Re-working the half-dragon template for lesser dragons

[RavinRay]

I started this thread with the idea in my head that the half-dragon template, while useful and interesting in its own way when applied to non-dragons, may not be adequate when applied to lesser dragons, such as the three in the Monster Manual, the dragon turtle, pseudodragon, and wyvern. Basically, since they already are of the dragon type, why not give them more draconic benefits when mated with a true dragon? This lead me to experimenting with adding more benefits, mostly physical, to the base dragon. I even toyed with the idea of giving the base dragon age categories, since in Races of the Dragon kobolds are given the age categories as true dragons but at a faster ageing rate. So why not lesser dragons? Imagine, a pseudodragon progressing from wrymling to great wyrm! (Which is not far-fetched for me, since the original 1e faerie dragon from Monster Manual 2 also had age categories.) And adding tail and crush attacks.

I soon came to realize that a one-size-fits-all template will not work with the three lesser dragons, since they vary so much in base HD, and HD and size advancement, that the template has to be tweaked for each of them. But, I think it's feasible.

So, I'll post some of my ideas as I go along, and hopefully come out with new new-dragon templates for the dragon turtle, pseudodragon, and wyvern.