Chronicles of the Wyrm (Dragon Quest)

Maugan Ra · Jul 22, 2016

TotallyNotEvil said:
Three questions:
1) Are Sovereign Archetypes allowed?
2) Is the Entangling Exhalation feat allowed?
3) How does the autoqualification thing works? Could we, say, take a level in Sorcerer and then go for Singer of Concordance?

How could I forget.

Sovereign Archetypes (and man, Google searching for that gives some interesting results) are probably out, since they don't fit the setting. As a general guide I'm not especially interested in 3.5 conversions, if only because I know relatively little about 3.5.

Entangling Exhalation... no. Unless someone can explain to me how exactly you are impeding someone's mobility by covering them in fire. That tends to make someone more energetic...

I have no idea what Singer of Concordance is. That said, your basic abilities can and probably will qualify you for prestige classes and the like.

Generally speaking, I'm OK with most stuff produced by Paizo and Dreamscarred Press. Anything from 3.5 is... eh, possible, but only with a convincing argument as to why it makes sense and why you can't do the same thing with a pathfinder equivalent.

Remember also that I'm using numbers more as guidelines than anything else, and certainly won't be rolling everything out. So don't go hunting for +1 items or feats or whatever, because there's not much point.

Q99 said:
Hm, that'd lead a population of a million to only have a single level 7...

Yeah, the numbers break down rapidly after about level 5. At that point the ratio stops being about numbers and starts being about local conditions and power groups. There are way more high-level characters in and around the Worldwound than there are in, say, Isger.

The Laurent · Jul 22, 2016

Tekomandor said:
Pathfinder is kinda terrible for gishes, I'm not sure if you can even do 16/9 in it. Though we are a dragon, the ur-fighty wizards so...

What's a gish?

Tekomandor · Jul 22, 2016

Maugan Ra said:
Generally speaking, I'm OK with most stuff produced by Paizo and Dreamscarred Press. Anything from 3.5 is... eh, possible, but only with a convincing argument as to why it makes sense and why you can't do the same thing with a pathfinder equivalent.

Remember also that I'm using numbers more as guidelines than anything else, and certainly won't be rolling everything out. So don't go hunting for +1 items or feats or whatever, because there's not much point.

Huh, Dreamscarred Press have effectively done a JPM conversion, with the Bladecaster. And that capstone!!!!

Yes, let's play a martial initiator/spellcaster. Broken Blade style was made for us.

The Laurent said:
What's a gish?

Fighter/Wizard type. Generally, in 3.5, they should be able to achieve a +16 BAB and 9th level spells by level 20.

TotallyNotEvil · Jul 22, 2016

Tekomandor said:
Generally, in 3.5, they should be able to achieve a +16 BAB and 9th level spells by level 20.

Well, that's the ideal Gish.

Tekomandor said:
with the Bladecaster. And that capstone!!!!

Now that's pretty damn nice. @Maugan Ra how would Eldritch Strike from this Bladecaster interact with our natural weapons?

I suppose we must use Path of War instead of the Tome of Battle for the initiators? Because Wizard/Warblade/Jade Phoenix Mage/Bladecaster would be oh so sweet. Pretty straight forward too, that's a single 3.5 book.

ohrasil · Jul 22, 2016

Alright, to a noob whose never played dnd or pathfinder, can someone explain .... what almost everything on the character sheet, is?

Also what strength 17 means? Like what is the average for human? What is the average for wrymling dragons?

I know practically nothing about this.

tryrar · Jul 22, 2016

for a a starting character, anything over 14 is really good, 20 being just about the max you can get normally(rolling thee sixes at char creation and applying a racial mod, though some races come with bigger mods)

TotallyNotEvil · Jul 22, 2016

ohrasil said:
Also what strength 17 means? Like what is the average for human?

8-12 is the average adult range, 14 is maybe someone that does serious workouts but that's not their main focus, 18 strenght is absolutely peak human. That goes for all attributes, too. Yeah, our little dragon is quite bullshit stat wise.

ohrasil said:
what almost everything on the character sheet, is?

