Pimp my Red Dragon Wyrmlings - Don't hold back!

[Roentgen]

My Dread Necromancer PC has recently become the adoptive father of two red dragon wyrmlings, one male and one female. For reference their racial HD is 7 and they have an LA of 4 and the female one (called Styx) has one level of Sorcerer and the male one (called Acheron) has one level of Cleric so they're both ECL 12. The average encounter level of the party is 14+4 because the party size is above average. I want the wyrmlings to be the best they can be to survive this near rocket tag level of threat they'll soon find themselves in so I'm turning to these forums and your collective expertise to come up with an ideal build for both of them. Their Sorcerer/Cleric levels can be easily removed and replaced if another class is more suitable. Personality wise Styx is more calculating and magically inclined than her brother (has the Abrasive trait) while her brother is physically stronger and more boisterous shall we say (has the Quick and Musclebound traits). My plan for them is to have the Dread Necromancer turn Styx into a vampire due to her vanity and Acheron into a dracolich (like his dear old father, eventually) when they come of age, I.E great wyrm so they're at the peak of their abilities. This doesn't really have a bearing on their builds as it obviously won't take place for a long time, fast-time demiplane hijinks aside, but it gives you an idea of their flavour.

The only stipulation is that they both have to start with the Tomb-tainted soul feat so my PC can heal them at will out of combat and rapidly heal them in combat via inflict wounds etc. Any and all splatbooks, including 3rd party and Dragon Magazine are permitted. As a rule of thumb: if I can point to it in a book or a scrounged up Dragon Magazine it's fair game as far as the DM is concerned. I've read a little bit about the Spellhoarding template from a Dragon Magazine issue and from what I recall that would suit Styx thematically.

Here are their stats to get started:

Acheron:

STR: 26
CON: 23
DEX: 14
INT: 14
WIS: 19
CHA: 14

Styx:

STR: 23
CON: 19
DEX: 12
INT: 14
WIS: 14
CHA: 20

The mental stats can be shuffled around as necessary, swapping CHA for INT should Styx become a wizard instead for instance. Have at it GITP!

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I would give each of them Flyby Attack, Entangling Exhalation, and Recover Breath for maximum immediate usefulness. Be sure to cast (Lesser Rod of Extended) Mage Armor on both of them. Consider replacing Recover Breath with Practiced Spellcaster where applicable.

Make Styx a Loredrake from Dragons of Eberron, it reduces her racial HD to d10's and she cannot choose Cleric spells as Sorcerer spells known, but it gives her +2 levels of Sorcerer spellcasting and makes Spellcraft a class skill. She needs to have that Sorcerer level to benefit from Loredrake, but her future levels can be taken in Abjurant Champion if she gets Combat Casting.

Consider making Acheron a Wyrm of War, also in Dragons of Eberron, which also removes his ability to learn Cleric spells as Sorcerer spells known. That grants proficiency in all simple and martial weapons, all armor, shields, and gives him a bonus feat for every 4 HD he has. That bonus feat must be a Fighter bonus feat or a feat that's tied to his draconic abilities (example given is Wingover), so something like Flyby Attack or Improved Flight (RotW) or Improved Speed (Draconomicon) or any breath feat or Rapidstrike (Draconomicon) would be fitting. In this case I would give him additional dragon HD instead of class levels, which will lead to gaining the next age category sooner. A Wyrm of War can also select martial maneuvers from the Tiger Claw discipline instead of Sorcerer spells, but each one permanently occupies one of his daily spell slots (but not one of his spells known).

[Roentgen]

Thanks! I'm noting these down. For Styx how does Loredrake interact with the Spellhoarding template? I'm slightly wary of making Acheron close combat oriented especially now when casters will begin to dominate both as players and enemies but the access to extra dragon related movement and attack methods feats are tempting.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Thanks! I'm noting these down. For Styx how does Loredrake interact with the Spellhoarding template? I'm slightly wary of making Acheron close combat oriented especially now when casters will begin to dominate both as players and enemies but the access to extra dragon related movement and attack methods feats are tempting.

Spellhoarding replaces any Sorcerer spellcasting with equal levels of Wizard casting, so +X Sorcerer levels becomes +X Wizard levels. If you're going that route, use Battle Sorcerer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererVariantBattleS orcerer) plus the Stalwart Sorcerer variant in CM in place of any ordinary Sorcerer class levels, since the gimped spellcasting will be completely replaced with ungimped Wizard casting of equal level. Just be sure you get Practiced Spellcaster.

Wyrm of War doesn't have to be close combat oriented. He can get EWP: Footbow (RotW), Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, and Hover, and with a +1 Footbow (Str +8) he would be full attacking for +9/+9/+4 and dealing 1d8+13 per hit. Another option would be to give him Gloves of Endless Javelins (MIC) combined with Gloves of the Balanced Hand (MIC, adapted to bracers slot) with TWF, Brutal Throw, Hover, and two more feats (Point-Blank Shot and Far Shot?), which would get him a full attack of +15/+10 for 1d6+9 and +15/+10 for 1d6+5, though in either case I would recommend Fighter levels and plan for Weapon Specialization and eventually Ranged Weapon Mastery.

