Hi all,
I posted this in the General Forun but was hoping for further inspiration!
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!
I posted this in the General Forun but was hoping for further inspiration!
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!