Paladin attracting a Dragon Cohort/Mount

[Marauder]

Hi all,

I am running a campaign where my characters want me to take them to 20th level (and possibly beyond). As such, a few of them have been making plans for higher levels.

The Paladin's player picked up DotF and was interested in gaining a Silver Dragon Cohort/Mount after taking the Leadership feat at 15th level.

Now, I was initally disinclined to allow this (I run a gritty combative game, not at all 'munchkin'), however, after agreeing to give it a read I found it wasn't too bad. The Juvenile Silver Dragon he was hoping to have is all of CR 9. At 15th+ level, that's more of a big liability (yet is more likely to survive than a poor warhorse), so I agreed that it is ok. Such a creature will be of limited use in most battles as the Paladin will probably end up having to defend the dragon, rather than it turning the tables strongly in the party's favour. Still, it has a lot of 'funk-value' and will add an extra element/aspect to the Paladin character, which I'm all for.

Naturally, I'm not going to have it swoop in one morning and declare that it will serve the Paladin faithfully. Instead, if he wants something like that, he will have to go and quest for it and win it over.

Problem is, I have no idea how to go about this!

Fortunately they will be in a cold and mountainous area in which I believe the race likes to make their lairs (ok, the MM says temperate and warm mountains but they breathe *cold* like white dragons, so I've changed that). So that part is taken care of.

But what kind of quest should he have to perform? What should he do? It's more than just finding a lair and trying to use Diplomacy by saying "I serve the cause of good, come and fight with me."

It has me stumped, and for such an important event I would like it to demonstrate the difficulty and dedication involved in winning such a mighty beast's friendship and loyalty. I think it should rate as one of the more memorable moments of the campaign (the rest of the party should be able to help, as the company that the Paladin keeps will say a lot about said character and help either create a positive or negative attitude toward him).

Thus I am hoping for advice on how to go about this - perhaps some of you out there have done something similar to this already (either as a player or DM)?

Any and all advice is greatly, greatly, greatly appreciated!

 

[Creamsteak]

My favorite quest as a paladin was the one time the DM told ME to go alone. I'm an avid Paladin player, and every once in a while the group rouge had to solo-something, but when I had to, it was quite exciting.

Throw a lot of NPCs at em if he's alone (a 1 on 1 game that involves little reward other than the dragon would suffice).

Make it some kind of quest to convert something or befriend something, instead of to destroy something or find some item...

I will post to this thread again if my headache clears up.

 

[FireLance]

Any variation on the "save the princess" theme could do - except that in this case, the "princess" is a juvenile silver dragon.

Examples:

1. The PCs are approached by the dragon's parent or sibling (who may or may not be in human form) and asked to rescue the dragon from an Very Old white dragon (or some other monster of appropriate CR) who has kidnapped it.

2. The dragon has been affected by a flesh to stone, trap the soul, imprisonment, etc. many years ago and will serve whoever frees it (within the constraints of its alignment, of course).

3. The party encounters a juvenile silver dragon who is being attacked by a monster and is badly injured. The dragon must be rescued and nursed back to health.

 

[Kugar]

I made my paladin work for it. He actually wanted a half-dragon, but that's ok. We ran through Of Sound Mind at lower levels, and I hauled him in front of a "Dragon Council" to attone for raiding the bad guys lair and destroying the remnants of it's essence. After some heated role playing with some truley buffed dragons, he was aquitted and allowed to bond witha mount.

 

[Kibo]

I prefer the classics.

I would probably want to do something like this on a solo jaunt, but it would be cooler if with a group.

I'm a fan of the epic curse. To save their own skins the PC(s) have their own reasons for undoing the curse. One of the encounters along the way would be a female silver dragon, "forever" denied her true form by this seemingly all consuming curse. I might throw out a hook to develop her as a love interest first, her true form unknown to the player(s). Then when the climactic moment comes the curses evil magic forever unworked, the fun really starts. If the love interest thing really took, her being a silver dragon's alter ego might seem more natural, and the PC and NPC have a tie that truly binds. But best of all, you can throw in some more drama. Since she was trapped in the curse for so long, she bears the mark of its evil deeply, and a new curse afflicts them. Ala Ladyhawke. I might go with a rune that glows on her forehead, a third eye, the curse might be able to look and see when he is in an altered state, and only then can she resume her human (or what have you) form. Or at the moons first light she must be human, at the suns first rays a dragon. Cliche? A little maybe. I would say classic. .

The exact nature of the curse, etc, I'd probably be ambigious with, until I was forced to be specific. Even if I didn't do the curse thing, I'd still try to go the love interest route. Maybe some variation on Princesse Mononoke. (I'd love to know if anyone ran that movie straight out as an adventure, it seems like it'd be pretty easy.)

As for the adventure itself, well that might be anything of course. But since I haven't promoted my favorite adventure of all time in almost a week. I'd go with a self-suped up version of Castle Amber.

Of course if the love interest thing doesn't take, or for whatever reason she's a difficult NPC to play, well it's all shot to ship^Ht, so to speak.

 

[Leopold]

NOTE: Dragons are uber intellegent creatures. They will not simply be a steed or a mount. That is beneath them.

Dragons are proud, arrogant, and smart. You have a paladin say "This is my steed" and the dragon would look at him funny if he was good and eat him if the dragon was evil.


So consider this for your PC's: The dragon is not a mount per se but merely a follower. Perhaps the PC is the dragons familar? The dragon summoned him much like a sorcerer summons a toad? This allows the dragon free will to do as it pleases and as long as the PC and the dragon are on the same page the end result will be fine.

Allow the dragon to think, act, and respond, as a creature that has lived hundreds of years with ultrahigh intellegence would and not settle for being a 'shuttle' for a 'base' creature.

In the above cas I would allow the PC to find a dragon and bond with it. Beyond that amount of roleplaying (and there better be allot!) i wouldn't allow it. Even if the PC took the time and effort to find the dragon and talk to them there still is a chance the dragon will say "No, not interested" and move on. I would pull that out if the player just said "Hi your my new steed, let's go" and watch them get all PO'd at me . But i am the evil bastard DM so go figure...

 

[Avatar]

Well I don't have my copy of DotF in front of me, but as I recall, a Paladin who wishes a dragon steed must promise it a fair share of the treasure as well as befriend the creature. This leads to all sorts of role playing opportunities, especially if you have chaotic members of the group who don't want to share their treasure with another creature. Less loot for them.

As for a quest, I like most of the ideas I've seen so far in the thread. Obviously it should be tough, and I'm a fan of making it a solo, since it really is the Paladin who benefits from the steed. If you're going to go the "you saved me, I owe you route" it is especially important for the Paladin to be solo.

Just some thoughts,

Alan

 

[Kugar]

DoF has the rules for the combined Cohort/Mount thingie. I assume that is what you are talking about. I agree tha you need leadership to even pull this off.