Dragon cohort and leadership [HELP!]

[Bagger]

Hello people!

I am currently making a Halfling Paladin for an eberron campain, and I was hoping some of you could help me, my current problem is that I would love to ride a dragon (lol) but I am not sure how to calculate the CR on the dragon I am allowed to use.

here is some basic info:

Cha: 14
Level: 7 (paladin level 6)
Feats taken: Leadership - Mounted Combat - Ride-by attack - Spirited Charge

Leadership Mods:
- Special power +1
- Has a base of opperation +2
- +2 for cha
- +7 level
Total is: +12

if I look in the book it says that I can with a leadership score of 12 can have a level 8 Cohort, but if you add Paladin special mount to that...

and here is my problem, I need a dragon, I am small in size so medium will do..

can anyone help me learn how to calculate this or tell me how much Dragon I can get from this

[TGPhoenix]

I'm not sure about helping you calculate the CR as far as leadership goes, but when it comes to how much dragon can you get? The answer is this - depends on the type of dragon you choose. What you should do is look up the dragons in either the MMI or Draconimicon and look at what size it is by Age Category. Then figure out how many HD it needs to be that Age Category (usually near the end of the entry). Find one that is medium size with the most HD at the lowest Age Category possible. Some suggestions would be the special dragons near the back of the Draconimicon, they are generally more powerful than standard dragons.

[docnessuno]

Regardless of your Leadership score, you can only recruit a cohort who is two or more levels lower than your character.

Since leadership provides a level, you must check HDs and LA to see if a creature is suitable as one.

The lowest ECL good true dragon in the MM is a wyrmling brass dragon (4 HD, LA +2), at 6 ECL.
This means it's ECL is too high (At level 7 you can only attract a cohort of ECL 5 or lower). It's also tiny, so unsuitable as a mount.

Also you cannot mix leadership and a paladin special mount, a cohort acquired by leadership won't gain the special mount bonuses.

I'd suggest to look at the Dragon cohort feat (draconomicon), wicth acts as leadership but only for the purpose of acquiring a dragon cohort, and lowers the ECL of the dragon by 3. The feat requires character level 9.

Draconomicon also provides options to use dragons as special paladin mounts, starting from level 9 (paladin level 9, so a minimum of level 10 for your character). As with a druid chosing powerful animal companions, this reduces or delays the bonuses the mount gets.

If you want a powerful mount and can part with the idea of dragons, you could consider taking 1 or 2 levels of Ranger (PHB), a level of Beastmaster (Complete Adventurer), the Devoted tracker feats (PHB and Complete Adventurer), and then advancing in the Halfling outrider PRC (Complete warrior). If you got room also take the natural bond feat (Complete Adventurer).
Ranger gives you track and wild empathy, needed for devoted tracker.
Beasmaster grants you an animal companion (features equal to a druid of your beast master's level +3).
Devoted tracker, among giving some ranger/paladin sinergy you shouldn't care too much about, lets you add the bonuses of your animal companion to your special mount, giving you a very powerful mount.
Finally Halfling outrider, along giving you some nice mounted combat bonuses, stacks with both your paladin level for special mount bonuses and your druid level for animal companion bonuses.
Natural bond increases your effective druid level for animal companion features by three, up to your HDs.

[Bagger]

wow thanks allot mate :)

going with a giant eagle then or something, wanna fly :D

[docnessuno]

wow thanks allot mate :)

going with a giant eagle then or something, wanna fly :D

You could get a giant eagle as your special mount on your next level (Paladin level 7), at your level you could get a dire bat or hippogrif if you want to be airbone. See DMG pag 204-205, but be wary that selecting more powerful mounts reduces/delays the special mount bonuses they get.

[karkus]

Here's my idea, but it's pretty house-ruled. In the DMG, I states that you can have a mount whose CR is 3 less than your Character Level, or 4 less if it can fly of otherwise has some form of special movement. With that in mind, you can have any core dragon that is Small besides Red, Silver, Gold, Black, Brass, and Copper. I know that that's a lot, and that there are also some alignment restrictions (let's not make cliche dragons that are Good when they should be Evil, okay?), but at least you still have a chance.

Actually... The only Core dragon available to you now is the Bronze dragon.

Now for the actual plan; there are an infinite number of adventures that you and/or your DM can come up with involving the party acquiring a Bronze dragon egg. You hatch the egg and take it on as a sidekick (but not exactly a cohort). After a while, you get an exotic saddle and enchant it with Enlarge-related spells, turning this Small-sized baby into a Medium-sized courier of Holy (and pint-sized) vengeance. The best part of the plan is that Bronze dragons are "always Lawful Good."