[3.5] Dragon Warrior

[Person_Man]

This class was brewed up to address a common problem with almost every dragon themed class and prestige class. You get plenty of great abilities, but you get them at an ECL that they are useless or easily replicated with cheap magic items or lower level magic. So I present to you...

The Dragon Warrior
d12 hit die
Proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, and shields (except tower shields).
6 Skill Points per level
Class Skills: Climb, Craft, Concentration, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Knowledge (any), Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, (plus others depending on Dragon Totem).

{table=head]Level|
BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Abilities
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2| Dragon Totem, Keen Senses
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3| Draconic Resolve
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3| Natural Armor +1, Least Draconic Adaptation
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4| Breath Weapon (2d10, 15 ft cone or 30 ft line)
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4| Blindsense 60 ft.
6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+5| Frightful Presence
7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+5| Natural Armor +2, Lesser Draconic Adaptation, Dragonic Affinity
8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+6| Breath Weapon (4d10, 30 ft cone or 60 ft line)
9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+6 | Claws and Bite
10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+7| Wings
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+7 | Natural Armor +3, Greater Draconic Adaptation
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+8| Breath Weapon (6d10, 40 ft cone or 80 ft line)
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+8| Energy Immunity
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+9 | Damage Reduction 10/magic
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+9| Natural Armor +4, Master Draconic Adaptation
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+10| Breath Weapon (8d10, 50 ft cone or 100 ft line)
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10| Tail Slap and Wing Buffet
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+11| Spell Resistance 25
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+11| Natural Armor +5, Paragon Draconic Adaptation
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+12| Breath Weapon (10d10, 60 ft cone or 120 ft line), Draconic Transformation, Alternate Form
[/table]

Class Abilities


Dragon Totem (Ex): You gain the ability to speak, read, and understand Draconic. You must also choose a totem dragon from the following list. You must choose a dragon whose alignment is within one step of your own. You gain the Draconic Heritage feat (Dragon Magic, Races of the Dragon) as a bonus feat, even if you do not otherwise qualify. This grants you the Dragonblood subtype. In addition, you gain additional class Skills, and eventually a breath weapon type, Draconic Adaptations, and Energy Immunity based on the Dragon Totem you choose.

{table=head]Totem Dragon|Alignments|
Class Skills|Energy Type
Black | NE, CE, CN | Hide, Move Silently, Swim| Line of Acid
Blue | NE, LE, LN | Bluff, Hide, Move Silently| Line of Electricity
Brass | NG, CG, CN | Bluff, Gather Info, Survival| Line of Fire
Bronze | NG, LG, LN | Disguise, Survival, Swim| Line of Electricity
Copper | NG, CG, CN | Bluff, Hide, Jump| Line of Acid
Gold | NG, LG, LN | Disguise, Heal, Swim| Cone of Fire
Green | NE, LE, LN | Bluff, Hide, Move Silently| Cone of Acid
Red | NE, CE, CN | Appraise, Bluff, Jump| Cone of Fire
Silver | NG, LG, LN | Bluff, Disguise, Jump| Cone of Cold
White | NE, CE, CN | Hide, Move Silently, Swim| Cone of Cold
[/table]

Keen Senses (Ex): You gain low light vision and darkvision of 120 ft. If you already have low light vision, you may now see four times as long in shadowy illumination. If you already have darkvision, then its range increases by 120 ft.

Draconic Resolve (Ex): You gain immunity to all Sleep and Paralysis effects. You are also immune to the Frightful Presence of dragons.

Natural Armor (Ex): Your skin begins to resemble the scales of your Dragon Totem. You gain a +1 bonus to natural armor. This bonus stacks with other natural armor bonuses. Every four levels this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 19th level.

