Maybe dragons find humans yuckie and don't want to deal with the mess if they just stood on you. I mean I am not afraid of bugs and creepy crawlies, but I find it revolting to squash them, accidentally or otherwise. Better to just shoe it away or entrap and flush down the toilet.
Flight requires a lot of energy. Also, if something knocks the dragon out of the air, like a ballista, a big spell, or a Barbarian with a good grapple check pinning the dragon's wings, that's several tons of dragon hitting the ground from dozens of feet high. Naturally, a dragon should still utilize flight to its advantage, and they can and do in PnP.
Rolling around like a jackass hoping to squish things is a good way to use your own tremendous weight against you. If that Fighter armed with a longspear braces it, you just put a chopstick through your own lung.
Stomping has a predictable, easily avoided angle and has limited range.
Basically, dragons ain't all that and a bag of chips. They have weaknesses, and being huge isn't always a strength.
Basically, dragons ain't all that and a bag of chips. They have weaknesses, and being huge isn't always a strength.
yeah but they have breath weapons and powerful magic to make up for the awkwardness of their form. also in cramped conditions it can e very hard to avoid a dragon stomp (though this can work against the dragon allowing smaller creatures to outmanouver it and strike it's weak points).
Basically, dragons ain't all that and a bag of chips. They have weaknesses, and being huge isn't always a strength.
yeah but they have breath weapons and powerful magic to make up for the awkwardness of their form. also in cramped conditions it can e very hard to avoid a dragon stomp (though this can work against the dragon allowing smaller creatures to outmanouver it and strike it's weak points).
Breath weapons that typically deal only in singular damage types, which the prepared adventurer can pretty easily resist. The PCs probably also have powerful magic at their disposal if they're ballsy enough to take on a legendary creature like a dragon. Like you say, cramped conditions can work against the dragon. Limited spaces are generally going to be worse for the dragon. A hallway ten feet wide is an obstacle for any dragon older than adolescence, while the same hallway won't penalize a PC in the least. Dragons are uniquely mobile, so unless they actually have a specific strategy in mind, they're better off in an open space, or at least a closed space as expansive as a huge cavern.
Like you say, cramped conditions can work against the dragon. Limited spaces are generally going to be worse for the dragon. A hallway ten feet wide is an obstacle for any dragon older than adolescence, while the same hallway won't penalize a PC in the least. Dragons are uniquely mobile, so unless they actually have a specific strategy in mind, they're better off in an open space, or at least a closed space as expansive as a huge cavern.
But wait, these are DRAGONS we're talking about! If they can't fit in a hallway, they SMASH those walls so that they DO fit! A red dragon could also vaporize the walls with his/her breath weapon (unless the walls are made of tungsten of course).
But wait, these are DRAGONS we're talking about! If they can't fit in a hallway, they SMASH those walls so that they DO fit! A red dragon could also vaporize the walls with his/her breath weapon (unless the walls are made of tungsten of course).
Eh, that's not how I'd run it. I don't care how big or strong a dragon is. They can't muscle apart bedrock or the walls of a fortress, not with any kind of speed, anyway.
In Pathfinder, objects like stone walls have hardness, and only damage in excess of an object's hardness subtracts from an object's HP. Energy attacks, like fire, also have their damage cut in half before comparing the damage to hardness. Even an ancient red dragon's 20d10 breath weapon is only doing 110 damage on average. Half that and it's 55, subtract a normal stone wall's hardness of 8 and you've got 47. A stone wall has 15 HP per inch of thickness, so even walls just six inches thick can weather the breath weapon with HP to spare.
I agree entirely, dragons also always fight on the ground i don't understand it. If i was a dragon i'd stay in the air rather than land and fight puny mortals.
To be fair, most of the time people fight dragons in caves where there isn't much room to fly around
But wait, these are DRAGONS we're talking about! If they can't fit in a hallway, they SMASH those walls so that they DO fit! A red dragon could also vaporize the walls with his/her breath weapon (unless the walls are made of tungsten of course).
Eh, that's not how I'd run it. I don't care how big or strong a dragon is. They can't muscle apart bedrock or the walls of a fortress, not with any kind of speed, anyway.
