Bonded Dragon Class
This class represents a dragon who has bonded with a member of another race, usually a lesser race. This bond manifests a deep connection between dragon and rider, they can share thoughts and emotions instantaneously, usually with no control over the sharing (although they can with practice. Think of this connection as being in another persons head all the time, with almost no control over it.)Bonded Dragons tend to be less savage and conniving then the normal dragon, mostly because of the bond they share with their rider. This connection is so profound, that most rider's/dragons usually lose the will to live after the other has died. The bond has several beneficial effects, they can share energy with each other, and after learning out to fight together, these riders and their dragons become legendary warriors, capable of taking on potentially hundreds of men and living to tell the tale. The bond also has another effect on it's rider, once the rider reaches maturity, they will stop aging, many a rider has lived to be thousands of years old.
The Bond can start at whatever age with rider is. Dragons who are set to be bonded with a rider reside in their eggs until they sense the presence of their rider, then they hatch and the bond is made. Your newly hatched dragon will be weak at first, but will grow quickly, as bonded dragons grow MUCH faster than normal dragon.
There are several hurtles that Rider must go through when their dragons hatch, the first is figuring the bond out. The second is communication, dragons do not inherently know language, and at first communicate through feelings and images. It is up to the rider how to teach his dragon in it's early stages of life. Keep in mind that dragons are EXTREMELY intelligent, sometimes more so than their human counterparts. Also, most dragons do not have the vocal cords associated with complicated speech, the most they can do vocally is roar. ( I know pathfinder dragons can talk, but that isn’t very fun, it would force you to play 2 characters with different mind sets possibly.) Most use their riders as conduits for speech, however they can speak directly to people through mental projection.
Hit dice per level: D6 first and second level, D8 third level, D10 thereafter.
Bab per level- .75 (rogue growth)
Saves Gain one in each, every other level. Starts at 1 in each.
Skills-Starting at level 3, a dragon gains access to skill points. They gain 2 + int mod per level.
Perception (Wis)
Bluff(Cha)
Fly(Dex)
Intimidate(Str/Cha)
Swim(Str)
Spellcraft (Int)
Acrobatics-(Dex)
Sense Motive (Wis)
Distance for mental communication between dragon and rider is 500 feet. After that distance the communication link deteriorates quickly, and becomes reestablished once they become in range of one another again. Energy Funneling for bond powers has a distance of 20 feet.
Energy: Dragons have stored Magical energy. This energy keeps them alive, and can be refueled by sleeping and eating (but for our purposes sleeping). The dragon can also use this resource to help their rider. The energy store gains per level are 2+Wisdom mod per level. Because of the requirement for a dragon to have energy, the base gain of energy per level can never be lower than 1 per level. If this energy resource ever reaches zero, they dragon takes massive negatives and may die, DM discretion.
Eldunari- A dragon’s soul and consciousness are housed in a hard Gemlike crystal in their bodies. As dragons get older, this crystal grows. At any point in their life, they can disgorge their eldunari. If the dragon should die, the dragon can choose to send it's consciousness to it's eldunari wherever it currently is, preserving their consciousness in the Eldunari should their body die. This effectively can make a dragon immortal. These Eldunari can be found, and Each dragon can wield an Eldunari, which will increase their stats. In our Campaign, dragon armor will have eldunari slots, which you can equip eldunari into.
Damage per level: As dragons grow their damage increases, because their strength increases and size increases.
Levels 1-2: 1d4 Bite. Strength Mod adding to damage is cut by ¼, however their mod will not take damage away from their roll. (ex. The only way to get bonus damage is from a Str mod of +4 or higher, otherwise it doesn’t contribute.)
Levels 3-4: 1d6 Claws, 1d8 Bite.
Levels 5-7: 2d4 Claws, 1d10 Bite.
Levels 8-10: 2d6 Claws 2d6 Bite.
Levels 11-13: 2d8 Claws 3d6 Bite.
Levels 14+: 2d10 Claws, 3d8 Bite.
Starting at Level 4, Dragons can start to breathe flame. Breathing flame happens in a cone shape. At first it's in a 15 foot cone, and increases by 5 feet every 3 levels. Breathing flame costs 5 Energy.
The save is reflex, and equal to: 10+(1*Level) + Int Modifier.
