I have a player who has expressed interest in raising a dragon over the course of the adventure path. My problems are:
1.) Obviously, where would she get a dragon egg or young dragon, how much, and would the dragon be compliant?
2.) How would this affect the adventure path?
I'm thankful for any suggestions.
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Well, in all, dependng on the dragon and age, it might not affect too much. Keep in mind that Dragons age SLOWLY. STAP might not even take a year of in-game time.
So as the PCs get more powerful, the Dragon will stay relatively the same, unless you start giving it levels, and if it does stay the same, it'll soon become a liability as it will be too weak to fight some of the things to be encountered.
If that's the case, and she's RESPONSIBLE for it...woe be to her for getting the Dragon killed.
Thanks. I hadn't thought of that. I'm still unsure as to whether I'll allow the purchase of dragon eggs in the Sasserine dangerous monster market. Or even if they're legal.
Does anyone know how much a dragon egg costs?
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In my Age of Worms adventure path, one of the players has adopted an orphaned baby owlbear. We're three adventures into the path (they found it in the first adventure) and it's still alive and even contributing to the story in small ways--but what I'm noticing is that as the adventures grow more dangerous, the owlbear is becoming more and more of a liability. Very soon the party is going to be entering a major city for a couple of urban adventures, and I really don't know how they're going to handle that.
Savage Tide doesn't have as much mid-to-late level urban content, but the liability factor that Floyd mentioned is definately going to hold true. As the party starts to encounter really high-level challenges, it will become almost impossible to keep any significantly weaker creature alive through the traps and fights. The first time it gets caught in a high-level area effect damage spell or trap, the little tyke is going to breathe its last, and the PC that led it into that situation will bear some if not all of the responsibility for its death.
What I would suggest is for the PC to arrange for a custodian to look after the dragon during the later half of the adventure path, and then have the character use teleportation magics (when available) to keep checking in on its development and bring it treasures found during the adventures.
If the player is intent on having the dragon grow along with the PC as a companion, I'd suggest a magical solution to support the idea: perhaps the dragon was affected at a young age by a wish spell or other powerul enchantment that causes it to develop far more rapidly than a normal dragon. If you keep its Effective Character Level at or slightly below that of the PCs, you can let it accompany them and treat it as an NPC party member. It could even be a replacement PC in an emergency.
I've got this same problem in a campaign I'm playing in. We just went through the Caverns of the Ooze Lord adventure in Dungeon #132, and Arxduthanadar, my red wyrmling cohort (I'm level 10 and have the Dragon Cohort feat) barely escaped death at the hands of a black pudding. The ooze nearly dropped him in one turn. His breath weapon was also pretty much ineffective at only a paltry 2d10 damage.
So, I'll add my name to the list of people saying a wyrmling dragon is probably going to be more of a liability than a useful addition at higher levels.
See my other post in the D&D boards below for my thoughts on cost, legality, etc. I just wanted to pipe in and demonstrate how it worked in my campaign when I allowed a PC access to a Dragon cohort. He wisely decided to let someone else take care of the(the famous scientist and Draconologist Dimajo) egg for most of the gestation period. Dragon eggs, as outlined on page 11 of the Draconomicon must be kept in very specific circumstances. The Black in question must be
immersed in acid strong enough to deal at least 1d4 damage per round, or sunk in a bog, marsh or swamp.
He let Dimajo take care of the egg until he could have an item crafted (a modified Bag of Holding with acidic mud in it) that would allow him to carry the beastie on the run without fear of breaking it. Because he wanted to cement his bond with the baby dragon, he took it out once a day, after resting and spent quality time with it.
When it hatched, he took care of it until it was ready to go (about an hour) and had uninterrupted time to bond and commune with it. The rules on p. 13 of the Draconomicon cover this nocely. He gave it items out of his share of the party treasure and tried to encourage it away from it's natural evil tendencies over the adventure. The items made him more survivable, and he could cast magic fang and other such spells on it to help it stay alive. He would often ask it to remain behind if the party was facing something he knew to be dangerous and I rolled a will save for the dragon each time. If he failed, he wanted to be with Daddy no matter what.
In the climactic conflict with the Dracolich Ka'Bruzz, Cathper, the Druid in question, actually pierced his body with the tail ring of an old Black Dragon Warrior, and because of his recent interest in and exploration of all things dragon, he briefly transformed into the dragon, retaining his senses and alignment, but in full command of the dragon's powers. Too bad we didn't have the GBD mini (too big anyway) then.
This was one of the two things I had planned to help through the encounter, the other being a construct dragon, which one of the players could "pilot" at the cost of their PC's moves. The baby Black was overjoyed as he thought daddy was showing his true colors and rushed to join him in combat. It was touch and go, but thanks to the buffs and items (and the fact that the Dracolich had used most of his coolest abilities already), the little guy made it through and Cathper gained the ability to wildshape into an Adult Black once per day, cementing the bond.
It was great for RP, dramatics and game balance, as this was no doubt the toughest combat they had ever fought. The baby survives and so did the party. I have suggested the option of a dragon familiar/cohort since to various players, but they seem concerned with the issues discussed above, rightly so.
I think, however, if you treat the Dragon as a special member of the party and kit them out with cool items and buff them up and heal them (as you would any animal companion, cohort or even familiar), they have a viability and an RP value that is truly unique and interesting. After all, as I said in the other thread, the game ain't called Dungeons and Dire Badgers. Ultimately as the DM, you have to decide wether it is worth the extra work and if the player is conscientious enough (and his/her motives "pure" enough) for it to be a success.