Fog Drake 5E Tactics
Something different this time... a fog drake, the closest thing the Iron Kingdoms have to a conventional dragon (given true Immorese dragons are demi-god-like creatures) and featured in Privateer Press's The Pendrake Encounters "Egg Scramble"...
Like dragons and many beasts, fog drakes are brutes with high STR and CON but only average DEX and WIS. They have above-average AC, plenty of hit points, and both STR and CON saves implying they can tank in melee, shrugging off most weaker prey without major issue. Although they have some ability to choose opponents sensibly, once they have engaged they fight instinctively, Dashing away into the water when are moderately wounded when dropped to 86 hit points (70% of their initial total).
Oddly they have a high CHA, which given they have bestial intelligence, no languages, no spellcasting, and don't speak is somewhat perplexing. They don't strike me as particularly social or artistic...
In 5E CHA is "...a measure of a character’s natural force of personality and their social and artistic skills. Charismatic characters in 5e tend to be socially adept and charming, cultured in music and art, and capable of manipulating or intimidating people using words and mannerisms."
This doesn't really fit either except for "force of personality" so that leaves only its role in checks and saves - Deception, Performance, and Persuasion don't really make sense so maybe this helps for Intimidate, but it lacks proficiency in this (and the other three in any case) to suggest this is a significant option and its hunting style relies more on its prey staying put. CHA saves are indeed used to resist possession, bane, banishment, and other spells like dispel evil and good, which might well make sense for a feralgeist (or maybe as Keith notes an astral dreadnought) as noted in a previous post, but makes little sense here given the small number of other spells that require a CHA save.
These predators have Perception proficiency, darkvision, and Mist Sight which they can use to ambush prey in the darkness of the early dawn and put them at a disadvantage with their Fog Breath if there is not natural fog already present - it's worth noting that sufficient natural fog allows the drake to hold it's daily ability in reserve to escape.
Emerging from the water is their preferable attack given their Amphibious nature and swimming movement. Oddly although the flavour text *strongly* suggests an ambush predator, unlike a deep drake or frost drake, they lack either Stealth proficiency or the (Swamp) Camouflage trait that would support their described preferred hunting strategy - I'd suggest this is an oversight and add the former in, as the fog cloud it can create makes camouflage perhaps less critical and works against the theme.
Like the 5E dragons (and all other drakes), a fog drake has a "breath weapon" in the form of it's rechargeable Bellow with a decent 40 ft. cone effect, a DC 15 STR save and can knock an opponent prone. It will use this when in range or upon recharge (on average once every three rounds) in preference as it is likely to inflict more damage and the addition of the prone condition to a single opponent than its Multiattack as it relies on a save rather than an attack roll. As this is a save, this doesn't synergise with its Fog Breath, unfortunately, although forcing opponents prone does help limit its prey escaping from its fog by reducing their movement.
The drake's Bite/Claw/Claw Multiattack triple combo is more powerful than a wyvern's double combo in terms of raw damage potential but lacks poison or the potential to prone an opponent making it the default if there is no option to bellow.
Its physical attacks really come to their own however when used against enemies within the heavy obscurement created by natural mist in the swamps it calls home or created by its Fog Breath, where the lack of vision for other creatures grants disadvantage to attacks from its opponents but retains advantage on its own attacks due to its Misty Sight. As it lasts an hour, but can only be used *once* per day, positioning the generous 50 ft. radius cloud is critical - it makes sense for the drake to place the cloud at least partially overlapping water deep enough for it to escape into and to try and force opponents to stay within the cloud (or natural mist) to keep its attack advantage.
"Voorie" variant
This colourful legendary variant was first alluded to in the first Witchfire Trilogy module "The Longest Night" as a local apex predator of Widower's Wood and is the antagonist of the "Egg Scramble" web supplement. Other similar versions are suggested for different locales. It has the following changes:
- 19 extra hit points
- Fog Breath recharges on a 4-6 (every two rounds)
- 2 legendary actions per round on an opponent's turn:
- Attack - one bite and one claw melee attack
- Move - move up to current speed either land or swimming (essentially a bonus Dash)
- Bellow - 2 actions, automatically recharge
So assuming the drake is in melee with an opponent (likely already within a fog cloud), the trade-off is between a bonus Bellow potentially affecting more opponents and the potential to prone enemies vs an additional 4 attacks (assuming no need to move to engage other opponents) inflicting up to an *additional* 52 damage on a successful attack compared to its "breath weapon" inflicting 35 damage on a failed save, or an automatic 17 damage even on a successful one.
The faster Fog Breath recharge is of situational use - on average it recharges every other round so may come into play on either the first or second round after its first use, but unless Vooire has had to move outside its fog cover, it will hold it in reserve to escape or if its prey moves out of the obscurement.
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