Damage is:
4-5: 3d6
6-7: 3d8
8-9: 4d8
10-11: 5d8
12-13: 6d8
14-15: 7d8
16-17: 8d8
18-19: 9d8
20: 10d8
Unlike normal creatures, Dragons do not take bonuses and negatives from size. In fact, they become tougher to kill as they grow. Every level increases a dragons AC by 1. (In order to make things easier, treat dragons as medium size in terms of size bonuses and negatives.)
Size- 1 Small 10 ft move speed. No flight
Size -2 Medium 20 feet movespeed. No flight
Size- 3 Large (Capable of prolonged flight, and can carry lighter rider's, aerial combat with rider on back has severe negatives) 30 feet move speed, 100 feet flight speed.
Size 4-10- Huge (normal flight with rider on back from here on out.) 40 feet move speed, 200 ft flight speed.
Size 11+- Gargantuan. 60 ft move speed. 200 flight.
The Bond- as Dragon and Rider level, their bond becomes much stronger. The dragon gets bond abilities and powers to reflect that, and he also learns a Archetype power to define its form of combat.
At levels 2,5,8,11,14,and 17 the dragon learns a bond power. At level 3, the Dragon learns its Archetype power, and the Power becomes stronger at 6. At level 9 the dragon learns an Advanced Bond power.
Bond Powers:
-Power- The Dragon can pass a surge of raw physical power. On the rider's next attack, if he hits, for every 2 energy passed to the rider, He may deal +1 damage for one hit. The dragon can funnel as much energy as it wishes to it's rider in this way at one time. This can be done instantaneously, but only if this power wasn’t used on the dragons turn.
-Knowledge- The dragon can funnel energy to the rider to recover their spells. If they have a spell casting feature, they dragon can funnel energy equal to 2x the spell level to recover a lost spell. They can only recover 1 spell per turn using this ability.
-Mysticism- The Dragon can funnel energy to the rider to increase the damage of their spells. If they have a spell casting feature they can funnel increments of 5 energy to increase the next damaging spell the rider casts by 20%. This can be done multiple times in one turn.
-Accuracy- The dragon can funnel energy to the rider to increase it's chance to hit. Every increment of 3 energy increases their bonus to hit by +1 for that rider's turn.
-Healing- The dragon can funnel energy to their rider to increase a healing spell's effectiveness. Every 2 points they funnel increases the healing spell by 2. They can funnel as much energy to the rider this way, once. It must all be used on the next healing spell cast. This can be done instantaneously, but only if this power wasn’t used on the dragons turn.
-Ability- The Dragon can funnel energy to it's rider to help the rider with a skill check. Every 3 energy sent to the rider gives it a plus 1 to that skill. If the dragon is trained in that skill, the bonus is plus 2. This can be done instantaneously, but only if this power wasn’t used on the dragons turn.
-Regeneration- The Dragon can funnel healing energy to it's rider. For every 3 energy funneled, the rider heals 1d4. Can only be used once each turn, but you can funnel as much energy as you want.
-Aerial Combat Training- This bond power is passive, when in Aerial combat, Rider and Dragon gets a +2 to hit. You can only take this power after you take Aerial Combat bond, and only once you reach level 10.
-Aerial Grappling- You can make CMB checks in the air at a +2, and if you do grapple an opponent, the next round you can attempt to break the reason they are flying with another CMB check, if successful, the opponent will fall and probably die. Attainable after Aerial Combat Training.
-Shielding- The Dragon can funnel energy to it's rider to help the rider's defense. Every 3 energy funneled increases the Rider's AC by 1 for the next turn, If the rider attacks, this bonus is lost.
-Elemental Shielding- The Dragon can funnel energy to shield the Rider from elemental attacks. Choose a element, the rider gains DR3 versus that element for every 3 energy funneled to the rider for the next turn.
-Salvation- The Dragon can funnel energy to it's rider to help him escape danger. This bond power is instantaneous, but can only be used once every round. By using 3 energy, the dragon can give a temporary buff to the rider's saving throws. Choose one, every 3 energy used increases it by one. This can be used after the roll has been made.
