Half-Dragon to Dragon

[Annos]

I want to know what is the best way to become a dragon. Would it be the druids wildshape plus dragonshape armor/feat, a wizardy polymorph spell, becoming a natural werewolf lord and use animal shape as a "fakey drakey"?

[Flickerdart]

True Mind Switch or Mind Switch + Astral Seed are good ways of getting a permanent dragon body.

[Glimbur]

Polymorph Any Object might also work, but there are very few problems it can't solve.

I think there are also dragons with listed LA so you can just play as one (assuming the DM allows it) but this will probably leave you underpowered.

[Flickerdart]

Polymorph Any Object might also work, but there are very few problems it can't solve.

I think there are also dragons with listed LA so you can just play as one (assuming the DM allows it) but this will probably leave you underpowered.
Even the lowest LA/RHD dragons (Steel and Tome) are probably T5 at best, since you never actually get all the cool dragon stuff. You could get everything but the movement modes and do it better just bu going Totemist/Sorcerer, and that's an awful multiclass.

[Annos]

The point of the build is for a half dragon to become a full dragon, not permenantly but situationaly.

[Glimbur]

Oh. That's trickier. There is a feat for druids to turn in to dragons, but the LA from half dragon will hurt.

The good news is that you can Alter Self a Half-Dragon into a dragon. The bad news is that you are limited to 5 HD and within 1 size category of yourself, so that's a wyrmling Green dragon or any other non-core dragon with a wyrmling that's at least Small and at most 5 hit dice. You don't get the Breath Weapon through Alter Self, so it's kind of unimpressive to turn into a Small dragon. Also, again the LA means you can do this at ECL 8.

Polymorph has more options for becoming a dragon, but it's a 4th level spell. Still no Su abilities (no breath weapon). You can get a breath weapon from other spells.

Dragonshape is a 9th level spell in PHB II. LA 3/Full Casting 17 gets you that at level 20. And it's a huge red dragon. But, that's at level 20.

tl;dr It's possible but not easy.

[Annos]

Right now the charecter is a DFA, but since I'm still in the creation stage I asume that that can be changed. STUPID HUMINOID SHAPE!
Druid levels + master of many forms seems my best bet, gets me gargantuan dragon at later levels... level 18 is better than 20 :smallsmile:

[Urpriest]

Any reason you want to be a half-dragon specifically? Is the goal a backstory of "I am the child of a dragon, but I want to be fully a dragon?" Or something else?

[Annos]

Any reason you want to be a half-dragon specifically? Is the goal a backstory of "I am the child of a dragon, but I want to be fully a dragon?" Or something else?
It's more like "I am the child of a draconic deity and I demand my full inheritance!"... but I can see the confusion. Also, the campaign will go to epic levels.

[Venusaur]

Even the lowest LA/RHD dragons (Steel and Tome) are probably T5 at best, since you never actually get all the cool dragon stuff. You could get everything but the movement modes and do it better just bu going Totemist/Sorcerer, and that's an awful multiclass.

Ehh, if you can get loredrake or some other sovereign archetype, Steel Dragon lets you get into abjurant champion really easily. LA buyoff helps a lot too. They are definitely above T5, if only because of sorc casting and free polymorph.

[Urpriest]

It's more like "I am the child of a draconic deity and I demand my full inheritance!"... but I can see the confusion. Also, the campaign will go to epic levels.

Ah ok.

Hmm, for long-term transformation I think the best option is Druid. Master of Many forms can get you a Gargantuan Dragon, true, but at 15th level unless you go for a lesser Dragon you'll only have enough HD for Large or so. I think you'd be better off as a normal Druid with Draconomicon's Dragon Wild Shape feat. Then at Epic levels when you have enough HD for the bigger Dragons you can take the Dragon Wild Shape epic feat, and get non-baby Dragons.

[Flickerdart]

Ehh, if you can get loredrake or some other sovereign archetype, Steel Dragon lets you get into abjurant champion really easily. LA buyoff helps a lot too. They are definitely above T5, if only because of sorc casting and free polymorph.
The polymorph is only into animals or humanoids Medium or smaller, only 3/day, and bound by HD. Sure, it has no limit on duration, but why would you want to stay in another form all the time when you went through all the trouble of playing a dragon?

As for the casting, before you can buy off LA you have half sorcerer casting, which is not exactly stellar. I guess if you like being half a druid while being half a sorcerer, it works fine.

LA buyoff doesn't help very much - steel wyrmlings are RHD4/LA2, so the first time you can buy off a point of LA is ECL12, with the second at ECL15, and even after that you're still 1 spell level behind a wizard. Lordedrake does catch you up, true - but by the time you hit level 20, if only 4 of your levels are in dragon, does that really count when determining its tier?

[Fouredged Sword]

PAO. Hire/be a sorcerer or wizard. Take the feat to acquire the dragonic subtype rather than the template, it's much cheaper.

Juvenile Bronze dragon will get you 19,10,17,18,19,18 for stats. Great for a wizard OR a sorcerer. Large, good fly speed. You should be able to talk your DM into at least a Kingdom and Related for turning a draconic human with bronze dragonscale armor into a bronze dragon.

Get it as a CL20 scroll for lower levels and as a spell known later. There is a short period in the mid levels between the point that casters start throwing out greater dispel magic and when you can cast it yourself.

There is a feat that adds the domain spells for a domain to your spells known for one casting of each. The trickery domain and Versatile spellcaster will allow you to cast it at 14th level.

[Annos]

Unfortunatly the storyline required a Half-Chaos Dragon, I think the druids wildshape is my best bet.
I just got some insperation, howmuch would a magic item cost that never comes of but turns the wearer into a dragon if they are under stress? Maby somekind of curst ring of dragonshape?