In Savage Species and the 3.5 Monster Manual, players gained the option to play the younger dragons as PCs. I was looking them over, and they just seem to be really subpar characters.
Take a young blue dragon. It has 12 hit dice and a +5 level adjustment, making it ECL 17. The benefits it gains are: +6 str, +4 con, +2 int, wis, and cha; a 6d8 DC 18 breath weapon; immunity to electricity; create/destroy water; +11 natural armor; and a dragon's natural attack routine.
The natural attack routine is a bite for 1d8+strength, 2 claws for 1d6+1/2 strength, and 2 wings for 1d4+1/2 strength. Even with 6 extra points of strength, that's going to be a piddly amount of damage compared to what a 17th level human fighter can dish out. The dragon won't be able to use a great deal of equipment, which means no armor, no weapons, no cloaks, no robes, etc. The breath weapon isn't really worth much - most CR 17 monsters will laugh at 6d8 points of electrical damage.
So what you end up with is a PC with less damage dealing ability than an equivalent level fighter, fewer hit points (+4 con is worth 24 extra HP, 5d10 averages more than that), perhaps a slightly better AC (if buffed with Mage Armor from the party wizard), worse saves (remember, no cloaks of resistance), and none of the cool dragon attack forms or feats (it's not big enough).
This seems very weak overall. Am I missing something that makes dragon PCs good? Because as it stands now, I see no reason to play one other than the RP value, and then only if your party doesn't mind dragging around some dead weight in combat for RP fun.
Take a young blue dragon. It has 12 hit dice and a +5 level adjustment, making it ECL 17. The benefits it gains are: +6 str, +4 con, +2 int, wis, and cha; a 6d8 DC 18 breath weapon; immunity to electricity; create/destroy water; +11 natural armor; and a dragon's natural attack routine.
The natural attack routine is a bite for 1d8+strength, 2 claws for 1d6+1/2 strength, and 2 wings for 1d4+1/2 strength. Even with 6 extra points of strength, that's going to be a piddly amount of damage compared to what a 17th level human fighter can dish out. The dragon won't be able to use a great deal of equipment, which means no armor, no weapons, no cloaks, no robes, etc. The breath weapon isn't really worth much - most CR 17 monsters will laugh at 6d8 points of electrical damage.
So what you end up with is a PC with less damage dealing ability than an equivalent level fighter, fewer hit points (+4 con is worth 24 extra HP, 5d10 averages more than that), perhaps a slightly better AC (if buffed with Mage Armor from the party wizard), worse saves (remember, no cloaks of resistance), and none of the cool dragon attack forms or feats (it's not big enough).
This seems very weak overall. Am I missing something that makes dragon PCs good? Because as it stands now, I see no reason to play one other than the RP value, and then only if your party doesn't mind dragging around some dead weight in combat for RP fun.