-Close Quarters Combat Training- When within 10 feet of each other, the dragon and rider become a cohesive fighting unit. When within 10 feet of one another, they both receive a +1 to hit and damage. Every 5 levels after attaining this feat, the bonuses increase, the first gain is a +1 to hit, the second gain is a +1 to damage, and alternates every 5 levels.
-Distance- The Dragon can funnel energy to it's rider to increase its effective range with a ranged weapon. Every 2 energy funneled increases the maximum range increment before negatives are applied by 10 feet.
-Mental Link- All Dragons and their riders can communicate with each other in their minds, but this link is greatly affected by distance between dragon and rider. This feat increases the range for the dragon and rider (if they can) to funnel energy to one another, increases by 5 feet every 5 levels (maximum of 40 feet at 20).
-Energetic Mental Combat- This improves upon the dragons mental combat power, they can spend 3 energy to increase it's mental combat roll by 1. This can be used instantaneously after the roll has been made.
-Improved Combat Maneuver Bonding- The dragon can funnel energy to it's rider to help it's rider with a combat maneuver check. Every 3 points funneled to the rider increases their roll by 1, this can only be used once each turn, but can be done instantaneously.
-Battery- Killing Foes in melee combat regenerates 2 energy. This increases to 3 at level 8, and 4 at level 16.
-Illusionistic Hide- Only attainable after Prismatic hide has been taken and at level 10. The Dragon can cast Invisibility on itself once daily. The Spell is cast at a caster level equal to it's dragon level. He can also use 5 energy and cast it on His rider at the same time, as long as they are within “funnel energy” range.
-Potency- Your dragon can funnel energy to improve your spell dc's. Every 3 energy funneled increases your spell dc by 1. This can be done instantaneously but only once each round.
-Selfless spells- Your Rider can now use spells that only have the target of “you” on the dragon now, and can do it up to 30ft away.
-Close Quarters Defensive Training- When dragon and rider are within 10 feet of one another, they help protect each other from danger. This bestows a +1 bonus to AC to both dragon and Rider. This bonus increases to plus 2 at level 10.
-Nimble Flight Training- Attainable After level 5 (when the dragon can fly with rider easily). This Feat help’s the Dragon perform complicated acrobatics in the air. In aerial combat, rider and dragon both gain a +1 ac bonus, and they gain a bonus to reflex saves equal to half the dragons reflex save bonus.
-Sneaky Dragon- Dragon gains stealth as a trained skill. Only attainable if rider is trained in Stealth. Dragon color plays a role in the stealth check, dm discretion as to how. Dragon gains sneak attack dice equal to half his riders sneak attack dice (if they have the sneak attack class feature).
-Taunt- Dragon is adept at drawing attention to itself. It receives a +5 bonus to intimidate checks made to make itself known as a threat to those around it.
-Increased Strength- The dragon has focused on making its blows harder. Their Strength bonus on damage roll is doubled.
-Increased Bulk- The dragon has more bulk and weight, adding to it's health. The dragon receives a immediate plus 5 to health, and gains an additional health every level.
Archetypes-
-Mental Combat- This feat allows the dragon to project it's consciousness into it's enemies minds and attempt to attack them mentally. This check is handled like a combat maneuver check, using intelligence instead of a strength modifier. The defender defends this attack, using Wisdom and intelligence instead of strength and dexterity. If this succeeds, they are in their opponents mind. Next round, if they succeed this check again, they can stun their enemy, rending them helpless and unable to move. If the check initially fails, the defender can turn the tables on the dragon and attack them, using the same rules. Mental Combat has a range of 10 feet.
-Advanced Mental Combat (attained at level 6)- This feat improves upon Mental combat. If the dragon succeeds at entering its opponents mind (the first combat maneuver), the dragon can gleam information from the opponents mind. If certain information is needed, the dragon can attempt to extract it using the Mental Combat check. This feat can also be used in battle, instead of stunning the opponent with the second check; you attempt to confuse the opponent into confusing friend from foe. The opponent will have to make mental defense checks on its turn, or it will attack allies.
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-Ferocity- The dragon focuses on rending and tearing it's opponents asunder. Taking ferocity Gives the dragon a additional hit in its full round attack, a tail swipe. This attack acts like a whirlwind attack, and can strike multiple opponents around him. When this part of the attack is made, the dragon rolls an attack against all enemies around it, those hit take ½ of the damage its claws currently do. They also must make a CMD check, and if it is less than the attack roll, they are knocked back 5 feet. The knock back increases to 10 feet at level 10. The enemies take additional damage if they are knocked back into a structure. DM Discretion.
