Quote Originally Posted by TypoNinja View Post
I would argue that Kobolds do not get more powerful with age, aging lowers physical stats while increasing mental stats, true dragons see an increase to all stats, and no decreases.
The Dragonwrought feat explicitly changes that for Kobolds. They don't lower their physical stats. They only raise their mental ones. That's in Races of the Dragon in the Kobold aging table. So, yes, they do get more powerful as they age (there's even a section of the DMG that straight up says "more powerful characters" are characters with higher stats).

I think a delineation based on advancement methods (Dragons advance by hitdice, kobolds advance by character class), or the presence of actual Dragon Hitdice would be more appropriate.
Again, I think if you make the abilities you don't want Kobolds to have require Dragon Hit Dice it solves the problem better, because common sense really does say that Kobolds should count as True Dragons based on what Races of the Dragon is saying.

I would also dispute that any dragon steel or otherwise qualifies for dragonblood substitution levels. First off, the requirement is a Dragonblood supbtype, something a dragon lacks. Second the requirement levels of Sorcerer. Casting as a sorcerer of X is not the same thing as being a sorcerer of X level
It's a special rule for all True Dragons... if anything requires the Dragonblood subtype, a True Dragon automatically qualifies for that thing and ignores all prerequisites.

And it's not that True Dragons have Sorcerer levels, it's that Dragonblood Sorcerer 7 requires Sorcerer 6 and being Dragonblooded, but a True Dragon gets to ignore the Sorcerer 6 part of the requirement because he's a True Dragon and Dragonblooded was one of the requirements.

As a Dragon you have no levels of Sorcerer, or any other class, you have dragon HD. As a Dragon you lack the dragonblood subtype.
I think you need to review Draconomicon and Races of the Dragon and maybe Dragon Magic before trying to figure out what's intended and sensible here. This statement is clearly wrong.

Finally the idea that you gain the listed bonus is silly, its a substitution level, you take it instead of the listed level. It replaces the listed level from its class, its not a new class. So sorc substitution 7;
Right. Let me break this down for you.

Any True Dragon can always take anything (feat, class level, etc) that requires the Dragonblood subtype, ignoring all prerequisites... they automatically qualify. Taking Dragonblood Sorcerer 7 requires being Sorcerer 6 and being Dragonblooded. Since True Dragons ignore the normal prerequisites, they can just take Dragonblood Sorcerer 7 despite never having taken any other Sorcerer levels. Now, because your Sorcerer casting is based on the number of Sorcerer levels you have, this only gives them the usual one level increase in Sorcerer casting, so it's not insane. But because BAB and saves are a lookup table, your BAB and saves are suddenly set to the value that a Sorcerer 7 would normally have... namely +3 BAB, +5 Wil, +2 For, +2 Ref. See how that worked?

Finally the ELH (and SRD) say that dragons gain virtual age categories for every three hitdice, but only after they've achieved Great Wyrm Status. Again that keyword, Hitdice. Dragons advance by Hitdice, Dragon HD. They get their own. Taking levels of another class will indeed provide you with hitdice, but the wrong kind. You must take the Monstrous HD to get the benefit of them. Age Category advancements are a trait of Dragon HD only.
I've bolded the problem. The Advanced Dragon rules assume that Dragons advance by racial hit dice, but actually they advance by racial hit dice or class based hit dice. There's even plenty of True Dragon classes. And nothing in the Advanced Dragon rules specify what kind of hit dice it should be (it ought to be racial hit dice, but as written class hit dice would also count). At no point does it say "you must take the monsterous HD to get the benefit of them." That's why my rules correction was to make that explicit. Age Category advancements should be a trait of dragon HD only, but as written they're not. So, if we change it to a common sense thing, we just explicitly state that.

JaronK