Draconic Adaptation (Sp): At third level and every four levels thereafter, you gain a spell-like ability. The spell-like abilities you gain are determined by your Dragon Totem. They function exactly as your totem dragon’s ability would function (for example, water breathing also grants the ability to use your breath weapon and other abilities while submerged), except that your caster level is equal to your Dragon Warrior level, and the Save DC for any Draconic Adaptation is equal to 10 + 1/2 your Dragon Warrior level + your Cha bonus.

Some dragons have a special breath effect that they may use once per day as their Draconic Adaptation. When using this adaptation, they add the breath effect in addition to the normal damage that they deal from their breath weapon. Adding the Draconic Adaptation breath effect to your Breath Weapon does not alter the amount of time it takes to use the Breath Weapon (a Standard Action). Adding the Draconic Adaptation breath effect does not add to the delay time of the breath weapon. You may use addition multiple breath effects from feats or other class abilities at the same time, and they alter the action type and/or add to the delay time of the breath weapon per their normal effects.


Black:
Least: Water Breathing, continuously active.
Lesser: Darkness, 3 times per day.
Greater: Plant Growth, 3 times per day.
Master: Insect Plague, once per day.
Paragon: Charm Reptiles, 3 times per day.

Blue:
Least: Sound Imitation, at will.
Lesser: Ventriloquism, at will.
Greater: Hallucinatory Terrain, 3 times per day.
Master: Veil, once per day.
Paragon: Mirage Arcane, once per day.

Brass:
Least: Speak with Animals, at will.
Lesser: Endure Elements, at will.
Greater: Suggestion, 3 times per day.
Master: Control Weather, once per day.
Paragon: Summon Djinni, once per day.

Bronze:
Least: Water Breathing, continuously active.
Lesser: Fog Cloud, 3 times per day.
Greater: Detect Thoughts, 3 times per day.
Master: Control Weather, once per day.
Paragon: Repulsive Gas breath effect, once per day.

Copper:
Least: Spider Climb, 3 times per day.
Lesser: Stone Shape, 3 times per day.
Greater: Transmute Rock to Mud or Mud to Rock, twice per day.
Master: Wall of Stone, once per day.
Paragon: Slow (1d6+5 rounds) breath effect, once per day.

Gold:
Least: Bless, 3 times per day.
Lesser: Detect Gems, at will.
Greater: Geas/Quest, once per day.
Master: Sunburst, once per day.
Paragon: Foresight, once per day.

Green:
Least: Entangle, 3 times per day.
Lesser: Plant Growth, once per day.
Greater: Suggestion, 3 times per day.
Master: Dominate Person, once per day.
Paragon: Command Plants, at will.

Red:
Least: Locate Object, once per day.
Lesser: Identify, 3 times per day.
Greater: Suggestion, 3 times per day.
Master: Find the Path, once per day.
Paragon: Discern Location, once per day.

Silver:
Least: Feather Fall on self, at will.
Lesser: Fog Cloud, 3 times per day.
Greater: Control Wind, twice per day.
Master: Control Weather, once per day.
Paragon: Reverse Gravity, once per day.

White:
Least: Icewalking, continuously active.
Lesser: Fog Cloud, 3 times per day.
Greater: Wall of Ice, once per day.
Master: Freezing Fog, once per day.
Paragon: Polar Ray, once per day.
Any surface in the area of a Cold spell, effect, or breath weapon is also covered with a light frost, which allows it to qualify for Icewalking.

Breath Weapon (Su): You gain a breath weapon, with a energy type determined by your dragon totem. Your breath weapon’s range damage determined by your Dragon Warrior level. Using the Breath Weapon is a Standard Action. Enemies hit by this weapon may make a Reflex Save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your Dragon Warrior level + your Con bonus) for half damage. After using your breath weapon, you must wait 1d4 rounds before you may use it again.

Blindsense (Ex): You gain Blindsense of 60 ft.

