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View Full Version : Is Dragon Disciple any good? (PF)



Jallorn
2010-08-27, 11:51 AM
I know that in normal 3.5, DD is horrible for a caster, but what about in PF? I'm intrigued by the class, but I can't decide if it's worth the slight casting loss.

nyarlathotep
2010-08-27, 11:55 AM
It's okay if you're a gish sorcerer who already has the draconic blood-line, but otherwise give it a pass.

Jallorn
2010-08-27, 11:59 AM
I'm not really Gish. I'm playing a Halfling Draconic Sorcerer, with a slightly blasty focus (meaning mostly combat spells, with a handful of utility spells). As far as melee goes though, well, I have 20 AC (With Mage Armor), and I'm seeing if my DM will let me have a Half-Dragon riding dog, but otherwise, well, I don't have levels in anything else (it's level 5), and I don't have a Str bonus (or penalty)

tyckspoon
2010-08-27, 12:05 PM
For a primary casting plan, no, you still lose too many caster levels, although it is improved from 'oh gods why would you do that to yourself' to 'works ok in a lower-optimization environment.' For a gish build, it's pretty good, although it won't make it to the 16+ BAB/9th level spells mark of a non-core gish unless you decide to stop the class partway through (level 7 would be a good place.) Advancing the Draconic bloodline powers along with the Dragon Disciple class additions really sells it for a gish; it means your dragon claws and natural armor get advanced and then improved by extra Strength, Con, a Bite attack, and even more natural armor, plus 7/10 caster progression so that doesn't become irrelevant either.

Greenish
2010-08-27, 12:05 PM
I'm not really Gish. I'm playing a Halfling Draconic Sorcerer, with a slightly blasty focus (meaning mostly combat spells, with a handful of utility spells).It's not very good for a straight up caster, you lose three caster levels for things that do nothing to your casting. It's Cool but Inefficient (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CoolButInefficient).

Ignition
2010-08-27, 12:21 PM
I used Dragon Disciple (PF edition, natch) to make a pretty sweet barbarian which was, again, cool but inefficient. Loving that 2/Day Super Dragon Rage stuff and +4 Inherent (I think) to Strength, haha. He couldn't cast worth a damn, but he could do some sweet melee damage, and just for the awesome factor of going berserk and turning into a huge dragon.

ericgrau
2010-08-27, 03:46 PM
I know that in normal 3.5, DD is horrible for a caster, but what about in PF? I'm intrigued by the class, but I can't decide if it's worth the slight casting loss.

Is everybody playing out of the SRD or are they not reading their DMG text? I mean, why do people keep trying to use dragon disciple or arcane archer as caster classes when they aren't? They're melee/range.

Noncasters can do a lot with a 1 level dip into a caster class btw, even without a prc. It opens up scrolls, wands and staffs of all levels, without trying to slip cheesy custom UMD boosters past your DM. Wands and staffs have no spell failure chance either.

Jallorn
2010-08-27, 04:42 PM
I'm playing PF out of the SRD, yes.