Maugan Ra said:
AC: 20, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (10 base +2 Dex +7 natural +1 size)
HP: 78 (8d12+16)
Fort +7, Ref +7 Will +7
Immune: Fire, Paralysis, Sleep. Weaknesses: Vulnerability to Cold

AC: Armor Class. How hard it is to hit us. 20 is in general, touch is to land a touch attack, flat-flooted is when we are flanked or caught by surprise.
HP: Hit points, how much damage we can take before dying.
Fort, Ref and Will stand for Fortitude, Reflex and Will, those are the three basic saves. You usually get to make a saving throw to resist a spell aimed at you. Fortitude for, say, something that would stop your heart. Reflex usually means getting out of the way of an explosion and taking half damage. Will is to avoid someone mind controlling you.

As a Dragon, we are immune to Sleep and Paralysis effects. So we can't be put to sleep or be paralysed no matter what. As our species is Gold, we are immune to Fire but take more damage from Cold.

Maugan Ra said:
OFFENSE
Speed: 60ft, Swim 60ft, Fly 150ft (average)
Melee: Bite +11 (1d6+5), 2 claws +11 (1d4+3)
Space: 5ft, Reach: 5ft
Special attacks: Breath weapon (20ft cone, DC16, 2d10 fire damage OR 1pt strength damage)

Speed details how far we can go with a single move action, and as we are a Gold Dragon, we have a Swim speed and a Fly speed too. The "(average)" details our maneuverability.
"Bite +11 (1d6+5)" is our primary attack. When we need to, say, move and attack in the same round, we will use our Bite. +11 is our total to-hit bonus, we will roll 1d20 + 11 to try and match or surpass our opponent's AC. 1d6+5 is how much Hit Points of damage he takes.

But if we only need to hit someone this round, we can take a Full-Attack, in which we not only use our Bite, but also hit once with each claw.

Space is how many squares in the battle grid we occupy. Each square has 5ft sides. Reach is how far we can hit someone in melee. 5ft reach means we can only hit adjacent enemies.

Breath weapon is our fire breath. It takes the form of a cone 20ft tall ("standing")and with a radius of 20ft, the Reflex save to take half damage is 16 (so everyone in the area rolls 1d20 + their Ref modifier) and the total damage is 2d10.

tryrar · Jul 22, 2016

I have a name suggestion: Alkdonyx

Tekomandor · Jul 22, 2016

Maugan Ra said:
Character Sheet

Name - N/A
Species: Gold Dragon
Age: 0 (Wyrmling)
Class: None
Alignment: N

Fairly self explanatory. N means neutral, because we've just been born. We tend towards Lawful Good.

DEFENSE

AC: 20, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (10 base +2 Dex +7 natural +1 size)

An AC of 20 is equivalent to wearing full plate armour.

HP: 78 (8d12+16)

d12 is the highest size of hit dice.

Fort +7, Ref +7 Will +7

Good saves all around.

Immune: Fire, Paralysis, Sleep. Weaknesses: Vulnerability to Cold

Fairly self explanatory again. We're immune to fire damage, or being made to fall asleep, or paralysation.

OFFENSE
Speed: 60ft, Swim 60ft, Fly 150ft (average)

We are fast, especially in the air.

Melee: Bite +11 (1d6+5), 2 claws +11 (1d4+3)

At the moment, our bite is like a shortsword and our claws are like daggers.

Space: 5ft, Reach: 5ft

We're roughly human sized.

Special attacks: Breath weapon (20ft cone, DC16, 2d10 fire damage OR 1pt strength damage)

We can breathe fire. People get saves for half damage.

STATISTICS

Str: 17, Dex: 14, Con: 15, Int: 14, Wis: 15, Cha: 14

We're nearly as strong as humans can be, and above average in all other stats.

Base Attack: +8, CMB: +10, CMD: 22

Our base skill at fighting is quite high.

Feats: None (4 available)
Skills: None (64 ranks to assign)
Languages: None

These are character options, of which there are a lot.

SPECIAL ABILITIES/QUALITIES

Breath Weapon: You can choose to exhale a cone of gas at will, which will weaken and slow anyone exposed to it. At your option you can also light this cone on fire, to deal direct damage to enemies.

Draconic Senses: Your eyes are fantastically keen, about twice as good as a human's vision in daylight and four times theirs in dim light. In pitch blackness you can see clearly for up to 120ft, though you cannot discern colour without the assistance of a light source. Additionally, so acute is your hearing and sense of smell that you can perfectly locate and track all beings and environmental features within 60ft of you, with the need for perception checks.

