Draconomicon rules on Dragons as PC.

[Li Shenron]

I was really hoping that the sneak peek on Draconomicon was going to give hints on this, but someow they decided to publish a preview on rules about hatching dragon eggs... nice but doesn't help me decide if I want this book or not.

Could someone with Draconomicon tell me how much is this topic addressed in the book? How much space is dedicated to RPing a Dragon? From the content it looks like there is also a significant part on Dragons as mounts, cohort, familiar etc, but does the book seriously address how to handle possible imbalances given by draconic powers?

How does the book handle advancement with XP? Does it use something similar as Savage Species's progressions? I doubt so, I am inclined to think that dragons still advance by age categories, but how is this fact tied to XP? If it is at all, obviously...

 

[Olive]

There's three and a little bit pages of rules. You're right in assuming that it doesn't create 'classes' for dragons like SS, but it does simulate aging with XP but requiring the player to use XP to go up a ECL every few years. FOr example, a new born black dragon PC fits well with a party of 7th level characters, due to it's 4 HD and +3 LA. After 2 years, it will gain a dragon HD, so you should use XP to 'advance a level', but in the meantime your dragon PC can take character classes etc. After another 2 years, you'll need to take another 'dragon level'.

Make sense?

In terms of RPing info, well the first 50 odd pages are about dragon psycology and society, so there's significantly more than there is in the PHB about RPing an elf for example. Also the feats etc. that are on offer for dragon NPCs would obviously be good for dragon PCs as well...

 

[Li Shenron]

There's three and a little bit pages of rules. You're right in assuming that it doesn't create 'classes' for dragons like SS, but it does simulate aging with XP but requiring the player to use XP to go up a ECL every few years. FOr example, a new born black dragon PC fits well with a party of 7th level characters, due to it's 4 HD and +3 LA. After 2 years, it will gain a dragon HD, so you should use XP to 'advance a level', but in the meantime your dragon PC can take character classes etc. After another 2 years, you'll need to take another 'dragon level'.

Does this mean that the Dragon must wait a few years before "spending" Xp into advancement as a Dragon? Yes, it makes sense.

So for the Dragon PC is somehow mandatory to spend other Xp in character classes?

 

[Vecna]

What about dragon PrC?

 

[Olive]

So for the Dragon PC is somehow mandatory to spend other Xp in character classes?

Well, the example is given as a dragon being part of a party, so if you want to keep up with the others, then yes. But you could always choose NOT to advance I guess. Why you'd want to is beyond me.

What about dragon PrC?

What about them?