I'm running a 3.5 homebrew, with a fair number of house rules. In my game, dragons come in two categories: standard 3.5 and bestial. One of the PCs is a halfling Beast Master (from Complete Adventurer). I encouraged him to take a bestial white wyrmling as an animal companion, and allowed the dragon to grow as it gained HD to a maximum of Medium size. The time is drawing near when he will be able to ride it as a mount. Aside from the obvious, that I really should not be doing this!, I'd like some feedback on how to make this work. Bear in mind, this is all my doing. I'm not being pressured by the player. In fact, its more like the other way around. I think the notion of a dragon-riding PC is too cool not to give it a try!
He is one of a party of 4, all 10th level. Each character is multi-classes and not all optimized. I've been targeting their CRs at -1 (so 9th now) to compensate. The others have similar boons. My goal is make them each worth a +1 to effective level.
Overall, a young white dragon is only a CR 4, so I don't see this as being game threatening. However, it will grant the character certain advantages. These are the problems I already anticipate, and how I plan to handle them.
At will breath weapon When he first gets this companion, an extra 3d6 cold damage every 1d4 rounds is going to be over powered. This is easily compensated for by adding hit points to the enemies, and throwing in a few cold resistant/immune challenges.
Natural attacks A BAB of +9 and the low damage potential of a young dragon's attacks means I should not have to worry much against CR 10+ encounters. What little damage he's going to do could easily be offset by a few more hp on the enemies.
Spell-like abilities Bestial dragons don't have them.
Blindsense This has already been a problem with the dragon as an animal companion. Its very difficult for enemies to hide or sneak around the Beast Master character. I'm not sure what to do about it, except to go with it. The party is a lot less vulnerable to sniping. I just mix up my encounters well, and let them have an easier time when foes try to get the jump on them.
Mobility Here's the one I'm worried about. I capped the dragon's movement rate at 150 feet, ruled that it will be encumbered while carrying a riding, reducing its rate to 100 and maneuverability to poor. I'd still let it hover, if the dragon takes a feat (I think there is one, but I can house-rule if not). That still leaves a PC that can move 100 feet and make a full attack! Then again, I worry that reducing maneuverability to poor will be too much of a pain for him in a tight dungeon setting.
Well folks, that's my conundrum. I would appreciate some feedback and constructive criticism.
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He is one of a party of 4, all 10th level. Each character is multi-classes and not all optimized. I've been targeting their CRs at -1 (so 9th now) to compensate. The others have similar boons. My goal is make them each worth a +1 to effective level.
You know your party best. That said, I personally prefer a higher degree of danger both as a player and DM than the CRs you're using. I generally go with a diet of APL+1 to APL+3, occasionally higher. The dragon is stronger than a typical companion (CR4 irrespective...this is more an ECL matter). Savage Species and/or Draconomicon may provide some additional input, along with the DMG secion on special cohorts. So, if you're adding these types of boons to all members, you might start upping the scale of the encounters a bit. To some degree, you're adding a 5th party member rather than an AC.
At will breath weapon When he first gets this companion, an extra 3d6 cold damage every 1d4 rounds is going to be over powered. This is easily compensated for by adding hit points to the enemies, and throwing in a few cold resistant/immune challenges.
It can be. However, compare dragonic feats, where sorcs are trading spells for breath weapon and maybe not. Area of effect means that it's risking hitting the party as well, and the melee types likely are going to need/want some cold resistance/protection.
Natural attacks A BAB of +9 and the low damage potential of a young dragon's attacks means I should not have to worry much against CR 10+ encounters. What little damage he's going to do could easily be offset by a few more hp on the enemies.
The big problem with dragon full attacks are that they expose them to full attacks of their own. I don't think this is a problem.
Blindsense This has already been a problem with the dragon as an animal companion. Its very difficult for enemies to hide or sneak around the Beast Master character. I'm not sure what to do about it, except to go with it. The party is a lot less vulnerable to sniping. I just mix up my encounters well, and let them have an easier time when foes try to get the jump on them.
