Rate this Dragonslayer PRC

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Proposed by one of my players -- what do you think?

Dragon Hunter

(merges elements of the Dragon Stalker, Dragon Slayer, and Foe
Hunter)

HD: d8
Prereqs: BAB +7; Feats: Track, Weapon Focus(any); Skills: Bluff 5
ranks, Hide 6 ranks, Move Silent 6 ranks, Search 6 ranks,
Survival 5 ranks, Tumble 5 ranks; Languages: Draconic; Special: must have
encountered a true dragon, must have a favored enemy (dragon), must
wear a magic ring [he may be pulling my leg with that last one]

Skills: Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather
Information, Hide, Jump, Listen, Ride, Search, Spot, Survival

Skill points: 6+ int bonus

BaB Fort Ref Will

+1 +0 +2 +2 Hunting bonus
+2 +0 +3 +3 rancor +2d6
+3 +1 +3 +3 Dragon DR 1
+4 +1 +4 +4 rancor +4d6
+5 +1 +4 +4 Dragon DR 2
+6 +2 +5 +5 rancor +6d6
+7 +2 +5 +5 Dragon DR 3
+8 +2 +6 +6 rancor +8d6
+9 +3 +6 +6 Dragon DR 4
+10 +3 +7 +7 rancor +10d6, Dragonbane

Hunting bonus (Ex) gain bonus equal to class lvl on bluff,
listen, search, sense motive, spot, and survival vs. dragons

rancor (Ex) must use weapon focus weapon to gain bonus to damage,
acts like sneak attack in use and purpose vs. dragons

Damage Reduction (Ex) vs dragon gain DR for each attack

Dragonbane (Su) at 10th lvl the effective enhancement of the
weapon focused weapon wielded by the dragon hunter against a dragon is
+2 better than normal and the weapon deals an extra 2d6 pts of damage

The character this is proposed for is a ranger 6/rogue 4 with favored enemy (dragon), who has been a dragon hunter from very early on.

 

[Sejs]

Why good will saves instead of good fort saves? Seems to be a physically focused class.

Rancor shouldn't be specified that it works like Sneak Attack, or you'll have a very hard time using it against dragons.

All in all it seems like a very dry class, flavor-wise. All it does is buckets of damage vs dragons. Frankly, a dragon would still tear someone with this PrC to shreds, they'd just get hurt a tiny smidge more before they did so. The class has no way to deal with many of a dragon's tricks, like breath weapons, spells, grappling, huge natural armor, etc, etc.

Heh, personally, I'd let it run as written, then disappoint the player by still smacking them down hard with a dragon fight. But maybe that's just me.

 

[Nifft]

A Dragon Slayer needs:
-> Evasion
-> Full BAB
-> A way to avoid Blindsense (scent-breaker, "Dragon-Bane BO", etc.)
-> A way to avoid a grapple
-> A Robe of Many Portable Holes (for the loot)
-> Epic Bluff and Sense Motive ranks
-> Giga Slave!!!

-- N

PS: Er... yeah, "rancor" is a bit off. Even if you took away most of the class ability, though, it's too strong a class -- the pre-reqs might deter some Fighters, but I'll bet your player's PC just happens to meet the requirements.

He should know that Blindsense will really cut down on his ability to sneak attack a dragon.

 

[Orichin]

Well, I was going to make a similar post to the other two.

I too would allow the PrC as written. Dragons, when played right, simply cannot be hindered by any single PC in a group where the dragon is supposed to be a difficult fight (and how often do you throw the PC's against a gimp dragon ). Dragons are too smart, too powerful, and generally too mobile to allow the pc to hit them more than a few times before they either move and pelt them with spells and the dragon's trademarked Fiery Death by Breath Weapon, or just beat them into a pulp and eat them (a particular favorite of mine is the bite-n-toss followed with a spring attack, apply breath weapon to taste).

After the player got sick of XP loss due to resurrections and losing xp on the dragon kill, I would allow him to write a new PrC that allows him more mobility or ranged attacks, more defensive capabilities, and a lot less (but with this other stuff, more consistent because it's longer lived) damage; but offer to allow him to trade the old prc for levels in the new one (maybe at a 2/3 ratio if he was stubborn and really fell behind) and say he suffered an epiphanny.
And I'd take a look at that one closely. If a very specialized, very good dragonslayer starts killing off dragons, will that affect your campaign?

 

[diaglo]

hiya,

this was my first stab at a PrC for my character.

i'm still not happy with the rancor... it just doesn't seem right.

actually, like most adventuring classes he isn't meant to go toe to claw with a dragon alone.


my take on PrCs... esp the ones that people make that are too powerful... is that people commonly make the mistake to think of the guy in a box.

this is a living, breathing character. he is going to use other things to achieve his goal of slaying the dragon... other PCs included.


edit: couple things to consider... bluff is a class skill. and feint is possible. also you can take weapon focus as a feat multiple times ... and now you have more weapons.

 

[robberbaron]

I would have thought 5 ranks of Knowledge: Arcane would be necessary, to give some actual knowledge of dragons and their ways.

Isn't a rancor something from Star Wars? Might just be the american speeling.

 

[Sejs]

Isn't a rancor something from Star Wars? Might just be the american speeling

Yes. Yes it is. And eventually this character can have up to 60 of them to help him fight dragons.

 

[diaglo]

any other comments?

if not i'm stuck springing this on my DM unmolested.

 

[darthkilmor]

any other comments?

if not i'm stuck springing this on my DM unmolested.

I agree that this seems like a fort heavy class. I would maybe add a pre-req that you actually have to have killed at least one dragon.
Agree that maybe knowledge(arcane) 3 or 4 ranks would be good, as they are pretty magical beasts.

It doesnt seem too powerful to me, I would maybe add seomthing that , for every dragon slain, the next time you fight a dragon add +1 per dragon killed to your initiative, to signify your better understanding of how dragons fight. Kinda flavourful and a bit complicated but, really, shouldnt he be keeping track anyway?
"I am dragon-slaying-guy, slayer of 7 deadly wyrms!"

 

[diaglo]

I agree that this seems like a fort heavy class. I would maybe add a pre-req that you actually have to have killed at least one dragon.
Agree that maybe knowledge(arcane) 3 or 4 ranks would be good, as they are pretty magical beasts.

It doesnt seem too powerful to me, I would maybe add seomthing that , for every dragon slain, the next time you fight a dragon add +1 per dragon killed to your initiative, to signify your better understanding of how dragons fight. Kinda flavourful and a bit complicated but, really, shouldnt he be keeping track anyway?
"I am dragon-slaying-guy, slayer of 7 deadly wyrms!"

so far i've slain several dragons... 1 young Blue, 2 wyverns, 1 knowitall teenager deep, and her half drow son.