Dragon Rider PrC from Draconomican?

[Legildur]

I have an elven fighter/paladin in a homebrew PbEM game that has just gained a bronze dragon as a Paladin's special mount (took the Leadership feat).

I was thinking about moving into the Champion of Corellon PrC as it is a perfect match for my character, but I just read a thread on the WoTC boards where someone asked about taking the Dragon Rider PrC from Draconomicon.

I don't have the book, so could someone please give me a brief overview of prerequisites required for the PrC and what it offers (number of levels, BAB and save progression, description of special abilities etc)?

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

It's 5 levels, so you should be able to squeeze it and Champion into one build. Prereqs are Mounted Combat, Skill Focus (Ride), BAB +5, Diplomacy and Handle Animal 4 ranks, Ride 8 ranks, and the ability to speak Draconic. D10 hit die, good BAB, Fort, and Ref saves.

 

[swordsmasher]

Which is better?

Which class would you say is better, the one from Draconomicon, or the one from the Dragonlance Campaign Setting?

 

[Legildur]

Thanks John.

I can't really take both PrCs as the character in question has just reached 12th level, and the Champion of Corellon is a 10 level PrC.

What other special abilities does the Dragonrider PrC get?

 

[FireLance]

It's 5 levels, so you should be able to squeeze it and Champion into one build. Prereqs are Mounted Combat, Skill Focus (Ride), BAB +5, Diplomacy and Handle Animal 4 ranks, Ride 8 ranks, and the ability to speak Draconic. D10 hit die, good BAB, Fort, and Ref saves.

Actually, it's got good Fortitude and Will saves.

You add your class level to Ride checks when riding a dragon, improve your dragon mount's maneuverability and become immune to the frightful presence of dragons (the last is not terribly useful for a paladin). At higher levels, you get a bonus on Concentration checks to cast spells while riding a mount, a bonus feat (includes Weapon Specialization [lance], which is good for a straight paladin, but not for one that already has 4 levels of fighter), grant your mount the Flyby Attack feat, and can spur your mount to increase its speed with a DC 20 Ride check.

 

[Wolf72]

the DLCS one is fine, but I like the 5 lvl on in Draconomicon better ... mostly because it's more generic.

 

[Legildur]

Dragonlance (or any specific setting) material is out.

At this point I'm not sure how much combat exposure the dragon will actually get. I'd hate to expose a special mount gained through the Leadership feat to some of our encounters. It's more a flavour thing and rapid transport

Looks like I should borrow a copy of Draconomicon and have a look.

 

[Blue]

The Dragonrider PrC is okay, but seems a bit lackluster. Other PrCs you might want to look at are:

Skylord - elven mounted PrC from BoED. Fighter type stats, advances spellcasting half the time, and improves your mount.

Cavalier - Complete Warrior. Gives a bunch of nifty abilities.

Wildrider - Non-updated 3.0 PrC from Masters of the Wild if your DM allows those. It will advance as a fighter (full BAB, d10, 2 saves, etc), and improve your mount, granting HD, feats, and give you some mount abilities and feats.

Good luck,
=Blue