Draconium
2016-04-16, 11:31 PM
Dragonlord
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y368/Drakonium/red-dragon-castle_zpsgh259yhx.jpg
"My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!" -Smaug the Terrible, Dragonlord of Middle-Earth.
Dragonlords (not to be confused with the humanoid Dragon Lords) are nearly unheard of among the lesser races of the worlds. Even among the dragons themselves, there are many who have never heard of these mysterious, powerful beings. But those that do know of them speak the term sparingly, with repect and sometimes even fear. Paragons of their kind, there are never more then one Dragonlord of each of the five Chromatic and Metallic Dragons in existence at any given time. Only these scions of the gods Bahumat and Tiamat are even given such prestigious titles and power. Other dragons recognize them as exemplars of their kind, with the most powerful even transcending to quasi-godhood. And few mortals would dare ever challenge them.
Hit Die: d12
Requirements: To qualify to become an Dragonlord, a dragon must fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: Must be a Chromatic or Metallic True Dragon of at least Old age.
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 28 Ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 28 Ranks
Feats: Draconic Knowledge, any four Metabreath and/or Metamagic feats, any one of: Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, or Great Fortitude
Special: The Dragon must not have a vulnerability to an energy type. (The feats Supress Weakness and Overcome Weakness can remove a dragon's energy vulnerability.)
The dragon must also be chosen as a successor to a current or recently deceased Dragonlord before they may take any levels in this prestige class. There are never more than ten Dragonlords in existence at any given time.
Class Skills
The Dragonlord's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (All skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha). In addition, each type of True Dragon that can take this class has three seperate skills considered class skills for their RHD. These skills are also considered class skills for them while taking this class.
Skill Points Per Level: 6+Int Modifier
Dragonlord
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
Spells per Day
1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Draconic Exemplar, Iron Scales
-
2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Terrifying Aura, Hit Point Increase
+1 of existing spellcasting class
3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Transmutation Immunity, Piercing Energy 10
+1 of existing spellcasting class
4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Hit Point Increase, Improved Damage Reduction
+1 of existing spellcasting class
5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Fire Resistance 10, Spell-Like Ability
-
6th
+6
+5
+2
+5
Hit Point Increase, Lifewarding, Piercing Energy 20
+1 of existing spellcasting class
7th
+7
+5
+2
+5
Dragon's Glory, King of the Skies
+1 of existing spellcasting class
8th
+8
+6
+2
+6
Hit Point Increase, Improved Damage Reduction, Spell-Like Ability
+1 of existing spellcasting class
9th
+9
+6
+3
+6
Iron Mind, Piercing Energy 30
-
10th
+10
+7
+3
+7
Hit Point Increase, Overwhelming Breath
+1 of existing spellcasting class
11th
+11
+7
+3
+7
Fire Resistance 20, Elemental Rebuke, Spell-Like Abiltiy
+1 of existing spellcasting class
12th
+12
+8
+4
+8
Hit Point Increase, Piercing Energy (Immunity), Divine Apotheosis
+1 of existing spellcasting class
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Dragonlord.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Dragonlord gains no new proficiencies in any armor or weapons.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: Whenever a new level in the Dragonlord class is gained, with the exception of first, fifth, and ninth levels, the dragon gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if they had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class in which they belonged to before they added the prestige class level. They do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. Most Dragonlords use this to advance their innate spellcasting ability. However, if a dragon had more than one spellcasting class before they became an Dragonlord, they must decide to which class they add each level of Dragonlord for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Draconic Exemplar: Dragonlords are paragons of their kind. They may treat Hit Dice gained from this class as if they were Racial Hit Dice whenever it would benefit them (such as for determining the DCs for their breath weapon and Frightful Presence).
Iron Scales (Ex): The Dragonlord's Natural Armor and Spell Resistance each improve by one point for every level taken in this class.
Terrifying Aura (Ex): At second level, the Dragonlord's Frightful Presence improves. This works as the base Frightful Presence, but now, creatures that fail their Will Save against it become Frightened, or Panicked if their HD is equal to or less than 1/2 the Dragonlord's RHD+class level. Even if they succeed, they remain Shaken for the duration. However, those that succeed on their Will save cannot be affected by the same aura for 24 hours. This aura even affects other dragons, though other Dragonlords are immune to this effect.
Hit Point Increase: At second level, and every two levels thereafter, the Dragonlord gains 1 Hit Point per Hit Die they possess, regardless of how they gained the Hit Die. This benefit can never increase the dragon's Hit Points above the maximum for their Hit Dice and Con bonus.
At twelfth level, a Dragonlord's Hit Points are equal to the maximum for their Hit Dice and Con bonus.
