PC Wizard wants to become a dragon.

[JMichael Cherry]

Long story short: I have a 7th level wizard who wants to start becoming a dragon, how can I help make this happen?

Long story... long: I am a DM for D&D 5e. This is our first game, first TRPG (both as players and for myself as DM). We are all a little inexperienced, but have gained a good understanding of the game over the past year of playing (taking short breaks here and there). One of the characters is an ancient human wizard, his past shrouded in mystery and time. Several NPCs - a wraith, some old documents found in an abandoned mine, a mentally unstable sorcerer, and a red dragon - have hinted that he could be several hundred years old and not quite as mundane as he may seem. After talking back and forth with the player out of game, we have determined the following:
- He was once a silver dragon
- He used to think of shorter-lived races (aka non-dragons) as inferior
- He allowed several humans to die in a conflict when he could have saved them, at personal risk
- He was cursed by a council of metallic dragons to become a human indefinitely until he learned that other races are important (via true polymorph).
-He joined a college of mages, eventually went out into the world, and joined the party
-He has learned the error of his ways (pre campaign), and will shortly be approached and evaluated by a polymorphed member of the council. If he passes inspection, some of his draconic abilities will be unlocked. I'd like this to be both cosmetic and mechanical.
This is where things sort of break down. I can have his cold-based spells originate from his mouth, or sprout dragon wings when he casts fly and things like that, but I'm wondering what other options there are. When he reaches level 17, he can literally become a dragon by learning True Polymorph and concentrating for the duration (indeed, this is his long-term goal, and I am trying to line up an evil chromatic dragon to face off with him in a late-campaign conflict). I originally posted on RPG stack exchange, but my question was flagged as opinion-oriented and it was recommended that I try posting here. I have access to the MM, DMG, and PH and am open to using UA or homebrew sources as long as it doesn't seem game breaking. He doesn't really want to multi-class and is fairly attached to the wizard class (he loves decrypting other wizard's spell books and having the option to prepare a wide variety of spells), though the "human" aspect is purely cosmetic and he'd like more draconic cosmetic options as well, but that can be fudged. We have toyed with the idea of changing his race to Dragonborn, triggered by this councilor's actions. He has an awesome character concept, and I want to encourage this kind of unique thinking in the party, I'm just looking for some way to enable it without making him too overpowered.

FYI, I'm not worried that he'll steal the spotlight from other players. They are pretty good about not hogging it, and there is enough other stuff going on in the party, so I'm not worried there.

He's also not a power gamer, this is just a concept he came up with.

[hymer]

Switching race to dragonborn sounds good, though it could mess up a build if you spring it on the player. So work with him to find a way to do it that's acceptable to both of you. A level in dragon sorcerer might also be worth contemplating for mechanical things.
As for refluffing, doing that with polymorph could be worth it. It may be the stats of a T-rex, but narratively speaking it's the PC turning into a lesser version of his original form. Mage armor can likewise be interpreted as going more scaly.

[Lombra]

Maybe give him a weekly power that lets him transform in a young silver dragon, kinda like the cleric's ability that lets him ask a favor to his diety. Then he'll become a dragon at level 17 through true polymorph.

Alternatively you may allow him to become half-dragon, it's in the MM, but maybe it doesn't really fit the theme.

[NecroDancer]

This sounds like a good plot for a side quest. Also if he ever gets reincarnated by a Druid then you can make him into a dragonborn easily.

[DevilMcam]

you can probably work something with the Draconic Sorcerer as well.

For me features are a perfectly suitable reward dor the completion of a story arc, in the same way as XP or items.
You could give him some features (both cosmectic and mecanic) from the Dragonborn race and draconic sorcerer subclass.
I'd give him the draconic resiliance feature
maybe hand out some sorcery point and 1 or 2 metamagic, and let him use thoses sorcery points to use the breath weapon as well (like 5 points and a cost of 3 to use the breath).

As this would represent a real powerup for him, make sure the rest of the party get some as well. Some gift of the dragon council in the form of magical items from his previous hoard, it could actually be part of his test, receiving one of his old treasures, that he clearly recongnise as such, and showing selflessness in not keeping it for himself.
The party doesn't really need to powerup at the exact same time though, just make sure the next reward is designed for an other player, and if it mesh with a personal arc it's even better.

[Aeson]

He's a silver dragon and will be returning to that form over the course of the campaign, yes? So take the list of Silver Dragon abilities appropriate to a Silver Dragon of his age (either at the time he was polymorphed into a human or in the present time), and that's your end state at level 17.

Let's say he's a Young Silver Dragon. Some of the abilities he'd have as a fully-restored dragon at lv.17 are blindsight 30', darkvision 120', immunity to cold damage, a frost breath attack (12d8 cold damage in 30' cone, DC17 vs Con for half damage), and a paralyzing breath attack (30' cone, each creature DC17 vs Con or paralyzed for up to 1 minute; save repeatable each turn to end paralysis early).

