A dragon’s lair is not just a place to rest his head, it’s his home. A dragon’s home is his cave, to but a spin on an old saying. He’s going to spend a lot of time and resources making it as secure as possible, but still leave a bolt hole (he can always bushwhack the adventurer’s when they leave the lair). So a proper dragon’s lair will have the following characteristics:
  • Disguised locations, making them hard to detect
  • Hard to get to entrances /exits
  • Defended with death traps, minions, time wasters (mazes, puzzles, riddles etc),
  • Locked and barred exits
  • Security alarms, such as guards and wards and other spells/ tricks
  • Choke points and other such terrain features that allow for the dragon to fight on HIS terms
  • a secure (and hard to get to) vault where his treasure is safe from fire damage and adventurers/thieves
  • A lookout point so the dragon/ his minions can detect approaching food/prey/enemies (sorta all the same thing to a dragon).


So yeah, going into a dragon’s lair uninvited should be REALLY dangerous. A dragon should be the most dangerous foe a group of adventurer’s face. They ought to be take-able, but it should NEVER be easy, take a lot of preparation, and generally should be a high risk/high reward scenario. a dragon’s not going to give up his hoard without a fight (after all it took centuries to acquire all that loot, would you just hand it over to the first punk that came along with a sword? I think not!).

So when you think about it, it ought to be a very rare occurrence for a dragon to relocate, even unwillingly. So what’s driving that dragon out of his lair? He chose that spot for good reasons, he’s not going to abandon it on a whim (regardless of how chaotic a dragon happens to be). So whatever it is that’s making him want to relocate and place his treasure (the most valuable thing he has next to his life) at risk, is probably not a good thing. In fact, it might make for a good adventure for higher level characters; particularly those that have already dealt with a dragon before.