toxicpie |
Are there any nations/cities/schools that train their warriors or knightly caste to ride and bond with dragons, as described in the SSG dragonrider class?
If my GM allows, I was thinking of building a dragonrider character but was wondering where on Golarion his backstory could be set. Of course, I can always go with the Eragon egg-found-in-the-woods deal.
Dragonchess Player |
Not true dragons (or the even more primal linnorms). Cases where a dragon consents to serve as a mount would be determined on an individual basis between the dragon and that rider (alliance, magical or moral strictures, one-time situation, etc.).
However, powerful (and most likely evil) organizations may be able to coopt/subjugate drakes or wyverns to serve as mounts in limited numbers. The same way other groups may use giant eagles, griffons, hippogriffs, pegasi, etc.
gamer-printer |
In addition to SSG's Dragonriders, you should also consider Geek Industrial Complex's Companions of the Firmament which are all the PF flying/falling rules, plus new flying mount rider archetypes, and special rules for spear-chuckers (special attacks against flyers) and a variety of other mechanics specific to flying riders.
You could also look at Rite Publishing's In the Company of Dragons that feature dragons as PCs. Note, for example, the only belt magic item allowed for dragons from this supplement are saddles, so there is kind of an expectation that dragons are indeed mounts, in addition to their other more egotistic abilities.
Cyrad RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16 |
Riding drakes might work. Drakes are no where near as intelligent or egotistical as true dragons. Balance-wise, it's also more manageable. It might make sense if there existed a league of knights that raised drakes to be valorous.
Riding true dragons, however, raises a very important question. What does a true dragon gain from having a rider? Dragons are smarter and both magically and physically more powerful than even some of the most heroic humanoids. Some dragons can even shapeshift into humanoid form. Why would they ever want some monkey on their back telling them what to do? Even companionship isn't much of a reason as dragons can live up to a thousand years.
PFWiki Scribe |
There's also the orcs of the Wingripper tribe of the city of Wyvernsting. They ride and train wyverns, which are sort of like dragons.
Alexander Augunas Contributor |
Riding true dragons, however, raises a very important question. What does a true dragon gain from having a rider? Dragons are smarter and both magically and physically more powerful than even some of the most heroic humanoids. Some dragons can even shapeshift into humanoid form. Why would they ever want some monkey on their back telling them what to do? Even companionship isn't much of a reason as dragons can live up to a thousand years.
That's a question that I set out to answer when I wrote the Dragon Companion Handbook.
Using the Draconomicon (WotC, 3.5) for inspiration, I decided on two key points for draconic "society" in order to justify it. Prestige among dragons is based on A) how old you are and B) how much wealth you've accumulated. Since dragons can't magically make themselves older and expect to be recognized for it, the best way for a dragon (particularly a very young dragon) to quickly amass influence among other dragons is to gain a lot of wealth in a relatively short amount of time. And who comes into a lot of wealth quickly? Adventurers!
So as a result, dragons stand to gain a lot of indirect power by working with active mortals. You're not going to see a dragon lounging in a king's throne room; you're going to see dragons working with mortals who are doing things that will lead to a serious influx of cash for the dragon. I imagine that dragons would be particularly interested in working with heroes to topple down rival dragons with large stores of wealth already attributed to them so the dragon could take it for herself.
gamer-printer |
Riding true dragons, however, raises a very important question. What does a true dragon gain from having a rider? Dragons are smarter and both magically and physically more powerful than even some of the most heroic humanoids. Some dragons can even shapeshift into humanoid form. Why would they ever want some monkey on their back telling them what to do? Even companionship isn't much of a reason as dragons can live up to a thousand years.
Who says a dragon allowing a rider on its back is being treated as a mount? In my games, when a dragon carries an adventurer, he doesn't allow the rider to tell him what to do. He decides for himself, where to go, how best to handle an aerial encounter. The rider is there for the ride, however, in no way is the dragon being subserviant to the rider. The dragon is a member of the adventuring party - and played by a player (we're using In the Company of Dragons to accomplish that.)
Actually using that latter mentioned publication, dragons grow in size faster through being a "mount", than the natural growth rate based on aging.
stormcrow27 |
The Dragonrider from Rogue Genius Games also takes care of that issue. As the Dragonrider levels, his mount becomes larger. Given a standard 80 year lifespan for a human rider, a dragon can gain very old age category 520 years faster then they could without a rider. Once the rider dies, the dragon gains all of the powers that had been sublimated becoming the rider's companion. Evil dragons often do this to get power quickly, and good dragons could do it in order to gain the same benefit to further the cause of good.