He's currently a level 7 Wizard and we want him to have the above abilities at level 17, so let's make a 10-stage progression. For example:

20' darkvision
advantage on saving throws versus cold damage; if no saving throw, then gets a saving throw for half damage
10' blindsight, 40' darkvision
1/day cold OR paralyzing breath as S. Dragon Wyrmling
15' blindsight, 60' darkvision
1/day cold and 1/day paralyzing breath as S. Dragon Wyrmling
20' blindsight, 80' darkvision, resistance to cold damage (replaces adv. on saving throws/save for half damage if no save)
1/day cold and 1/day paralyzing breath as Young S. Dragon
25' blindsight, 100' darkvision
Full Young S. Dragon abilities

[clash]

You could let him take the dragonborn feats from here http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/RJSJC2017_04UASkillFeats_24v10.pdf shifting the half ability score increase to intelligence instead. That would bestow cosmetic and mechanical advantages but be balanced by the cost of a feat.

[DevilMcam]

I would avoid giving him an extra line of progression for several reasons.
- First, even if the other player player are cool with him receiving a cool reward for his story arc, they might be less cool with him receiving rewards every levels when he is already leveling up, it might affect game balance a bit.
- Second, maybe he will discover that his fellow dragons were more than right and actually now likes living among humains. The pressure of growing draconic influence might not seem that great at that moment

[Honest Tiefling]

Perhaps try to work this into the plot? I assume there is a BBEG of epic proportions here, if someone is going to become a dragon. One who could track the movements of several metallic dragons, despite their best efforts. So that representative of the council of metallic dragons is deader then the hero's hometown, and the party stumbles upon their remains. (Which might be undead, because waste not, want not!)

But what's this? Whoever killed these dragons seemed to have missed a spellbook (or some other device to store magical knowledge) or two. The player now has to crack the code of the spellbook, but once he does, he has the ritual to turn himself back into a dragon. However, if he's missing some key reagents that might be hard to procure in a timely fashion, it'll take a few years to work properly, giving him a draconic progression.

But what's this again!? This ritual can actually work on a small group of humanoids at once. Such as the party itself. You know, the draconic council did loose some powerful help in trying to evaluate this one dragon...Perhaps it would be best to make the rest of the party draconic as well? Obviously, the BBEG can take out experienced dragons, so the party could probably use all of the help it can get. That way, he's not getting more powerful then the party as everyone could benefit from it.

[MxKit]

Clash has the right idea, I think. He has an "Ability Score Increase or Feat" choice coming up next level, right? Let him choose specifically one of those Dragonborn feats from that UA. Or instead of giving him a feat or an ASI, instead choose to give him the Draconic Ancestry + Breath Weapon racial traits. Then either allow him to take the Dragon Wings class feature from the sorcerer at Level 14 instead of whatever his Arcane Tradition capstone is, or give him the option of choosing that Dragon Wings racial feat instead of an ASI at level 12 or 16.

And, of course, by level 20, if he wants to, let him cast True Polymorph on himself, concentrate on the spell uninterrupted (maybe basically meditation, getting back in tune with himself?) for the full hour, or maybe even longer if you want to grant him true permanence (without it being able to be dispelled), and then bam, he's a dragon again for good. By this point your game's probably pretty much over, anyway; this is the point where in some campaigns PCs can sometimes ascend to actual godhood, so the dragon thing definitely seems fair.

[JMichael Cherry]

Wow! Lots of really awesome ideas here.
I'm seriously considering letting him change race to Dragonborn after discussing it with him, of course.
I think having the level increases alongside his wizard levels might be a bit much, I'm looking more to unlock abilities at certain points in the plot (which may line up with specific levels).
I completely forgot that UA released racial feats! Thanks for that clash!
There is a BBEG rising to power behind the scenes, with the resources to monitor the major factions, especially the dragon council. And reanimating the corpse of a NPC would certainly fit his style. I may have to do that, Honest Tiefling
The council would certainly try to test him with situations like that: here are gifts from us for passing out test. Oh, you gave them all away: excellent! You have passed the actual test.
And, MxKit, the trade off for wings instead of the 14 level evocation ability (maxing out damage for a 5th or lower spell)would certainly be something he would do.
Thanks again everyone! This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for!

[Asmotherion]

Sounds more like he should have been a Dragonic Origin Sorcerer to me, but anyway. As you said, he has his reasons.

Can be approached by 3 ways:

A) Have him wait till he is able to transform on his own, at level 17, and have some aspects return to him as you suggested is one way.

B) Since he is not a power-gamer, and he wants it mostly for the RP: After some major hook point in the campain were he will show self sacrifice, maybe even when his character is technically "dead", you can have him hatch from an egg (that will form magically nearby) and give him the form of a silver Dragon wyrmling (and, reguardless of the fact that he would not have it yet, the Shapechange Action to change back and forth between his humanoid form and dragonic one). After a couple sessions, and if he is the equivalent CR/Level you can tell him that once he takes his dragonic form, he takes the form of a young Silver Dragon, and not a Wyrmling anymore. Unknown to him, the punishment curse had been broken, but the magic that brought him back from the dead weakened his power, and it will take time to come back at his full Dragonic Form.

C) Give it as a Reward after they finish a questline for a very powerful good Wizard, who will secretly be one of the Dragons of the Council. It must include protecting "inferior races" at the risk of lossing his own life, but at the same time, he must not be thanked appropriatelly by the people there, for various reasons (for example, they may be a Barbarian tribe, who is afraid or skeptical of magic). His reaction to this will influence if he will get his dragon form back or not at that point in the campain.