Character Build: Dragon Disciple

[Thanee]

I take it by your statement above that you consider strength/damage dealing to be the primary emphasis of paladins . . .

Nah, Paladin's primary stat is Charisma, but I don't consider a Paladin/Dragon Disciple to be a typical Paladin.

I do consider 'damage dealing' to be a (not the) primary emphasis for melee fighters.

...throwing an 18 into strength when you're going to get a lot of strength increases from DD anyhow, and you could instead improve your saves, doesn't sit well with me. YMMV.

You can never have enough Str, as a melee fighter. And 16 Cha isn't *that* bad, really.

Bye
Thanee

 

[moritheil]

Nah, Paladin's primary stat is Charisma, but I don't consider a Paladin/Dragon Disciple to be a typical Paladin.

I do consider 'damage dealing' to be a (not the) primary emphasis for melee fighters.

Fair enough.

You can never have enough Str, as a melee fighter. And 16 Cha isn't *that* bad, really.

Bye
Thanee

No, it's not. Actually, I'm struck by something. Another 2 Cha is (aside from a tiny bit of healing and more turning attempts) just +1 to all saves - which could be achieved using the next higher up cloak of resistance, a luckstone, a starting feat, or the like. Of course, from 16 to 18 str you're looking at the next level of gauntlets of ogre strength to make that difference up.

I guess I was biased towards attaining maximum saves possible since I'd already suggested Mettle down the line.

 

[Klaus]

Forget Bards and Sorcerers.

Go Hexblade all the way!

d10 HD, Full BAB, Charisma-based spellcasting, etc. You only need to be Hexblade 5 to become a Dragon Disciple.

Take Arcane Strike (CW) to swap spell slots for +1 to hit/+1d4 damage per spell level.

 

[Thanee]

Str just comes into play a lot more often...

Another decent option for the Paladin-based Dragon Disciple would be Str 18 Con 16 Cha 18 and then pick up Divine Might.

Bye
Thanee

 

[moritheil]

Str just comes into play a lot more often...

Another decent option for the Paladin-based Dragon Disciple would be Str 18 Con 16 Cha 18 and then pick up Divine Might.

Bye
Thanee

Str comes into play more often than making saves? Hrm . . . I'm going to go out on a limb and say it depends on your campaign/party/DM. They're pretty even in frequency from what I've seen, but I can definitely see that I suffer from a bit of tunnel vision (current party has no rogue; traps = ouch.) When you don't do as well on an individual str check or damage roll, it may or may not make a big difference, but when you fail a save, it tends to be catastrophic. YMMV.

Turning based feats are indeed a good reason to get a high Cha

 

[Thanee]

When you don't do as well on an individual str check or damage roll, it may or may not make a big difference, ...

On one... no... on an average one, however... and don't forget, that the original comparison was between an 18 and a 13 in Str (with the 16 in Dex).

...but when you fail a save, it tends to be catastrophic. YMMV.

Yeah, that's true, but the saves would be pretty good either way.

Bye
Thanee

 

[moritheil]

On one... no... on an average one, however... and don't forget, that the original comparison was between an 18 and a 13 in Str (with the 16 in Dex).

Yeah, that's true, but the saves would be pretty good either way.

Bye
Thanee

Correct; the original build I suggested was not a full plate build, and as such, would benefit from the dex. Whatever you prioritize, if you go for full plate, there's obviously no need to have 16 dex since you'll pretty much never benefit from it.

Personally, in my heart of hearts, going for high saves would not only entail going for Mettle, but also picking up Evasion. This precludes heavy armor and is an entirely different build and playing style.

 

[Corsair]

Barbarian 1 / Hexblade 4 / Dragon Disciple X

Full BAB, good HD, rage, fast movement, etc.

 

[Scion]

Barbarian 1 / Hexblade 4 / Dragon Disciple X

Full BAB, good HD, rage, fast movement, etc.

non lawful, non good. Interesting start on life this guy must've had

 

[Jack Simth]

non lawful, non good. Interesting start on life this guy must've had

... and as there is no middle ground on the good/evil axis for standard dragons ... and his classes require him to be non-good....