Epic dragon steed / cohort

[schreier]

In the Draconomicon, pg 139, they lay out appropriate dragons for the dragon cohort and dragon steed feats. From 12 up, they have

12th Gold, wyrmling (S) 13th Bronze, very young (S) 14th Silver, very young (S) 16th Gold, very young (M) 18th Bronze, young (S) 19th Silver, young (S) 20th Gold, young (M)

Has anyone extrapolated a pattern to expand the list into epic levels?

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

There are some dragons listed in the table for Epic Leadership. Those, with level equivalent in parenthesis, are ancient green (40), wyrm white (41), wyrm brass (42) and ancient silver (42). Glancing around online, most people seem to use the Draconomicon table, then fill in with class levels as appropriate.

[schreier]

Thanks! Based on my old printing of the epic level handbook, they had different levels, but the SRD has the levels you listed (maybe a 3.5 adjustment?)

Based on basic analysis in the Draconomicon, the cohort level = HD + LA (there were 2 steeds with +1 level compared to the cohort, but I think that was just to spread them out) LA is not given for any dragons that would take the race over 20 ... so basically, it seems like you would need to extrapolate the LA for the later age categories to get the cohort level

41 White Dragon (Wyrm) (HD 33) (Last LA listed in SRD - Juvenile 5LA at 12HD)
42 Brass Dragon (Wyrm) (HD 34) (Last LA listed in SRD - Juvenile 4LA at 13HD
40 Green Dragon (Ancient) (HD 32) (Last LA listed in SRD - Juvenile 6LA at 14HD)
42 Silver Dragon (Ancient) (HD 34) (Last LA listed in SRD - Young 5LA at 13HD)

Based on simple math, all of the epic level dragon cohorts have LAs of 8 ... not sure if you just assume it goes to 8 at higher age categories?

I am trying to figure out appropriate levels for a prismatic dragon ...

Their HD are:
Wyrmling 23HD
Very young 28HD
Young 33HD
Juvenile 38HD
Young adult 43HD
Adult 48HD
Mature adult 53HD
Old 58HD
Very old 63HD
Ancient 68HD
Wyrm 73HD
Great wyrm 78HD

If you went with LA8 for everything, you would have: Wyrmling Prismatic Dragon at 31, Very Young at 36, Young at 41, Juvenile at 46, etc ...

Does that seem reasonable? Too low?

I know they're generally neutral - this is actually for a ranger / knight of the blue moon that's Neutral good - so need an appropriate dragon

Thanks again!

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Thanks! Based on my old printing of the epic level handbook, they had different levels, but the SRD has the levels you listed (maybe a 3.5 adjustment?)

Based on basic analysis in the Draconomicon, the cohort level = HD + LA (there were 2 steeds with +1 level compared to the cohort, but I think that was just to spread them out) LA is not given for any dragons that would take the race over 20 ... so basically, it seems like you would need to extrapolate the LA for the later age categories to get the cohort level

For the purpose of leadership, the cohort's level equivalent just seems to be the value in the Attack column for the dragon. An ancient silver dragon, for example, has a +42 attack, and a white wyrm has +41.

[schreier]

Interesting - the LA is equal to the attack bonus as well (which strangely isn't just strength - Wyrmling Black dragon is +6 attack, when they have Str 11 and +4 BAB)

So ... that would mean:
Wyrmling 23HD Attack Bonus 30 (LA 7)
Very young 28HD Attack Bonus 37 (LA 9)
Young 33HD Attack Bonus 42 (LA 9)
Juvenile 38HD Attack Bonus 49 (LA 11)
Young adult 43HD Attack Bonus 56 (LA 13)
Adult 48HD Attack Bonus 59 (LA 11)
Mature adult 53HD Attack Bonus 66 (LA 13)
Old 58HD Attack Bonus 73 (LA 15)
Very old 63HD Attack Bonus 80 (LA 17)
Ancient 68HD Attack Bonus 87 (LA 19)
Wyrm 73HD Attack Bonus 94 (LA 21)
Great wyrm 78HD Attack Bonus 101 (LA 23)

So a young adult prismatic dragon would be a level 56 cohort ... strangely enough, the Adult age has a dip in calculated LA ... oh well ... nice easy calculation though -thanks! Seems related to the size change (G to C) - AC gets worse, etc...