Half Dragon Template question

[Aurorius Leyrin]

A half dragon type changes to dragon, does this new creature gain the subtype associated with the dragon they're a half of as well? For example a half-silver dragon gains a 30ft cone of cold and immunity to cold. But do they gain the vulnerability to fire as well or do they just not have that?

[Chess Pwn]

if it doesn't say it grants you that then it doesn't.

[Aurorius Leyrin]

Seems like a half dragon gains nothing but benefits and no drawback

[Mysterious Stranger]

A half silver dragon gains the dragon type not the cold subtype. The reason they are immune to cold is because the half dragon template gives immunity to the energy of their breath weapon. A half black dragon has immunity to acid, but there is no acid type. All dragons are immune to the energy type of their breath weapon.

[Lady-J]

i always found it dumb how dragons have elemental vulnerabilities and glad half dragons don't have that in common

[Murdock Mudeater]

Bob Boodookins wrote:

Seems like a half dragon gains nothing but benefits and no drawback

And that's why playing a Half-Dragon is something that is up to the GM, and not otherwise listed as a player option.

As for drawbacks in normal campaigns. First, half dragons are very uncommon which has it's own potential drawbacks (ask any minority about this in real life...). Second, anti-dragon warfare is a thing (expect bad encounters with dragonslayers, followers of Dahak, and so forth). Basically both are social/encounter related, not actual mechanical drawbacks.

Not for PFS, but for non-PFS play, I'm of the school of thought that Favored Enemy Dragon is a must for Rangers - it isn't that dragons are common, just that they are a huge pain when you do encounter them and GMs really like their dragons. Undead is also a strong choice for Rangers in non-PFS games.

PFS is very diverse in their creature selections, so the logic regarding favored enemy is less so. Additionally, you don't have GMs tailoring their campaign to the players (or their own whims), so the social and encounter related drawbacks are not really present either. On the other hand, no half dragon player characters in PFS...

[Aurorius Leyrin]

My game is running a custom campaign setting where I have devised a system to allow players to have templates at the cost of what is called "EXP Debt"... but thats another thing. But this world is harsh both thematically and mechanically and the worlds inhabitants have to fight for their lives almost daily.

[Murdock Mudeater]

Bob Boodookins wrote:

My game is running a custom campaign setting where I have devised a system to allow players to have templates at the cost of what is called "EXP Debt"... but thats another thing. But this world is harsh both thematically and mechanically and the worlds inhabitants have to fight for their lives almost daily.

Oh, the other notable disadvantage of being a Half-Dragon is that it makes you ineligible to be a Dragon Disiple Prestige class (which would be a killer combination).

But as for balancing them, I'd making Dragonbane ammunition a tad more common. Just a tad. Maybe have a notable NPC paladin with Oath Against the Wyrm as a reoccuring character. And occasionally give NPC dwarves the Wyrmscorged racial trait.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Templates don’t have to have drawbacks. They are deigned to increase the power of the creature it is applied to not be balanced, that is why that add to the CR of the creature. Some templates may have drawbacks but that really depends on the template. They are not archetypes that are designed to trade out abilities they are straight up upgrades.

[Lady-J]

Bob Boodookins wrote:

My game is running a custom campaign setting where I have devised a system to allow players to have templates at the cost of what is called "EXP Debt"... but thats another thing. But this world is harsh both thematically and mechanically and the worlds inhabitants have to fight for their lives almost daily.

we just have it so you pay for a template with class levels at character creation or threw quest lines after character creation, and if you get one at character creation you have chances to write off the level adjustment. eg. party is level 6 so you could bring in a half dragon barbarian 4 be 2 levels behind the rest of the party but have a +2 cr template

[Aurorius Leyrin]

Lady-J wrote:

Bob Boodookins wrote:

My game is running a custom campaign setting where I have devised a system to allow players to have templates at the cost of what is called "EXP Debt"... but thats another thing. But this world is harsh both thematically and mechanically and the worlds inhabitants have to fight for their lives almost daily.

we just have it so you pay for a template with class levels at character creation or threw quest lines after character creation, and if you get one at character creation you have chances to write off the level adjustment. eg. party is level 6 so you could bring in a half dragon barbarian 4 be 2 levels behind the rest of the party but have a +2 cr template

That is pretty much how 3.5 did that system, but i personally liked it where you are in "xp debt" because although you may be behind on xp you don't have a level adjust and you can pay it off through extra xp rewards for your actions or other such things. This allows it to be a more dynamic approach to templates for PCs cause they are at an advantage for having the template but at a disadvantage for the xp debt, it balances itself out and through their actions they can overcome the disadvantage. It promotes some good and interesting plays on their behalf to get caught up and it makes the story that much more meaningful