Transmutation Immunity (Ex): At third level, a Dragonlord gains immunity to polymorphing, pertrification, and any other attack or ability that would alter their form. Any shape-altering powers or spells the dragon has work normally on themselves.
Piercing Energy (Su): Starting at third level, a Dragonlord's breath weapon, along with any spells or spell-like abilities they possess with the same energy descriptor (such as Fire for a Red Dragon), may ignore an amount of energy resistance. This amount starts at 10, and increases by 10 every three levels thereafter.
At twelfth level, they may ignore energy immunity to this energy type, unless the creature possesses such immunity through a subtype (such as the [Fire] subtype).
Improved Damage Reduction (Su): At fourth level, a Dragonlord's Damage Reduction improves by 5, and can only be overcome with a magic weapon aligning to at least one of their alignment's oppostite (for instance and Old Red Dragon would now possess DR 15/Magic and [Lawful or Good]). A Dragonlord's natural weapons now count as their alignment for overcoming DR.
At eighth level, the Dragonlord's Damage Reduction can now only be overcome by epic weapons aligning to the opposite of the dragon's alignment (for example, the dragon from the above example would now possess DR 15/Epic and Lawful and Good).
Fire Resistance (Ex): At fifth level, the Dragonlord gains resistance to fire 10. If they already possessed resistance to fire, it increases by 10 - if they were already immune, they instead gain resistance 10 to one energy type of their choice.
At eleventh level, their resistance improves by another 10 points (if this would bring their resistance above 30, they gain immunity to that energy type instead).
Spell-Like Ability (Sp): At fifth level, and every three levels afterwards, the Dragonlord gains access to a new spell-like ability. They may choose any spell they are able to cast (meaning it must be among their spells known) without an expensive material component or XP cost. They may now cast it as a spell-like ability three times per day. They may choose to then "lose" this spell from their spells known to replace it with another spell of an equal level.
Lifewarding (Ex): At sixth level, the Dragonlord gains immunity to energy drain, ability drain, and ability damage.
Dragon's Glory (Su): At seventh level, the Dragonlord adds their Charisma modifier (minumum +1) to their Armor Class as a deflection bonus.
King of the Skies (Ex): At seventh level, the Dragonlord's flight speed increases by 20 feet, and their maneuverability improves by one step.
Iron Mind (Ex): At ninth level, a Dragonlord gains immunity to mind-affecting effects, though they may choose to allow beneficial effects (such as through Inspire Courage) affect them normally.
Overwhelimg Breath (Su): At tenth level, the Dragonlord's Breath weapon is a terrifying sight to behold. They increase the damage dealt by their breath weapon by one die size, and anyone damaged by their breath weapon must make a Fort Save of the same DC or else become dazed (for Fire), sickened (for Acid), entangled (for Electricity), or slowed (for Cold) for 1d6 rounds.
Elemental Rebuke (Su): At eleventh level, the Dragonlord may rebuke creatures that possess the same elemental subtype as them, and turn creatures of the opposite elemental subtype, as a Cleric of their Dragonlord level+1/2 their RHD turns or rebukes undead. [Fire] and [Water] are opposite subtypes, as are [Earth] and [Air]. [Cold] dragons turn [Fire] creatures. This is usable 3+the Dragonlord's Cha modifier times per day.
Divine Apotheosis: Upon reaching twelfth level, a Dragonlord undergoes a transformation. They gain a Divine Rank of 0, and are now immortal, meaning they will never die of natural causes (though they can still be slain). They no longer need to eat, sleep, or breath to survive, and they may treat themselves as an Outsider whenever it would benefit them (their type doesn't actually change, nor do they gain an Outsider's weapon and armor proficiencies). Finally, they gain the subtypes pertaining to their alignment (a Red Dragon would gain the Evil and Chaos subtypes, for instance).
I designed this prestige class as a little project of mine. It's based on the Dragon Ascendant prestige class from the Draconomicon, and keeps many of the same abilities. I removed most of their auras, though, changed the one that I kept, improved some of their existing abilities, added the abilities to advance their spellcasting, add SLAs, improve their breath weapon, and finally add a Divine Rank (which the Dragon Ascendant, despite billed as ascending to godhood, never gains). I also changed a lot of the prerequisites to not include as bad of feat taxes, though they're still there, and made it so that only the ten "base" True Dragons can take it, just so I don't have to figure out a million different progressions for other True Dragons.
Keep in mind, this class is not meant for players. In fact, I would be careful before even applying it to a dragon the players are meant to fight, at least for more than a few levels. Instead, I like to think of this as more of a "plot class," a reason to have a genuine "leader" among dragonkind.