Frightful Presence (Ex): You gain the Frightful Presence of dragon. This ability takes effect whenever you attack, charge, or fly overhead an enemy that can see you. Enemies within a radius of 5 ft × your Dragon Warrior class level are subject to the effect. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your Dragon Warrior class level + your Cha modifier) avoids the effect of the Frightful Presence and are immune to it for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds. Enemies with more Hit Dice then you are not effected. This ability does not stack with itself or with any other Frightful Presence or similar Fear aura ability, although it does stack with Fear effects from other sources unless they specify otherwise.

Dragonic Affinity (Ex): As your understanding and reverence of dragons increases, you begin to take on their magical ways. You gain Use Magic Device as a class Skill. Furthermore, true dragons recognize you as a potential future dragon treat you as if you were a wyrmling dragon of the same color as your totem. This means that dragons of the same color or alignment will generally have a Friendly (though patronizing) disposition towards you, and that dragons of generally opposite alignment will have a Hostile (or perhaps manipulative and hateful) attitude towards you. It is unlikely that even a Helpful dragon would provide you with any material support, as they covet their wealth and still look down upon you. But they may choose to help shelter or protect you or a brief period of time, and perhaps impart some of their knowledge to you, if they feel like it.

Claws and Bite (Ex): You gain claws and a bite attack, as if you were a dragon of your size. In addition, any natural weapon you possess now counts as a magic weapon for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.

Wings (Ex): You gain a pair of dragon wings. You gain a fly speed equal to your land speed, with average maneuverability. If you are wearing medium armor or carrying a medium load, then your maneuverability is reduced by one step (to poor). If you are wearing heavy armor or carrying a heavy load, then your maneuverability is reduced by two steps (to clumsy).

With your DMs approval, you may instead gain a swim or burrow speed equal to your land speed, if doing so could be appropriate for your chosen Dragon Totem. For example, a Dragon Warrior with a Blue Dragon Totem could choose to gain a burrow speed (limited to sand and dirt but not rock, just as a Blue Dragon is) instead of a fly speed.

Energy Immunity (Ex): You gain immunity to the same energy type as your Breath Weapon.

Tail Slap and Wing Buffet (Ex): You gain a tail attack and two wing buffet attacks. They each deal the same base damage as your claws.

If you do not have wings but have a burrow speed, then your claws deal damage as if you were one size category larger instead, and each deal 1.5 times your Strength bonus (instead of 0.5 as normal). If you do not have wings but have a swim speed, then your tail becomes prehensile. You may use it as a third arm. This allows you to qualify for Multiattack.

Damage Reduction: You gain DR 10/magic.

Spell Resistance: You gain SR 25.

Draconic Transformation: You grow one size category and transform into a true dragon of the same type as your Dragon Totem. You gain the dragon type, and lose your previous type (though you retain any previous sub-types and templates). However you maintain all of the racial abilities and ability modifiers of your previous type, such as Stability, Powerful Build, Save bonuses, bonus feats, etc. You maintain all of your abilities. You gain the movement speed, forms, and maneuverability of a true dragon of that color and size. Your natural weapons still deal damage according to your Dragon Warrior abilities (adjusted to your new size) or your new true dragon form, using whatever values are higher for each natural weapon. All other abilities (Breath Weapon, Frightful Presence, DR, SR, spell-like abilities, etc) are still determined by your Dragon Warrior abilities, and not your new true dragon form. All true dragons now treat you as a full fledged dragon of your size and color.

Alternate Form (Su): As a Standard Action you may assume the form of any humanoid or animal of up to 5 HD (as per Alter Self) three times per day. You may remain in your alternate form until you choose to assume a new one or return to your natural form of a true dragon. When you are in an alternate form, you may choose to keep or suppress any or all of your Dragon Warrior abilities. For example, you may choose to pass as a normal human, and suppress your tail, wings, claws, bite, and scales, but keep your breath weapon and other abilities. However, you must make this choice at the time you assume the form. If you later decide that you want to use any of your Dragon Warrior abilities that you have hidden, you must take a Standard Action and spend one of your Alternate Form uses to do so. This ability otherwise functions as the standard alternate form ability.

