Me and a friend were looking at the rules in Draconomicon to make a Dragon PC and we were still baffled four hours later because of the dragon aging and leveling-up processes. Can anyone explain these rules in a simpler way (not to insult anyone's intelligence on how they believe they are easy) or suggest an alternate leveling method?
[RPG] How to make a dragon player character in D&D 3.5
character-creationdnd-3.5edragons
Related Solutions
As my copy of savage species is absent, I'll be using the variant race rules from Unearthed Arcana and some inspiration from Races of Destiny.
The first task is to find an urbanized elf. While they don't exist, the various guidelines from the terrain/environmental races is useful, and basically says "exchange abilities for equal value."
The Elf is:
+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution.
Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects.
Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Weapon Proficiency: Elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats.
+2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it.
Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
Favored Class: Wizard. A multiclass elf’s wizard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
A con penalty doesn't seem appropriate for a "poison resistant" race. So we'll swap out con for -2 strength.
Base speed is fine.
We'll trade immunity to magic sleep effects and +2 racial against enhancment for:
"Immunity to nonmagical poison and poison effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against magic poison, and all kinds of disease."
Drop the weapon proficiency line, due to the scope of the posion versus sleep. (Force the player to take a class/burn a feat for that like everyone else)
And I think it's quite fair as a race. Useful for those who want to use poison, but not horribly broken unless designed that way, and certainly no more broken than most other elves.
Poison Elf:
+2 Dexterity, -2 Strength.
Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
Immunity to nonmagical poison and poison effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against magic poison, and all kinds of disease.
Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
+2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. A poison elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it.
Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass posion elf takes an experience point penalty, his or her highest-level class does not count. The huge diversity of experience in cities have broadened the Poison Elves traditions relative to their more focused forest cousins.
Aranea monster:
- Bonus Feat: Iron Will.
- +2 racial bonus on Jump, Listen, and Spot checks. They have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks even if rushed or threatened.
- Class skills:
- Climb
- Concentration
- Escape Artist
- Jump
- Listen
- Spot
Magical Beast type:
- BAB as fighter (+1 per level)
- Good Fortitude and Reflex saves
- Skillpoints (2+int)
- Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.
- Proficient with its natural weapons.
- Proficient with no armor.
- Magical beasts eat, sleep, and breathe.
Shapechanger Subtype:
- Proficiency with all simple weapons
- When affected by a spell of the polymorph subschool, is able to change back as an action:
A creature with the shapechanger subtype (such as a lycanthrope or doppelganger) can revert to its natural form as a standard action.
(Savage Species page 154) Aranea Class / Level progression (
First hit die; +2 cha, +2 dex, bite 1d4, poison (1d3 str, 1d3 str), alternate form (hybrid 3/day, 1 hour), speed 30ft / climb 25ft
Second hit die; Sorcerer level 1, +2 cha, +2 int, +1 natural armor
Bite 1d6, alternate form (hybrid at will), +2 dex, +2 con
Sorcerer level 2, poison (1d6 str, 1d6 str), speed 40 feet, +2 int
Web 3/day, alternate form (humanoid 3/day, 1 hour), +2 wis
Third hit die; Sorcerer level 3, poison (2d6 str, 2d6 str), +2 con
Web 6/day, alternate form (humanoid at will), speed 50 feet
& onwards, By character class.
Counts as a 3rd level sorcerer for spellcasting purposes only. Leveling as sorcerer (or PRC that add +level spellcasting) advances the spellcasting progression accordingly. Does not have a familiar unless gained through class advancement (i.e. takes 1 level of sorcerer, wizard or the feat "Acquire Familiar")
If the DM agrees to use the ECL reduction optional rule, the aranea can immediately after reaching character level 19 (12 class levels beyond the monster progression) pay 18,000xp and reduce the ECL by 1 (becoming a level 18 character, 3 monster HD, 12 class levels and +3 ECL)
Best Answer
Like any monster PC, you have hit dice and level adjustment, and progress by taking character class levels. The difference is that when a dragon PC hits the age listed, he is required to take his next level in his Dragon progression (Table 3-21) instead of a normal character class.
Creating a dragon PC
As per the standard monster PC rules, you begin with the following:
Progressing your character
You can gain character levels as normal. You don't get max HP or 4x skill points for your first character level, as you already got these from your first dragon HD.
If your dragon has increased by one of the age increments on Table 3-21: Aging for Dragon PCs, he must take his next level advancing his dragon progression, instead of a character class: