(Spoiler) Can't beat red dragon

[Ragin Cajun]

I'm a Ranger/Rogue, with cleric, Ammon Jerro, Ranger and Fighter in my party. I've gotten past the fire giants but for the life of me I can't put a dent in the dragon. I've tried spreading my characters out, one thread said the dragon won't go after them. Unfortunately, he seems to seek Jerro and my cleric out first, actually leaving my R-R/R/F group to walk after them. One breath weapon and a couple of stomps and my party is flat-lined.

I've also tried putting the game option on the easiest level. No luck there either. Same results.

Any ideas on how to get past this? I've gone so far as to start a new game with a monk but not real happy having to replay up to this point just to try it again.

Thanks guys.

[smass]

I had trouble with this battle myself. Its tough to beat with melee characters. I tried several times and then went back to the keep and got Sand, Qara, the cleric, kelgar and my rogue/ranger. I spread the characters out and used summons (a couple of elementals and such) to draw the dragons attacks. The key for me was getting the dragon's attention away from the spellcasters. Then I used Sand and Qara to bring him down with the missile storm spell and some empowered cone of colds. He went down easily using this strategy.

You could probably do it with melee characters if you adequately buffed them with protection from energy and such. But for me this was too frustrating. You will also need to take down the dragons protections so you can damage him.

My advice is - go back and get Qara and Sand, and then blast the dragon into little pieces...

[swcarter]

IIRC, you can buff up your party before talking to the dragon, and some haste and fire resistance helps a lot. I'm pretty sure I missile stormed the dragon to death.

SWC

[bobjohnson113]

This was the hardest fight in the game for me (harder even then the pair of dragons you fight later). In the end I didnt even kill the dragon I just let him beat the hell out of my companions while I ran around and stole all of his loot . But in general before big fights just buff the hell out of yourself with potions. You would be surprised at how much more effective a melee damage dealer is with even just bulls strength and a couple of the defensive oriented potions.