Topaz Dragon as a Warlock Patron

So in a very recent thread about a Warlock who is losing his patron (due to the warlock betraying said patron), some of the comments made me realize that there was a very likely candidate for a replacement patron - an Ancient Topaz Dragon, who defends (sort of) the Yellow City.

Such a creature isn't a fey, a fiend or a great old one (or a hexblade etc etc)... and it's not entirely a typical dragon either (I'm going to be using the excellent 2nd ed writeup as my basis. For those without access to the 2nd ed monstrous manual, a decent conversion is here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?405307-Gem-dragon-conversion although I note it doesn't have psyonics). In brief it's a coastal dragon with psionics, a dehydration breath weapon, psionics and chaotic neutral in alignment (this particular one is a bit more steadfast than the average).

But I'm a bit at a lost as to what powers such a patron would give? I don't need "custom" invocations, but I do need a spell list and patron-granted powers...

Some general notes:

This Topaz dragon is female and lives upon one of the many islands off the coast of the Yellow City. She can be erratic - she frequently eats crabmen, but angrily attacks would be slavers who seek to capture them. She is seen as a defender of the city, but will sometimes attack a fishing or trading boat, and only very rarely does anything actual defending, preferring to sun herself while digesting her latest catch. The sage of the yellow city claims she has been there for over a thousand years, and that she came from the Mountains of the Moon far to the north. It is generally agreed that she opposes the Krakens and their squid-men servants.

She lives in a cave with a submerged entrance, defended by a *Huge* mantis-shrimp.

The slugmen who rule the Yellow City put great value on the capacity to wield magic, so when a slugman is unable to master wizardy, cannot find a god who will answer to its prayers and isn't one of the lucky few with "magic in the blood"... some turn to more esoteric source of magical might and find Patrons. Such arrangements are seem as distasteful and are usually kept private. As long as the warlock keeps the source of his, her or its magic discrete and doesn't oppose the city, they can usually get away with it, pretending to be a sorcerer or wizard.

But sometimes the warlock discovers that their patron is foul - or worse, aligned with the Krakens. Citizens who renounce such patrons and throw themselves at the mercy of the Council are offered a chance (if they are deemed loyal and to have potential) to redeem themselves and are brought to the Topaz Dragon's island, and left alone. If they survive the dragon's inquiry *and* she finds them worthy, she extends her patronage.

There is perhaps a dozen such warlocks in the Yellow City at the moment, and they are expected to spend their granted magical might to defend the city - and keep the Dragon happy with gifts and favors.

Looking at the 2e version, the spell-like abilities seem a good choice to inform the expanded spell list: protection from evil and good, blink, and fog cloud should be on there. Other effects like water breathing and spells which control water would also be good choices.

1st level. Perhaps a swim speed, the amphibious trait, and resistance to cold.
6th level. No idea, from memory from looking at warlocks, some kind of defensive ability but I'm not sure what a Topaz dragon would grant.
10th level. Not sure here either.
14th level could be the dragon's breath weapon in a cone attack. Make it deal as much damage as a 7th or 8th level AoE spell (maybe the same as Abi Dalzim's horrid wilting but in a cone area effect) and the targets have disadvantage on strength checks for X rounds.

Since the warlock already has blight and horrid wilting is too high to give as a patron spell (although maybe HW could be the basis of the 14th level ability), the only "desiccation" spell left for a warlock would be create/destroy water (level 1). I think you could make a case for any gem dragon patron warlock to get stone shape (level 4). Topaz dragons are antisocial, so maybe dissonant whispers as the other level 1 spell (drives people away). I admit other than that, I am at a loss.

The 5e conversion I saw had the dessication breath be necrotic, I don't know if that quite fits...

A dragon patron in general could grant a fear aura?

A topaz dragon has psionic powers, that could be a source of inspiration for the spells/powers...

I'll try my hands at it.
Design notes: Focus on psionics different from GOO, anti-water theme. Warlock are protector of the city and offer gifts and favors.

Extanded spell list:
1: Create/Destroy Water, Sanctuary
2: Dust Devil, Levitate
3: Tidal Waves, Wall of Sand
4: Confusion, Stone Shape
5: Antilife Shell, Telekenesis

Lvl1: Favor of the Yellow Guardian
Swim speed 30', no longer needs to drink. Advantage to checks to resist gaining Exhaustion from Heat.

lvl6: Topaz-Shielded minds
Share telepathy with allies within 15'. If an ally is affected by this features and you would lose Concentration because of damage, you can, as a reaction, allow on ally to concentrate on the spells until the start of your next turn. 1/Short rest.

lvl 10: Protector of the City Walls
Allies within 15' gain DR 2, objects double that amount. Enemies with the Siege Monster feature cannot benefit from it if their target is next to you

lvl 14: Breath of Dryness
Gain a breath weapon dealing 10d6 Fire damage in a 30' cone, Reflex save for half. Plants fail the save automatically. For each enemy killed, you extract 1 Dust Mephit from it. 1/Long rest.

Sorry, I meant stoneskin instead of stone shape.

Thank you for the answers, I really appreciate it.

I was thinking about looking at the sorcerer for inspiration, but I realised that this may not work.

A dragon blooded sorcerer has , well, dragon blood. So things like scales etc make sense. But a dragon patron based warlock doesn't have dragon biology, only knowledge. So I will have to keep this in mind...

Oh, neat.

I've lined up a puny (but ancient) white dragon as a warlock patron. I found an "ice queen" patron somewhere that I just lightly reflavored. Even though the patron is a dragon, I don't the pact to be about being dragony, since the pact is supposed to reflect an area of my megadungeon affectionately titled the Fridge.

No, I have no suggestions. Just sharing.

Silly me - the 2nd ed book kinda tells me what psyonic powers a Topaz dragon has:

Psychokinesis — Science: telekinesis; Devotions: animate object, control winds, molecular manipulation, soften.

Psychometabolism — Sciences: energy containment, life draining, metamorphosis; Devotions: biofeedback, body equilibrium, cause decay, chemical simulation.

Most topaz dragons prefer psychometabolic powers.

Click to expand...

Furthermore

As they age, they gain the following powers:

Young: protection from evil or good three times a day. Juvenile: blink three times a day. Adult: wall of fog three times a day. Mature adult: airy water three times a day, 10-foot radius per age category of the dragon. Old: part water once a day.

Click to expand...

So, clearly I can use this to start building this thing. These are, after all, a type of "secret knowledge" a dragon has - and thus may be able to share. I'm also looking at the mystic (5e) unearthed arcana class (see http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAMystic3.pdf ), specifically the Immortal discipline, since Topaz dragons like powers that change/enhances their bodies. While these aren't spells, they could be converted to spells *or* at least be used as a guide to what spells there should be. For example, "Giant Growth" suggests that Enlarge would be a good spell to add to the spell list.

I have to work on this now but I'll post what I come up with. In the meantime, I appreciate more ideas and suggestions The "keep people away" idea for example I may have to use!