Half Dragon Confusion

[Robane]

I am here again to ask some more (probably stupid) questions. This time about level adjustment and Half Dragons. I am confused as to how it exactly works, which is a problem as I am looking into making a Half Dragon (LA +3).

So here we go, the things I am confused about:

Can a character with level adjustment ever reach level 20? And are they considered multiclass?

When it talks of it gaining skills as a dragon equal to (6 + Int modifier) x (HD + 3) does this mean this is the amount of skills I start with, or do I add this to skills from the previous levels?

He has secondary bite and tail attacks, are these always at a -5 penalty, even if it's the only attack I use in a turn?

Once again, sorry if I waste anyone's time, and I'd like to thank you for any help.

 

[Dagredhel]

Can a character with level adjustment ever reach level 20? And are they considered multiclass?

A 17th level Half-Dragon is equivalent to a 20th level character; an 18th level character is Epic, equivalent to a 21st level character.

When it talks of it gaining skills as a dragon equal to (6 + Int modifier) x (HD + 3) does this mean this is the amount of skills I start with, or do I add this to skills from the previous levels?

"The half-dragon gains dragon skill points only for its racial Hit Dice."

You may want to refer to this site: d20srd.org

He has secondary bite and tail attacks, are these always at a -5 penalty, even if it's the only attack I use in a turn?

"A half-dragon has two claw attacks and a bite attack, and the claws are the primary natural weapon."

The bite is always at -5, unless you take the Multiattack and Improved Multiattack feats. (They reduce the penalty to -2 and then 0.)

A half-dragon doesn't usually get a tail slap attack, but there is another feat that grants one... offhand, I believe it must be taken at 1st level; it's in one of the dragon-themed supplements.

 

[Dagredhel]

Huh... I followed the link (on Int in the part about skills) in your post to the D&D Wiki site, thinking tht maybe the information you were referencing was different from the 3.5 SRD, but it looks the same at a glance... No mention of a tail attack, for example?

 

[Robane]

Thank you for taking time to help me out.

Yes the tail is a feat taken at level one, It's in the Races of the Dragon. I was just a little confused about if a secondary attack would still have it's negative bonus at level one. (Sorry if the link was confusing, I forgot to remove it).

As for the skills, that link does help clear it up a bit, I assume when it says that I, "[Gain] the normal amount of skill points for its class levels", that means that I get all the skills for levels 1-4 (with the extra points given at level 1) and then add these to them?

 

[Runestar]

Can a character with level adjustment ever reach level 20? And are they considered multiclass?

There is really no limit to what lv they can reach, save for what level your campaign extends to. So to become say, a half-dragon human fighter18 (ECL21), you need enough xp to be a 21st lv character.

If say, your game lasts long enough for every to get to lv60, you will be a half-dragon human fighter57. You are just 3 lvs behind in terms of total number of class lvs.

Templates are not considered multiclassing (though the savage progression tables mimics that format) and so will never incur multiclassing penalties.

When it talks of it gaining skills as a dragon equal to (6 + Int modifier) x (HD + 3) does this mean this is the amount of skills I start with, or do I add this to skills from the previous levels?

This applies only to racial HD. Assuming you managed to acquire racial HD from somewhere, being a half dragon would increase the skill points you get to 6+int mod. For example, an ogre gets 2+int mod skill points each lv. A half-dragon ogre would get 6+int mod skill points instead. If he takes a lv of fighter, he gets only 2+int mod skill points for that fighter lv (the skill point increase is not applicable to class lvs).

He has secondary bite and tail attacks, are these always at a -5 penalty, even if it's the only attack I use in a turn?

The half-dragon template grants claw and bite attacks, not tail attacks. Claws are primary attacks, the bite is the secondary attack. So if you attack using only your claw, or claws+bite, the claws will use the rules for primary attacks (no attack penalty, str mod to damage).

Hope this helps.

 

[Robane]

Thank you very much, that clears it up quite nicely.

And now that I look, I was wrong on the tail. It needs dragonblood subtype, which is given to draconic characters not half dragons (silly mistake).

(Kinda stinks to not get the extra skill points though, oh well)

Once again thanks for the help, i can finally finish my character sheet.

 

[Shin Okada]

And now that I look, I was wrong on the tail. It needs dragonblood subtype, which is given to draconic characters not half dragons (silly mistake).

You can take that feat. Read P.4 of the Races of Dragon "Dragonblood Subtype".

Your creature type is "Dragon". And dragons automatically qualify for feats (and many other things) that require Dragonblood subtype.

 

[irdeggman]

An important thing to note is the type being "dragon".

This means that spells and effects that target "humanoids" will not work, e.g. the Enlarge Person spell.

This is something that is often overlooked.

 

[Wolf72]

i think this is from d20 modern ... a fair alternative imo

Half-Dragon
• +8 str OR +4 str and wings

 

[SolitonMan]

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.