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GM Edit - Original text (and first 5 or so replies) from between-session War Room planning... after that, we move onto this week's session.

For the wise employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man. For the wise man delights in establishing his merit, the brave man loves to show his courage in action, the covetous man is quick to seize on opportunities, and the stupid man has no fear of death.

-Su-Ma Chi’en, c. 100 BC addition toThe Art of War

((Quotation marks deleted because they just take up space. Assume anything not in double parentheses is IC. Also the quotations are OOC, lines I like, whether or not they have any bearing on the task at hand.))

Although I already have a plan in mind, I am going to break down everything involved so you see my reasoning for it, and to provide you enough information in order to formulate a different one, in case you find mine lacking.

And so

The Analysis


The Blues:

Cheshire: She is the only one of us that can do slashing damage, which is important for the first part. Back it up with a useful array of magic abilities and the ability to make herself untouchable, and she will be busy.

Johan: Will be one of two people who can actually really hurt the dragon if we cannot bring it to the ground. Also, his healing powers may be required if it gets too many hits in.

Matty: Like last time, lacking both a good ranged attack and movement powers, I have a hard time in this battle until we bring the dragon down. After that, my strength will be needed to punch through all those scales. Also, it has to be hard to fly in the tempest my shockwaves create-we can possibly use it as a fall-back if none of our other plans to ground the dragon work.

Mercy: The other member of our team that can legitimately threaten the dragon while it is still airborne. Also capable of taking another member aloft to combat the dragon, but this is not without a high degree of risk.

And now we move on the bad guy, which is (drumroll please)-

The Dragon: Well, gee, what can I say-it is a fuggin’ dragon! It can land and tear apart a man with its claws while weapons bounce off its invulnerable hide, or it can fly above and simply rain flaming death on a hapless victim below. Luckily, its considerable strengths are offset by a number of glaring weaknesses. The main one being that it is very hard-pressed to fight in confined spaces. Another is certain blind spots along its neck and back where it cannot effectively repel attackers. It is also not especially bright, and devoted totally to the shaman, two aspects of the beast that may be quite workable if used in tandem.

The Objective:

is simple-kill the dragon-not a tough concept. How we go about it is much more difficult. We need to drag him down to our level (the ground), and mob beat it to death. Easier said than done.

The Dragon’s Objective:

Because understanding this is important. The Dragon’s objective is to rescue the shaman, and possibly the other orcs as well. Knowing this, we can use them as bait. smile

And now

The Plan

Once again, I have two plans, and once again, circumstance dictates which would be used.

Plan ‘A’

Is the one I would like to use if given the chance. We take the shaman, and lead him into a cave somewhere between his home and the village. We need to be sure to be obvious about it-we do not want it razing the village to get the shaman which is not there. This cave will ideally be just big enough to fit the dragon. Once it gets in far enough, we jump it. Stripped of its flight, and barely able to maneuver, it should be vulnerable to a coordinated assault. Cheshire can shadow bind it to add further to its miseries, and then with everyone hitting it in a vulnerable area (I wonder if the underside is more vulnerable than the top or flanks?), it should not last too long.

((And if regular attacks do not produce results, we can always try combined attacks (page 155). Assuming everyone but me does +11 (which I think is true), I can power attack for +16 for a total TOT volley of +22. This should not be necessary more than three or four times-by that point, me power attacking for almost full and the rest of you combining fire should produce injuries twice as fast as before, and it should not hold out long against that. In truth, the shadow bind is going to prove almost worthless-it should be able to break it as a free action, so all it is going to get us is shots at it flat-footed or helpless defense values-and its defense is not going to be so hot to begin with.))

Plan ‘B’

This is what we use if we cannot dictate the field of the engagement, and are caught in a relatively open area by the dragon. As I said earlier, the big problem in this matchup is that the dragon can fly way overhead and take its time BBQing us while we cannot effectively respond. So the solution is to remove the flight from the picture-in plan A, we do it with terrain. Plan B requires a more active approach ((With apologies to Queen-there are plenty of ways you can hurt a dragon,/ and bring it to the ground. wink )). The best way I can think of is to have Mercy ‘Port Chesh up to the wings of the dragon, and then Chesh can slice the skin covering them to ribbons. Then Chesh phases out (unless Mercy wants to hang around long enough to bring her back to safety) and hopes that she does not end up buried six hundred feet under while the dragon is brought ‘down to earth’. Remember-it is not the fall that kills, it is the sudden stop at the end lol . Chesh can always hit it with shadow bind, but I doubt the dragon will find it more than a nuisance. More results will probably come from direct attacking (evil idea-Chesh could phase and then go inside the dragon and start tearing it apart from within twisted ).




And now, the floor is open. Let me hear your opinion.

"You want me to be eaten?!?"

*shakes her head*

"The problem with that is I can't partial phase. So it will be hard to find a place to place the bombs, where I fit."

*shrugs*

"So unless he has some big human sized empty space inside him, which I would prefer to be acid or simular free. I don't think it would work."

((I have no clue if I am allowed to do that. So Cheshire doesn't either. Let Zetan figure that out. razz ))

((I'd rule that with a Dex check (with a secret DC that depends on just how much empty space I think is in the dragon), she could let go of something at a place with empty space and have it materialize. If she failed and let go in a place that was solid, whatever she was dropping would be damaged (a bomb, for instance, would no longer function) and the dragon would be slightly damaged as well (from having something suddenly materialize inside it).))

After a bit of talk, the group has come up with some pretty solid ideas about how they'd like to fight the dragon, but havn't yet figured out the details of how to get to the dragon... or get it to them, as the case may be.

*goes back to the Shaman. Wakes him up if sleeping.*

"So what is your dragons favorite food? Please no run arounds I'd hate for your leg to be bending the wrong way again."

The shaman looks up at Johan. "Favorite food? Um.. well, human maidens, usually." He appears to be completely serious.

*nod*

"I just shoot it. Even if it doesn't harm it. It should get its attention."

*tilts her head to the side*

"Now how will I know if it goes to the cave first?"

*looks over at Matty with her eyebrows raised*