Fable Wright
2019-07-21, 03:31 AM
So, let's say that you're hankering to play as a dragon or dragon-rider, and you're not quite tier 4 yet. You're willing to refluff a lot, but there's a couple sticking points:
1. The 'dragon' (either as a mount or PC) needs to be big enough to be ridden.
2. The 'dragon' should have a ranged AoE option.
3. The 'dragon' should be sturdy enough to take more than a few hits, preferably with resistance to nonmagical damage. That's only preferably, though.
Off the top of my head, I can think of a handful of effects you could use to fluff into a big, firebreathing steed.
1. Wizard Rider—casts Magic Circle; Conjure Elemental; Planar Binding; and follow up with granting the Dragon's Breath spell. You now essentially have a firebreathing land-wyrm to ride around on, and can (with DM permission) fluff it as making a contract with an actual dragon instead of, you know, enslaving an elemental.
2. Paladin Rider—a Halfling Conquest Paladin casts Find Greater Steed (Peryton), and shares Armor of Agathys with it. Resistance to most physical damage + retributive strike from Armor of Agathys helps with durability. It's ranged AoE is achieved through twinning the Paladin's Fear spell, or at later levels Destructive Wave.
3. Druid Steed—Warforged Moon Druid. Using Integrated Protection while in Air Elemental mode, you have an incredibly fast flying creature with integrated armored carapace, which sounds pretty much like a dragon to me. Since the shift is as a bonus action, you can use Moonbeam or Call Lightning to get a repeated AoE that you could fluff as almost Lung dragon's magic—flying around and calling down the wrath of the heavens.
How would you try to make a dragon (rider) for a tier 3 campaign?
1. The 'dragon' (either as a mount or PC) needs to be big enough to be ridden.
2. The 'dragon' should have a ranged AoE option.
3. The 'dragon' should be sturdy enough to take more than a few hits, preferably with resistance to nonmagical damage. That's only preferably, though.
Off the top of my head, I can think of a handful of effects you could use to fluff into a big, firebreathing steed.
1. Wizard Rider—casts Magic Circle; Conjure Elemental; Planar Binding; and follow up with granting the Dragon's Breath spell. You now essentially have a firebreathing land-wyrm to ride around on, and can (with DM permission) fluff it as making a contract with an actual dragon instead of, you know, enslaving an elemental.
2. Paladin Rider—a Halfling Conquest Paladin casts Find Greater Steed (Peryton), and shares Armor of Agathys with it. Resistance to most physical damage + retributive strike from Armor of Agathys helps with durability. It's ranged AoE is achieved through twinning the Paladin's Fear spell, or at later levels Destructive Wave.
3. Druid Steed—Warforged Moon Druid. Using Integrated Protection while in Air Elemental mode, you have an incredibly fast flying creature with integrated armored carapace, which sounds pretty much like a dragon to me. Since the shift is as a bonus action, you can use Moonbeam or Call Lightning to get a repeated AoE that you could fluff as almost Lung dragon's magic—flying around and calling down the wrath of the heavens.
How would you try to make a dragon (rider) for a tier 3 campaign?