Endarire
2015-07-23, 06:35 PM
Greetings, all!
Races of the Dragon 100 has the feat called Dragonwrought. I'll just quote this part:
"Prerequisites: Kobold, 1st level only.
Benefit: You are a dragon wrought kobold. Your type is dragon rather than humanoid, and you lose the dragonblood subtype. You retain all your other subtypes and your kobold racial traits."
So, it's very RAW and RAI that you become a Dragon type creature instead of a Humanoid-type creature.
But wait! Races of the Dragon 4 has this sidebar near the bottom right of the page, probably written by someone beside the author of the Dragonwrought feat!
"Dragons automatically qualify for any classes, prestige classes, racial substitution levels, feats, powers, or spells that require the dragonblood subtype. Races presented in this book that have the dragonblood subtype include dragonborn, spellscale, kobold, and draconic creatures. Should a creature acquire the dragon type, it loses the dragonblood subtype."
So, yes, a Kobold is normally a Humanoid (Dragonblood subtype) creature, but a Dragonwrought Kobold is a Dragon creature. It therefore qualifies automatically for the things on the list. Hello, racial substitution levels!
Races of the Dragon 106 has a Dragonblood Cleric racial substitution level list, and the next page has a Dragonblood Sorcerer level list. Among these are the Dragonblood Cleric9 and Dragonblood Sorcerer7 levels which are meant to be taken at Cleric9 and Sorcerer7, respectively. Does the Dragonwrought Kobold automatically qualify for them? Can a Dragonwrought Kobold take his first level in Cleric and suddenly decide to swap that for the Dragonblood Cleric9 racial substitution level? If yes, I can see why. If not, I want more information on why.
Further evidence is in the Racial Substitution Levels section from Races of the Dragon 105 which says:
"A substitution level is a level of a given class that you take instead of the level described for the standard class. Selecting a substitution level is not the same as multiclassing—you remain within the class for which the substitution level is taken. The class features of the substitution level simply replace those of the standard class’s level.
To qualify to take a racial substitution level, you must be of the proper race. For instance, to select a kobold rogue racial substitution level, you must be a kobold."
According to the aforementioned "Dragon type creature auto-qualification clause" we are of the right race. Continuing...
"You can usually select a particular substitution level only at a specific class level. When you take a substitution level for your class at a given level, you give up the standard class features gained at that level and get the substitution level features instead. You can’t go back and gain the class features for the level you swapped out—when you take your next level in the standard class, you gain the class features of the next higher level as if you had gained the previous level normally."
The phrase, "You can usually select a particular substitution level only at a specific class level" implies it's a preqreuisite without the word "prerequisite" in front. The RAW argument may hinge on this one paragraph's first sentence. Continuing...
"For instance, if you take the dragonborn paladin substitution level for 5th level, you forever lose the class features normally gained by a standard 5th-level paladin, gaining instead the racial substitution class features for a 5th-level dragonborn paladin. When you take the next level in paladin, you gain the normal 6th-level benefi ts of the standard paladin class.
Unless noted otherwise in the description of a racial substitution level class feature, a character who takes a racial substitution level gains spellcasting ability (increases in spells per day, caster level, and spells known, if applicable) as if he had taken a level in the standard class."
Text added just for extra clarification. If this trick works, this Kobold seems to gain the standard spell progression of a Cleric9 (minus what is lost for the racial sub level, but if this trick works, it's worth it!) or the progression of spellcasting that a Cleric normally gets when going from Cleric8 to Cleric9, again minus the penalty.
"A character need not take all the substitution levels provided for a class. For example, a spellscale bard might decide to take only the racial substitution level for 1st level, ignoring the other substitution levels."
This passage proves by RAW and RAI that a character need not take all racial substitution levels, just in case someone thought we had to take these levels in order.
This leaves us with the conclusions:
-Does this trick work? By RAW, I think it does. (Nevermind balance or 'sensibility,' we have rules!)
-If this trick doesn't work by RAW, why?
-If this trick DOES work as I propose, what class features does such a Kobold gain? The text implies it's the less powerful version regarding spellcasting (merely whatever the class would gain for going from the level before that level to that level) instead of the whole package (accounting for the spellcasting penalty, but jumping straight into level 9 Cleric stuff, baby!). There's no mention of what happens regarding BAB or saves, implying that those just change to match the new number, like +6/+3/+6 for the Dragonblood Cleric9's base saves.
-And if this trick DOES work, this seems like the coolest non-Ur, non-Beholder Mage, non-Sublime Chord way to enter a Theurge class!