Water-breathing: You are fully capable of surviving underwater and cannot drown. Being submerged has no effect on your breath weapon - it simply becomes a cloud of super-heated steam.

The character sheet explains these better than the rules do

Q99 · Jul 22, 2016

ohrasil said:
Alright, to a noob whose never played dnd or pathfinder, can someone explain .... what almost everything on the character sheet, is?

Also what strength 17 means? Like what is the average for human? What is the average for wrymling dragons?

I know practically nothing about this.

'Average' is 10-11, though most people who go out to adventure will have that or better in most stats (unless they go for a really lopsided, some really high/some really low build. It may be better to think of 12-13 as 'adventurer average,' for someone fit/smart/skilled/strong enough to go out into the wilds).

17-18 is really good in something. An adventurer- a professional of some talent, in other words- having 16 in their stat of speciality is reasonable (it's the case for two out of the four latest characters I've made, though I like to spread stats out more than many), 18 is impressive and the ceiling for most races at the start in most stats, and 20 is a number that only races with a bonus in the area can get (humans get a bonus to a single stat of their choice, most other races get +2 in two, -2 in one, which ones set by the race).

Bastur2 · Jul 22, 2016

[X] I desire an heir.

Maugan Ra · Jul 22, 2016

TotallyNotEvil said:
Well, that's the ideal Gish.

Now that's pretty damn nice. @Maugan Ra how would Eldritch Strike from this Bladecaster interact with our natural weapons?

I suppose we must use Path of War instead of the Tome of Battle for the initiators? Because Wizard/Warblade/Jade Phoenix Mage/Bladecaster would be oh so sweet. Pretty straight forward too, that's a single 3.5 book.

Looking at it... Eldritch Smite would probably give you the option of adding fire damage to your attacks. Seems fitting for a Dragon.

As a side note, if you do go down the maneuvers route, I probably won't be bothered with tracking maneuvers per day or anything like that - you study a style, and can thereafter use the special abilities of that style pretty much at will, though mixing and matching styles for the best maneuvers will be frowned upon.

This is an extension of my principle of 'I don't intend to roll everything out'.

It also applies to a number of other classes as well. Wizards, for example, are going to be portrayed as being more dependent on complicated ritual magic and enchantment, either of themselves or useful items, but they otherwise don't really have a cap on how often they can cast. They're largely going to be dependent on their tools for direct combat - scrolls and wands, mainly, along with their iconic staves.

A sorcerer, meanwhile, has only their limited amount of spells... but they can cast them all pretty much at-will, only stopping when the effort of constant combat literally makes them pass out. Sorcerers therefore often end up being pretty physically fit examples of their species.

I am, generally, way more interested in what makes something thematically interesting than what makes them mechanically balanced.

Broken25 · Jul 22, 2016

ohrasil said:
What is the average for wrymling dragons?

What we have. All our attributes are the average of our race.

Andres · Jul 22, 2016

Maugan Ra said:
Unless someone can explain to me how exactly you are impeding someone's mobility by covering them in fire. That tends to make someone more energetic...

You know how when a doctor hits your knee with a hammer and it involuntarily kicks out? Imagine that except increase the pain by orders of magnitude and apply it to the entirety of their body. The only good thing about being on fire is that people won't be able to catch you.

The Laurent · Jul 22, 2016

Maugan Ra said:
Looking at it... Eldritch Smite would probably give you the option of adding fire damage to your attacks. Seems fitting for a Dragon.

As a side note, if you do go down the maneuvers route, I probably won't be bothered with tracking maneuvers per day or anything like that - you study a style, and can thereafter use the special abilities of that style pretty much at will, though mixing and matching styles for the best maneuvers will be frowned upon.

This is an extension of my principle of 'I don't intend to roll everything out'.

It also applies to a number of other classes as well. Wizards, for example, are going to be portrayed as being more dependent on complicated ritual magic and enchantment, either of themselves or useful items, but they otherwise don't really have a cap on how often they can cast. They're largely going to be dependent on their tools for direct combat - scrolls and wands, mainly, along with their iconic staves.

A sorcerer, meanwhile, has only their limited amount of spells... but they can cast them all pretty much at-will, only stopping when the effort of constant combat literally makes them pass out. Sorcerers therefore often end up being pretty physically fit examples of their species.

