Dragon Disciple

[melkorspawn]

I was talking with my girlfriend, who I cajoled into joining our campaign as a 4th level fighter (She's never played before, and as of now, has one day of experience under her belt) about possibility of picking a prestige class in the future. We were looking through the standard material, and she was pretty bummed that there was very little available for a NG Human Power Attacker. I flipped open the DM Guide to page 184, and she said, "What's that? I want to be that." I explained to her that she'd probably have to take a couple of ranks of Sorcerer to qualify for Dragon Disciple... and then stopped. If she takes 1 level of Bard at level 5, as a human with a +2 Int modifier, she can drop the 8 necessary skill points into Knowledge (Arcana) use the last skill point on Speak Language (Draconic) and be able to spontaneously cast arcane spells.

I haven't told her this yet... cause to me it seems slightly cheap, and I'm kinda afraid my DM will rule against it. What do you all think?

 

[Thanee]

Of course that works. Dragon Disciple is meant for fighters, not for spellcasters, anyways.

As for power attacking, there is the Exotic Weapon Master and the Frenzied Berserker.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Infiniti2000]

And, being a human she has an extra skill point to spend on Speak Language (draconic) if she doesn't already have it.

 

[JimAde]

I think it's absolutely fine. It would be nice if she could come up with a good in-character reason to be taking Bard, but balance-wise it's fine. She's losing a point of BAB (relative to fighter) and picking up a nice reflex save boost. She'll never cast anything bigger than a cantrip so it's hadly unbalancing.

Great idea.

 

[Infiniti2000]

It would be nice if she could come up with a good in-character reason to be taking Bard, but balance-wise it's fine.

It's her second day, don't pressure her on anything like that.

 

[melkorspawn]

Well, on her first day she dished out more damage than the rest of us combined... cleric included (and she was doing 50+ damage to creatures with multiple inflict wound spells). But you're right about the holding back on the in-game reason... she's still pretty shy about roleplaying. The other day, she was just strong/silent.

 

[runtime]

Why prestige class so soon?

If she just started, why not let her play as a vanilla fighter? She's obviously playing a fighter well. Let her personalize her character outside of the class system with her chosen feats, skills, and character story.

 

[melkorspawn]

It's a high EL/low XP, treasure, magic item campaign. The best way to keep alive appears to be to PrC quickly, especially one that would give her a natural armor bonus.

 

[Thanee]

Nah, the best way is to play a cleric. But I guess that's not an option at this point.

No, really, if she likes the idea, what's the big deal. Just let her do it.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Corsair]

If the girl wants to turn into a freaking dragon, let the girl turn into a freaking dragon!

Be a helpful friend and show her the easiest way to do so at her current level. Don't use the bard as an excuse to force her into what your preconceived notion of what a bard should be. Just tell her its up to her to explain why she has the powers that she does.

(Though you may want to offer this suggestion: her latent draconic heritage is beginning to manifest itself through sudden revelation and minor magical powers)