Cealocanth
2017-07-31, 12:29 PM
Just for reference, we're playing the Savage Worlds fantasy setting Hellfrost, but this question applies to like 90% of fantasy settings.
For my current campaign the main plotline is about as classic as it gets. There's a massive dragon of godlike power that's threatening to destroy the world. The party's quest is to go uncover a legendary artifact that can supposedly slay the dragon and travel to the ends of the earth to slay the great beast, thus preventing the end of the world and saving the day.
The issue is, as the party will soon realize, is that this weapon of power is not what it used to be and has been slowly fading in strength over the centuries, and will shatter against the dragon's hide. (This is the sort of thing that is kind of expected in this setting, as the whole campaign is about fighting back against the growing forces of evil even as the forces of good wane away from this world.) Now, left without an easy magical solution to the problem, the party is left with a much bigger puzzle than they had ever had before: to slay a dragon that is dramatically more powerful than themselves without a magical crutch weapon, and save the world from eternal winter.
It's around the time for me as the GM to plant the appropriate seeds as options the party can take in order to try to face the problem when their magical crutch fails from underneath them. I'm just at a loss for some options to plant that don't involve going and finding another magical crutch. So, Playground, in your vast creativity, how would you go about trying to defeat such a beast?
Here are the parameters:
The party has a full array of spellcasters, with the exception of necromancers, warlocks and similar 'dark magic' types. In specific, they have a Druid, a Solar Mage (lots of light and fire spells), a Paladin of Tiw (war priest), a Priest of Eira (classic healer priest-type), and a Skald (bard).
The dragon is powerful enough that it's capable of destroying entire cities on its turn. Direct confrontation without a plan is pretty much suicide.
Magical artifacts are extremely rare and the art to create them has been lost for centuries. There's no crafting weapons going on unless the party goes to some magical ancient forge or something.
The party is the equivalent of a relatively low level in D&D. They are at the beginning of Seasoned tier, which puts them in the same territory of level 5 characters in 5e.
Gods are real, but may not interfere directly with mortals with the exception of sending 'avatars' or 'aspects' alongside their clerics and paladins.
Dragons and most other giant monsters are irredemably evil. There are no good dragons to pit against the world destroyer, although there may be evil dragons that may want to take down the world destroyer for their own reasons.
For my current campaign the main plotline is about as classic as it gets. There's a massive dragon of godlike power that's threatening to destroy the world. The party's quest is to go uncover a legendary artifact that can supposedly slay the dragon and travel to the ends of the earth to slay the great beast, thus preventing the end of the world and saving the day.
The issue is, as the party will soon realize, is that this weapon of power is not what it used to be and has been slowly fading in strength over the centuries, and will shatter against the dragon's hide. (This is the sort of thing that is kind of expected in this setting, as the whole campaign is about fighting back against the growing forces of evil even as the forces of good wane away from this world.) Now, left without an easy magical solution to the problem, the party is left with a much bigger puzzle than they had ever had before: to slay a dragon that is dramatically more powerful than themselves without a magical crutch weapon, and save the world from eternal winter.
It's around the time for me as the GM to plant the appropriate seeds as options the party can take in order to try to face the problem when their magical crutch fails from underneath them. I'm just at a loss for some options to plant that don't involve going and finding another magical crutch. So, Playground, in your vast creativity, how would you go about trying to defeat such a beast?
Here are the parameters:
The party has a full array of spellcasters, with the exception of necromancers, warlocks and similar 'dark magic' types. In specific, they have a Druid, a Solar Mage (lots of light and fire spells), a Paladin of Tiw (war priest), a Priest of Eira (classic healer priest-type), and a Skald (bard).
The dragon is powerful enough that it's capable of destroying entire cities on its turn. Direct confrontation without a plan is pretty much suicide.
Magical artifacts are extremely rare and the art to create them has been lost for centuries. There's no crafting weapons going on unless the party goes to some magical ancient forge or something.
The party is the equivalent of a relatively low level in D&D. They are at the beginning of Seasoned tier, which puts them in the same territory of level 5 characters in 5e.
Gods are real, but may not interfere directly with mortals with the exception of sending 'avatars' or 'aspects' alongside their clerics and paladins.
Dragons and most other giant monsters are irredemably evil. There are no good dragons to pit against the world destroyer, although there may be evil dragons that may want to take down the world destroyer for their own reasons.