D&D General Thoughts about Purple Dragon Knights

[Paul Farquhar]

The various stat blocks for dragons are designed to be fought against, they are not suitable as party members or pets.

The dragonrider subclass was a much better approach for this type of campaign. What is really needed is a dragonrider subclass for each base class, or at least all the non-full caster ones.

 

[Horwath]

The various stat blocks for dragons are designed to be fought against, they are not suitable as party members or pets.

The dragonrider subclass was a much better approach for this type of campaign. What is really needed is a dragonrider subclass for each base class, or at least all the non-full caster ones.

sounds like a universal subclass, oh well...

 

[I'm A Banana]

The various stat blocks for dragons are designed to be fought against, they are not suitable as party members or pets.

The dragonrider subclass was a much better approach for this type of campaign. What is really needed is a dragonrider subclass for each base class, or at least all the non-full caster ones.

A dragon done as a subclass feature is destined to be a milquetoast disappointment. The power budget just isn't there. Riding an actual dragon (not a wyrmling or a drake or a "draconic spirit") is viable, just not as subclass design. The D&D designers can't even design a satisfying subclass around riding a horse, a dragon is well beyond them.

Mounts are a problem for D&D in party just because they are not a good fit for a dungeon.

The designers just need to tell me how to account for an NPC ally's power in an encounter and let me take it from there. That CR 16 dragon, does it hit as hard as a level 16 character? Can it only take 1/3rd as many hits? Is it better in a LV 15 party or a LV 13 party or a LV 18 party?

You can design monsters that are more suited to be allies, but you can also just use "not suitable" monsters in ways that just take into account the dynamics they're going to bring.

 

[JPL]

A dragon done as a subclass feature is destined to be a milquetoast disappointment. The power budget just isn't there. Riding an actual dragon (not a wyrmling or a drake or a "draconic spirit") is viable, just not as subclass design. The D&D designers can't even design a satisfying subclass around riding a horse, a dragon is well beyond them.

Funny and true. All I know is they just did a book that has like six pages about your exciting new career flying all over the place on a purple dragon and kicking ass, and dammit, I want that.

 

[Zardnaar]

Funny and true. All I know is they just did a book that has like six pages about your exciting new career flying all over the place on a purple dragon and kicking ass, and dammit, I want that.

Way to do it isn't via subclass.

In universe the purple dragon wasn't an Amethyst dragon.

Designers being oblivious.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Funny and true. All I know is they just did a book that has like six pages about your exciting new career flying all over the place on a purple dragon and kicking ass, and dammit, I want that.

Viable, at 4th tier. Maybe even 3rd tier to some degree. Hell, you COULD funnel it into LV 1, you just risk the PC's feeling more like the accessories to the dragon's power (the FR book readily admits that the dragons are much more powerful than their knights). Which is part of why my campaign outline keeps the dragon in more of a patron role until the high levels. But you could also have the dragon taking out other dragons or high-level threats while the PC's deal with the dragon cultists or kobolds or werewyverns.

It's just not a good idea to tether the dragon to a class's power budget or other character build elements. Riding on a dragon and kicking ass alongside it is pretty definitively a high-level kind of fantasy.