Dragons to kill (spoiler?)

[Lady Dragonfly]

I am playing Gothic Gold and yes, it is much harder than the original Gothic but my paladin advanced far enough to kill everything that moves with one-three swings of his sword. Golems, trolls, demons, shadowbeasts, orcs die as readily as meatbugs. However, the dragons are ridiculously tough. And they heal! Dragons are supposed to be difficult but I think in this game it is beyond common sense. Level 40 paladin should not have that much problem handling any beast.
I tried to swallow a speed potion, run up close and hit, run around and hit etc. but they fly and breath fire and heal... And I am knocked down and toasted before I can inflict any significant damage! The ranged weapon here is out of question if you are a melee specialist. Even magic bow/crossbow (200 damage) does not work.
If anybody defeated the dragons in GG as a paladin please share the strategy!!!

[Acleacius]

Yup Pallys have it toughest with Dragons since they have the lowest Fire resist and are Melee.
You tried Holy Arrow or any of your Damage spells?

[blueray]

you can do it in two ways.

The hard way: actually the VERY hard way - run in and chop on it. You get burnt, blown away and knocked back. I'll take a Black Troll over a Dragon that way any day.

or you can plug arrows or bolts in to the dragon from a distance if you are skillful enough, you can get to a distance where you can shoot at the dragon, but it will not fight back (or only shoot dodge-able fire balls) or move around. That's the sweet spot. You'll need a strong bow/xbow and lotsa ammo.

The easy way, cast Fear and the shrinking spell on it. This makes the dragons really easy.