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y368/Drakonium/red-dragon-castle_zpsgh259yhx.jpg
"My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!" -Smaug the Terrible, Dragonlord of Middle-Earth.
Dragonlords (not to be confused with the humanoid Dragon Lords) are nearly unheard of among the lesser races of the worlds. Even among the dragons themselves, there are many who have never heard of these mysterious, powerful beings. But those that do know of them speak the term sparingly, with repect and sometimes even fear. Paragons of their kind, there are never more then one Dragonlord of each of the five Chromatic and Metallic Dragons in existence at any given time. Only these scions of the gods Bahumat and Tiamat are even given such prestigious titles and power. Other dragons recognize them as exemplars of their kind, with the most powerful even transcending to quasi-godhood. And few mortals would dare ever challenge them.
Hit Die: d12
Requirements: To qualify to become an Dragonlord, a dragon must fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: Must be a Chromatic or Metallic True Dragon of at least Old age.
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 28 Ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 28 Ranks
Feats: Draconic Knowledge, any four Metabreath and/or Metamagic feats, any one of: Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, or Great Fortitude
Special: The Dragon must not have a vulnerability to an energy type. (The feats Supress Weakness and Overcome Weakness can remove a dragon's energy vulnerability.)
The dragon must also be chosen as a successor to a current or recently deceased Dragonlord before they may take any levels in this prestige class. There are never more than ten Dragonlords in existence at any given time.
Class Skills
The Dragonlord's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (All skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha). In addition, each type of True Dragon that can take this class has three seperate skills considered class skills for their RHD. These skills are also considered class skills for them while taking this class.
Skill Points Per Level: 6+Int Modifier
Dragonlord
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
Spells per Day
1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Draconic Exemplar, Iron Scales
-
2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Terrifying Aura, Hit Point Increase
+1 of existing spellcasting class
3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Transmutation Immunity, Piercing Energy 10
+1 of existing spellcasting class
4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Hit Point Increase, Improved Damage Reduction
+1 of existing spellcasting class
5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Fire Resistance 10, Spell-Like Ability
-
6th
+6
+5
+2
+5
Hit Point Increase, Lifewarding, Piercing Energy 20
+1 of existing spellcasting class
7th
+7
+5
+2
+5
Dragon's Glory, King of the Skies
+1 of existing spellcasting class
8th
+8
+6
+2
+6
Hit Point Increase, Improved Damage Reduction, Spell-Like Ability
+1 of existing spellcasting class
9th
+9
+6
+3
+6
Iron Mind, Piercing Energy 30
-
10th
+10
+7
+3
+7
Hit Point Increase, Overwhelming Breath
+1 of existing spellcasting class
11th
+11
+7
+3
+7
Fire Resistance 20, Elemental Rebuke, Spell-Like Abiltiy
+1 of existing spellcasting class
12th
+12
+8
+4
+8
Hit Point Increase, Piercing Energy (Immunity), Divine Apotheosis
+1 of existing spellcasting class
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Dragonlord.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Dragonlord gains no new proficiencies in any armor or weapons.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: Whenever a new level in the Dragonlord class is gained, with the exception of first, fifth, and ninth levels, the dragon gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if they had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class in which they belonged to before they added the prestige class level. They do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. Most Dragonlords use this to advance their innate spellcasting ability. However, if a dragon had more than one spellcasting class before they became an Dragonlord, they must decide to which class they add each level of Dragonlord for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Draconic Exemplar: Dragonlords are paragons of their kind. They may treat Hit Dice gained from this class as if they were Racial Hit Dice whenever it would benefit them (such as for determining the DCs for their breath weapon and Frightful Presence).
Iron Scales (Ex): The Dragonlord's Natural Armor and Spell Resistance each improve by one point for every level taken in this class.
Terrifying Aura (Ex): At second level, the Dragonlord's Frightful Presence improves. This works as the base Frightful Presence, but now, creatures that fail their Will Save against it become Frightened, or Panicked if their HD is equal to or less than 1/2 the Dragonlord's RHD+class level. Even if they succeed, they remain Shaken for the duration. However, those that succeed on their Will save cannot be affected by the same aura for 24 hours. This aura even affects other dragons, though other Dragonlords are immune to this effect.
Hit Point Increase: At second level, and every two levels thereafter, the Dragonlord gains 1 Hit Point per Hit Die they possess, regardless of how they gained the Hit Die. This benefit can never increase the dragon's Hit Points above the maximum for their Hit Dice and Con bonus.
At twelfth level, a Dragonlord's Hit Points are equal to the maximum for their Hit Dice and Con bonus.
