Dragon Disciples?

[Corlon]

hmmm, I've been looking at the dragon disciple, and it seems not to be all that great.

It gets some tasty abilities that half dragons don't (wings for medium size, etc.), but is it really worth taking 10 levels in that prestige class instead of 3 for the half dragon template. This especially applies because those levels do help a caster, but wouldn't it be MUCH preferrable to gain spellcasting levels that would increase the levels of spells you can cast and such?

 

[Doomhawk]

Yup, the Dragon Disciple is pretty much worthless to a primary caster. For a fighter character with only 1 level in sorcerer, it's halfway decent... still pretty far from a great class, though.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Actually, in some testing that I did, I found that a Sor1/DD10/FtrX was more than a match for a half-dragon Ftr(X+8). The hit points are a major difference (as are wings for creatures smaller than Large).

 

[robberbaron]

I have got a Ftr6/Sor1/DD4 and, apart from losing 2 BAB she is pretty kick-ass.
The breath weapon has proved useful and I am looking forward to the extra HP, Natural AC and wings.

I made the choice for mainly characterisation, but the class is worthwhile if you are willing to effectively waste a level for Sor1.

 

[the Jester]

Choose the right spells for that sor 1 level and you're okay- true strike is a great choice, f'rinstance.

There's an epic dragon disciple in my high-level game, and ever since the pc was created (I think prolly around 14th-15th level) he's kicked lots of ass.

 

[Storyteller01]

Seems like it would be more effective if some type of 'Dragon Blooded' feat were used as a prereq, instead of the ability to cast spells as a sorceror (let me know if I'm off base here).

FFG created a PrC for a barbarian Sorceror that may be more to your liking (if you just want the high BaB w/o the fighters feats). basically, you gain draconic abilities when you rage (claws, breathe weapon, wings, etc). You don't gain a spell progression, but you can sacrifice spells to extend your rage. It is imaginative, but a little weak for high magic campaigns.

 

[brellin]

The Dragon Disciple from Tome and Blood was kinda cool if you ask me but if you want something a little bit diffrent you could
cheeck the Dmg 3.5 but i think the Dragon Disciple was made for those of us who just love Dragons the only thing that i didn't like was that it didn't have any stuff on Gem Dragons

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Thats why I don't use the Dragon Disciple PRC or any other 'transformation' PRCs, they just don't make any since to me. Instead in my games you can slowly gain the template ECL point by ECL point sorta like how they do it in savage species.

 

[Ferret]

I think there was a WotC feature on their site a while back that did something liek that with the templates. I didn't like them as I prefer the Dragon Disciple, mainly flavour reasons I supose. Definatly a decent PrC, if not for sorcerers for fighter-classes.

 

[Al'Kelhar]

hmmm, I've been looking at the dragon disciple, and it seems not to be all that great.

It gets some tasty abilities that half dragons don't (wings for medium size, etc.), but is it really worth taking 10 levels in that prestige class instead of 3 for the half dragon template. This especially applies because those levels do help a caster, but wouldn't it be MUCH preferrable to gain spellcasting levels that would increase the levels of spells you can cast and such?

If you're playing a campaign in which templates are available to PCs, then it certainly makes sense, from a PC optimisation route, to use the half-dragon template in place of the dragon disciple PrC.

On the other hand, if you're playing a campaign in which only core PH races are available, the dragon disciple is not a bad PrC, due to its phenomenal ability increases. These ability increases are the dragon disciple's fundamental benefit; everything else is just icing on the cake. No other PrC published by WotC with which I'm familiar grants ability bonuses. A bard/dragon disciple is a good alternative to a sorcerer/warrior-class/dragon disciple.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar