Draconian Drafting

[Tequila Sunrise]

So I'm running a homebrew that deals alot with dragons. In the next episode of the campaign, my players will discover (and fight) their first draconian (orc-dragon mix). And yes, I am stealing from Dragonlance because I loved it so much as a kid. In my homebrew, draconians are created by the heinous ritual sacrifice of a humanoid (usually orcs, the traditional dupes of the chromatics) over a metallic egg (process invented by a high level necro). For stats, I don't want to use the half-dragon template cuz too many of my players know the MM and I just feel cheap doing that. So I've made stats for each of the 5 draconian types and I feel pretty confident but that hasn't stopped me from F*$king up in the past. So I'm asking all of you DMs (especially those who have DMed since I was born 22 years ago) to make sure these baddies aren't too weak or too strong. Thanks a million!

[Tequila Sunrise]

Brass Draconian
Small Monstrous Humanoid (draconic, orc)
Hit Dice: 7d12+7 (52)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 15 ft.
Armor Class: 17 (+1 size, +4 scale mail, +2 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+6
Attack: Greatsword +11 (1d10+4) or javelin +8 (1d4+3)
Full Attack: Greatsword +11 (1d10+4) and bite +6 (1d4+3) or javelin +8 (1d4+3)
Special Attacks: Death throes
Special Qualities: Fire resistance 10, darkvision 120, low-light vision, light sensitivity
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +4
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +4, Spot +4
Feats: Cleave, Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Environment: Any
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often chaotic evil
Death throes (Su): Any creature within 5 feet of a draconian when it is reduced to -10 hit points must make a reflex save (DC 14 half) or take 1d6 fire damage.

Copper Draconian
Small Monstrous Humanoid (draconic, orc)
Hit Dice: 8d12+8 (60)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 15 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+1 size, +4 scale mail, +3 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+7
Attack: Greatsword +12 (1d10+4) or javelin +9 (1d4+3)
Full Attack: Greatsword +12 (1d10+4) and bite +7 (1d4+3) or javelin +9 (1d4+3)
Special Attacks: Death throes
Special Qualities: Acid resistance 10, darkvision 120, low-light vision, light sensitivity
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +5
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +4, Spot +4
Feats: Cleave, Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Environment: Any
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often chaotic evil
Death throes (Su): Any creature within 5 feet of a draconian when it is reduced to -10 hit points must make a reflex save (DC 15 half) or take 2d4 acid damage.

Bronze Draconian
Medium Monstrous Humanoid (draconic, orc)
Hit Dice: 9d12+4 (76)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 20 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+4 scale mail, +4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+13
Attack: Greatsword +13 (2d6+6) or javelin +9 (1d6+4)
Full Attack: Greatsword +13 (2d6+6) and bite +8 (1d6+4) or javelin +9 (1d6+4)
Special Attacks: Death throes
Special Qualities: Electricity resistance 10, darkvision 120, low-light vision, light sensitivity
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +5
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5
Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Environment: Any
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often lawful evil
Death throes (Su): Any creature within 5 feet of a draconian when it is reduced to -10 hit points must make a reflex save (DC 16 half) or take 2d6 electricity damage.

Silver Draconian
Medium Monstrous Humanoid (draconic, orc)
Hit Dice: 10d12+20 (85)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 20 ft.
Armor Class: 19 (+4 scale mail, +5 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 19
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+14
Attack: Greataxe +14 (2d6+6) or javelin +10 (1d6+4)
Full Attack: Greataxe +14 (2d6+6) and bite +9 (1d6+4) or javelin +10 (1d6+4)
Special Attacks: Death throes
Special Qualities: Cold resistance 10, darkvision 120, low-light vision, light sensitivity
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5
Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Environment: Any
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often lawful evil
Death throes (Su): Any creature within 5 feet of a draconian when it is reduced to -10 hit points must make a reflex save (DC 17 half) or take 2d8 cold damage.

Gold Draconian
Large Monstrous Humanoid (draconic, orc)
Hit Dice: 11d12+33 (104)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 19 (-1 Size, +4 scale mail, +6 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 19
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+20
Attack: Greatsword +15 (3d6+7) or javelin +10 (1d8+5)
Full Attack: Greatsword +15 (3d6+7) and bite +10 (1d8+5) or javelin +10 (1d8+5)
Special Attacks: Death throes
Special Qualities: Fire resistance 10, darkvision 120, low-light vision, light sensitivity
Saves: Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +6, Spot +6
Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Environment: Any
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often chaotic evil
Death throes (Su): Any creature within 5 feet of a draconian when it is reduced to -10 hit points must make a reflex save (DC 16 half) or take 2d10 fire damage.

[drsparnum]

You're probably aware of this, but they are detailed in the Dragonlance campaign setting. I'm guessing you just don't want to spring for the book if you're not running the setting and just want to incorporate these monsters. That shouldn't stop you from stealing the art though .... you can get draconian pics for your players right here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20030808a

[drsparnum]

I read the books a long time ago, and I don't know enough about draconian lore to tell you how accurate your descriptions are or how powerful draconians are relative to one another.

Still, all of them look like they should have a higher CR to me. For example, your gold draconian compares closely to a hill giant. Yet the Hill Giant's CR is two points higher. My hunch is you built them off of dragons instead of off normal monsters* - and dragons have a notoriously low CR relative to their power. It is okay, because you want your PCs to really remember dragon fights and they always get lots of loot for beating one, so dragons pound for CR can be a little off. However, you are probably going to swarm your players with draconians. Furthermore, if anything the gold draconian is tougher then the hill giant. I'd up the CR of every one of your draconians 1-3 points, personally.

*I also find an imbalance between the monster manuals. A CRx monster in MM2 and MM3 is much tougher then a CRx monster in MM1.

Large Giant, Hill
Hit Dice: 12d8+48 (102 hp)
Initiative: –1
Speed: 30 ft. in hide armor (6 squares); base speed 40 ft.
Armor Class: 20 (–1 size, –1 Dex, +9 natural, +3 hide armor), touch 8, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+20
Attack: Greatclub +16 melee (2d8+10) or slam +15 melee (1d4+7) or rock +8 ranged (2d6+7)
Full Attack: Greatclub +16/+11 melee (2d8+10) or 2 slams +15 melee (1d4+7) or rock +8 ranged (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +3, Will +4
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 8, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 7
Skills: Climb +7, Jump +7, Listen +3, Spot +6
Feats: Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Weapon Focus (greatclub)
Environment: Temperate hills
Organization: Solitary, gang (2–5), band (6–9 plus 35% noncombatants), hunting/raiding party (6–9 plus 2–4 dire wolves), or tribe (21–30 plus 35% noncombatants plus 12–30 dire wolves, 2–4 ogres, and 12–22 orcs)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +4

[Amal Ulric]

Well, as written in the DragonLance setting, the Baaz (Brass) were the weakest, and should only (IMO) have a CR of 1 or less. The Kapak (Copper) were sneaky, poison-venomed rogue types, and the Bozak (Bronze) were significantly stronger, with some minor supernatural abilities and flight. The Sivak (Silver) were massive, size Large or right on the edge of it, with working wings and a shapechange ability. I'd probably make them medium, but give them the Powerful Build trait. Auraks (Gold) were not hand-to-hand types at all, being smaller and weaker than other breeds, but they had formidable intellects and a whole host of nasty spells and supernatural abilities. Of course, if you want to change things, go right ahead. I just think that Auraks have no business with Cleave and Power Attack.

Edit- I just remembered that one of the later DL fiction books had 3.0 stats for all of the draconians in it. I don't remember the title, though. Still, picking that book up might be a whole lot easier and cheaper than springing for the DL Campaign setting.

[Tequila Sunrise]

Thanks for the input all! I actually have the DL 3.x book but I'm only using the general Draconian theme rather than the specifics of DL. I could never get the 5 types straight in my head and always thought that their death throws ability should reflect their original dragon type (rather than petrification and such). I will definately up their CR...now that you mention it, true dragon CRs are really are erratic even when compared with each other. (???) Anyway, dracs aren't supposed to be big bad villains in my game; more like shock-troopers in Tiamat's coming war.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Amal Ulric wrote:

Well, as written in the DragonLance setting, the Baaz (Brass) were the weakest, and should only (IMO) have a CR of 1 or less. The Kapak (Copper) were sneaky, poison-venomed rogue types, and the Bozak (Bronze) were significantly stronger, with some minor supernatural abilities and flight. The Sivak (Silver) were massive, size Large or right on the edge of it, with working wings and a shapechange ability. I'd probably make them medium, but give them the Powerful Build trait. Auraks (Gold) were not hand-to-hand types at all, being smaller and weaker than other breeds, but they had formidable intellects and a whole host of nasty spells and supernatural abilities. Of course, if you want to change things, go right ahead. I just think that Auraks have no business with Cleave and Power Attack.

Edit- I just remembered that one of the later DL fiction books had 3.0 stats for all of the draconians in it. I don't remember the title, though. Still, picking that book up might be a whole lot easier and cheaper than springing for the DL Campaign setting.

Draconians are covered in detail from p. 215 of the Dragonlance Campaign Setting. There are also more in depth descriptions for playing Draconians as player characters, though only for Baaz and Kapaks.

3rd edition Draconians are a pretty potent bunch which is pretty much in keeping with 3rd edition in general - it'd be no fun at all if all Draconians were only suitable for 2nd to 5th level parties so they are built up as is the norm for 3.X monsters.

Lets see
Baaz CR 2
Kapak CR 4
Bozak CR 5
Sivak CR 6
Aurac CR 9

High hps (d12 per HD) will keep these guys as good opposition for the players for many levels as well as they make good fodder even after they are strictly no longer really dangerous to the players. In my homebrew things sort of segway from Orcs and Goblins as the main humanoid opposition into these guys.