[Pie Guy]

Instead of statistics, say ability scores.

That said, It looks like an interesting class and I might try to get it past my DM.

[Kesnit]

I like... My PnP group plays in DragonLance and the DM has said he would be open to dragon-themed classes if our current PC's die.

[D Knight]

not to be mean or anything but this looks like a dragon shaman from the complete divine without the auras and special ablitys.

[Glooble Glistencrist]

As a fan of Draconic classes, I've experienced the problems you described. I like your Breath Weapon system, and the Draconic Adaptions look really cool flavorwise. I don't have my 3.5 books with me now or I'd critique your numbers and things in depth - I'd like to compare this to the Dragon Shaman and the Dragonfire Adept in terms of abilities gained and such, but I'm sure you've done that already. Anyway, looks good from what I can see. I'd play one.

iirc, the Dragon Shaman is a support class, meant to be more in line with Clerics and such. It has a 3/4 base attack progression and, I believe a d8 hit die. Plus no martial weapon proficiency. This is much more like a Dragon-themed barbarian, which suits me just fine.

[Person_Man]

Instead of statistics, say ability scores.

Good catch. Changed. Thanks.


not to be mean or anything but this looks like a dragon shaman from the complete divine without the auras and special ablitys.


I'd like to compare this to the Dragon Shaman and the Dragonfire Adept in terms of abilities gained and such, but I'm sure you've done that already. Anyway, looks good from what I can see. I'd play one.

I did not attempt to do anything creative with this class. The Dragon Shaman, Dragon Disciple, Dragon Devotee, Dragon Samurai, Half Dragon Paragon, Vassal of Bahamut, etc are all interesting classes with good class features. But the class features generally come at an ECL at which they are useless or severely underpowered. The point of the Dragon Warrior is compile the most iconic Dragon powers into a single balanced class.

Here is the reasoning I used when writing it:

Levels 1-3: You have the best possible base stats in the game - Full BAB, d12 hit points, all strong Saves, and 6 Skill points per level from a good list. But other then a +1 to Natural Armor, his class abilities are all highly situational, and he lacks medium/heavy armor, bonus feats, or Rage. The Draconic Adaptations in particular are designed to be a flavorful extra rather then a pivotal class ability. They're nifty, but nothing you can't purchase with magic items at the given ECL. I'm still considering dumping them for stat bonuses or some other class feature.

Level 4: Breath Weapon that deals an average of 11 damage (5.5 on Save, 0 with Evasion): Useful against enemies with low hit points. But at ECL 4, most enemies will have 20-30ish hit points. And you have to wait until 6th level before you have a free feat to invest in a useful metabreath feat. Also, the 1d4 round delay means you'll be using it once (maybe twice) each combat.

Levels 5-6: You get Blindsense (but not Blindsight or True Seeing) at the same time Wizards get Invisibility. And you get Frightful Presence when its still reasonable that you'd fight enemies with 4 or less HD, but when most enemies will probably have 5-8. In each case, the power is useful, but not an automatic win button (like many 3rd level Batman spells can potentially be). At level 6, you also need to choose between a metabreath feat or the more traditional Leap Attack or Shock Trooper if you want to focus on melee.

Levels 7-8: Powers scale up a bit. At this point magic begins to dominate D&D. But you get access to UMD. So if you're willing to invest heavily into it for a few levels, you should be able to keep pace with your friends. It's also worth mentioning that ANYONE can invest in UMD cross class, but that because of cross class restrictions it doesn't usually become useful until ECL 12ish. So I gave the Dragon Warrior UMD late enough to avoid stepping on his 3/4 BAB party member's niche (Rogue, Bard, Warlock), but early enough that it actually makes a difference (when casters get 4th level spells).

