Dragon Skills

[Wolf72]

if you noticed most dragon's skill points seem to be retro active. Why? no idea, but I do know that figuring out the proper skill points can be a pain unless you level/increase the HD from the start ... which is pain if you just want an adult dragon.

Or maybe dragons are suppossed to get them retroactively, genetic memory or some such blah.

If you'd like to see the proper amount of skill points (as per character rules, no retroactive skills because your int increased ...) try these tables out. I'm not 100% (am 90% confident) on the figures, but I think I got them right (MM, OA, PsiHb web enhancement, MCoF ... if any of the int or wis was errated I don't have it on these).

[edit: table looks very bad on wordpad, try msword or better]

 

[Gromm]

Retroactive? How so?
They don't seem any different than anything else in the game.

 

[Wolf72]

a great wyrm dragon has it's skill points by 6+int mod X HD ... normal right?

except for the fact that it's int has been gaining all along.

Just like a PC with 12 int up until lvl 11 ... but then before lvl 12 the PC gets a +6 headband (17 int ...). the PC then does not gain skill points that it normally would not have had for those previous levels where the int was only 12. [with con it is retroactive ... if those were con stats then the PC would have went from +11 hp to +33 (+36 at lvl 12)]

Dragon skill points (examples given by Wotc) don't take that into account, they just give them the skill points, kind of like a boost in con ... not saying my is the 'Right and Only' way, just that it follows the PHb.

then again dragons are in the MM not the PHb, but I think they have enough going for them as is.

 

[Gromm]

Gotcha. They probably did it because its about 300 times easier to make a dragon that way vs using charts and tables and lots and lots of math to figure out what skills they got when at what age.
Then again maybe dragons just get lots more at different points and it averages out to what the MM says.

 

[Wolf72]

oh I agree totally! ... being oddly stubborn at times ... I needed to do this

 

[Gromm]

Then by all means carry on.

 

[Wolf72]

no, no! ... I think I've got them all. Damn ... MM2 will be out soon (er or later, ... ach! same with ToH ...) ... oh well I might [edit: translation: =really big] skill point lists for them too ...