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Skjaldbakka
2008-12-31, 11:23 PM
I need to make some humanoid mooks type dragon. I would like to make this as low impact in terms of actual challenge (as opposed to CR) as possible. Aside from arbitrarily making them type: dragon cultists, what is the best way to do this?

Arcane_Snowman
2008-12-31, 11:27 PM
Races of the Dragon states that the Draconic template from Draconomicron will give all the Dragonblooded subtype, (the template itself being +1 LA), otherwise having a whole bunch of Dragonwrought Kobolds would be the way to go, perhaps.

LibraryOgre
2008-12-31, 11:46 PM
Eh, if they're not going to have any racial HD, I'd give them the traits of the dragon type (Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision, Immunity to magic sleep effects and paralysis effects, Proficient with its natural weapons only unless humanoid in form (or capable of assuming humanoid form), in which case proficient with all simple weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry, proficient with no armor, Dragons eat, sleep, and breathe), maybe a +1 Natural Armor, and let the world go on. Your PCs won't be able to put them to sleep or paralyze them, and the cultists will see in the dark... but they'll be "dragons" who are humans.

Darrin
2009-01-01, 11:56 PM
I need to make some humanoid mooks type dragon. I would like to make this as low impact in terms of actual challenge (as opposed to CR) as possible. Aside from arbitrarily making them type: dragon cultists, what is the best way to do this?

The easiest way is probably the Half-Dragon template. LA is +3, CR only +2, but you can also break this out into three racial class levels:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20030912a

There's another 4-level "Draconic" racial class in Races of the Dragon (p. 71) that changes your type to dragon, but it's essentially the Draconic Template with the Half-Dragon template added on top of it (LA +1 for Draconic, LA +3 for Half-Dragon). I'm not sure how the CR advances... should be CR +1 for the Draconic template, but there isn't any CR listed for the 4 racial levels, and I'm not sure if they'd be treated as class levels (so taking all four might mean CR +4). But I'm pretty fuzzy on why you'd need the Draconic template first, since Half-Dragon can be applied to any living corporeal creature... if you want to require someone to have the dragonblood subtype before they go half-dragon, then there are a variety of ways to do that without dealing with the Draconic template.

bosssmiley
2009-01-02, 07:36 AM
Simply re-skin existing mooks. Make their armour AC into Natural AC, give them some draconic abilities and immunities, and maybe a low CL wand effect as a breath weapon.

You are the DM, what you say goes.

Rei_Jin
2009-01-02, 08:54 AM
Well, it depends on what race they are. If they're kobolds, that's easy. Give them all the Dragonwrought Kobold feat from Races of the Dragon. They then become type (Dragon). If you make them Draconic or Half-dragon, They only gain the subtype (Dragon-blooded).

Of course, if that is all you're after, then you can give them the Dragontouched feat from Dragon Magic. Not only does it give them the Dragon-blooded subtype, they also get some nifty bonuses and can select Draconic feats as a Sorceror of their character level.

Doing it that way, they can spend feats to get wings, a tail, or claws if they wish.

only1doug
2009-01-02, 09:40 AM
There's another 4-level "Draconic" racial class in Races of the Dragon (p. 71) that changes your type to dragon, but it's essentially the Draconic Template with the Half-Dragon template added on top of it (LA +1 for Draconic, LA +3 for Half-Dragon). I'm not sure how the CR advances... should be CR +1 for the Draconic template, but there isn't any CR listed for the 4 racial levels, and I'm not sure if they'd be treated as class levels (so taking all four might mean CR +4). But I'm pretty fuzzy on why you'd need the Draconic template first, since Half-Dragon can be applied to any living corporeal creature... if you want to require someone to have the dragonblood subtype before they go half-dragon, then there are a variety of ways to do that without dealing with the Draconic template.

L1 of the Draconic racial class has to be taken at PC L1 and it specifically states that you also take a level of another class at the same time, the draconic racial class level adds a few benefits which are paid for when you hit L2 and are forced to take the 2nd level of the racial class giving you LA+1 for ECL2 (as it dosen't give any HitDice).
L3+4 can be taken at any future time but again must be consecutive (so the next time you gain a level after taking L3 you must take L4). L3+4 add a further LA +2 as they don't give any HitDice.

In total You get LA +3 and one level of a base class from taking 4 levels of the draconic racial class.