In Pathfinder, objects like stone walls have hardness, and only damage in excess of an object's hardness subtracts from an object's HP. Energy attacks, like fire, also have their damage cut in half before comparing the damage to hardness. Even an ancient red dragon's 20d10 breath weapon is only doing 110 damage on average. Half that and it's 55, subtract a normal stone wall's hardness of 8 and you've got 47. A stone wall has 15 HP per inch of thickness, so even walls just six inches thick can weather the breath weapon with HP to spare.
You forgot about this little tidbit: Ancient Red Dragons can turn stone to lava. Because they're immune to fire... Imagine the wall turning to lava and a dragon flying through the hole. And, though it may be less fun, the dragon could just shrink itself.
I'm going to go with boredom. Considering a dragons mental abilities alone their lairs could be so perfectly trapped they wee unassailable without the casting level of a high level mags and damage / armour to rival virtually any fighter. However after so many centuries games like bait the adventurer become tempting and as with any game you Have to have rules for fun and challenge and.besides you don't get much standing at the annual peasant roast for I killed 15 adventurers this year by standing on them. Far better for fewer kills in straight combat.
It would take a few halflings stacked on each other to make 10 or 12 feet. Where are some halflings? n.n
If you are going to throw logic at the problem, dragons as a whole should not be able to fly. Given a dragon the size of Smaug, their wings would not be able to generate enough thrust to get them off the ground, and their legs would not be fast enough to take flight via gliding. Best not to think about the whole thing and just have fun.
Dragons are intrinsically cocky and for good reason. They have been bred through generations of ancients that soared mightily over all terrestrial holdings. Why-'o-why would they stand there and endure a futile assault when a single lash of their tail would dispose of any potential threat? They wouldn' t. Unless there was a threat to their loot hoard presented, they would scarcely even acknowledge the existence of any potentially usurping agent regardless of the weaponry they might bring to the table. Don't forget the dragon stare. It will incapacitate even the strongest warriors.
Given their sheer size, wouldn't a dragon's droppings have the destructive power of a Meteor Swarm spell coupled with a Stinking Cloud spell side effect? And I don't even want to imagine what happens when one ancient dragon takes a leak in a dungeon room filled with adventurers... °shudders°
I personally think all the really fast and clever dragons have figured out that staying in a world full of people who keep trying to kill them is a bad idea, so they have moved addresses to a less conflict ridden plane. The ones that are left are the dunces, the low in magic and the slow. (Now I think it's time to run before an irate horde of dragons comes after me for my hide!)
That would explain why all the dragons in Skyrim were such idiots.
Better to just shoe it away or entrap and flush down the toilet.
Could we please have Firekraag trying to do this to Charname and his party? Pretty please? Someone who knows how to mod. PLEASE I wanne get shoed by some of the dragons x3
Reading this topic I really want to find that video from Army of Darkness "London Bridges Falling down, falling down.... my fair lady." Anyone having seen the scene will understand why.
Comments
changing the subject
Rolling around like a jackass hoping to squish things is a good way to use your own tremendous weight against you. If that Fighter armed with a longspear braces it, you just put a chopstick through your own lung.
Stomping has a predictable, easily avoided angle and has limited range.
Basically, dragons ain't all that and a bag of chips. They have weaknesses, and being huge isn't always a strength.
The PCs probably also have powerful magic at their disposal if they're ballsy enough to take on a legendary creature like a dragon.
Like you say, cramped conditions can work against the dragon. Limited spaces are generally going to be worse for the dragon. A hallway ten feet wide is an obstacle for any dragon older than adolescence, while the same hallway won't penalize a PC in the least. Dragons are uniquely mobile, so unless they actually have a specific strategy in mind, they're better off in an open space, or at least a closed space as expansive as a huge cavern.
In Pathfinder, objects like stone walls have hardness, and only damage in excess of an object's hardness subtracts from an object's HP. Energy attacks, like fire, also have their damage cut in half before comparing the damage to hardness. Even an ancient red dragon's 20d10 breath weapon is only doing 110 damage on average. Half that and it's 55, subtract a normal stone wall's hardness of 8 and you've got 47. A stone wall has 15 HP per inch of thickness, so even walls just six inches thick can weather the breath weapon with HP to spare.