Dragon Mount question

[gallagher]

if you have a dragon mount, and went the paladin/beastmaster/halfling planes outrider route with devoted tracker and dragon mount, it takes a while to get an actual dragon of at least medium size (you can get a dragonnel or a spiked felldrake, but what you want is a dragon goshdarnit) until paladin level 16. 12-15 you can get a gold wyrmling or a very young bronze or silver dragon. according to the monster manual entry, all three of these should be medium sized, but the table in the droconomicon says that these should all be small (pg 138 or 139).

so with the rules in the book that gives you, you cannot as a small halfling ride a small dragon. there is a way around this, and i want to know if it has been thought of before.

at wyrmling age, both a silver dragon and a gold dragon get alternate form. with alternate form, they can effectively polymorph into any humanoid or animal of medium size or smaller. that means it can turn into a medium animal capable of being a mount, like a riding dog or a warpony. it still gets all the bonuses from being an animal companion and mount, so it still is not going to be a hindrance, and can also polymorph into a human and use weapons, or use its dragon weapons if you arent using it as a mount (and thus can be small/not capable of being a mount as a humanoid)

what do you guys think?

[gallagher]

i guess what i am trying to figure out if i could work it like this:
-small character who needs a mount? polymorph into a medium sized mount like a warpony, with all the goodies that devoted tracker gets
-walking around town? polymorph into something that wont get attention and walk around with the party
-need to understand a wild animal, or get rid of a hostile medium or smaller character? polymorph into that kind of creature and use the command ability


and all the while being a capable fighting friend like a regular animal companion

i feel like this is a versitile, but slightly less powerful version of getting leadership. kind of makes me feel guilty because i am getting a second character, but at least he doesnt get class levels.

[Urpriest]

You're reading the table wrong. Those sizes are rider sizes, not dragon sizes. A wyrmling gold dragon is medium, and can have a small sized rider, including a halfling. No polymorphing necessary. Have fun!

Edit: as to your other thoughts, the command others ability probably won't be usable on anything but dragons, even if you polymorph. You don't actually become the other creature with alternate form, you just resemble it and gain several of its traits, so it's not of your "kind".

[gallagher]

You're reading the table wrong. Those sizes are rider sizes, not dragon sizes. A wyrmling gold dragon is medium, and can have a small sized rider, including a halfling. No polymorphing necessary. Have fun!

oh. well... umm.... thanks! i feel quite foolish.

but the polymorphing is still a fun aspect that i dont see happening that often

[Urpriest]

Oh also, the command ability won't come up until high level anyway. Look at the table on page 140 of the Draconomicon: a gold wyrmling doesn't gain command creatures of its kind until you're at effective paladin level 19.

The alternate form ability is very useful otherwise, however, for most of the reasons you've described. It's much simpler to have another party member than a dragon walking through a city.

[gallagher]

Oh also, the command ability won't come up until high level anyway. Look at the table on page 140 of the Draconomicon: a gold wyrmling doesn't gain command creatures of its kind until you're at effective paladin level 19.

The alternate form ability is very useful otherwise, however, for most of the reasons you've described. It's much simpler to have another party member than a dragon walking through a city.

yeah i dont have the book in front of me, just in class on my ipod. but yeah, having my dragon at first look like a wizard to bait people into targetting him, then ending it to go into dragon mode, as i charge and flank and all that jazz. when they run away i can start using my mounted feats