Dragon Man - The Dragon Obsessed PC

[supersonic29]

So I've tossed this around for a while, but I've never reached a build that fully satisfies me.

Take some guy, human, elf, whatever works best, and he decides he is in love with dragons in every way. He just wants to dabble into everything related to them, dip classes like Dragon Shaman and Dragonfire Adept, take prestige classes like Dragon Samurai (I believe it's called) and maybe Dragon Disciple (though I am not a fan), and obviously undergo the ritual to become dragonborn.

I think the idea is clear, optimize a build to put the word dragon on this character sheet as many times as possible and maybe make a character that isn't completely useless. I've thrown out some of the dragon related race/class/prestige options, but what else do you guys think would be good? Maybe magic items and stuff too? All input is welcome and appreciated :smallsmile:

[Aegis013]

I've always thought that Dragonfire Adepts modeled this concept fairly well. Though with a Dragonfire Adept, you can afford to lose about 3 levels with a pretty small cost for a full 20 build. So you have about 3 levels to serve as dips.

Dragonborn of Bahamut (or refluffed to Tiamat or otherwise) certainly is a way to go. Another option would be Dragonwrought Kobold, as it explicitly gives you the dragon type, paired with no drawbacks for older age categories, allowing you to be venerable for +3 to all mental stats.

Dragonborn nets you Breath Weapon (best for DFA), or wings (the full flight just comes online too late), or sensory bonuses which can be pretty handy.
Kobold offers you a suite of natural attacks, which can help you emulate a dragon in that regard, along with potential access to some of the most powerful dragon related cheese in the game. (like being able to take Epic feats you qualify for before level 21 as long as you're Old or older. Though it is difficult to qualify for most, Epic Toughness for +30 hp is always an option)

There are a few things you can do to try to compact extra dragon-y-ness into your character. However, some of the most interesting options don't include the word "dragon" in the name, but that doesn't mean they aren't relevant to increasing your dragon-ness.

A single level of Dragon Shaman can be helpful for the draconic auras. Normal dragons don't have those particular auras, but it's easy enough to say you're putting your draconic fear aura to use in other ways. So you at least have an aura, even if it's a variant.

Two levels in Totemist can give you access to quite a lot of natural attack options and potentially flight options to help you emulate dragons. They even have an online article debuting several draconic soulmelds for dragon themed Totemists. (Which may be more difficult to find now)

Dragon Disciple is not a very good prestige class, and it's not really helpful in emulating a dragon unless you can take numerous levels. I don't recommend taking any levels of it on a base chassis of Dragonfire Adept or Dragon Shaman. Adept may find it useful if your DM says the bonus spells allow you to learn additional Draconic Invocations, but even then, it's questionable.

A single level dip into Dragon Samurai would be a good candidate for a DFA chassis, but preferably if the breath weapon you gain from the PrC is not the one you already have, since an extra breath weapon is more valuable than a couple of damage dice (though that's nothing to scoff at), even if it is only once per day. This is particularly preferable if you have Metabreath feats and are allowed to apply them to this breath weapon.

And of course, you'd need to take the Dragon Cohort feat at some point. So you can start a brood.

[Taveena]

Don't forget Obtain Familiar + Dragon Familiar!

[supersonic29]

Wow, a lotta good stuff in there, and how could I forget dragon familiars, that feels so obvious now :smallbiggrin:

I did some strategic searching and compiled a list of dragon related prestige classes which I don't believe have been listed yet. There's definitely optimization in 17 levels of Dragonfire Adept, though I do like the idea of dipping as much as is possible for the feeling of dabbling into the arts of dragons anywhere possible. Optimization in that vein may even end up simply setting up for as many dips as possible. I imagine in rp this character would be borderline deranged with is eccentric-ism for dragons, a fanboy of sorts :smalltongue:

List of Things I found: Diamond Dragon (Dragon Magic), Dragon Rider (Dragonlance Setting), Dragonrider (Draconomicon), Dragon Devotee (Races of the Dragon), Dragonheart Mage (Races of the Dragon), Dragon Prophet (Magic of Eberron), Dragonkith (Draconomicon), Dragonsong Lyricist (Draconomicon), Wyrm Wizard (Dragon Magic), Initiate of the Draconic Mysteries (Draconomicon), and Dracolyte (Draconomicon)...
Also Dragonslayer (Draconomicon) and Dragonstalker (Draconomicon), but they don't seem to fit the flavor of loving dragons so well anyways so they can be ignored.
Also again didn't include the classes only true dragons are allowed to take, because that seemed silly.

Not that it even makes a dent in that list, but dragon familiar and dragon rider (or dragonrider) would surely go nicely together

[ranagrande]

Dragon Totem Barbarian is a good starting point for a melee build.

[supersonic29]

Dragon Totem Barbarian is a good starting point for a melee build.

And a melee build may be best, I haven't really nailed it out yet. If not I feel like it would work off a root-class of sorcerer, but I haven't begun really pounding this one out yet. Im feeling a big drivesheet/excel document coming on...

[supersonic29]

...And here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10dkha08juGlmvEtIIrY-lzoQO4RfVkV76GArVgq-3jM/edit?usp=sharing) it is!

Not complete yet, stumbled into some more too. I also realized later I should have had a column for spellcasting req and not just included it under special. Either way, knowledge arcana is obviously important, fair amount of diplomacy requirements too. And if we don't speak draconic it's over :smallbiggrin: