Half Dragon Confusion

[moritheil]

I'm playing a half-dragon barbarian currently, and while the +8 STR is awesome for combat, the +3 LA can be a drag in instances where HD are important. If you're going to be playing the character for an extended period, it might be worthwhile to look at the rules from Unearthed Arcana for reducing level adjustments. If you don't have the book, the rules are part of the SRD, and can be found here.

I didn't see if you'd gotten a specific answer for the skills question, but it's mostly important for creatures that have the half-dragon template applied but don't have class levels. Like a half-dragon troll (nice for removing that vulnerability to acid or fire) or any creature you apply the template to.

I played an epic-level game where the party barbarian had less than 5 hit dice. He relied on all kinds of custom items for health, AC, and immunity to magic (death ward, mind blank, etc.) and the elements. I can't remember all the templates he mashed together, but his LA was something like +16.

If he could hit something, it was toast. The problem was that if something could hit him, he was toast - or at least KOed. As some kind of half-dragon voidmind wartroll, there was nothing that did "real" damage to him, but he could be killed easily via magic once he was knocked out and stripped of his powerful protective items.