the new defensive lair feature which they now will have to face (unless they catch it outside its lair - maybe it doesn't leave easily or at all - with slaves or minions to bring it food and bribes to add to its treasure pile). Good luck.

[Pinjata]

@Chugger

The paladin having his wife held hostage is great idea. I had an idea of dragon working against elves tearing themsleves apart for last few decades. Not much for Elves, but pressure is there and dragon already has at least one "pawn" among the Elves.

It seems perfect minons for such a dragon are undead. And perhaps kobolds, which are intelligent enough and have gained poison immunity by living with green boss for generations.


Other ideas are really cool too.