Help with the Dragonrider. - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Help with the Dragonrider.

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Mar 05, 2004 21:22:33 Alright, now one of my PCs wanted to take the Dragonrider PrC after looking at table 2-15 of page 79, DLCS, and a bit of thinking told him no.
Other then the fact that I just didn't wan't him focusing like that. It's all right if they ride a dragon evry once in a while, it's one of the staples of Dragonlance for Pete's sake. Also he wouldn't be able to use any of his class ablties until sixteenth level, it just seemed none to good of an idea.

But then I took a gander of Leaderships descrption in the DMG, and it listed Green Dragon (young) under specal cohorts and there it was considered to have a charcter level of 9, but table 2-15 says it's ECL is 13?
Now that really dosen't makes sense becuase under all logic the Green (young)'s new ECL should be 6 (9-3=6 not 13).

Now am I just misinterpreting the chart, and is the ECL the total ECL of the Dragonrider/Dragon duo? Or is the chart right and the class is in efect useless to anyone but Kinder and Epic level character's. Or is there something I'm missing all together?
#2
cam_banks
Mar 05, 2004 22:29:02
Originally posted by William Coburn
But then I took a gander of Leaderships descrption in the DMG, and it listed Green Dragon (young) under specal cohorts and there it was considered to have a charcter level of 9, but table 2-15 says it's ECL is 13?
Now that really dosen't makes sense becuase under all logic the Green (young)'s new ECL should be 6 (9-3=6 not 13).

You might be referring to a 3.0 DMG, not the current 3.5 version, which on p199 lists a young green dragon as having an ECL of 16.

16 minus 3 (the dragon rider's benefit) = 13, which is why it's listed as such on table 2.15 in the DLCS.

Cheers,
Cam
#3
zombiegleemax
Mar 05, 2004 23:35:34 Ok, now things make sence.
But why the jump in ECL?
#4
iltharanos
Mar 06, 2004 1:51:29
Originally posted by William Coburn
Ok, now things make sence.
But why the jump in ECL?

Probably because dragons are butch, and having one as a cohort/special mount at the same time is even more butch.
#5
cam_banks
Mar 06, 2004 5:57:54
Originally posted by William Coburn
Ok, now things make sence.
But why the jump in ECL?

Effective character level is one of those areas of the game which was revisited and re-examined quite a bit between 3.0 and 3.5, and in some cases WOTC realized they didn't fully account for the power levels of certain creatures or the impact those creatures could have on a campaign if they were used as player characters.

In the case of the dragon, it's very likely that WOTC said "wow, a young green dragon is a heck of a lot more powerful and unbalancing than a 9th level PC" and took another look at it. Thus, ECL 16.

Cheers,
Cam
#6
zombiegleemax
Mar 07, 2004 1:22:43 Ok thanks for the help.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Mar 05, 2004 21:22:33	Alright, now one of my PCs wanted to take the Dragonrider PrC after looking at table 2-15 of page 79, DLCS, and a bit of thinking told him no. Other then the fact that I just didn't wan't him focusing like that. It's all right if they ride a dragon evry once in a while, it's one of the staples of Dragonlance for Pete's sake. Also he wouldn't be able to use any of his class ablties until sixteenth level, it just seemed none to good of an idea. But then I took a gander of Leaderships descrption in the DMG, and it listed Green Dragon (young) under specal cohorts and there it was considered to have a charcter level of 9, but table 2-15 says it's ECL is 13? Now that really dosen't makes sense becuase under all logic the Green (young)'s new ECL should be 6 (9-3=6 not 13). Now am I just misinterpreting the chart, and is the ECL the total ECL of the Dragonrider/Dragon duo? Or is the chart right and the class is in efect useless to anyone but Kinder and Epic level character's. Or is there something I'm missing all together?
#2 cam_banks Mar 05, 2004 22:29:02	Originally posted by William Coburn But then I took a gander of Leaderships descrption in the DMG, and it listed Green Dragon (young) under specal cohorts and there it was considered to have a charcter level of 9, but table 2-15 says it's ECL is 13? Now that really dosen't makes sense becuase under all logic the Green (young)'s new ECL should be 6 (9-3=6 not 13). You might be referring to a 3.0 DMG, not the current 3.5 version, which on p199 lists a young green dragon as having an ECL of 16. 16 minus 3 (the dragon rider's benefit) = 13, which is why it's listed as such on table 2.15 in the DLCS. Cheers, Cam
#3 zombiegleemax Mar 05, 2004 23:35:34	Ok, now things make sence. But why the jump in ECL?
#4 iltharanos Mar 06, 2004 1:51:29	Originally posted by William Coburn Ok, now things make sence. But why the jump in ECL? Probably because dragons are butch, and having one as a cohort/special mount at the same time is even more butch.
#5 cam_banks Mar 06, 2004 5:57:54	Originally posted by William Coburn Ok, now things make sence. But why the jump in ECL? Effective character level is one of those areas of the game which was revisited and re-examined quite a bit between 3.0 and 3.5, and in some cases WOTC realized they didn't fully account for the power levels of certain creatures or the impact those creatures could have on a campaign if they were used as player characters. In the case of the dragon, it's very likely that WOTC said "wow, a young green dragon is a heck of a lot more powerful and unbalancing than a 9th level PC" and took another look at it. Thus, ECL 16. Cheers, Cam
#6 zombiegleemax Mar 07, 2004 1:22:43	Ok thanks for the help.