Transmutation Immunity (Ex): At third level, a Dragonlord gains immunity to polymorphing, pertrification, and any other attack or ability that would alter their form. Any shape-altering powers or spells the dragon has work normally on themselves.
Piercing Energy (Su): Starting at third level, a Dragonlord's breath weapon, along with any spells or spell-like abilities they possess with the same energy descriptor (such as Fire for a Red Dragon), may ignore an amount of energy resistance. This amount starts at 10, and increases by 10 every three levels thereafter.
At twelfth level, they may ignore energy immunity to this energy type, unless the creature possesses such immunity through a subtype (such as the [Fire] subtype).
Improved Damage Reduction (Su): At fourth level, a Dragonlord's Damage Reduction improves by 5, and can only be overcome with a magic weapon aligning to at least one of their alignment's oppostite (for instance and Old Red Dragon would now possess DR 15/Magic and [Lawful or Good]). A Dragonlord's natural weapons now count as their alignment for overcoming DR.
At eighth level, the Dragonlord's Damage Reduction can now only be overcome by epic weapons aligning to the opposite of the dragon's alignment (for example, the dragon from the above example would now possess DR 15/Epic and Lawful and Good).
Fire Resistance (Ex): At fifth level, the Dragonlord gains resistance to fire 10. If they already possessed resistance to fire, it increases by 10 - if they were already immune, they instead gain resistance 10 to one energy type of their choice.
At eleventh level, their resistance improves by another 10 points (if this would bring their resistance above 30, they gain immunity to that energy type instead).
Spell-Like Ability (Sp): At fifth level, and every three levels afterwards, the Dragonlord gains access to a new spell-like ability. They may choose any spell they are able to cast (meaning it must be among their spells known) without an expensive material component or XP cost. They may now cast it as a spell-like ability three times per day. They may choose to then "lose" this spell from their spells known to replace it with another spell of an equal level.
Lifewarding (Ex): At sixth level, the Dragonlord gains immunity to energy drain, ability drain, and ability damage.
Dragon's Glory (Su): At seventh level, the Dragonlord adds their Charisma modifier (minumum +1) to their Armor Class as a deflection bonus.
King of the Skies (Ex): At seventh level, the Dragonlord's flight speed increases by 20 feet, and their maneuverability improves by one step.
Iron Mind (Ex): At ninth level, a Dragonlord gains immunity to mind-affecting effects, though they may choose to allow beneficial effects (such as through Inspire Courage) affect them normally.
Overwhelimg Breath (Su): At tenth level, the Dragonlord's Breath weapon is a terrifying sight to behold. They increase the damage dealt by their breath weapon by one die size, and anyone damaged by their breath weapon must make a Fort Save of the same DC or else become dazed (for Fire), sickened (for Acid), entangled (for Electricity), or slowed (for Cold) for 1d6 rounds.
Elemental Rebuke (Su): At eleventh level, the Dragonlord may rebuke creatures that possess the same elemental subtype as them, and turn creatures of the opposite elemental subtype, as a Cleric of their Dragonlord level+1/2 their RHD turns or rebukes undead. [Fire] and [Water] are opposite subtypes, as are [Earth] and [Air]. [Cold] dragons turn [Fire] creatures. This is usable 3+the Dragonlord's Cha modifier times per day.
Divine Apotheosis: Upon reaching twelfth level, a Dragonlord undergoes a transformation. They gain a Divine Rank of 0, and are now immortal, meaning they will never die of natural causes (though they can still be slain). They no longer need to eat, sleep, or breath to survive, and they may treat themselves as an Outsider whenever it would benefit them (their type doesn't actually change, nor do they gain an Outsider's weapon and armor proficiencies). Finally, they gain the subtypes pertaining to their alignment (a Red Dragon would gain the Evil and Chaos subtypes, for instance).
I designed this prestige class as a little project of mine. It's based on the Dragon Ascendant prestige class from the Draconomicon, and keeps many of the same abilities. I removed most of their auras, though, changed the one that I kept, improved some of their existing abilities, added the abilities to advance their spellcasting, add SLAs, improve their breath weapon, and finally add a Divine Rank (which the Dragon Ascendant, despite billed as ascending to godhood, never gains). I also changed a lot of the prerequisites to not include as bad of feat taxes, though they're still there, and made it so that only the ten "base" True Dragons can take it, just so I don't have to figure out a million different progressions for other True Dragons.
Keep in mind, this class is not meant for players. In fact, I would be careful before even applying it to a dragon the players are meant to fight, at least for more than a few levels. Instead, I like to think of this as more of a "plot class," a reason to have a genuine "leader" among dragonkind.