| ReGaXV |
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I wrote my homebrew versions of the drake archetypes and I wished to share them with the community, to help other players and receive insights. Moreover, I've designed new drake archetypes for Hunter, Cleric and Inquisitor.
Official drake archetypes from "Legacy of Dragons" are infamous in the fandom and I agree, because they give up most of class features for a companion which isn't so much stronger than the average animal companion; for this reason, I first rewrote the drake, then I adjusted the archetypes with the intent to minimize the cost in terms of removed class features.
My drake companion is quite similar to the original one, but has three differences:
1) it begins the game at Small size, instead of Tiny; this way it's roughly as strong as a Small animal companion (let's say a boar) and it keeps up by becoming Medium sized at 5th level and Large sized at 9th level, roughly when the average animal companion becomes Medium and Large too;
2) it never becomes Huge and so it never becomes WAY stronger than, let's say, a T-Rex companion; I kept the other size increments at 5th and 9th level, though, in order to give the Small or Medium typical charges the chance to ride it at a reasonable level;
3) it gains a drake power at 9th level and doens't gain one at 15th level; again, I did this change because, according to my calculations (which I can detail if so asked), the drake was weaker than the average animal companion at middle levels and excessively stronger at high ones.
Here's the complete table for my Revised Drake Companion:
Level HD BAB Saves Skills Feats Special
1st 1 +1 +2 3 1 Darkvision, low-light vision,
immunities, subtype
2nd 2 +2 +3 6 1 -
3rd 3 +3 +3 9 2 Drake power, Natural armor
4th 3 +3 +3 12 2 -
5th 4 +4 +4 15 2 Ability score increase, size
increase
6th 5 +5 +4 18 3 Natural armor
7th 6 +6 +5 21 3 Drake power
8th 6 +6 +5 24 3 -
9th 7 +7 +5 27 4 Drake power, Natural armor,
size increase
10th 8 +8 +6 30 4 Ability score increase
11th 9 +9 +6 33 5 Drake power
12th 9 +9 +6 36 5 Natural armor
13th 10 +10 +7 39 5 -
14th 11 +11 +7 42 6 -
15th 12 +12 +8 45 6 Ability score increase, natural
armor, Drake power
16th 12 +12 +8 48 6 -
17th 13 +13 +8 51 7 -
18th 14 +14 +9 54 7 Natural armor
19th 15 +15 +9 57 8 Drake power
20th 15 +15 +9 60 8 Ability score increase
Starting Statics:
Size: Small
Alignment: any
Speed: 20 ft.
Attack: bite (1d4)
Ability Scores: Str 12, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 4, Wis 10, Cha 7
Natural Armor: +2
Languages: Draconic.
Everything I haven't mentioned stays the same as in "Legacy of Dragons".
Now for the archetypes!
Drake Companion: A draconic druid gains a drake companion instead of an animal companion. Since the drake is sentient, it cannot learn tricks as animal companions do and the druid can’t use Handle Animals on it. This ability replaces nature bond and woodland stride.
Dragon Tongue: A draconic druid’s bonus language options include Draconic instead of Sylvan. This choice is in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of her race. A draconic druid still knows Druidic like any other druid. This ability modifies Bonus Languages.
Dragon Sense: A draconic druid studies dragons and their history. She gains a +2 bonus on Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (history) checks. This ability replaces nature sense.
Resist Dragon’s Might: A draconic druid gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against the spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities of dragons. This ability replaces resist nature’s lure.
Dragon Shape: A draconic druid can’t use wild shape to change into any of the usual forms available to a druid. Instead, at 4th level, she can use wild shape to change into a dragon-scaled version of herself with long fangs, gaining a +2 natural armor bonus to her AC and a bite attack appropriate for her size (1d6 +3 plus trip for a Medium druid) but otherwise retaining her usual form.
At 6th level, her bite grows of one size (2d6 + 6 più Sbilanciare points of damage for a Medium druid).
At 8th level, she can use wild shape to transform into a Medium dragon as per form of the dragon I
At 10th level, she can use it to change into a Large dragon as per form of the dragon II. Each time that a draconic druid uses wild shape counts as a separate casting of the spell for the purpose of refreshing her uses of her breath weapon.
Drake Mount: A drake rider gains a drake companion instead of a mount. When the drake companion grows up to be at least one size larger than the drake rider and if it’s willing to be mounted, it gains the mount drake power as a bonus power. A drake rider does not take an armor check penalty on Ride checks while riding his drake.
