Dragon Champion Custom Prestige Class

[Elephant]

A friend of mine came up with the following prestige class as sort of a replacement/alternative for the Dragon Disciple PrC (he didn't want to muck around with multiclassing a fighter to get the arcane spellcasting ability).

Dragon Champion
Hit Die: d12

Requirements
Race: Any nondragon
Skills: Knowledge: Religion 4 ranks
Languages: Draconic
BAB +6
Alignment: As cleric of chosen Draconic deity
Special: Must worship a Draconic deity.
Must perform deeds in the name of the chosen deity.
The player chooses a dragon variety when taking the first level in this prestige class, subject to DM's approval. Chosen dragon variety must fall within the deity's portfolio.

Skills: Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Knowledge, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, Spot
Skill Points: 4+INT modifier

Dragon Champion:
Level  BAB    Fortitude Reflex Will    Special    
1st     +1        +2      +0    +2     Natural Armor +1     
2nd     +2        +3      +0    +3     STR+1, Natural Armor +2
3rd     +3        +3      +1    +3     Sense Evil
4th     +4        +4      +1    +4     STR +2, Natural Armor +3
5th     +5        +4      +1    +4     Blindsight 30ft
6th     +6        +5      +2    +5     CON+2
7th     +7        +5      +2    +5     Foster Dragon, Natural Armor +4
8th     +8        +6      +2    +6     INT+2
9th     +9        +6      +3    +6     Wings
10th    +10       +7      +3    +7     Blindsight 60ft, Dragon Apotheosis

"Sense Evil" is as the Paladin ability Detect Evil
Foster Dragon is a Wyrmling Dragon that acts as a familiar.

The key differences from Dragon Disciple are:
*No spellcasting prerequisites
*Fewer Knowledge skill ranks
*Dragon Champion requires a Draconic deity
*Some class skills are different
*Base of 4 skill points per level, instead of 2
*Base Attack Bonus progression follows the Fighter table, not the Cleric table.
*One extra point of Natural Armor
*No claw or bite attacks
*No breath weapon
*One ability boost was reduced by half
*Sense Evil
*Foster Dragon (for a character with no spellcasting, to boot!)

Unspecified is whether the breath weapon and claw/bite attacks are gained with the Apotheosis.

Thoughts, anyone?

 

[Cheiromancer]

The "mucking around with multiclassing" generally weakens a character, and justifies a prestige class giving extra abilities. For one thing, a fighter type will lose hit points and BAB by multiclassing with sorcerer. If you reduce these sacrifices, the prestige class should be reduced in power to compensate.

But instead this version provides a bigger boost to a fighter. A BAB progression based on fighter instead of cleric is a huge plus. Loss of claw or bite attacks is no loss, mechanically- the character will just use his trusty greatsword. Extra natural armor? Given how amulets of natural armor work, this is also great. More skill points, and fewer skill pre-requisites? Even better.

There are a few downsides- loss of breath weapon (1/day, isn't it?), a slight decrease in ability boosts- but the improvements more than make up for it. And the benefits this class grants are not justified by the pre-reqs. There are no sub-optimal feats, no strange multiclassing required; just 4 ranks of a CC skill and a language slot.

And flavor wise it departs from the Dragon Disciple class as given in the DMG. The claws, the bonus spells, the breath weapon; all were draconic in flavor, and hinted at the coming apotheosis. This revision discards too much of that.

I would reject this class as being overpowered, were it suggested for my campaign.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

The PrC is indeed powerful... If you want ideas for a Dragon-themed fighter, I suggest you look at the Dragon Samurai (miniHB)

AR

 

[Elephant]

Thanks for the comments. I'll see if I can get the GM of our campaign to take a closer look at the PrC. Unfortunately, he had okay'd it without much scrutiny.

 

[Nifft]

http://klimt.cns.nyu.edu/~fishman/DnD/DHE/templates.shtml

Take a look at my Drake Blood Champion. It requires that you already be a Half-Dragon (and I've got an LA +2 version of that on the same page, which provides less of a hit), so similarly to a Dragon Disciple you've got to take a small hit before taking the prestige class.

-- N

 

[Elephant]

Thanks for the comments, guys. Does anyone else have any thoughts?

 

[the Jester]

I pretty much agree with Cheiro on this one.

Let me ask- what's the purpose of this prc? Is it a replacement for dragon disciple, or just an attempt at making a version that's better for fighters? In a campaign that uses dragon disciples, I don't see the need for this prc.

 

[Elephant]

I pretty much agree with Cheiro on this one.

Let me ask- what's the purpose of this prc? Is it a replacement for dragon disciple, or just an attempt at making a version that's better for fighters? In a campaign that uses dragon disciples, I don't see the need for this prc.

The intent seems to be a replacement for Dragon Disciple that does not require a fighter to multiclass before gaining levels in the class.

 

[Nifft]

The trouble is, for a straight-on Fighter, Dragon Disciple is a great class. Sure, you take one level of Sorcerer, but that's not all bad.

1) You can cast 2 1st level spells. The two you pick are True Strike and Feather Fall. Both work in full armor -- no Somatic components. Look, there you are using True Strike + Power Attack 3/day! NOT a power down.
2) You can now use any Sor/Wiz wand (!!!)
3) +2 Will save. Not bad at all.

Now, when you take Dragon Disciple levels, you gain more True Strikes per day. This is a nice feature. The rest is pretty obvious -- d12 HD is great, 3/4 BAB is okay, stat boosts are awesome, as are the wings, natural armor and immunities. That breath weapon is mostly useless by the time you finally get it, but with Unearthed Arcana's Half-Dragon Paragon, you eventually get it 3/day.

All in all, I don't see what the problem with Dragon Disciple is from a Fighter's perspective. It's a cool PrC, and plenty powerful as-is.

Finally, do not ever give free Dragon cohorts. Even Wyrmlings. It's just a bad idea. It's up there with: don't drink lich dust, don't fart at shadow demons, don't start a land war in Asia, etc.

-- N