Benifits to being a True Dragon (unrelated to Kobolds) [3.5]

[deuxhero]

What benefit (beyond slightly more HP) does Steel Dragon Wyrmling wyrm of war/crusader/arbujant champion/JPM have over a human sorc/crusader/AC/JPM? The breath weapon is a bit iffy (1d6 is outdated by the time you get to ECL 6), spell resistance is seen as a weakness for players rather than a benefit, no one uses poison so resists is pointless, racial movement is VERY nice... but you lose it in alternate form (don't you want to use that so you can actually use magic items?), anyway to keep it in alt form? I know there are dragon only feats, are any of them worth using?

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Not sure how much of this applies to the Steel Dragon Wyrmiling since I'm AFB, but:
You can use magic items in any form. It's spelled out in the DMG that all items except armor and weapons resize to fit. Nat attacks are cool for certain builds, especially if you use Tiger Claw. Natural Flight is awesome, of course. Dragon HD are some of the few that are actually worth losing levels for, with d12 HD, 3 good saves, full BAB, and 6 skill points. Dragpn type gets you access to some awesome feats and templates, not to mention everything that requires (Dragonblooded). Not sure if it's worth it, most races with more than +1 to ECL aren't, but it might be.

[JaronK]

There are a few sovereign archtypes you can take advantage of. Wyrm of War, for example, gives a bonus feat every 4 HD, which must be either a Fighter feat or a draconic battle feat (which is undefined, they give the example of Wingover though so it seems to mean melee combat feats that have draconic themes).

There's another that gives you the artificer ability to sack magic items for craft reserve and gives UMD as a class skill, though you'd need some casting to make full use of that.

Plus Loredrake would give two free Sorcerer levels, which isn't much but Nerveskitter, Magecraft, and Identify could all be useful.

All are free to any True Dragon.

So, that's handy.

JaronK

[deuxhero]

The first post mentions wyrm of war.

[JaronK]

Ah right. Other than that, being a True Dragon just gives you a few PrCs.

JaronK

[deuxhero]

Such as?...

[Starscream]

Such as?...

Draconomicon has some good ones. Most won't be available until epic levels. But there are some nice ones, like Dragon Ascendant. Basically makes a dragon into a literal god.

[dspeyer]

Stat bonuses, blindsense, ex flight, speed, natural armor (which stacks with items of na, because those are enhancement bonuses), skills, saves, eligibility for draconic feats, immunity to one energy type....

I've probably missed some stuff.

[deuxhero]

Oh right, forgot blindsense, that is fairly good.

[taltamir]

dragons are vastly inferior to humans. Dragons have a massive ECL (HD + LA) that is wasted on not so good abilities. They also have a low progression sorcerer in the mix...

A human wizard, sorcerer, cleric, or any other full caster of the same ECL is vastly superior... as in, an ECL 20+ dragon is defeatable without standing a chance by an optimized level 5 wizard, and an unoptimized level 10 wizard.

Heck, a fighter of the same ECL (as the dragon, not as the wizard) has some advantages.

The reason dragons are scary is because:
1. usually your DM will nerf the abuseable spells that can easily take them at a much much lower level (still, they are inferior to an equal level human of most classes)
2. usually your DM will throw a dragon that is significantly higher ECL than you

PS. ECL = Effective Character Level...
Facing a terrible level 20 to 40 character is scary when you are low level... even a level 20 commoner can be dangerous.
And dragon isn't a commoner, its not terrible, its just mediocre.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dragonTrue.htm
pick any dragon, add his level adjustment (LA) to his hit dice (HD) to get his ECL, example a juvinile black dragon has +4 LA and 13HD, he is effectively a level 17 character...
he can cast darkness once a day, breath acid, and is immune to acid and cold...
he has no real spell casting ability, no SR, no frightful presence, etc...

would you rather play him, or a level 17 wizard capable of casting time stop, immunity to acid, polymorph (into something stronger than the dragon), gate (and bring in a balor to slaughter the dragon) etc...

now, throw it at a level 5 party (with no abusive magic allowed) and they will be scared, and justly so.