Keep in mind that it is blindsense, not blindight. And, regardless, it still requires line of effect. It is effective vs. concealment, but not vs. cover. So, the dragon cannot detect creatures behind rocks, walls, or even glass merely using blindsense.
Mobility Here's the one I'm worried about. I capped the dragon's movement rate at 150 feet, ruled that it will be encumbered while carrying a riding, reducing its rate to 100 and maneuverability to poor. I'd still let it hover, if the dragon takes a feat (I think there is one, but I can house-rule if not). That still leaves a PC that can move 100 feet and make a full attack! Then again, I worry that reducing maneuverability to poor will be too much of a pain for him in a tight dungeon setting.
I know you're using quite a few house rules, but a creature with natural flight (wings) cannot fly while encumbered. It might be moot for you. Flying in a dungeon setting will be a real pain, particularly if you houserule anything to realistically get at the issue of wingspan. Suggest you play test to fully understand the flight limits based on mobility along with the player, outside of the game session so you both know how it works clearly. Else, it will bog down the game for the others.
The mobility itself is not a huge deal. Druid on a giant bat companion is comparible. The halfling can take a full attack if using ranged combat, but otherwise, mount movement of more than five feet limits him to a single melee attack. Flying encounters, ranged specialists, etc. will mix things up a bit. With fire vulnerability, Mr. Dragon can be an unhappy camper to a wand of fireballs pretty fast out in the open (long range)
What does become an issue for a ranged party member is that he often rarely gets attacked. Great. But it also means that the other party members take more attacks. Damage gets concentrated on them.
Other things to possibly consider from the non-mechanical side are 1) the dragon's alignment or knowledgeable NPC's perception of white dragons (which are ALWAYS (meaning unique exceptions) Chaotic Evil), 2) the dragon's preference for cold environments, 3) dragon in town?
In anycase, sounds like it could be cool. Have fun!
Check out SGG's dragonrider class it has some interesting ideas on what you can do for the dragon.
Havoc, thanks for the suggestion, I will check out the dragonrider class.
Howie23, thanks for the great advice.
You two have me thinkin' this is going to work out after all. Especially considering the CRs you are using are higher than what I've been able to use without serious concerns about TPKs. As I said, the PCs are not what you'd considered optimized! That was really helpful advice because it means my assessment of their APL is about right, and they do need some help to boost them to where they can handle level-appropriate challenges.
I hadn't considered the unfair distribution of hp damage! In a way its more of a problem for the party than it is for me, but as the DM, I need to present good challenges. You got me thinking about encounters to shift that damage distribution back to the Beast Master; encounters like snipers on ledges/roof-tops and maybe a little tit-for-tat: a flying foe for an airborn dog-fight!
Regarding the mobility while carrying a mount and flying in dungeons, I plan to prep a chart of average flying maneuvers to use as a cheat sheet so that flying movement calculation don't slow the game down. For example: If he's in a "tight room", his movement rate is half, and otherwise don't worry about climbing, descending, turns and such. I'm trying to use the 3.5 rules as much as possible, but there's still a lot of house rules at play.
A bit more about Dragons in my campaign (if you're interested): They are relatively rare - meaning PCs encounter them, but the average citizenry do not. His pet is a curiosity to most townsfolk. He's already taken his pet to one big city, and it was located on the coast of a vast desert. I played Calcryx (yup, its the white dragon from 3.0's Sunless Citadel) particularly cranky during that trip. Bestial dragons are N or CN, depending on the general temperament. However, most NPCs are ignorant regarding alignment. Again, that is the purview of the PCs and certain knowledgeable NPCs. To the average proletariat, a "good" or "bad" dragon is a little like a good or bad dog: bad if it digs in your garden and good if it walks well on-leash.
Thanks again for your help!