Races of the Dragon 100 has the feat called Dragonwrought. I'll just quote this part:
"Prerequisites: Kobold, 1st level only.
Benefit: You are a dragon wrought kobold. Your type is dragon rather than humanoid, and you lose the dragonblood subtype. You retain all your other subtypes and your kobold racial traits."
So, it's very RAW and RAI that you become a Dragon type creature instead of a Humanoid-type creature.
But wait! Races of the Dragon 4 has this sidebar near the bottom right of the page, probably written by someone beside the author of the Dragonwrought feat!
"Dragons automatically qualify for any classes, prestige classes, racial substitution levels, feats, powers, or spells that require the dragonblood subtype. Races presented in this book that have the dragonblood subtype include dragonborn, spellscale, kobold, and draconic creatures. Should a creature acquire the dragon type, it loses the dragonblood subtype."
So, yes, a Kobold is normally a Humanoid (Dragonblood subtype) creature, but a Dragonwrought Kobold is a Dragon creature. It therefore qualifies automatically for the things on the list. Hello, racial substitution levels!
Races of the Dragon 106 has a Dragonblood Cleric racial substitution level list, and the next page has a Dragonblood Sorcerer level list. Among these are the Dragonblood Cleric9 and Dragonblood Sorcerer7 levels which are meant to be taken at Cleric9 and Sorcerer7, respectively. Does the Dragonwrought Kobold automatically qualify for them? Can a Dragonwrought Kobold take his first level in Cleric and suddenly decide to swap that for the Dragonblood Cleric9 racial substitution level? If yes, I can see why. If not, I want more information on why.
Further evidence is in the Racial Substitution Levels section from Races of the Dragon 105 which says:
"A substitution level is a level of a given class that you take instead of the level described for the standard class. Selecting a substitution level is not the same as multiclassing—you remain within the class for which the substitution level is taken. The class features of the substitution level simply replace those of the standard class’s level.
To qualify to take a racial substitution level, you must be of the proper race. For instance, to select a kobold rogue racial substitution level, you must be a kobold."
According to the aforementioned "Dragon type creature auto-qualification clause" we are of the right race. Continuing...
"You can usually select a particular substitution level only at a specific class level. When you take a substitution level for your class at a given level, you give up the standard class features gained at that level and get the substitution level features instead. You can’t go back and gain the class features for the level you swapped out—when you take your next level in the standard class, you gain the class features of the next higher level as if you had gained the previous level normally."
The phrase, "You can usually select a particular substitution level only at a specific class level" implies it's a preqreuisite without the word "prerequisite" in front. The RAW argument may hinge on this one paragraph's first sentence. Continuing...
"For instance, if you take the dragonborn paladin substitution level for 5th level, you forever lose the class features normally gained by a standard 5th-level paladin, gaining instead the racial substitution class features for a 5th-level dragonborn paladin. When you take the next level in paladin, you gain the normal 6th-level benefi ts of the standard paladin class.
Unless noted otherwise in the description of a racial substitution level class feature, a character who takes a racial substitution level gains spellcasting ability (increases in spells per day, caster level, and spells known, if applicable) as if he had taken a level in the standard class."
Text added just for extra clarification. If this trick works, this Kobold seems to gain the standard spell progression of a Cleric9 (minus what is lost for the racial sub level, but if this trick works, it's worth it!) or the progression of spellcasting that a Cleric normally gets when going from Cleric8 to Cleric9, again minus the penalty.
"A character need not take all the substitution levels provided for a class. For example, a spellscale bard might decide to take only the racial substitution level for 1st level, ignoring the other substitution levels."
This passage proves by RAW and RAI that a character need not take all racial substitution levels, just in case someone thought we had to take these levels in order.
This leaves us with the conclusions:
-Does this trick work? By RAW, I think it does. (Nevermind balance or 'sensibility,' we have rules!)
-If this trick doesn't work by RAW, why?
-If this trick DOES work as I propose, what class features does such a Kobold gain? The text implies it's the less powerful version regarding spellcasting (merely whatever the class would gain for going from the level before that level to that level) instead of the whole package (accounting for the spellcasting penalty, but jumping straight into level 9 Cleric stuff, baby!). There's no mention of what happens regarding BAB or saves, implying that those just change to match the new number, like +6/+3/+6 for the Dragonblood Cleric9's base saves.
-And if this trick DOES work, this seems like the coolest non-Ur, non-Beholder Mage, non-Sublime Chord way to enter a Theurge class!