I am, generally, way more interested in what makes something thematically interesting than what makes them mechanically balanced.

Can you tell us some more about other major classes and how they'd basically function?

Hopefully Fighters get a buff so they don't have no Skill at anything?

Q99 · Jul 22, 2016

We're a dragon.

We could be a Kineticist (Psychic with elemental powers... think Avatar-bender, but as a class low on the power and versatility range) and probably manage fine.

I like Vigilante because, one, stylistic cool, and two, variety of powers, so we can do most anything we want to.

Flipside, we could simply go Sorcerer for the magic and let our dragon side handle the physical end.

Or we could go pure physical and let our dragon side handle the magic end.

The Laurent · Jul 22, 2016

Q99 said:
We're a dragon.

We could be a Kineticist (Psychic with elemental powers... think Avatar-bender, but as a class low on the power and versatility range) and probably manage fine.

I like Vigilante because, one, stylistic cool, and two, variety of powers, so we can do most anything we want to.

Flipside, we could simply go Sorcerer for the magic and let our dragon side handle the physical end.

Or we could go pure physical and let our dragon side handle the magic end.

What physical classes do you like?

Maugan Ra · Jul 22, 2016

The Laurent said:
Can you tell us some more about other major classes and how they'd basically function?

Hopefully Fighters get a buff so they don't have no Skill at anything?

Man, there are a lot of classes out there. Fighters are going to be, hands down, the best at mundane combat, but I'd have to sit down and think about precisely how that would work.

Generally though @Q99 has the right of it - I'm way more interested in 'This class is thematically interesting and I think we have an IC way to learn it' than 'this one is the most powerful/versatile'.

You're a dragon after all, and I'm not going to be tracking XP for leveling purposes or the like anyway.

The Laurent · Jul 22, 2016

Maugan Ra said:
Man, there are a lot of classes out there. Fighters are going to be, hands down, the best at mundane combat, but I'd have to sit down and think about precisely how that would work.

Generally though @Q99 has the right of it - I'm way more interested in 'This class is thematically interesting and I think we have an IC way to learn it' than 'this one is the most powerful/versatile'.

You're a dragon after all, and I'm not going to be tracking XP for leveling purposes or the like anyway.

...I'm still going for Paladin. Or at least I want to see if I can do it.

So, maybe I'm asking about Paladin?

tryrar · Jul 22, 2016

Huh, I have the image of being a paladin's mount instead for some reason

Ct613hulu · Jul 22, 2016

I would be interested in playing as a Vigalante. The class has a lot of fun features that could enable our protagonist to better function with humanoid society.

TotallyNotEvil · Jul 22, 2016

Hm, I like the Kung Fu fighting, spell slinging idea. Sorcerer/Initiator/Bladecaster sounds good.

Execute/Dumbo · Jul 22, 2016

Ct613hulu said:
I would be interested in playing as a Vigalante. The class has a lot of fun features that could enable our protagonist to better function with humanoid society.

...
Dragons in pathfinder can take on a human form, right? Because as funny as the mental image of a golden dragon with a mask on it's face is, that wouldn't lend well to being a vigilante.
*Checks*
Okay, so a Gold, Silver, or Bronze can, good.

The Laurent · Jul 22, 2016

Execute/Dumbo said:
...
Dragons in pathfinder can take on a human form, right? Because as funny as the mental image of a golden dragon with a mask on it's face is, that wouldn't lend well to being a vigilante.
*Checks*
Okay, so a Gold, Silver, or Bronze can, good.

No, seriously, we could make it work.

Like, we wear a mask as a dragon...and then also pretend to be a lazy, good-for-nothing Gold Dragon that just lazes all the time.

"Whoever could the mysterious masked dragon who saved the princess be? It can't be LazyDragon, he never does anything! But who?!"

DevilsAdvocate · Jul 22, 2016

The Laurent said:
No, seriously, we could make it work.

Like, we wear a mask as a dragon...and then also pretend to be a lazy, good-for-nothing Gold Dragon that just lazes all the time.

"Whoever could the mysterious masked dragon who saved the princess be? It can't be LazyDragon, he never does anything! But who?!"

I do not think that will work.

Lets try it!

ninja:

Chronicles of the Wyrm (Dragon Quest)

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