Becoming a Dragon

[Deophaun]

Inspired by conditions in Troacctid's You Just Gained a Level in Real Life (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?546315-You-just-gained-a-level-in-real-life!-What-class-would-you-take) thread:

You are a level 20 human. How do you become a real true dragon (benefitting from HD, not subject to AMFs or disspelling, etc.) without sacrificing levels and without outside help (no hiring others for ritual services)

The build (Bard 1/Cloistered Cleric 1/Human Paragon 3/Chameleon 10/Ardent 5) gives free access to every arcane and divine spell, and can gain access to any power via wish for a power stone if need be. Feats are not an issue as you gain a new one every year after hitting level 20.

I've come up with two similar methods, one that I'm 99.9% sure works, and the other requiring much less preparation but less certain ruleswise.

The first is to use true mind switch on two true dragons. (This, of course, requires there to be dragons in the first place, which is the preparation issue. If dragons don't exist, you need to make them, and then you likely need to make a breeding pair so you eventually have dragon targets that exist independent of magic.) Once you've switched twice so that one of the dragons is now your natural body, you use a contingencied last breath to reincarnate into a proper young adult true dragon body, gaining all the benefits thereof.

The alternate skips the true mind switch all together and instead uses greater metamorphosis. As far as I can tell, greater metamorphosis does not end at death, allowing you to be reincarnated while your type is still dragon, not human. Potentially, that means you are reincarnated as a dragon.

What are the holes here? Are there simpler methods?

[The Viscount]

Could you explain in more detail how that build gets spells of level 7-9? I'm not seeing it from just the levels.

As for becoming a dragon, there's another rather simple option, depending on your criteria for true dragon. You can last breath yourself (via a familiar) into a kobold, retrying until you succeed. Then you can DCFS dragonwrought as your first level feat. You're now a true dragon (at least by some interpretations).

[Deophaun]

Could you explain in more detail how that build gets spells of level 7-9? I'm not seeing it from just the levels.
You can use shinenagins with Sanctum Spell, Heighten, Earth Spell, and Extra Spell to break the Chameleon's cap. It's feat intensive, but feats are cheap given the conditions.

As for becoming a dragon, there's another rather simple option, depending on your criteria for true dragon. You can last breath yourself (via a familiar) into a kobold, retrying until you succeed. Then you can DCFS dragonwrought as your first level feat. You're now a true dragon (at least by some interpretations).
Only flaw I can see there setting aside the DWK argument, is you are still a kobold, and kobolds are on the default reincarnation list. Still, as this all requires some level of DM adjudication, it seems valid enough. (I'm just going to assume DWKs aren't true dragons for my purposes)

[Remuko]

Where does the feat for every year after 20th level come from? I searched the threat you linked to a bit and didnt see anything about it there.

[Deophaun]

Where does the feat for every year after 20th level come from? I searched the threat you linked to a bit and didnt see anything about it there.
It's an annual event; you can find the rule in the first thread.
(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?476465-Every-year-starting-now-you-gain-a-level-IRL-What-is-your-build)

[Remuko]

It's an annual event; you can find the rule in the first thread.
(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?476465-Every-year-starting-now-you-gain-a-level-IRL-What-is-your-build)

ah, neat. thanks for the info.

[Vaern]

Only flaw I can see there setting aside the DWK argument, is you are still a kobold, and kobolds are on the default reincarnation list. Still, as this all requires some level of DM adjudication, it seems valid enough. (I'm just going to assume DWKs aren't true dragons for my purposes)
I disagree that dragonwrought kobolds are true dragons, but they do gain the Dragon creature type. According to the rules of reincarnation, having a creature type other than humanoid requires the creation of a new table composed of creatures of the appropriate type.
If you can reincarnate yourself into a kobold and then become dragonwrought, you may then have a chance of being reincarnated into a dragon that is irrefutably True.

[Yogibear41]

There's that epic level prestige class from Dark Sun in one of the dragon magazines that turns you into a dragon overlord.