Interspecies breeding

[schreier]

Working on another NPC - and trying to decide race ...

If you had a celestial breed with a dragon on the prime material plane ...

Do you have a half-celestial dragon, or a half-dragon celestial? Is it dealers choice, or some rule? Does it depend on the mother's race (or father's?)

[Nifft]

Obviously the scion of the highest heaven and the mightiest dragon would be a Dragonwrought Kobold.

(Only half kidding there.)

It is totally dealer's choice -- this is a made-up custom monster, and it's your monster.

IMHO the dragon chassis is more interesting than the Angel chassis, so if it were my monster then I'd start with a dragon as the base.

I'd make the dragon have feathery angelic wings, and put the Half-Celestial template on top. Then, I'd probably change the breath weapon to deal half divine damage ("radiant"), and give the dragon an extra 2 spells known per spell level, picked from the Paladin's list.

[Crake]

According to the type pyramid in savage species, outsiders are at the top of the list, along with constructs and undead. This is as close a RAW answer as you're gonna get, which is to say, it's not at all a RAW answer, but the creature being an outsider has priority over the creature being a dragon. Even that doesn't really help, because you could interpret that to mean that the celestial base has priority and then add the half dragon template, or you could interpret it to mean that the half celestial template has priority, since it changes the type to outsider (though by the savage species rules, the creature would be an outsider in both cases, because the type pyramid says once you're an outsider, you cant drop back being a dragon, so a half dragon angel would still be an outsider per those rules, despite the half dragon template saying it changes the type to dragon).

Honestly, the answer is: Which do you think would be cooler. If you can't decide, flip a coin.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

With more subtle combinations I'd advice you to think about where the creature grew up. A half elf grew up among humans, a half human among elves. This tends to sort of work with stuff like racial weapon proficiencies, you get those from your "main race" because that's where you've been living. But in the care of a dragon and an angel? Yeah, it's a toss up. Just go with what you like best mechanically.

[Buufreak]

Potential options also exist if you would look in Bastards and Bloodlines, or if all else fails, that book. They both have sections on what happens when out of the ordinary things breed with other out of the ordinary things.

[schreier]

Awesome - thank you all

I did see someone reference that book I think (erotic?) ... it addressed it lightly, but not with an answer ... the savage species hierarchy is awesome though - that means that a half-fey dragon wouldn't get a ton weaker (doing down to d6hp for example) since it is higher in the pyramid, which is cool

My current gut is to have a Half-Dragon Celestial (in this case, Tulani) - since I wanted a more humanoid character ... I would read the hierarchy to have the higher form be primary in the "mixed breeding" situation (like a fey dragon would be a dragon with half-fey, since dragon is higher .. and it stayed dragon type)

Thanks all!

Edit: I guess that breaks down with human (or elf) dragon ... since that seems a perfect opportunity for a half dragon template ... so would only apply that rule in cases where one race has a half template (i.e. dragon) but the other does not (there is no half-human or half-elf template)

So if one race has a half and the other doesn't, the one without a half template becomes the primary, if both have "half" templates (celestial, fey, fiendish, dragon, etc..), then the higher in the hierarchy becomes the primary, with the other becoming the half-template (but not changing type)

[Zakerst]

At my table with situations like this where we just need go make a choice we go with Pokemon rules. Mother determines the base father determines the template(s)

[Goaty14]

At my table with situations like this where we just need go make a choice we go with Pokemon rules. Mother determines the base father determines the template(s)

Same in Bastards and Bloodlines, the "Decanter" or something like that is when a centaur and a elf breed, if the centaur is the mother, then the creature is a quadruped, if the centaur is the father, then the creature is a biped (with horse legs).

[Remuko]

Same in Bastards and Bloodlines, the "Decanter" or something like that is when a centaur and a elf breed, if the centaur is the father, then the creature is a biped (with horse legs).

All I have to say is, OUCH!

[hewhosaysfish]

One day I want to run an adventure which features 2 siblings: one half dragon half fiend, one half fiend half dragon.

[atemu1234]

Same in Bastards and Bloodlines, the "Decanter" or something like that is when a centaur and a elf breed, if the centaur is the mother, then the creature is a quadruped, if the centaur is the father, then the creature is a biped (with horse legs).

Allicorns, in my opinion, are worse.