[Roentgen]

Hmm so to confirm I understand this correctly: Styx becomes a level 1 Battle Sorcerer Loredrake with the Stalwart Sorcerer ACF gaining all the benefits and negatives therein. The Spellhoarding template then replaces all that (keeping only the positives such as the increased HD and CL+2) and treats them as though she were a level 1 Wizard (necessitating her having INT 20 instead of CHA) which includes possibly learning all known Sorc/Wiz spells which are recorded on her scales in lieu of an actual spellbook? Also when it says she casts as though she were a sorcerer (or wizard) of her level +2 is that the same as a simple caster level bonus or does it mean she can start learning higher level spells sooner and so on?

The more I think about it the more I'm warming to the idea of Acheron being a potent physical force, however we already have several very strong close combat characters thanks to my leadership/undead leadership and other players at the table. I'll list them and their race so you get a better idea of the current meta/power level. The levels aren't uniform across the board with most being 11 or 12 and some with LA's of +1 or +2. The average is about 14:

Lvl 12 Dread Necromancer with the following cohorts:

Lvl 11 Warblade TWF'er Human with the Mummy Creature template + Spellstitched focussed on Tiger Claw techniques and Crits.
Lvl 11 Swordsage Human Spellstitched Vampire Scion focussed on Shadow Hand techniques and CON damage.
Lvl 11 Duskblade Human, soon to be Necropolitan or Corpse Creature.
(Planned) Artificer/Renegade Mastermaker Corpse Creature.
(Planned) Psion Humanoid Aberration Corpse Creature.
(Planned) Archivist/Dweomerkeeper Corpse Creature.
(Planned) Barbarian/Black Blood Hunter/Frenzied Berserker Illuskan Human Dire Wolf Lycanthrope.

-Familiar is a Stitched-flesh undead giant constrictor snake (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Giant_Constrictor_Snake) (long story) that has been spellstitched, called Nagini, of course.


Funnily enough I have absolutely no animated dead to my name so that isn't a factor currently. As a caveat I can only take one of those cohorts with me for any given encounter so It's not as overwhelming as it seems. The dragons however will always be with my PC as it'd be remiss of him to leave two newborn wyrmlings to fend for themselves! The rest of the party:

Human Warblade with a mind to tanking while wielding a halberd.
Human Bard/[something]/Swashbuckler.
Poison Dusk Lizardfolk Wizard specialising exclusively in Cold type magic.
Drow Beguiler with aspirations of becoming a Vampire Scion.
Tiefling Death Master (never participates in combat for some reason and hasn't raised any dead so potentially isn't a factor).
Dragonkin Paladin of Tyranny (wrote himself into a corner so to speak as he made his character an enemy of the entire party before leaving to work in another country. Now he's back and wants to play this character again which will require credulity being stretched to breaking point so this may or may not be a factor).

As you can see there's a wealth of powerful close combat characters already and I don't think Acheron will be able to stand amongst them without being overshadowed currently if he goes the physical attack route. There may be a time skip of roughly 5 years when all the current quest lines are wrapped up which will mean that the dragons will become Large creatures if that helps guide your thoughts.

[Reshy]

Take dragon cohort and it will reduce their LA by 3.

[Roentgen]

Take dragon cohort and it will reduce their LA by 3.

Unfortunately dragon cohort only applies in the context of folding them into the Leadership pool, not their actual racial LA. If I'm wrong i'd be happily corrected on this. I was tempted by that but I decided to just risk the Intimidate/Diplomacy check when they were emerging from the eggs. I say risk but my intimidate is something like 41 without rolling a die currently. The real drama will occur on their big birthday which will require two DC 30 Handle Animal checks which I'm already preparing for. How much do candles of invocation cost again? :smalltongue:

[atemu1234]

Wow... and here I was going to suggest dipping cleric, then taking a certain feat from Dragon magazine to cast arcane spells as divine, and get them custom armour...

[Roentgen]

Wow... and here I was going to suggest dipping cleric, then taking a certain feat from Dragon magazine to cast arcane spells as divine, and get them custom armour...

I'm intrigued. Please go on!

[WeaselGuy]

I'll just leave this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303204) here, courtesy of WhamBamSam...

[ShurikVch]

Do You know about the Dragon Mystic PrC (Dragon #296)?
It's 5 levels long, with full caster progression, add 1d6 to spell damage, give +2 Cha, and allow to apply Empower, Enlarge, Maximize, or Quicken metamagic to your breath weapon (Not metabreath - actual metamagic feats, but mechanics is similar to Draconomicon)
And it stupidly easy to get in - all you need is: Dragon type, 3rd-level arcane spells, and 5000 gp in diamonds

[Roentgen]

I'll just leave this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303204) here, courtesy of WhamBamSam...

Do You know about the Dragon Mystic PrC (Dragon #296)?
It's 5 levels long, with full caster progression, add 1d6 to spell damage, give +2 Cha, and allow to apply Empower, Enlarge, Maximize, or Quicken metamagic to your breath weapon (Not metabreath - actual metamagic feats, but mechanics is similar to Draconomicon)
And it stupidly easy to get in - all you need is: Dragon type, 3rd-level arcane spells, and 5000 gp in diamonds

I'm going to get stuck into that Dragon guide now. Thanks! I'm definitely going to check out that prestige class too.