Young red dragon
Large dragon · Challenge 10
For four level 8 characters, 1 young red dragon is a Moderate fight under the 2024 rules.
How many young red dragons for a party of four?
The most young red dragons that fit each difficulty. A dash means even one is too many.
| Level | 2024 rules (XP budget) | 2014 rules (stays below…) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Moderate | High | Medium | Hard | Deadly | |
| 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7 | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 8 | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 9 | – | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | – | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Mixed party or different size? Use the encounter builder; it handles any combination.
Questions
What CR is a young red dragon in 5e?
A young red dragon is challenge rating 10, worth 5,900 XP. It is a large dragon with an armor class of 18 and 178 hit points on average.
How many young red dragons should I use against a level 8 party?
For four level 8 characters under the 2024 rules: up to 0 for a Low encounter, 1 for Moderate and 1 for High.
Is a young red dragon a good fight for level 3 characters?
Not really. Even one young red dragon (5,900 XP) is beyond the High budget of four level 3 characters (1,600 XP).
Monsters of similar challenge
Stone golem
CR 10 · Large construct · 5,900 XP
Aboleth
CR 10 · Large aberration · 5,900 XP
Young blue dragon
CR 9 · Large dragon · 5,000 XP
Fire giant
CR 9 · Huge giant · 5,000 XP
Treant
CR 9 · Huge plant · 5,000 XP
Behir
CR 11 · Huge monstrosity · 7,200 XP
Statistics from the System Reference Document 5.1. Full stat block: see the SRD or your rulebook.