Levels 9-10: You get 2 extra (potentially 3, if you have Improved Unarmed Strike) attacks from your Claws and Bite. Like all natural weapons, these count for Power Attack and Weapon Finesse. And you get the ability to Fly, which is pretty much required if you're a melee based class and want to be useful against flying enemies. Many of your party members will be getting 5th level spells, powers, and manuevers (Dominate Person, Overland Flight, Polymorph, Divine Power, Incarnate, Metamorphosis). You'll be less powerful then them, but you'll definitely be on the upper tier of meatshields. With the right feats and magic items, you should be fine.

Levels 11-12: Powers scale up a bit more.

Levels 13-14: You get Energy Immunity to your breath type. There's an inherent balance in this. If you chose a common energy type (Fire) you get a better immunity, but more enemies will be immune to your breath. If you choose an obscure breath type (Acid), then your immunity is almost worthless, but it'll be rare that anyone is immune to your breath weapon. You also get DR 10/magic. This is ridiculously useful against mooks, animals, constucts, plants, some demons, etc. But at ECL 14, most enemies will be able to bypass it, so its not unbalancing.

Levels 15-16: Powers scale up a bit more.

Levels 17-20: If you're playing at this level, everyone has ridiculous powers. So you get SR 25 (essentially 25% of magic against you will fail) and 3 more attacks. As a capstone you turn into a freaking True Dragon while maintaining your ability to to be a humanoid (or any humanoid or animal with less the 5 HD), giving you the ridiculous flexibility you'll need to stay alive at that level.

Thoughts?

[thegurullamen]

Levels 1-3: You have the best possible base stats in the game - Full BAB, d12 hit points, all strong Saves, and 6 Skill points per level from a good list.

You lost it right here. You cannot balance all good saves, d12 HD, full BAB and 6 skill/level with Spot and Listen on the list. You're stepping all over the toes of core. Who would ever play a barbarian over this? Or a monk for that matter?

[Lert, A.]

Looks good.

Draconic Adaptation is kind of a meh ability for me, but that's more about a general dislike of SLAs as class features than anything else, especially if they have limited uses and you can't choose the SLA (most of which end up being weak anyways).

If it were me, I would maybe let the player choose a single spell as a sorceror of his level minus 2. This spell becomes a SLA for the Dragon Warrior.

[Draz74]

Who would ever play a barbarian over this?
Someone who wants Rage and Fast Movement.


Or a monk for that matter?

Good question. Who would ever want to play a Monk? :smallwink: (Person Man will tell you that balancing a homebrew class against the Monk is a great way to make sure your homebrew class is very underpowered.)

This class is not designed to be balanced in a Core-only, non-optimized-casters environment. It's supposed to be balanced against the general power level of splatbook-power-creeped D&D. So "stepping all over Core" isn't particularly worrisome.

[Human Paragon 3]

Pit it against a magitech warrior in a pvp showdown!

[Person_Man]

You lost it right here. You cannot balance all good saves, d12 HD, full BAB and 6 skill/level with Spot and Listen on the list. You're stepping all over the toes of core. Who would ever play a barbarian over this? Or a monk for that matter?

Well, I'd start out by saying that the Barbarian and Monk are weak compared to the Swordsage, Crusader, Warblade, Knight, Psychic Warrior, and every caster. In particular, if you're playing a Monk, you're choosing to play a class which is notoriously weak.

But lets compare the Dragon Warrior to the Barbarian. At 1st level, the Barbarian gets Rage and Fast Movement (or Pounce, or anything else he wants from his long list of variants). He also gets medium armor proficiency, which the Dragon Warrior lacks. And at second level, the Barbarian gets Uncanny Dodge. So while the Dragon Warrior has better Saves, they're not ridiculously better (like a 2nd level Paladin). Plus the Dragon Warrior needs respectable Cha (the weakest stat of all) if he ever wants his Frightful Presence or offensive Draconic Adaptations to be useful.

So on balance, I'd say that a low level Barbarian would have an easier time in combat then the Dragon Warrior. And beyond that, I fully admit that I'm trying to balance the Dragon Warrior against newer classes, and not much weaker core meatshields.

