dragoon stats

[Kobold_paladin?]

not dragon, dragoon.
like goon and dragon. basically a royal guard or elite minion for a dragon.
stats?

[Warwick]

A dragoon is a mounted infantryman. However, answering the question in the spirit it was asked: you could steal the stat blocks for Cult of the Dragon minions from the HotD/RoT adventure paths. A Dragonfang/Dragonsoul could serve as a suitable stand-in for a dragon's elite servants, assuming you're looking for enemies meant to be employed as a group. You can find the stat blocks for these NPCs in the back of Rise of Tiamat (and presumably in a variety places online as well). If you want a 'bigger' NPC, you could also deploy some half-dragon giants or something.

[sandmote]

No, dragoons are mounted infantry. Or, they were originally. Their weakness to cavalry saw them transition to fighting from horseback as well.

The stats for your concept would depend on what the guard would do in combat and the expected CR. See page 173 of the DMG, which starts going over how to calculate this sort of thing.

Edit: ninjad.

[Foxhound438]

No, dragoons are mounted infantry. Or, they were originally. Their weakness to cavalry saw them transition to fighting from horseback as well.

The stats for your concept would depend on what the guard would do in combat and the expected CR. See page 173 of the DMG, which starts going over how to calculate this sort of thing.

Edit: ninjad.

I guess the concept of a "dragoon" quickly became outdated when people realized that it would be better to just stay on the damn horse, since that's what everyone else was doing essentially... Similarly, the phalanx formation was used for forever, but eventually someone figured out with the advent of guns and artillery and such that spreading out and using cover became better as face to face bayonet fighting became less practical.

On to the dnd dragoon though, the griffon cavalry in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is another good starting point for design, swap out the mounts to wyrmlings and maybe add some elemental spellcasting (ie burning hands for red riders, witch bolt for blue riders, etc).

[sandmote]

I guess the concept of a "dragoon" quickly became outdated when people realized that it would be better to just stay on the damn horse, since that's what everyone else was doing essentially... Firearms got easier to use from horseback, so the job of mounted infantry became possible from on top the damn horse.

Before firearms this job was done by archers, because horse archery requires way more time than you can spare unless it's your method for catching food. And it isn't going to be your method for catching food unless you basically live in the saddle.


On to the dnd dragoon though, the griffon cavalry in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is another good starting point for design, swap out the mounts to wyrmlings and maybe add some elemental spellcasting (ie burning hands for red riders, witch bolt for blue riders, etc). With the appropriate damage resistance if you go this way. You could also size up Guard Drakes from Volo's by one category and use those as mounts, now that I think about it. Might fit slightly better than "my bodyguard rides by babies," thematically.