i'm at level 32, a fire mage, equipped with saber/mace-and-chain (and the eye of innos, of course), strength 91 (spent my learning points on manna points/spells), and i cannot beat the dragons. we have the conversation -- or "congress" as he calls it, but then when i manage to get close enough to land a blow, it doesn't even make a dent in the dragon's hit points. i've only tried the ice dragon, but i'm getting nowhere with him. peeked at a walkthrough and it says the dragon should fall after three or four hits from any melee weapon, but my hits don't seem to have any impact. i've stuck the dragon in a deep savefile and wandered off to find the others, but this is incredibly frustrating -- i love this game and have over 100 hrs. in -- can't even think of calling it quits now.

If you're installed Night of the Raven, then the dragons (amongst other beasties) will be will be a lot tougher than basic G2 - and they regenerate,

In addition, the ice dragon is the toughest of the 4 - I believe the hierarchy is swamp->earth->fire->ice.

Summon demon scrolls are *very* handy in these situations - just try and get the last hit on the dragon so you get all those juicy XPs ;)

As a level 32 spell-slinger, you should have some hefty damage spells available - why go for melee ?

To echo what Kezardin said, the dragons in NOTR were significantly beefed up, both with lots more HP, along with the ability the regenerate very rapidly. As a mage you probably just don't have the melee power to do any kind of meaningful damage to them that way. To fight the dragons as a mage, you'll want to summon up a demon (these things can go toe to toe with the dragons, and sometimes take them out single-handedly), then lay down a fire rain or two and the battle should be over. If the dragon is moving around so much that it's making things difficult, then ice wave can freeze the dragon so you can have a bit of time to unleash a few fire rains on it.

wow, quick response -- thanks much.
yes, i am playing the NotR expansion, so that explains a lot. first thing i did was run off after the cutscene and try spells from a distance, but they were low-grade runes: ice lance, large fireball, etc., and they bounced off with no effect whatsoever and i assumed the dragons were basically immune to any kind of status, and i gave up on the idea. i'll go back and try ice wave (i have one), fire rain (hate to waste it on a single enemy, but if that's what it takes), and summon demon (i have two of those -- tried one on the demon in the tower and they became fast friends). how do you reckon a fire lizard or shadowbeast (transformation) would stack up? or for that matter, ice block instead of ice wave?
anyway, thanks loads for the advice. i'll now tackle them according to hierarchy, soon as i clear the castle perimeter of orcs (it was my makework project while i waited for an answer).
[btw,as a fire mage the really killer rune spells don't come until the fifth chapter, and the sixth circle runes look devastating, so for now it's down to what i've got in my inventory. i became a master at one-handed weapons in the meantime -- well and good for orcs and fire lizards, but not much use against dragons apparently. cheers.]

I forgot about the limits on when you can learn the higher circles. I've seen mention that Ice Block is also capable of freezing the dragons, although I haven't tried that myself (I was playing a merc, so I just pulled out an ice wave scroll). For the weaker dragons (swamp, fire, maybe earth) you can probably go with a golem instead of a demon so that you can use a rune instead of burning through scrolls (as you'll want to save up your more powerful scrolls for the ice dragon, as well as hanging onto at least one of each scroll so you can create runes once you learn the 5th and 6th circles). In place of fire rain you could also go with large fireballs, as they do some serious damage when fully charged (the disadvantage being that you have to take the time to charge them up, during which time the dragon is regenerating). Basically you just need spells that deal big damage in a single hit in order to overcome the magic resistance that the dragons have, then pound them constantly with those spells so that they don't have time to regenerate.

Damn, now I'm wanting to replay Gothic 2 as a mage.

brilliant. forgot about the fact that if i use the scroll, don't have it to make rune -- good call (Fire Rains are scarce, but suppose i can hope one of the merchants stocks it in chapter 5). i have several Golem scrolls, will try those, as well as fire lizard transformation (seems they'd be impervious to fire breath, but shall see). i suspect that Ice Block won't freeze the dragon since they seem to need to cover the target (missed by an inch the odd Orc Elite). that regeneration business is bad, bad news.

[btw, one of the water mages taught me Storm as a third-circle spell, but when i try to make the rune, i'm told i don't have the resources (i have a Storm scroll and all the likely ingredients in my inventory). Storm is a great spell (used two to wipe out all the seekers in the stone circle) and i'd love to have a Storm rune, but it doesn't show up in the runebooks or in the monastery bookstands. any ideas? thanks again for the good advice.)

(one hour later) used Summon Demon on Swamp Dragon -- worked beautifully, got the XP, too. cheers.

good stuff, DarrkPhoenix, much appreciated.
didn't know about the bloodfly wing, that certainly explains it, since i didn't buy/learn that particular taxonomy skill.
Now, for anyone who may have the same dragon issues and read this is in the future, as far as i can tell, Summon Demon is the only viable way for a mage to kill the dragon, and by the grace of the Gamegods, i happened to have exactly four. i must confess i was too stingy to even try my precious Fire Rains, Storms, or any other "multiparty" spell. Golem are simply too slow and are made short work of, and transformation beasts deal far too little damage to hold up for long. Never did try Ice Wave, however, which did allow me to kill the tower Demons (with the Magic Crossbow), and may well work on the dragons, too. [on a humorous note, the demon in the Seekers tower got stuck in the doorway, and i could hack at it to my heart's content.]
Unfortunately, Ice Block doesn't faze the dragon (he's too big), nor does Lightning or Ice Lance (i believe i heard him chuckle), and i'm having a hard time working up enthusiasm for Wind Fist, so that spell's a little rusty. Lastly, i will take your advice and make Awaken Golem next on my rune list.
Excellent forum -- GOG gamers are generous with their knowledge.