Meeting Firkraag with my "low-level party" scared me big time.
My party :
Minsc lvl 10,
Keldorn 10,
Yoshimo 13,
Aerie Cleric 9/ Mage 10,
Jaheira Fighter 9 / Druid 12,
My Invoker 11

First time we met Firkraag I just wanted to save the hostage so I chose not to fight. But with our quest done I simply couldn't resist...

First I wanted to have as many targets for the dragon as possible, so summoning some bears and few other critters appeared to be a good way to start. I thought that we were gonna get slaughtered, but I thought that we should go out with a bang, so after casting few "protection" spells such as, defensive harmony, bless and chant, we surrounded the dragon.
I must admit that the fight was not completely fair... I started with Jaheira casting magic resistance on Firkraag, which didn't make him hostile and allowed me to begin with simultaneous three spell attack.

My invoker cast lower resistance, Aerie cast lightning bolt and Jaheira cast insect plague. The insect plague was actually/accidentally a great move ;) I had this huge dragon running around in panic, because of some bugs!!

That gave me time to start throwing in my magic missiles, poison arrows and lightning bolts while Minsc and Keldorn were beating it with their swords (Minsc with 2H-sword +2, Keldorn with his own sword, whatever it's stats are...) and Yoshimo was using his short bow from the distance.

I believe that Firkraag was Badly Injured by the time he started to really fight back. But oh did he fight... I honestly thought that this was it. When Firkraag started his dance everybody else stayed off the dancefloor...
But we were all around him so he couldn't attack us all at once, so all the time at least one character was attacking him and keeping him busy. This was propably one of the things that saved us since all members of the group got their share of the damage. No one got more than he/she could handle.

Firkraag tried to cast some spells on my mages, but minor globe of invulnerability took care of most of them. And finally Firkraag fell after a long great battle.

I must say that even though I used the Magic resistance trick, this was absolutely the most entertaining fight I have ever had in a CRPG! I was simply amazed, I never thought that I could bring him down (without reloading...).

you likes that one... ur gunna love the silver dragon

Oh I'm waiting to meet more dragons alright...

Taking down dragons is too easy. I know that they can't add in every aspect of a true AD&D dragon, but they are still too easy.

I whacked that ol' dragon with Quivering Palm
on the first try! No reloads here! I know it's cheap, but it's really very funny, the puny human goes up to the mighty Firkraag, smack! He drops like a ton of bricks! I tried to kill him back in the Copper Coronet,
but the game won't let you do it. He just teleports away. It would have been interesting to see if he reverted to dragon form, if I did kill him! Imagine the pandemonium, right in the middle of the place, there's suddenly a dead dragon! Too bad it doesn't work.

If they were Dragons like Fantasy Dragons should be there's no way in hell you can beat one. Their magic is too powerful. only a Magy of very powerful magic could subdue one to be their servant. but that's it. Luck must be on ur side. or ur dead.

The Kurgan

I was pretty disappointed when I got to Firekraag; all this talking about dragons and things made me feel REALLY queer, I never imagined I could kill this beast; but with my Kensai, my Paladin and all this neat Dragonslayer equimpment, it was a fairly easy battle, managed killing a red dragon (!) with just one try... they really should have made him stronger!

[This message has been edited by Mercutio (edited November 05, 2000).]

I agree. Dragons should be the biggest and baddest nasties you face, Like in Tolkien, where Smaug could only be killed in one paticular way (an arrow in a small vulnerable area). It should be that hard! And as you fight him, the creature rampages around, causing lots of destruction!

I took him down at level 9. OK, I reloaded because Minsc died, but the others were unharmed and the dragon was close to death, so I thought I could do it (drink that potion the next time, dammit!). No problem on reload though. Level 9 really should be too early, but...

Shadow dragon was killed by a swarm of insects...

[This message has been edited by Thaumas (edited November 05, 2000).]

Honestly, they should be a LITTLE harder, but you must think for a moment about the ages of dragon's involved.

When you fight a dragon, you think 'DRAGON' Not 'Juvenile Dragon'
Or 'Young Adult Dragon'
Or even 'Adult Dragon'
Just 'DRAGON'.

Do you honestly believe Smaug was the same age or power as Firkraag? The dragons in this game are not Wyrms, not by a longshot. Hence all the grandeur commonly associated with dragons does not apply. Sure, I agree even if they were younger, they still were misrepresented and the very fact that you kill so many depreciates their value. But they could not have you fight dragons without them being weak enough to be killed by any party. It does take some ingenuity, power and thought (quivering palm aside) to kill the dragon without losing party members. Easy they may be, but they are not the comic book, lord of the rings, wyrm size dragons we associate with godly powers.

Amon-Ra

Well the shadow dragon kicked my arse many times before I managed to kill him (the legal way...no Cloudkill etc).

One funny thing though. When I did win (the thump to the ground when they die is SOOOOO cool) Anomen was drained 4 levels (maybe 6), which i hated but thought "Oh well I will take him to a temple". Then as I healed people and allocated loot his levels came back, as if it was a spell affect that had worn out....can anyone explain that?

Sorry if I am drifting off topic a tad.

Well, they could have had one optional "super
dragon", like they did with the lich. Now those liches do kick butt! (Actually, all the dragons are optional,unless you're doing the Paladin quests, and you have to kill Firkraag).

I agree the red dragon was too easy I was surprised when I killed him so I went back and tried it on hard level and after dying once I killed him the next try with no casualties. This is using fair tactics as well not the cloudkill or other cheap stuff. Didn't try on insane level but they really should have made him a lot harder. I found the shadow dragon much harder than the red dragon which is strange because they give you more experience for the red one.The shadow dragon beat me many times until I found the right spells to use against it. Anyway Im hoping the ones I havent fought yet will be tougher like the black one and I dont think I will fight silver because I have a good aligned party.