A Small drake rider gains cavalier’s charge at 5th level instead of 3rd, while a Medium drake rider gains it at 9th. This ability replaces mount and expert trainer and alters cavalier’s charge.
Approved Order: A drake rider can join only an order approved by its mount. Suitable orders may include order of the beast, order of the cockatrice, and order of the dragon, as well as other fitting orders at the GM’s discretion.
Young Drake: At 4th level, a drake warden gains a drake companion instead of an animal companion, but his effective charge’s level is equal to his ranger level – 3. The drake companion shares drake warden’s favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses. Since the drake is sentient, it cannot learn tricks as animal companions do and the draconer can’t use Handle Animals on it.
The young drake increases in size only when its charge reaches 5th level, not 9th. This ability replaces hunter’s bond and endurance.
Deity: A silver champion must worship Apsu.
Voices of the Dragons: At 2nd level, a silver champion is enlightened by a sparkle of True Dragons immortal knowledge: they learn to speak and read Draconic, if they could not already.
Drake Bond: At 5th level, a silver champion gains a drake companion. If the drake companion is at least one size larger than the silver champion and is willing to be mounted, it gains the mount drake power as a bonus power. This ability replaces Divine Bond.
Diminished Spellcasting: A Silver Champion gains the ability to cast spells at 11th level, instead of 4th; at 11th level and higher, her caster level is equal to her paladin level – 3, meaning she has the same availability of spells as a standard paladin of the same level. Through 10th, she has no caster level. Otherwise, her spellcasting functions exactly like standard paladin’s one. This ability alters paladin’s spellcasting.
And now here's the two archetypes I've invented ex novo!
Domain: A dragon worshiper must select the dragon subdomain as one of his domains (or as his only domain if he can only choose one);
Dragon Tongue: A cleric with this archetype adds Draconic to the list of his bonus languages; she must replace one of the three cleric bonus languages (Celestial, Infernal and Abyssal) with Draconic. This choice is in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of her race. This ability modifies cleric’s Bonus Languages.
Drake Companion (Ex): At 4th level, a dragon worshiper gains the service of a drake companion, but his effective charge’s level is equal to his cleric level – 2. This ability replaces the Dragonbreath and Venomous Stare domain powers.
Drake Companion: A draconer gains a drake companion instead of an animal companion. Since the drake is sentient, it cannot learn tricks as animal companions do and the draconer can’t use Handle Animals on it. Still, the drake can learn Hunter’s Tricks from the Skirmisher Ranger archetype, provided it can reasonably use them, and the draconer can teach them with one week of work and a successful Profession (Teacher) check (DC 20).
This ability replaces animal companion and one with the wild.
Shared Strength (Su): At 1st level, the connection the draconer has with her drake companion allows them to draw upon one another’s strength. The draconer can activate this ability as a swift action, and she can use it for a number of minutes per day equal to her level. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1-minute increments. The effect ends immediately if the drake companion is ever more than 100 feet away from the draconer.
While the shared strength ability is active, the draconer manifests one aspect of her drake companion drawn from the following list:
• low-light vision;
• darkvision;
• +1 bonus to natural armor;
• Bite (1d4, primary attack);
• Tail (1d4, secondary attack);
• Any of the drake powers her drake companion has got, except for Breath Weapon and Mount ones;
At 8th level, the draconer manifests two aspects of her drake companion, and she adds the following to her list of available aspects: increased size (as enlarge person).
At 15th level, the damage dealt by any natural attacks granted by this ability increases by two die steps.
A draconer’s drake companion also benefits from the shared strength ability, and gains Scent as a bonus drake power. In addition, while Shared Strenght is active, the drake understands the draconer’s known languages. At 8th level, the drake companion gains a +1 bonus on saving throws and a +2 bonus on checks with each skill in which it has at least 1 rank. At 15th level, the drake companion’s bonuses on saving throws and skill checks increase to +2 and +4 respectively.
This ability replaces the hunter’s animal focus class feature.
Bonus Hunter’s Tricks (Ex): At 1st level and every 2 levels thereafter, a hunter’s animal companion learns a bonus hunter’s trick, in addition to any that the draconer might choose to teach it. These bonus hunter’s tricks don’t require any training time or Profession (Teacher) checks. The draconer selects these bonus tricks, and once selected, they can’t be changed.
This ability replaces the hunter’s bonus tricks class feature.
I'm proud of the last archetype, one of my player is playing it and she loves it. Sorry for my English, it's not my first language. I hope you enjoy my work!