RSS Facebook Twitter Email
Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice

Dragon Rider character?

Advice

Search Thread

Search this Thread:

So... I haven't had a chance to delve too deeply, but is there any good viable ways to make a dragon riding character? I'm thinking Barbarian dip cause I love the shared rage, but aside from.that, what would be the best way to go about getting a dragon as a mount? What would be the best weapon to use as a dragon rider, mounted and unmounted? Any advice is welcome.

Could go summoner, make your eidolon look like a dragon...

You can always take a trip to Traiaxus and get a new best friend.

another way is to go the leadership route and get a monstrous mount. any class could work depending on the flavor you want but a high charisma based class works wonderfully with leadership

You might look at this: Dragon Rider Class.

The balance of the class centered around action economy. I've not played it, but it looks interesting.

Best weapon would be a ranged one, probably longbow, since usually you will be out of reach. If you get within reach of your foes often enough to matter, you probably want a reach weapon.

Presuming you go the Leadership: Dragon Cohort route (since Traixus is hard to get to and you want Basher not Caster) a good choice is just Cavalier. The Musketeer, Standard Bearer, and Huntsman archetypes trade in their special mount for something else, and they are built around the idea of mounted combat.

I mean really, your best weapon would be "buff spells" since you're riding a freaking dragon, but you seem to want to be mixing it up martial-style so we gotta go with reach and ranged weapons.

And their terrifying charges and morale bonuses can be pretty nice, I hear.

There's some rules for monstrous mounts in um... Inner Sea Combat I think. It just covers griffons and such but could be adapted for dragons too I imagine.

Check this out.
master_marshmallow wrote:
Check this out.

A young dragon that's also big enough to ride would be an effective cohort level in the high teens, so not all that useful unless you plan on starting at 20.

EDIT: Young Blue: effective cohort level 17
Young Green: ecl 16
Young Red: ecl 18
Young Bronze: ecl 17
Young Gold: ecl 19
Youg Silver: ecl 18
Darigaaz the Igniter wrote:
master_marshmallow wrote:
Check this out.

A young dragon that's also big enough to ride would be an effective cohort level in the high teens, so not all that useful unless you plan on starting at 20.

EDIT: Young Blue: effective cohort level 17
Young Green: ecl 16
Young Red: ecl 18
Young Bronze: ecl 17
Young Gold: ecl 19
Youg Silver: ecl 18

I know there are ways around this, I just don't know what they are off the top of my head.

The problem is that dragons are the most powerful thing in the game next to player characters, and letting you have one makes Leadership more of a balance factor than it ever was before.... and it was pretty bad before...

Not via leadership. A cohort's level has to be at least 2 levels below yours and their effective level is that high.

I mean I guess you could try and "hack" the system by taking a more regular cohort and using transmutation magic like Polymorph Any Object.
boring7 wrote:
Not via leadership. A cohort's level has to be at least 2 levels below yours and their effective level is that high.

I know the Noble Scion prestige class let's you get around this, but it's a 10th level prestige class that affords basically no other benefits.

1 person marked this as a favorite.

You should also think about why a 500 year old creature that is smarter and stronger than you naturally, and more importantly one that is known for, above all else, it's ego, is willing to give up its own goals to put on a saddle and degrade itself into being your pony.

Unless dragons are very different in the game world you play in, this is a huge problem. More than the mechanics. You may want to look into wyverns which are basically stupid dragons that can be tamed.

I think I may just go with a Summoner, built for fighting while mounted. Possible a level or two of Barbarian for the shared rage. I'll model the Eidolon after a dragon but not necessarily having to be exactly like one. Maybe a Large wingless draconic mount will suffice for my barbarous Summoner.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
HowFortuitous wrote:

You should also think about why a 500 year old creature that is smarter and stronger than you naturally, and more importantly one that is known for, above all else, it's ego, is willing to give up its own goals to put on a saddle and degrade itself into being your pony.

Unless dragons are very different in the game world you play in, this is a huge problem. More than the mechanics. You may want to look into wyverns which are basically stupid dragons that can be tamed.

Well, it would probably only be about 50-200, and who wouldn't want a pet, well-trained monkey sitting on their shoulder shooting people with a pistol?

He'd be like Hit-monkey.
Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber
HowFortuitous wrote:

You should also think about why a 500 year old creature that is smarter and stronger than you naturally, and more importantly one that is known for, above all else, it's ego, is willing to give up its own goals to put on a saddle and degrade itself into being your pony.

Unless dragons are very different in the game world you play in, this is a huge problem. More than the mechanics. You may want to look into wyverns which are basically stupid dragons that can be tamed.

by the effective levels listed, it would effectively have a living god on it's back, so it could think that having the protection and alliance with such a character would be beneficial in the long run. Remember, it knows it will out live you, by that time it will be much more powerful.

oh, and obviously it wants to keep all the shinies you give it as payment.
HowFortuitous wrote:

You should also think about why a 500 year old creature that is smarter and stronger than you naturally, and more importantly one that is known for, above all else, it's ego, is willing to give up its own goals to put on a saddle and degrade itself into being your pony.

Unless dragons are very different in the game world you play in, this is a huge problem. More than the mechanics. You may want to look into wyverns which are basically stupid dragons that can be tamed.

Young dragons are only 16-25. So while they might be quite a bit smarter and stronger than your average humanoid, they're also literally a child in mentality.

A basalt dragon figurine is a wondrous item that can do it. Use the right command word, and you'd get a flame drake to ride around on at base (it's a mythic magic item, but you don't need to be mythic to get the baseline benefits).

If you're mythic, you can get a young/adult/ancient red dragon (depending on your tier) at the price of the figurine being powerless for a week after you use it.

Alternately, get a cohort and give them a magic tattoo or a rune or something that allows them to use Form of the Dragon III. It's not quite the same as having an actual dragon, but you can just tell your cohort to transform, and they'll take on a draconic form that you can then ride around on.

Alter-alternately, taking the Summon Good Monster feat means your summon monster VII can call up a young bronze dragon, and summon monster VIII will get you a young gold dragon. You could ride around on those, though you won't get long-term travel out of them owing to the short duration on the spell.

Alter-alter-alternately, combine the summon monster concept with a figurine of wondrous power, the magic item creation rules, and your GM's agreement. With that, you could potentially get a figurine (depending on what the "item" is - it could also be a rune, or a tattoo, or something like the Plaguebringer artifact that just goes inside somebody rather than being something easily stolen) that would allow you to summon a young dragon to ride around on as much as you like.

Dragon rider (PFS legal):

Pick a 'Small' race. (Gnome, Halfling)

Pick a class with a Familiar.

Get Improved Familiar. (Pseudodragon, Tiny size... or Faery Dragon)

Cast: Reduce Person on yourself.

Cast: Enlarge Person on your familar.

Ride that dragon!!!!

(Yeah, I am not sure if Enlarge Person works on your familiar..but hey...it's worth a shot)

Leadership plus wizard plus scroll of Form of the Dragon equals dragon mount!!!
Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / Dragon Rider character? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Advice