[Glooble Glistencrist]

I like this class.

Even if it's only Large, "Turn into a True Dragon" as a capstone ability pretty much blows the other dragon-themed classes out of the water, doesn't it?

Oddly enough, I don't think that makes it broken. A Juvenile Gold Dragon (the most powerful large dragon as far as I can tell) is only CR 11. Although your Breath Weapon will be as powerful as a huge dragon.

Edit: Are there any zero LA large creatures? Cause if there are, They would get much more powerful stats in Dragon Form. And halfling and Gnome dragon warriors get seriously gypped. Maybe instead of "one size category larger" you should just pick an age for them to gain the stats of.

[Human Paragon 3]

Rules question:

If you are a level 20 dragon warrior and you use your alternate form ability to appear as a normal human, do you still get your size bonus to grapple and 10 ft' reach in combat?

If not, could you just turn into a large humanoid instead?

[Person_Man]

Rules question:

If you are a level 20 dragon warrior and you use your alternate form ability to appear as a normal human, do you still get your size bonus to grapple and 10 ft' reach in combat?

If not, could you just turn into a large humanoid instead?

You can turn into any humaniod or animal of 5 hd or less. You would have the space and reach of that form. So you couldn't turn into a large sized human with 10 ft of reach.

But yes, there are plenty of Large animals and humanoids out there you could turn into. I'm not aware of any humanoid or animal with 5 hd or less that is bigger then Large, so the ability to abuse it is limited though.



I like this class.

Even if it's only Large, "Turn into a True Dragon" as a capstone ability pretty much blows the other dragon-themed classes out of the water, doesn't it?

Oddly enough, I don't think that makes it broken. A Juvenile Gold Dragon (the most powerful large dragon as far as I can tell) is only CR 11. Although your Breath Weapon will be as powerful as a huge dragon.

The Initiate of the Draconic Mysteries prestige class (Draconomicon) gets the ability to polymorph into a large dragon at ECL 16. Wizards get access to Polymorph at 7th level, Druids get better Wildshape forms around 15th level (or earlier with the right feats), and the Knight gets the ridiculously powerful Loyal Beyond Death capstone.

So yeah, while better then most capstones, it's not that potent in the grand scheme of things.



Edit: Are there any zero LA large creatures? Cause if there are, They would get much more powerful stats in Dragon Form. And halfling and Gnome dragon warriors get seriously gypped. Maybe instead of "one size category larger" you should just pick an age for them to gain the stats of.

There are no LA 0 Large creatures. The lowest LA large creature that I'm aware of is the half-ogre (Races of Destiny) at LA+2. In that case, you're clearly paying for the extra size with 2 class levels.

I didn't want to put an age category on the ability because some dragons are much more powerful then others. For example, a wyrmling black dragon is tiny and has 4 hd, while a wyrmling gold dragon is medium and has 8 hd.

I though about making it "Large Dragon," but that would screw people who did invest LA into something like half-ogre.

Regardless, I think the intent is clear, and that a reasonable DM and PC can use what works for them. You turn into a dragon, and can use a limited Alternate Form. If the specifics are too complicated or open for abuse to you, you could just change it to:

Alternate Form (Sp): As a Standard Action you may Wildshape into a true dragon of the same type as your totem. The size and age of the dragon you turn into is limited by your hit die. For example, a 20th level Green Dragon Warrior could Wild Shape into a Huge Green Dragon. You gain the natural weapons, attack modes, movement modes and speeds, and physical ability scores (Str, Dex, Con) of your new form. You maintain your current hit points, even if your Con is higher. You do not gain any of the other spellcasting ability, supernatural abilities, extraordinary abilities, or spell-like abilities of your new form. Though you do retain those abilities from your Dragon Warrior class levels. Thus, you keep your Frightful Presence at your range and Save DC, rather then gaining the Frightful Presence of your new form. You may use this ability for up to one hour per day, portioned out throughout the day however you wish.