Optimizing Dragons

[Ice&Fire]

I'm currently in the process of making a dragon NPC for my campaign. A young adult red dragon, focused on spellcasting. Does anyone have any feat suggestions? There's about 7-8 to play with here, and I'm not too sure where to start. Any other general advice would be greatly appreciated.

I do remember a similar thread from awhile back, but I can't seem to find it. A few people mentioned a template called Loredrake (atleast thats what I think it was called), which sounded like it fit with this concept, but I can't find it after looking through my collection of books

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Power Attack is always nice, Martial Study/Stance for a couple useful abilities.

Have you considered giving him a level in Sorc for 3rd level spells?

[Zaydos]

I think Loredrake is in Dragons of Eberron... don't know never even heard of the book except in one reference to Loredrake.

As far as feats go I always like metabreath feats, especially Quickened and Heightened; they only breathe once but you're going to feel it (especially when I throw in Maximized). My PCs don't like it when I throw dragons, they generally half the party health in one round and then... die extremely quickly .
Maybe that's the whole forewarning the PCs have so they are fully buffed. Even so due to Breath Substitution spell from the Draconomicon means they are likely to take damage.

[Jergmo]

Well, this might not be the best comparison, but in my own campaign I've got a pair of dragons that are brother and sister who fight together, Irenaeus and Gwydean, and I've got them based around different styles. They're Adult Red dragons.

They both have a focus on spells that buff them, but Irenaeus is meant to keep the adventurers at a distance and make things in general difficult for the martial types.

Feats: Blind-Fight, Dire Charge, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Multiattack, Power Attack, Snatch
Spells: 0—Detect Magic, Read Magic, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Arcane Mark, Prestidigitation; 1st—Protection from Good, Shield, Grease, Identify, True Strike; 2nd—Resist Energy, Darkness, Bull's Strength; 3rd—Dispel Magic, Haste. Caster level 7th. (DC 13+spell level)

Gwydean causes general chaos for the entire party and is focused on buffing spells.

Feats: Blind-Fight, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Power Attack, Snatch, Wingstorm
Spells: 0—Detect Magic, Read Magic, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Arcane Mark, Prestidigitation; 1st—Protection from Good, Shield, Armor, Identify, True Strike; 2nd—Resist Energy, Cat's Grace, Bear's Endurance; 3rd—Dispel Magic, Protection from Energy. Caster level 7th. (DC 13+spell level)

[oxinabox]

Have you considered the half-white dragon template?

[Ice&Fire]

Have you considered the half-white dragon template?

No. Immunity to Cold?

Also, another spell that I think i saw somewhere allowed a dragon disguised as a human to use it's natural physical ability scores. Does anyone recall a spell like this?

[oxinabox]

No. Immunity to Cold?

Having one parent a white dragon, negates all the penalties of the other being red, and visa versa.
a dm sent on agaist us at the end of a one shot...
TPK vs everyone except me, io fled though the stone (Meld with stone's handy), and came back the All the kings horse and all the kings me... no wait it was all the kings High lvl Wizards and all the kings Druids and Clerics...

[Ice&Fire]

Having one parent a white dragon, negates all the penalties of the other being red, and visa versa.
a dm sent on agaist us at the end of a one shot...
TPK vs everyone except me, io fled though the stone (Meld with stone's handy), and came back the All the kings horse and all the kings me... no wait it was all the kings High lvl Wizards and all the kings Druids and Clerics...

Or come back with shivering touch. Disproportionate revenge

If it fitted (fut? fat?) in with the theme/backstory etc. it would be an awesome idea, unfortunately it doesn't

[Eldariel]

Loredrake is in Dragons of Eberron indeed, a sovereign archetype. Drops racial HD to d10, gives 2 more levels of Sorc casting. Seems like a no-brainer.

Note that Dragons can get class levels too; this could help make it a bit more of a Sorcerer. Either way, give it Practiced Spellcaster. Keeping its caster level up to par is a must. And I'd honestly give it one level of Sorc so it can get an even level of casting (that is, an extra level of spells; 4th level spells in this case, being equal to the party's casting capability at this point).


Feats, you could use Sudden Metamagic from Complete Arcane/Mage. If it has a Sorc-level, you could also give it Metamagic Specialist [PHBII], giving up familiar to enable using metamagic more efficiently. Of course, Quickening would still need to happen through items (Circlet of Rapid Casting seems pretty solid).

You should probably build it on Elite Array and thus give it some extra Charisma (this happens automatically if you give it a class level anyways). 19 Cha is much more appropriate for a caster Dragon than 14.

It has a lot of feats so it could pick up Sculpt Spell (useful beyond words with various control spells), Spell Focus+Greater (if it focuses on a school, this can be very useful and e.g. Conjuration offers a lot of powerful Save-or-X effects on these levels), and maybe some Metabreath feats [Draconomicon]; giving him e.g. Quicken Breath would enable casting while breathing.


Other than that, Flyby Attack is a no-brainer (move before and AFTER casting), Improved Flight x 2 for Good maneuvrability (in other words, Hovering, quick turns, ability to fly straight up and down and so on) and such are great for a caster.

As for spells, you should probably pick up some spells that enable sort of Divide & Conquer with the PCs, along with Wings of Cover [Races of the Dragon] & Scintillating Scales [Spell Compendium] for protection, and Sorcerer-only stuff with very Draconic flavor like Wings of Flurry [Races of the Dragon] and company.