-Savagery (attained at 6). If the Dragon kills its opponent in melee combat on its turn, it gains an additional 10 feet of movement, and another standard action, which can only be used to attack in melee combat with. The dragon also adds 50% more to its strength mod for the purposes of determining extra damage on its bite attacks.
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-Mystical Dragon Fire- This power increases the dragon’s breath attacks. The cone extends 10 feet further. The damage is increased by 20%. You can also choose a element, when you take this power, your breath attacks now can now do that elements damage, or you choose to have it do fire damage, or you can choose to have it do both. Default element is fire. Breathe Fire now Costs 4 energy.
-Fear Fire (attained at 6). Any enemy who's within 30 feet of the dragon when it breathes fire must make a Will save, with a dc equal to 10+1/2 Dragon level. If they fail, the opponent is panicked. The cone extends another 5 feet outward.
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-Prismatic Hide- Each Dragon size growth bestows an additional 2 AC. You also choose an element, and gain 10% resistance to that element for every growth the dragon has.
-Spiked Hide-(attained at 6) This now gives the Dragon 20% melee damage reflection back at its attacker.
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Fire Balls- the Dragon now gains a ranged attack. The dragon can now launch a projectile 40 feet in front of it. The Fireballs do damage equal to 1d4 for every odd level it attains, plus it's intelligence modifier. This is a ranged attack, and follows ranged attack rules.
Rapid Fire- (attainable at 6) your dragon can now shoot two fireballs in one turn.
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Advanced Bond Powers- You only get one, and it replaces your level 9 Bond power for that level.
-Shared Mental Combat- Taking this Power Allows the Rider to also do mental combat. Only attainable if dragon knows mental combat.
-Dragon Magic- Your dragon can now cast spells that the rider also knows. It can cast any spell you have access to. It does not need to prepare in advance. To cast a spell, the dragon must expend energy equal to three times the amount of the spell level they are casting.
-Mutual Energy- Your Rider Gains access to a store of energy. The store of energy your rider has is equal to what the rider would have if he had this feat from level 1, (2+wis mod per level). The both of you can funnel energy to one another freely. You can also funnel energy to one another above their “maximum” pool. If Dragon or Rider has 110% or more energy in its pool, they become overly energized. They gain a plus 3 to hit and damage, but this excess energy is burned quickly. Every turn above their maximum energy, they lose 10% of the total energy, until they go back to normal. (Example: Your Energy pool is 100. Your dragon funnels 20 energy to you. Each turn you attack in this energized state, you lose 10% (in this case 12 energy.) This works both ways. Your rider gains access to any energy funneling bond powers your dragon has.
-Divine Dragon- If you have a channel feature, you can choose this Power. Your dragon gains access to Channeling, and has available channels equal to how it would normally be calculated. The dragon shares your type of channeling(positive or negative) as well as the amount you channel. If you have selective channeling, your dragon also has selective channeling.
-Antagonizing Dragon- Sneak attack class feature required by rider class. When your rider and dragon are flanking someone, and one of you is causing the flank for the other, your rider deals 50% more sneak attack damage.
-Brutality- Rider and Dragon become a horrible and brutal force of destruction. Your Dragon gains access to any combat related feats the rider has access too if they are within 10 feet of each other. Only accessible after ferocity is attained.
-Gift of the Hide- The Dragon can immediately transfer its bonus armor from growth and resistance from Prismatic Hide to it's rider, using this ability costs ½ of the Dragons MAXIMUM energy. The buff lasts for 2 rounds. Only attainable after Prismatic hide is attained.
-Lingering Fire- The Dragons breathe attack leaves a lingering burn on its victims, dealing 20% of the damage done by the attack at the top of every round, for 3 rounds. Only attainable after Mystical dragon Fire is attained.
Fireballista- Your dragon now deals splash damage on its ranged Fireball attacks. The splash damage is equal to 33% of the normal damage dealt. Reflex save for half equal to 10+1/2 Dragons level +Int mod.
Only attainable after Fire Balls have been attained.
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