Decent Gnome Half-Dragon build?

[TalonOfAnathrax]

For plot reasons, the next few sessions of a D&D 3.X game I'm GMing will involve a Whisper Gnome Half-Dragon with the Dark Template. Not sure about their level, but probably 10. How can I give him a decent build? I try to keep all NPCs as something theoretically achievable by my players, who are open to using optimisation tricks themselves: I don't stop NPCs from doing the same either if they have guidance to help them.
I'm not looking for a one-note combat encounter either - this NPC should be potentially useful and potentially challenging, as they might kill him, bypass him entirely but also get him as an ally for the rest of the adventure depending on their choices and how well the Face does his job. No real risk he'll overshadow anyone in the party, considering the opposition and the fact that he won't be a DMM Persist Cleric or Incantatrix or Melee Tank Druid.

So far I was thinking that they could take 1 level of the 3-level Half-Dragon savage progression class from savage species and then buy it off at level 6, buying off the +1LA from Dark at level 3, then taking another level in Half-Dragon and buying it off at 9, and then taking the final level at level 10.
This could be fluffed as him starting leveling and experiencing the world very young, and therefore learning and changing before the dreams of dragonkind could settle too deeply upon their psyche. As his father is a Silver Dragon with excellent knowledge skills and the Draconic Knowledge feats, he would have the knowledge necessary to know that early growth means easier progress for Half-Dragons.

Do half-Dragons qualify for things easily? Are they open to optimization tricks? Can they take Loredrake or Stalking Wyrm or whatever?

Current ideas:
Sorcerer Levels, taking touch attack spells to go with his claws. Use Hide in Plain Sight from Dark Template, Obscuring Mist and either Flyby Attack (and Dragon Wings + Improved Dragon Wings) or Spring Attack to hide, attack and then hide again. Other feats will be Draconic feats for the theme and because they're often good for melee, and Darkstalker. Low bab will be a problem, but he'll be using Shivering Touch and melee buffs anyway. How do touch attacks work with a character with multiple natural attacks?

Full melee build to take advantage of his good Strength score. Barbarian and Fighter levels (no ToB because no teacher available to him), maybe with a Dragon Shaman dip. He has claws: is there a build for that that? Monk is terrible :/

Dragonfire Adept. Forget melee: he uses Hide in Plain Sight and the Darkness invocation to get around, and then metabreath feats all around to go with his 2 breath weapons. Makes him decent crowd control and a good debuffer, and a threat to the whole party if he can get them entangled. Pumped Hide and Darkstalker should help deal with the vulnerability inherent to that kind of "low damage, no SoD" solo playstyle.

I understand that there is a feat that lets him use his breath weapon every 1d4 rounds, so he'll be taking that and Entangling Exhalation. He has the Dark Template and will therefore be maxing Hide and Move Silently. Apart from that, anything goes!

[emeraldstreak]

Darkstalker, No Light, and Ring of the Darkhidden.

[Nifft]

I'm going to recommend the Shadow Creature template instead of Dark. It's slightly less popular than Dark because it's LA +2, but this is an NPC so LA is irrelevant. (On that subject, don't bother taking only "one level" of LA for half-dragon, since this is an opponent so only CR matters, not LA.)

What the NPC has may be achievable by PCs, but it's going to be priced differently, because that's what the rules say.

Anyway: Shadow Creature gives you all the Dark goodies, plus menu options like Fast Healing or Evasion. Both of those are good for avoiding death by PC, and with 10 HD your NPC can have both.

There's a feat in Races of the Dragon which gives a half-dragon at-will breath weapon (every 1d4 rounds, instead of 1/day). Take that feat.

In that same book is Entangling Exhalation, which turns a dragonblood critter's breath weapon into an area control effect. Take that feat, too.



There are ways to optimize claw attacks, but being a Sorcerer probably isn't the right way to go. Half-Dragon is a physical buff template, so you'd probably want to go for a more physical interaction, something like Tiger Claw maneuvers.

For stealth / hit-and-run you'd probably want Swordsage 10, which does get Tiger Claw maneuvers.


Darkstalker has solid synergy with Swordsage stealth.

[ericgrau]

Gnome: Defense. Good for anything, including fighting, casting, skillmonkeying, anything. Yes even gnome fighters are decent. You lose maybe 2 damage in exchange for +2 AC and +2 con.
Half-Dragon: fighting
Dark template: sneaking.

Build a melee or ranged HiPS sneak attack rogue and call it a day? If melee go strength based rather than finesse based, though he can have a decent dex too. Ranged make both high. Or anything else that hits stuff from stealth works too.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Is he going to be ECL 10 (+4 LA and 6 class levels), or have 10 levels?

In either case, he'll have a high Str and a lot of natural sneakiness, so I'd make him a Swordsage and use a two-handed weapon. When he full attacks he can bite as a secondary attack.

Get Assassin's Stance with Extra Silence and Silencing Strike. Consider getting Dragon Breath in Races of the Dragon to use his breath attack every 1d4 rounds instead of just 1/day. Darkstalker is a must-have for any stealthy character, and Adaptive Style is good to have on a Swordsage.

[Rebel7284]

A bunch of metabreath feats can make for quite a silly damage/battlefield control spike in the beginning of combat. Maximize Breath + Entangling Exhalation + Clinging Breath + Lingering Breath type of thing. Sure you may end up actually using your breath only 1/combat due to the long cool down period, but you have other things to do after with whatever class you take. Sorcerer would be nice for some of those spells that boost a breath weapon.