I have a character who is interested in playing a human dragon disciple. the concern i have is that the dragon disciple gains a permanent +2 to his strength, constitution, and intelligence stats as the character progresses. the question i have is whether these stats replace normal character stat increases at every fourth level. if not the dragon disciple would gain 13 stat points by level 20. but if normal stats increases were replaced, then the character would still gain double what any other character would but the dragon disciple would not get to pick where the new stat increases go.
The dragon disciple stat increases are in addition to any other increases gained by leveling.
The dragon disciple stat increases are in addition to any other increases gained by leveling.
But how does that add up? where is the balance by comparison to other players? the class already gets barbarian health and natural armor to boot. on top of that they also get nearly 3 times as many stat increases? i guess i don't see the balance.
Stat's aren't everything. As a hybrid class, it weakens both martial and casting to get a bit of each.
The DD has a 3/4 BAB, as well as the requirement of taking a class with +0 casting the first level, which puts him behind the fighter. It just about evens out with the strength bonus on the sheer + to hit. but has fewer iterative attacks (somewhat made up for with the bite), and qualifies for fighting feats later in his career.
We have a group with a grapple-barbarian, druid, bard and a Sorc/DD. Even though I allowed the Sorc to have permanent claws, he isn't that crazy. Yes, he has impressive stats, but his lower BAB and s~*%ty Spell DCs makes him suboptimal as a fighter or caster. However, he is almost unkillable (Barkskin + Mage Armor + Shield + Mirror Image + Displacement makes for one unhittable PC).
In the end, I think this depends on yout group. Against a "maximized" fighter, the DD isn't that good. But in a group that's not optimized, the DD might be a bit over the top, because there really isn't much variety in the class. It's just Fighter 4/Sorc 1 or Sorc 5 + DD (and the DD prestige class has a total of 0 choices with regard to class abilities).
Bard makes a better 'fighter' dragon disciple.
The dragon disciple stat increases are in addition to any other increases gained by leveling.But how does that add up? where is the balance by comparison to other players? the class already gets barbarian health and natural armor to boot. on top of that they also get nearly 3 times as many stat increases? i guess i don't see the balance.
The dragon disciple will have an excellent strength if they want it, but they also will have a much lower bab then a barbarian or any full martial class. They will also have fewer hit point then a barbarian. The also have less in the way of armor options. The strength and natural armor bonuses are more or less playing catch up so they can potentially be good at fighting, not putting them ahead.
You think that's bad. Take the Ultimate Magic book to get Crossblooded bloodline and take the Eldrich Heritage feats. So you are Draconic/Infernal Sorcerer with the Pit Touched Archetype. Since neither swap out class features of the other you can do this. Then grab Eldrich Heritage Abyssal and Improved Eldrich Heritage, the infernal bonus feat gives you Skill Focus Planes as the prereq. You will end up with +10 to Strength, +8 to Constitution and +2 to Intelligence.
Personally I'd never do this. You'd suck too much but have great stats. You blow 3 feats and take a hefty penalty for Crossblooded. I thought this was really cheesy the when I saw it post few weeks back.
You think that's bad. Take the Ultimate Magic book to get Crossblooded bloodline and take the Eldrich Heritage feats. So you are Draconic/Infernal Sorcerer with the Pit Touched Archetype. Since neither swap out class features of the other you can do this. Then grab Eldrich Heritage Abyssal and Improved Eldrich Heritage, the infernal bonus feat gives you Skill Focus Planes as the prereq. You will end up with +10 to Strength, +8 to Constitution and +2 to Intelligence.
Personally I'd never do this. You'd suck too much but have great stats. You blow 3 feats and take a hefty penalty for Crossblooded. I thought this was really cheesy the when I saw it post few weeks back.
Amateur (;P) add in a level of alchemist and barbarian to get +8 more to strength and +4 more to Con -- take the raging vitality feat to increase that Con bonus to +6.