So I'm building an Ikea dragon for one of my players so that he can have a draconic mount sometime before level 17. I decided (after looking through the bestiary) that the Deinonychus is probably my best starting point. I'll add the Giant template to make it large enough to ride and then I'll toss on the half-dragon template. Everything is good until I notice the melee attack entry for the half-dragon:
Melee: A half-dragon has two claw attacks and a bite attack. If the base creature can use manufactured weapons, the half-dragon can as well. A new claw or bite attack deals damage as appropriate for the half-dragon's size (see Natural Attacks.)
My question is, since the Deinonychus lists that it has 2 talons, a bite and foreclaws, does it lose those in favor of the 2 claws and bite? Or does it retain them? I'd be inclined to let the dinosaur retain its natural attacks in favor of the half-dragon's, particularly due to the raptor's physiology.
So I'm building an Ikea dragon for one of my players so that he can have a draconic mount sometime before level 17.
Nothing to add other than that's pretty cool of you to do as a DM :)
Thanks. Everyone else was getting griffons or giant owls. This player wanted a dragon. Level 17 was the earliest he could get a large sized true dragon. This was my solution. He's still waiting two levels behind most of the rest of the party, but he's glad to wait if it means that his mount can breathe fire.
I'd also rule in favor of the previous attacks... it sounds like it already takes 2 claw attacks and a bite into account, so just use whichever is mechanically better. If the new draconic teeth grow larger, hooray!
Also, if you're into dragons as mounts, I found this product a few days ago and haven't yet had a chance to buy it.
It sounds like you've mostly finished your custom work, but maybe this would be preferable to use in the future. Especially since it's only $2 + the cost of printing.
You should check out the Dragonne in the bonus bestiary, or here.
Its basically what you are looking for, except without having to rework stats, and even has rules for taking it as a mount with the Leadership feat and how it would gain in strength as the PC levels.
For flavor purposes, you could even just call it a dragon and have it look like a regular dragon. You could also change its breath weapon to a energy damage type and have it scale with its level if that seems more appropriate.