Dragon Handbook Discussion Thread

[Mister Lamp]

Well, this is the place to discuss... stuff...

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, been busy.

[Mister Lamp]

Updated a little.
My New Year's Resolution is to be more regular. 

seriously though, I would like some help with getting all the dragons done.
Pick one you want to do info for and PM me.

Please? 

[Mister Lamp]

Lots of new stuff up. I need someone to look over the DM stuff, as well as the "To Players" and "To DM's" sections in the first post, and see what they think. 

[PlzBreakMyCampaign]

You are missing a lot:

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=9566.0

[Mister Lamp]

Working on it. For some reason AP Bio and AP microeconomics seemed like a good idea to take at the same time, so I have like NO free time. 

[Gavinfoxx]

They DID make a variant version of Magic Missile which did bigger dice of damage, but had a saving throw...  They called it 'Arcane Bolt'.  It's here:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20001001a

[Nunkuruji]

To quote myself from the old boards

The best combo for a humanoid I found for True Dragon Alternative Form + Half-Dragon form feat is a Flind (gnoll, humanoid, MM3). 24 Str, 12 Dex, 16 Con, I believe it comes out to.

Strength of True Form I find to be a bit lacking in most practical applications. Base Str, Dex, Con, NA or DR seems like the true form is going to be inferior to whatever you're polymorphing into. After all, we're polymorphing to pick up superior stats in the first place, and as a caster who's going to persist this, mental scores are going to be a focus. I suppose there are some corner cases where you might stack extremities in each form.

[Mister Lamp]

I should be able to do some major updating on the Handbook this weekend. 

[Nimfiss]

They DID make a variant version of Magic Missile which did bigger dice of damage, but had a saving throw...  They called it 'Arcane Bolt'.  It's here:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20001001a

What do you know, WoW stole from D&D, now they're taking it back from WoW! How ironic. 

[nijineko]

dragon mag 354, p54: feat (1st level only): wedded to history - allows you to pick one of the listed backgrounds, as follows:

• apostle of the forgotten: 1/d, swift, effect of augury spell - limited to 1min in the future, CL = char lvl, +1 init bonus.
• elder of legend: +3 bluff, intimidate, diplomacy with those who know who/what you are.
• golden ager: UMD always class skill, can use untrained, mishap on 15+ instead of 10+.
• hand of prophecy: 1/d +2 attack and on skill checks versus one opponent.
• survivor: replace fort or ref with will. cumulative -1 to will after each time you use this.
• throwback: immune to type specific effects. (favored enemy, bane effects, charm, etc...)
• wanderer: use trained-only skills even w/o ranks, @ -2 penalty. communicate in any known language, int check, dc15.

supplemental feats

• ancestor (prereq= wedded to history, elder of legend background): members of your race auto shift one step closer to helpful, +2 on diplomacy checks, own race.
• master's voice (prereq= wedded to history, golden ager background, umd 9 ranks): impersonate master/creator of unintelligent undead or construct. (umd check for impersonate= dc20+hd of creature); (umd check for command= dc10+hd of creature) special: only works if actual master is not around.
• packrat (prereq= wedded to history, wanderer background, appraise 1 rank): carry max 10gp/lvl unspecified items, but specified weight, can become any equip desired within gp and weight limit. must shop for 8 hours to replenish.
• pawn in the great game (prereq= wedded to history, hand of prophecy background, diehard, endurance): when fail vs death attack, or go from positive to negative hit points, can make fort save vs dc25-level. success=-2 str & con, hp=1.
• self medicating (prereq= wedded to history, survivor background): heal is always class skill. can give self long-term care. 1/d, heal 1d4+int mod (min 1hp). takes 1min. uninterrupted, and 1 use of healing kit.
• shuffled interior (prereq= wedded to history, throwback background, great fortitude): gain 25% crit/sneak attack negation.
• voice of bitter experience (prereq= wedded to history, apostle of the lost background, bluff 1 rank): bluff vs sense motive against divine caster about to cast. win=opponent shaken for encounter, win by 5+=opponent frightened for 1rnd. mind affecting, language dependent.

[Mister Lamp]

dragon mag 354, p54: feat (1st level only): wedded to history - allows you to pick one of the listed backgrounds, as follows:

• apostle of the forgotten: 1/d, swift, effect of augury spell - limited to 1min in the future, CL = char lvl, +1 init bonus.
• elder of legend: +3 bluff, intimidate, diplomacy with those who know who/what you are.
• golden ager: UMD always class skill, can use untrained, mishap on 15+ instead of 10+.
• hand of prophecy: 1/d +2 attack and on skill checks versus one opponent.
• survivor: replace fort or ref with will. cumulative -1 to will after each time you use this.
• throwback: immune to type specific effects. (favored enemy, bane effects, charm, etc...)
• wanderer: use trained-only skills even w/o ranks, @ -2 penalty. communicate in any known language, int check, dc15.

supplemental feats

• ancestor (prereq= wedded to history, elder of legend background): members of your race auto shift one step closer to helpful, +2 on diplomacy checks, own race.
• master's voice (prereq= wedded to history, golden ager background, umd 9 ranks): impersonate master/creator of unintelligent undead or construct. (umd check for impersonate= dc20+hd of creature); (umd check for command= dc10+hd of creature) special: only works if actual master is not around.
• packrat (prereq= wedded to history, wanderer background, appraise 1 rank): carry max 10gp/lvl unspecified items, but specified weight, can become any equip desired within gp and weight limit. must shop for 8 hours to replenish.
• pawn in the great game (prereq= wedded to history, hand of prophecy background, diehard, endurance): when fail vs death attack, or go from positive to negative hit points, can make fort save vs dc25-level. success=-2 str & con, hp=1.
• self medicating (prereq= wedded to history, survivor background): heal is always class skill. can give self long-term care. 1/d, heal 1d4+int mod (min 1hp). takes 1min. uninterrupted, and 1 use of healing kit.
• shuffled interior (prereq= wedded to history, throwback background, great fortitude): gain 25% crit/sneak attack negation.
• voice of bitter experience (prereq= wedded to history, apostle of the lost background, bluff 1 rank): bluff vs sense motive against divine caster about to cast. win=opponent shaken for encounter, win by 5+=opponent frightened for 1rnd. mind affecting, language dependent.

How have I never noticed these... Some of these are just odd, but the Golden Ager background could be nice for a dragon, and the Packrat feat will likely be taken by every character I make ever.

Actually, almost all of these could be nice for a dragon.

[nijineko]

quite useful indeed. applying them to dragons had not occurred to me, but that is a great differentiation idea.

[Mister Lamp]

quite useful indeed. applying them to dragons had not occurred to me, but that is a great differentiation idea.

If you hadn't thought of applying them to Dragons you might have posted in the wrong thread.

On rereading, the ancestor feat becomes a "screw you, dm" if a dragon takes it.

[Endarire]

Steel Dragons (Dragons of Faerun 140) have the best HD-to-CR ratio for animate dead, assuming you use the Zombie Dragon template from Draconomicon 197.  If your GM lets you find a Wyrm of War (Dragons of Eberron 31) for animation, the dragon's extraordinary special attacks should stay due to Zombie Dragon, or, if needed, awaken undead (Spell Compendium 21).

[nijineko]

quite useful indeed. applying them to dragons had not occurred to me, but that is a great differentiation idea.

If you hadn't thought of applying them to Dragons you might have posted in the wrong thread.

On rereading, the ancestor feat becomes a "screw you, dm" if a dragon takes it.

my lack of thinking of it, is simply due to my lack of dragons as pcs or npcs lately. i tend to save them up for big encounters as a dm, and i've not yet hit upon a character concept i can really get into involving a dragon as a player.

[Mister Lamp]

Alright, now that we're into the part of the summer where I have plenty of free time, I am going to update more. So, I once again turn to the other member's of this board for suggestions of what to add.

[Calico]

Hey, just noticed that the Amphi dragon out of the Krynn bestiary only has one HD at Wyrmling, which I believe means that you can replace it with a class level.  Only +2 LA at that age would mean that with buy-off you could have a dragon the same level as the rest of a mundane party.

[sirpercival]

Hey Mister Lamp, have you seen Ethos of the Wyrm?

[Demelain]

Would races which are not dragons, but count AS dragons for one reason or another, be within the scope of this handbook? As an example, the Dragonspawn from Dragonlance Campaign Setting qualify for Dragon-only feats.
Though, if this leads to another discussion about kobolds and true dragons, forget I even suggested it.

[Garryl]

The Dragon List is missing the number of HD for a Juvenile Incarnum Dragon.