Playing a Pseudodragon?

[Grynning]

So, inspired by the little story passage on page 9 of Complete Scoundrel, I got to thinking about a Pseudodragon PC. Not necessarily just a cunning trickster type as the book suggests, but just as a general idea. Starting this thread for brainstorming purposes so I'll have it ready to go if I ever get into another 3.5 game.

Besides the +3 level adjustment (which can be bought off, albeit slowly), they aren't bad. Tiny Size, Dragon Hit Dice and qualities, -4 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Con and +2 Wisdom (based on their abilities vs. the standard array),+4 Natural Armor, Telepathy and Blindsense.

So how would one optimize the tricky little guys? No Cha or Int bonus means the only casting they'd be good at is Divine or psychic warrior, neither of which seem to really fit with their overall flavor. Rogue is a little boring, but would generally work, but I was thinking a Swordsage would be pretty hilarious and awesome. Sure, the natural weapons (sting and bite) are crap but most maneuvers don't rely much on weapon damage anyways, and I think a tiny flying kung fu dragon would be full of win. My copy of ToB is on loan right now, so if anyone has any ideas for a progression that would work please throw them up. Any other cool ideas for a pseudodragon character would be welcome.

Edit: Realized a couple of things - Tiny size means only attacking with the tail unless I want to provoke by entering the opponent's square. I know there are some feats/maneuvers that will help with this, as well as stuff that gives bonuses when fighting larger creatures (which when Tiny, is most things) - some help locating those would be appreciated.

[Roc Ness]

I have tried pseudodragon often, and lemme tell you, outside of being sneaky there ain't much they can do.

However, that aside, some pointers for ToB Swordsage:

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- Swordsage is best, as it has the most Dex based Maneuvers, and Wisdom synergy.
- Take the Shadow Blade feat to get Dex to damage with Shadow Hand weapons. Ask your DM to rule that a natural weapon counts as an unarmed strike (otherwise this won't work).
- You will get two martial disciplines to add Wis to damage for. Choose wisely.
- You will want to use maneuvers that grant bonus damage, not the sort that multiply damage (you don't have that much to begin). For example, the Death in the Dark maneuver (+15d6 damage, average 52) is better for you than Diamond Nightmare Blade (maybe an extra 40-something damage), despite it normally being the other way around.
- Your jump checks will suck. Unless you take feats that grant bonuses to jump checks via your flight (or you have a Ring of Jumping +15), stay away from Tiger Claw maneuvers that require jump checks.
- Setting Sun throws aren't actually as good as you think, because it still doesn't eliminate your size penalties to trip attempts. The +4 bonus may somewhat offset this, but unless your Dex is really high or you don't have to worry about size penalties, avoid the throws. Tornado Throw is the exception as your base 60ft fly movement allows for a whopping +24 to trip once you have travelled 120ft.
- Shadow Hand teleports are less useful for a Pseudodragon than for normal races. Until Shadow Blink, a Pseudodragon could travel even further than the teleport by flying. That said, a Shadow-port does allow an instant escape from a grapple, which may make them worth taking.
- Setting Sun and Shadow Hand stances are generally worthwhile. Some Diamond Mind stances are also useful.
- Stone Dragon maneuvers require contact with the ground. Unless you can land often, you will have trouble using these.
- The Underfoot Combat line of Feats from RotW are worth it.

And here is a list of other things Pseudodragons could do (that aren't sneaky)

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- Dragonfire Adept (Con-Based breath weapon. I think I can, I think I can!)
- Dragon Shaman (Ditto above, but you also get useful Aura support)
- Bard (Support, lots of decent buffs too)
- Druid (Never a bad option. Plus you get an animal companion bigger than you)
- Binder (Lots of vestiges that give you useful SLAs that aren't stat dependant)
- Warlock (As Dragonfire adept, but with rays rather than breath weapons)
- Marshal (Not a strong class, but good dip for auras if you have a high Charisma)
- Hexblade (You're a tiny cursing machine, with poison!)
- Spellthief (You don't actually have to be sneaky, you just Flyby Sneak Attack poison and steal a spell. You won't really need a lot of Charisma because you cast as though you were the enemy (or ally))

[Rad]

mmm... how does a dragonfire adept pseudodragon compare to an actual dragon as a PC?

[Roc Ness]

mmm... how does a dragonfire adept pseudodragon compare to an actual dragon as a PC?

Unless you are using one of Oscelcamo's monster classes, a dragon as a PC has huge level adjustment... At least a Pseudodragon's can be bought off. Also, a dragonfire adept can use its breath weapon every round (although that might make it ineligible for metabreath feats...).

[Toliudar]

Dragonfire adept or warlock would seem like excellent fits with pseododragon. Although a favoured soul of bahamut who keeps insisting that he's a baby platinum dragon would also be huge fun...

[Prime32]

Don't forget to take the Mindsight feat.

[Grynning]

Don't forget to take the Mindsight feat.

Kinda redundant already having blindsense.

I could swear there was a feat that let you enter larger creature's squares without provoking. Anyone know what I'm thinking of?

Edit: Found it! Underfoot Combat
Also opens up Confound the Big Folk which may have some fun applications.