Living the Dream: Dragon Cohort (But what's the ECL?*^&%!)

[youthjab]

Hey everyone!

Long time reader, 1st time poster!

I have a paly who is going to get a dragon mount. (What else would you do!)
I'm going to take Dragon Cohort at 19th lvl (instead of 18th do to level adjust) and Epic leadership at 22nd lvl. My 1st question is do I base my Leadership score on my ECL or my HD? My ECL is 18 with 4 levels of adjust from Half-Celestial so my HD is 14.

My next question is MM1 and some other books have ECL for low level dragons but not high level. I know that's b/c the books don't think you should have a dragon pc, but I need the info for my mount!

Also, should I get the mount at 18th lvl and take epic leadership at 22nd and keep leveling the dragon (if so how do I level the dragon, age or levels?), or should I wait until 22nd level to request the dragon from my DM.

My Leadership score at 19th level will be: 25. And my Leadership score at 22nd level will be: 31. If anyone can suggest a dragon that fits this bill then please let me know!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[WinWin]

Use your hit dice for the majority of effects tied to level...This is pretty poorly detailed. Experience is definately determined by ECL. Other effects are not covered in detail by any rules, as far as I know.

Dragon Cohorts are detailed on page 139 of Draconomicon. Assuming a lawful good paladin, that would leave Bronze, Silver and Gold as likely candidates.

With a leadership score of 19, you're looking at a very young dragon of those varieties above. If the feat 'Dragon Cohort' from Draconomicon is taken, you may be able to take a dragon of the young age category at level 19, as the feat actually lowers the ECL of a dragon cohort, otherwise you will have to wait until Epic for a young gold dragon. The list of available cohorts does not extend beyond ECL 20 though.

As for advancement, nothing prevents dragons from advancing by class levels. In fact, I have seen some published WoTC material featuring dragons with a couple of class levels. Draconomicon also has some dragon specific prestige classes, though your cohort would be unlikely to qualify for the majority of them.

[Yorrin]

As WinWin said, the table you're looking for is in the Draconomicon.

As for leveling him.... you'd need to ask your DM, but you're either going to be allowed to add class levels to him or advance his RHD. As a DM I actually would go with the class levels, since the interaction on dragons between RHD and age category is kinda weird (ie- "I just gained 3 levels and my dragon just age two centuries... wait, what?")

[youthjab]

Thanks for the responses!

However winwin, my leadership is 25 and will be 31 not 19.

[Coidzor]

Paladin? You trade out your Mount for an ACF? Because Dragon Steed will make that into a dragon & have it benefit from the bonus HD of being a special mount.

[WinWin]

Thanks for the responses!

However winwin, my leadership is 25 and will be 31 not 19.

My bad. However, you should keep in mind that your cohorts maximum level (ECL) will be 2 levels lower than your paladins level (possibly ECL, though I would rule as such at my table).

Sorry for the confusion. The information I provided above was taking your paladins expected level into consideration. Unless you are also looking for a number of followers, it may be more optimal to see if you can utilize some of the mount options Codizor mentioned, rather than focusing on the cohort half of leadership.

[ProGun]

Have your dragon attack a ghost. Just don't attack the ghost in an enclosed area if you wished to keep the building intact. You can easily grow the wyrm a few size categories in short order. :smallsmile:

Even if you don't use this as an exploit (through kindness to the GM or fear of their wrath), if you want to progress on the racial track instead of character classes, you can add this trick to the general hand waving to explain how your bestest buddy grew a size category overnight.

[Coidzor]

Bestow Curse & Greater Bestow Curse are buffs for dragons.

There's also a sorcerer spell somewhere for dragons that temporarily advances them some number of years further in age.

It might be Dragonlance material though.