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From a mechanics point of view it's the untyped Ability Score increases that are the big lure (compared with, for example, the Abyssal Bloodline's Strength of the Abyss power which grants inherent bonuses that won't stack with the boost one gets from, say, a Manual of Gainful Exercise). Natural attacks and a d12 Hit Die help too (since BAB becomes a lot less relevant if you're relying on natural attacks, and hit points are nice to have...).
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For example, any bard or oracle(scaled disciple feat) that takes DD is crippled because their scaling performances, bardic knowledge, revelations, and so on are basically decimated. So you definitely take it for the known perks of attributes and feats, everything else is gravy.
All around its one of the few prestige classes(especially original) that has remained relevant so that tells you it's worthwhile.
I think saying any bard or oracle taking DD is 'crippled' is a bit too strong, it depends very much on the character build. If you were wanting a full caster or bard you wouldn't even be looking at DD as there's no synergy, but if you're looking at a mixed martial/caster (perhaps Arcane Duelist or Archaeologist Bard) who ideally is using natural attacks, or at the least focusing on boosting melee with spells, then you can probably get a lot of out the prestige class. The extra HPs, Str and such whilst still increasing you CL makes the first 4 levels of it very appealing to such a character.
In a sense, a bard going into Dragon Disciple is not advancing the bard features and instead becomes a "gish" - similar to a magus, while also retaining limited bardic tricks.
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Perhaps I should clarify a little....
What I'm trying to say is that a bard loses out on performances getting faster And getting stronger because that and more is tied to the bard class and doesn't carry over to the DD. In this way, the features of the bard are "crippled". Especially when he is losing some spells.
Most people who Dip DD for Bard are Reach based STR builds.
They take Flagbearer feat and Pick up a Banner of the Ancient Kings ASAP.
They only take 4 levels in DD Right around 8 (Move action perform and Haste has been acquired). This is for the +4 Str, Breath weapon, Bite + Claws, D12 HD, -1 CL and Natural armor. The Banner makes up for the Loss of 4 levels of Performance by breaking EVEN. Only thing you lose out on is 1 Caster Level and a few skill points. When your a Buffer and Reach fighting that -1 CL means hardly anything after you already have Haste. By level 8 you have versatile Performance and Bardic Knowledge to help on skills.
So no it is not a Crippling in any way at all. It is actually a very very very strong dip for a bard looking to be Viable source of damage and still be a A+ support.
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Yeah Sorcerer 10/Dragon Disciple 10 sucks, 'cos you end up casting as a level 17 Sorcerer - i.e. 1 level shy of level 9 spells. Sorcerer 12/Dragon Disciple 8 is viable, if you want to make the most of the DD stuff, 'cos you cast as a level 18 Sorcerer (thumbs up for Wish spells!) and still get all the DD's Ability Score boosts and interesting class features.
However, as people have noted, level 4 is the favoured cut-off point, 'cos at level 5 you drop both a BAB point (i.e. you don't gain a point at level 5) and a spell casting level, and by level 4 you've stacked all the Strength boosts already (if you're going with a full BAB class otherwise - say Barbarian 15/Sorcerer 1/DD 4 - the extra +4 Strength compensates nicely - for hit chance if not iterative attacks - for dropping 1 BAB at Sorcerer 1 and 1 BAB at DD 1). By taking 4 levels of DD you've effectively sacrificed 1 BAB (compared to full progression) and 1 spellcasting level (compared to full progression) for a +4 untyped Strength boost, +2 natural armour, an extra natural attack when using your level 1 bloodline power and some loose change...
EDIT: there was a post here once. It's gone now, due to sleep deprivation and misuse of my "history" button to revisit pages. It's ok. It was a bad idea anyway.
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If you are going 10 Sorc/10 Dragon Disciple, you are doing it for a very specific reason- namely, to have Form of the Dragon up as often as humanly possible (but not trade away ALL your casting abilities). The massive STR bonuses you'll be getting from the class itself and the size will help with the low BAB, and you'll have 5-6 natural attacks so you won't be too screwed.
Of course casting as a level 18 Sorcerer instead of a level 17 Sorcerer gives you 3 extra 9th level spell slots and 1 extra 8th level spell slot per day. Being DD 10 instead of DD 7 gives you 2x uses of Form of the Dragon II instead of 1x use of Form of the Dragon 1... but those extra spell slots can give you 4x uses of Form of the Dragon III - so you're much better off not going Sorcerer 10/DD 10 if that's your objective.
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@Fruian: your right about flag bearer. But that is a bard who is dipping dragon disciple not a dragon disciple.
@OP: I think what you are seeing is the best value is four levels of DD.
If it is a Bard who dipped DD it is now a DD as well. 1 or 10 levels makes little difference.
The PrC as a whole is strongest from Levels 1-4 where you only lose 1 CL.
Going 8 Levels is as far as I can advise for anyone. Any more the return is not worth it.
If you are going 10 Sorc/10 Dragon Disciple, you are doing it for a very specific reason- namely, to have Form of the Dragon up as often as humanly possible (but not trade away ALL your casting abilities). The massive STR bonuses you'll be getting from the class itself and the size will help with the low BAB, and you'll have 5-6 natural attacks so you won't be too screwed.Of course casting as a level 18 Sorcerer instead of a level 17 Sorcerer gives you 3 extra 9th level spell slots and 1 extra 8th level spell slot per day. Being DD 10 instead of DD 7 gives you 2x uses of Form of the Dragon II instead of 1x use of Form of the Dragon 1... but those extra spell slots can give you 4x uses of Form of the Dragon III - so you're much better off not going Sorcerer 10/DD 10 if that's your objective.
You're right, I dun derped and forgot that lv 9 spells can be used to cast lv 8 spells.
(I will say this, it's pretty unlikely to get an extra +2 9th level spells from ability score alone, due to being so MAD in this particular build. Is there some other way I'm forgetting about to get the extra spells? That said, even 2 extra FotD3 castings is better than the 2 FOTD2 castings from DD level 10. )
So yeah, DD 8 is basically as high as you'd ever need to go for Sorcerer, even with a gimmick build.
Hahaha, I'm an idiot. I was looking at the spells known table.
I blame both of my misunderstandings entirely on sleep deprivation - I normally wouldn't make either mistake.
Still, it's nice to know that the idea was actually *better* than I thought it was, since you can cast FotD3 so often. At level 20, at least.
(for bonus points I managed to edit one of my old posts with this message instead of adding a new post. I'm officially done for the day, lol)