Extra Anchovies
2014-08-11, 05:40 PM
Hey all!
I'm currently planning out a Duskblade for a future game and want to eventually gain a familiar who will fight next to me. The dragon familiars look really appealing, but I've never really been too keen on the chromatic and metallic dragons; the gem dragons are much more to my liking. My plan is to take Obtain Familiar and Dragon Familiar at 6th and 9th or 9th and 12th levels, respectively (I'll be a human, so I'll have Knowledge Devotion, Arcane Disciple {for that tasty, tasty Time domain}, Arcane Strike, and the other key feats by that point).
However, the "Dragons as Familiars" section of Draconomicon only gives minimum caster levels for chromatic and metallic dragons. The gem dragons come up in the "Dragons as Player Characters" section in the same chapter (only three pages later), so the book clearly acknowledges them; however, they are not (by RAW) allowed as familiars. The "Dragons as PCs" lists which of the core dragons match which gem dragons in terms of level adjustment and effective character level; do you think it would be a reasonable houserule to give each gem dragon familiar a minimum CL requirement equal to that of the comparable core dragon?
Tossing the numerical stuff I've mentioned into some tables, with specific info I summarized:
Gem Dragon
Equivalent Monster Manual Dragon
Sapphire
Copper
Crystal
Green
Amethyst
Blue
Emerald
Bronze
Topaz
Silver
Dragon Kind
Minimum CL
Gem Dragon available at same CL
Copper
10
Sapphire
Green
9
Crystal
Blue
10
Amethyst
Bronze
11
Emerald
Silver
12
Topaz
What do you all think of this? It seems perfectly fair to me, but it's always good to get a second opinion.
As a side note, are there any other feats that might be useful to make a dragon familiar more effective beyond the various feats that apply to any old familiar?
I'm currently planning out a Duskblade for a future game and want to eventually gain a familiar who will fight next to me. The dragon familiars look really appealing, but I've never really been too keen on the chromatic and metallic dragons; the gem dragons are much more to my liking. My plan is to take Obtain Familiar and Dragon Familiar at 6th and 9th or 9th and 12th levels, respectively (I'll be a human, so I'll have Knowledge Devotion, Arcane Disciple {for that tasty, tasty Time domain}, Arcane Strike, and the other key feats by that point).
However, the "Dragons as Familiars" section of Draconomicon only gives minimum caster levels for chromatic and metallic dragons. The gem dragons come up in the "Dragons as Player Characters" section in the same chapter (only three pages later), so the book clearly acknowledges them; however, they are not (by RAW) allowed as familiars. The "Dragons as PCs" lists which of the core dragons match which gem dragons in terms of level adjustment and effective character level; do you think it would be a reasonable houserule to give each gem dragon familiar a minimum CL requirement equal to that of the comparable core dragon?
Tossing the numerical stuff I've mentioned into some tables, with specific info I summarized:
Gem Dragon
Equivalent Monster Manual Dragon
Sapphire
Copper
Crystal
Green
Amethyst
Blue
Emerald
Bronze
Topaz
Silver
Dragon Kind
Minimum CL
Gem Dragon available at same CL
Copper
10
Sapphire
Green
9
Crystal
Blue
10
Amethyst
Bronze
11
Emerald
Silver
12
Topaz
What do you all think of this? It seems perfectly fair to me, but it's always good to get a second opinion.
As a side note, are there any other feats that might be useful to make a dragon familiar more effective beyond the various feats that apply to any old familiar?