Dragon Class

[Bellberith]

I am being the dragon class from Dragon magazine #332

I would like to ask for you guys to post all the interesting things for/about dragons i should know. Especially cool items/feats to aim for. I already am going for the flyby feats + imp natural weapon + multiattack. Amulet of natural weapons is a big one for items.

As always please/thank you =D

[WhamBamSam]

There's a full handbook that I wrote on the subject of dragon PCs in my sig, but I can try to provide some advice specific advice for you.

The main thing I'll say for now, is that Multiattack isn't really necessary if you're planning to emphasize the Flyby Attack line, since you won't be making full attacks that often. You'd probably be better off grabbing some maneuvers to Flyby Attack with through Martial Study or something.

Are you planning to play just with levels in dragon or will you be jumping out to take class levels at some point? What kind of dragon are you playing?

[Bellberith]

I am playing a Black dragon but my DM let me use the Red dragon size (medium) instead of being tiny.

Flying all the time would be OP (right?) and i don't want to break the game. So even though i do plan on getting "Adroit Flyby-attack" i think multiattack would be more useful.

And i am going to take it all the way.

[AMFV]

I am playing a Black dragon but my DM let me use the Red dragon size (medium) instead of being tiny.

Flying all the time would be OP (right?) and i don't want to break the game. So even though i do plan on getting "Adroit Flyby-attack" i think multiattack would be more useful.

And i am going to take it all the way.

Flying all the time stops being OP at about level 5, and then very rapidly becomes the accepted standard within 4 levels.

[WhamBamSam]

You know your table better than I do, but I would generally expect a straight dragon PC to be slightly underpowered without significant optimization.

What does the rest of your party look like? How optimized do your groups tend to be?

How does your DM rule Adroit Flyby Attack to work? It's not very well written, probably due to Draconomicon being written right around the 3.0 to 3.5 transition. It either allows you to make full attacks on a Flyby Attack (in which case Multiattack would be beneficial), or doesn't let you do anything that Flyby Attack didn't already.

I realize I'm giving more questions than answers, but it makes a difference when it comes to what advice I can offer.

[bekeleven]

Note that if you're looking for martial maneuvers, Wyrm of War is in Dragons of Eberron. It's one of the Sovereign Archetypes, which are basically alternative racial features that are often very good trades. (for some dragons, they're free.)

[Bellberith]

I did take wyrm of war from reading your guide wham.

The DM is fine with pretty much anything because he knows i won't try to break the game. If it seems OP i won't do it. However i will do my best to not be UP so any optimization tips for this particular type of PC would be nice (I have never played this one before).

The rest of the group will be between Average - Above Average (i tend to make sure nobody is dissatisfied with their characters)

Wham - What way would you rule adroit flyby? i read it as basically flyby attack but you can change directions after your attack lands and you don't provoke AoO whereas flyby attack provokes AoO and only allows you to move in a straight line.

[WhamBamSam]

RAW, that's probably the correct interpretation and how I'd rule it. RAI is a bit harder to tell, but probably about the same. I guess that's not so bad for Black Dragons, given their maneuverability and fly speed. Still a pretty harsh feat tax though.

Alright, advice.

Having Marks of Justice cast on you so that you can curse up your age as a free action in an emergency is useful if you can get away with it.

Low level maneuvers don't scale well up into higher levels, and you're going to end up with a low IL thanks to all the dragon LA, but they're still better than a single melee attack if you plan on focusing on Flyby Attacks.

You could also focus on making lots of hits on a full attack. Large size (which you'll get before too long) means you can make all 6 of the dragon's usual natural attacks. You can add iterative attacks by using Improved Unarmed Strike or a Mouthpick weapon and with the Rapidstrike line. The Multiattack line would be useful if you plan on going this route. The biggest problem here is that you don't have a way to move and full attack reliably with only levels in dragon.

Alternately, if you can get away with the Ravening Dragon Psychoses from Dragon 313, you could build a solid Breath Weapon blaster.

Since you'll be large by mid levels, you might be able to pull off some decent grappling. Snatch/Flyby Attack doesn't seem to let you just grab a foe and keep flying by RAW, though that was probably RAI.

You'll be stuck with a racial Cha penalty until ECL 18, but do note that UMD is a class skill for you. A lot of your potential shortcomings could be covered up with the right wands.

[Bellberith]

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably try out ravening.

[WhamBamSam]

Alrighty then. You'll want to pump Con to make your save DC higher and because it's always useful, and you might want to put a few points back into Wis to make up for the penalty from Ravening so your Will save doesn't suffer too much, and Cha so that you can UMD. Str will be good from just racial bonuses and Ravening for when you need to go with tooth and claw instead of your breath weapon.

I'm noticing that you don't actually fly or get a breath weapon until your 3rd HD at ECL 4. So your first feat can just be Multiattack, since two extra attacks at only -2 is pretty decent at lower levels. Assuming your DM counts Flyby Attack and Breath feats as combat feats tied to draconic abilities, your feats might look something like this.

1HD - Multiattack
3HD - Quicken Breath
4HD - Entangling Exhalation
6HD - Flyby Attack
8HD - Flyby Breath
9HD - Strafing Breath
12HD - Tempest Breath, Shape Breath
15HD - Heighten Breath

Since Ravening lets you spam away with your breath weapon without recharging, there's nothing stopping you from firing off a Quickened Breath and a Regular Breath Attack in the same round. With Entangling Exhalation and Tempest Breath you'll also have solid battlefield control.

A Ring of Growth (SS) would increase the size of your breath weapon and the wind effects of Tempest Breath.

A Crown of the North Wind (DoF) would give you the option of using your breath weapon to make a cone of Slow instead of dealing acid damage, for even more battlefield control.

You might be able to get other types of Breath Weapons through grafts, which would make you more versatile in your damage dealing, and in the effects you'd gain access to through Crown of the North Wind.

Wands and Scrolls for UMD are good to have as well. Among other things, there are a number of useful Breath Weapon enhancing spells that you might want wands of.