With the new Dragon Disciple class here it became clear that this version went a very different way than the original PrC. It seems more of a bloodline focus PrC for the Sorcerer. That is fine and all, but I really missed the concept of developing into an uber melee half dragon. Now I know we don't have the final half dragon coming in a few months, but here is a stab at it with the half dragon we do have.
So my goal here is a total focus on melee and bloodline-like abilities. So here it is.
So feedback would be welcomed.
Thank You
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With the new Dragon Disciple class here it became clear that this version went a very different way than the original PrC. It seems more of a bloodline focus PrC for the Sorcerer. That is fine and all, but I really missed the concept of developing into an uber melee half dragon. Now I know we don't have the final half dragon coming in a few months, but here is a stab at it with the half dragon we do have.
So my goal here is a total focus on melee and bloodline-like abilities. So here it is.
So feedback would be welcomed.
Thank You
Not bad at first blush, but there are some clarifications it needs, particularly regarding the breath weapon. The ability states that it does 1d8 damage per sorcerer level; this is problematic for two reasons. One, since a PC doesn't have to take any levels of sorcerer in order to prestige into the class (since you can qualify with feats, also), a PC who prestiges into this class via feats will have a breath weapon that does 0d8 damage.
Two, this ability improves unevenly depending on how many levels of sorcerer the PC chooses to take, rather than how deep in the PrC the PC wishes to go. For instance, a sorcerer 14/dragon descendant 6 will do 28d8 damage with his breath weapon, which is almost as much damage as a great wyrm red dragon does with his. If one goes all the way and becomes a sorcerer 10/dragon descendant 10, then presumably the damage will be 20d10, which is actually a net decrease for ostensibly adopting more of one's draconic heritage.
Another concern is rooted in the fact that the ability does not explicitly describe how much damage a "full strength" breath weapon does, and that the save DC is similarly tied to sorcerer level.
My recommendation is to explicitly state how much damage is done by the breath weapon at each tier, and to decouple the damage and save DC from skill ranks or levels in other classes. One suggestion is to have levels of spellcasting classes (or just sorcerer, or sorcerer and bard, or however you decide) stack with dragon descendant levels for purposes of determining breath weapon damage and save DCs, and then have them do X damage per Y levels.
I also notice there's no spell progression at all; given that dragons are inherently spellcasters, some small improvement or addition of spellcasting power might not be amiss. I recognize that the dragon descendant is not intended to be a spellcasting class, but something along the lines of additional spells per day or spell-like abilities depending on dragon type might enhance the connection to dragon blood.
Not bad for a draft, though. I know that my initial reaction to the dragon disciple in the PRPG was disappointment at some of the changes.
I missed that in editing about the breath weapon. The idea was that they would eventually gain the full half dragon breath weapon, with the feat that allows for it to be used like a full dragon, once every 1D4 rounds.
I must have missread and understood the original bloodline ability and will get back to it. My second goal was to have it equal to that of a draconic sorcerer blood line level 20 ability.
As to the spells, yes, there are no spell progression as you now no longer need to have spells to gain access to the PrC. This is also because half dragons don't gain access to any spells, and that is the focus of the PrC.
I will take another look at the breath weapon. I can't believe I made that mistake.
Thanks
Okay, I just updated the breath weapon, and I thought quantity over quality in this case seems like the way to go, but I wanted it to remain useful in the higher levels.
I will think about spell like abilities though.
I am wondering if I should have but this in the other General Discussion forum, maybe I would have gotten more attention?
Could I please get this moved?
Thanks
P.S.
On a side note, I was thinking about adding a negative to the class.
Draconic Force: Once you start the Dragon Blooded PrC you must continue the class till it completes; you can not multiclass in a way where you will not finish the Dragon Blooded class by level 20. If you start the class with out the ability to finish it by level 20, you must spend all remaining levels till after 20th in the class.
Still thinking about those magic abilities.
P.P.S.
Had a problem updating the google document link. It is now updated.
Sorry.