Dragon Familiar?

[Grynning]

My friend's wife wants to have a dragon familiar or companion of some kind in our new campaign that's starting next month (chicks love dragons, apparently, I don't think I've ever been in a group where the female players weren't dragon-themed somehow). Anyways, I know Improved Familiar lets you get a Pseudodragon at caster level 7th, but I was wondering if there's a way to get a Dragon-type pet at a lower character level, since our DM is starting us at level 5. I figure if anyone knows a way, it's you guys, so, discuss.

[Talic]

Difficult. I can think of higher level variants, using the Draconomicon. Hard to get a mountable dragon before level 15 though... At least, not one that'll fly.

[Grynning]

Doesn't have to be a mount - she just wants one as a pet/familiar. She's going to be a primary caster of some kind, it's still up in the air.

[Talic]

Figured as much. I'm offering more options. However, the pseudodragon is pretty much the weakest dragon out there, unless you count the MM entry for kobold.

Note: I'm not incorporating any kobolds with 4 levels of adept, or some latent psychic ability allowing them to destroy the cosmos. Just the base entry.

There are dumbed down dragons in the Draconomicon also, including a slightly more dangerous version of a horse. Theoretically, you could purchase one of those, but at that point, it's an expensive overglorified dinosaur.

[Amiria]

Hmm, take the Pseudodragon as a basis. Take away Blindsense, Spell Resistance and the poison stinger. Reduce it's fly speed to 30 and the maneuverability to poor. Give it a Burning Hands-like breath weapon (based on its own hit dice, so 2d4) and a tendency to explode. Now you have a Swamp Dragon, suitable for Improved Familiar, available at 3rd level.

[Zenos]

Yay! Pratchett!

[Maxymiuk]

The Draconomicon has the Dragon Familiar feat which however has somewhat heftier prerequisites than the Improved Familiar feat.

Also, there's always the Dracolyte PrC from the same book, which eventually gives you a wyrmling dragon as a ward, but you have to be a divine caster to enter it, so it doesn't count as a familiar per se...

[Dode]

There's the Dragon Trainer feat in Races of the Dragon that allows a player to use their Handle Animal skill on dragons with an Int of 6 or lower. But it gets a bit complex from thereon out and takes years of rearing.

There's also of course good old Leadership, which isn't restricted by type.
Dragon Cohort and Dragon Familiar are also available in the Draconomicon. Dragon Cohort requires you be level 9, but gets much more dragon for your feat then Leadership. Dragon Familiar holds back the better dragons until you get hit level 10, but there's nothing stopping you from picking up a White Dragon familiar instead of a Psuedodragon at level 7.

In short, I don't think there's a way for your player to get what she wants through the RAW. Which means it's up to you as DM to roll up your sleeves and homebrew up something feat you feel is acceptable and fun for the party. Goodluck

[Grynning]

I think Amiria's suggestion will work quite well, actually. Since the game is going to have a Japanese feel to it we were going to re-"skin" the dragons anyways, so adjusting the stats down a bit is easy enough. Just needed the idea (I'm awful at home-brewing for the most part, I'm too much of a rules-lawyer :p). Thanks all.

[random11]

If the reasons for wanting a dragon are mostly for "cuteness", you can just take a raven, trade a little speed for better armor, replace the attack with a minor fire breath, and describe it as something that looks like a tiny (and cute) fairy dragon.

[Zenos]

Or maybe simply have a dragon egg that will hatch at 7th level or something but can "speak" to her character?

[Kaelik]

Dragon Magic has a level 1 substitution that gives you a Dragon familiar in place of your normal one. This costs no feats at all.

[nargbop]

I've always had trouble with interesting monsters as familiars; whose template creatures already have significant mental abilities.

The PHB doesn't specifically say how the familiar is created / gotten other than it takes 100gp and 24 hours. In a game I DM'd, a sorcerer decided to make a familiar halfway through and I made him sit and meditate in front of an offerring to Boccob. He got a snake, but also got caught by the City Guard... :)

Familiars are created, not found, as far as I'm concerned. They are extensions of the character's personality instead of pre-existing creatures. They are also NOT natural creatures; they merely resemble (for example) cats or rats or snakes.

If your player is going for the dragon wyrmling familiar for cute factor, go for it. For utility, don't allow it.

Also, a real dragon seeing this creature will not be happy...

[Lord Tataraus]

I've always had trouble with interesting monsters as familiars; whose template creatures already have significant mental abilities.

The PHB doesn't specifically say how the familiar is created / gotten other than it takes 100gp and 24 hours. In a game I DM'd, a sorcerer decided to make a familiar halfway through and I made him sit and meditate in front of an offerring to Boccob. He got a snake, but also got caught by the City Guard... :)

Familiars are created, not found, as far as I'm concerned. They are extensions of the character's personality instead of pre-existing creatures. They are also NOT natural creatures; they merely resemble (for example) cats or rats or snakes.

If your player is going for the dragon wyrmling familiar for cute factor, go for it. For utility, don't allow it.

Also, a real dragon seeing this creature will not be happy...

Based on the flavor of the Tibbit, I would disagree. Familiars are created by magically enhancing an existing creature.

[Zenos]

Yeah, I think it is more of a bonding with an existing creature, enhancing it's abilities in the process.

[Yeril]

With the Dragon Familiar feat, a arcane spellcaster can get a wyrmling white dragon as a Familiar at level 7, thats the earliest it seems, you'll have to ask the DM if he can knock it down 2 levels and change other things

[shaggz076]

Closest thing I could think of that could work at level one would be adding the Draconic template to an animal from the familiar list. It isn't a true dragon but it is close enough that it might satisfy her.

Even the weakest of the true dragons would be a 6HD white dragon. Unless you wanted to create a race of tiny Dragons that gain certain abilities as their master gets stronger. Just remember to keep it on the level that the other familiars are or it will be unbalancing.

[Kaelik]

Hello? Already posted the answer Draconic Familiar in Dragon Magic.

[Darrin]

There's also of course good old Leadership, which isn't restricted by type.
Dragon Cohort and Dragon Familiar are also available in the Draconomicon. Dragon Cohort requires you be level 9, but gets much more dragon for your feat then Leadership. Dragon Familiar holds back the better dragons until you get hit level 10, but there's nothing stopping you from picking up a White Dragon familiar instead of a Psuedodragon at level 7.

You could also use just plain ol' Leadership at level 6 to pick up a dragon as a cohort. Dragon #320 provided racial class levels for the metallic dragons without any LA necessary (see Dragon #332 for chromatic dragons), so just figure out how many ECLs your cohort would have, and build a cohort with that many dragon levels. I think Brass or Copper might work best... they start out as tiny, but get bigger as they level up. Bronze and Silver start out as Small, and Gold starts out as Medium (Silver and Gold have Alternate Forms, which allow them to shapechange into human forms).