Ok so here is my conundrum.... im about to add a friend of mine to a game I've been off and on running for my inlaws and wife. He has never played dnd before but got excited when I explained some of the off the wall things I've seen people do.
He wanted to play a melee character to start and get the hang of mechanics but loved the idea of becoming a necromancer of sorts. He thought about starting out as paladin and taking oath breaker. When I asked him what he thought his end game goal would be he said I want to make an undead dragon my slave!
No pressure right?!? I'm not worried about balance or anything like that as I will just start throwing gods at them all if they get too strong and the other players have some pretty cool ideas too. im pretty new to dming and I don't want my players to get discouraged.
My question is... is paly the right way for him to go? Or should he be going for death cleric? Or should he start out as a fighter for like 3 lvls and go necro wizard after he gets the hang of the mechanics?
I'm the kind of dm that has the most fun watching my players do cool stuff so I want to see this zombie dragon become a thing but I want it to feel like it makes sense too...
I would do either a Death Cleric if it is the right God they worship or do the levels in fighter class until they get the mechanics and then multiclass into a Necromancer. I personally like the second one because it gives you a lot of roleplay, like how did this Wizard find the dragon and what magic will they raise it with. With the cleric the god they worship might send them a Dragon that will follow them and obey there commands.
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Funny quote from campaign, "The only thing you want to do is kill everything huh?"
There's no mechanical means of acquiring a zombie dragon, so you're going to be house ruling no matter what (an Oathbreaker paladin can learn Animate Dead, though they won't be super good at it; a variant on Find Greater Steed is also a plausible candidate).
You are looking at a world of hurt if you let the players control ANY form of dragon. That will wreck so many encounters. Further, from an RP perspective, imagine your group strolling into a new town or city with not only a zombie following them around, but a zombie dragon. The group will be Kill on Sight.
Vince _ snetterton-- Yea I figured it would be like end game kinda thing. "Congrats you killed the big bad. oh look what a coincidence it just happens to be a dragon..." or atleast really close to the end of the campaign so he can have fun with it but at that point they wouldn't be going town to town looking for work
Xalthu-- He didn't really specify. So I'm thinking about going with a young white. From what I understand necro wizards can command anything undead with 8 int for ever. There is actually a blue dragon in the lore of the setting i was thinking about turning it into an undead of x size that would work.
Pantagruel666-- oh man I didnt even know about the find greater steed spell. Thats almost perfect. I think he would love the idea of the visual of doing some chanting and bamph out a grotesque dragon to ride. Gah! Now I wish I was playing that character!! Lol
Bhuraelea- thanks! I wasnt sure if the warlock would make a necro. I mean on paper it's the base class that seems most likely to be one but I've never played a lock to see if it worked out that way.
Anything can be granted with Wish, and a few level 20 mages can permanently True Polymorph into a CR20 Ancient White or Brass Dragon. I think Zombification actually weakens dragons, so arranging some mcguffin that grants your player access to some level of Zombified dragon isn't that outlandish, players can potentially gain Pegasus or Wyverns as mounts completely outside the chain of progression, acquiring a zombie of a CR6 Young White Dragon isn't that outlandish, and it's large category, just enough to ride.
Ok so here is my conundrum.... im about to add a friend of mine to a game I've been off and on running for my inlaws and wife. He has never played dnd before but got excited when I explained some of the off the wall things I've seen people do.
He wanted to play a melee character to start and get the hang of mechanics but loved the idea of becoming a necromancer of sorts. He thought about starting out as paladin and taking oath breaker. When I asked him what he thought his end game goal would be he said I want to make an undead dragon my slave!
No pressure right?!? I'm not worried about balance or anything like that as I will just start throwing gods at them all if they get too strong and the other players have some pretty cool ideas too. im pretty new to dming and I don't want my players to get discouraged.
My question is... is paly the right way for him to go? Or should he be going for death cleric? Or should he start out as a fighter for like 3 lvls and go necro wizard after he gets the hang of the mechanics?
I'm the kind of dm that has the most fun watching my players do cool stuff so I want to see this zombie dragon become a thing but I want it to feel like it makes sense too...
I would do either a Death Cleric if it is the right God they worship or do the levels in fighter class until they get the mechanics and then multiclass into a Necromancer. I personally like the second one because it gives you a lot of roleplay, like how did this Wizard find the dragon and what magic will they raise it with. With the cleric the god they worship might send them a Dragon that will follow them and obey there commands.
Funny quote from campaign, "The only thing you want to do is kill everything huh?"
"Thats right! (With lots of enthusiasm)"
There's no mechanical means of acquiring a zombie dragon, so you're going to be house ruling no matter what (an Oathbreaker paladin can learn Animate Dead, though they won't be super good at it; a variant on Find Greater Steed is also a plausible candidate).
You are looking at a world of hurt if you let the players control ANY form of dragon. That will wreck so many encounters. Further, from an RP perspective, imagine your group strolling into a new town or city with not only a zombie following them around, but a zombie dragon. The group will be Kill on Sight.
No, just no.
How big does he expect this dragon to be? Cause if you use UA, you could base it off a drakewarden ranger.
Vince _ snetterton-- Yea I figured it would be like end game kinda thing. "Congrats you killed the big bad. oh look what a coincidence it just happens to be a dragon..." or atleast really close to the end of the campaign so he can have fun with it but at that point they wouldn't be going town to town looking for work
Xalthu-- He didn't really specify. So I'm thinking about going with a young white. From what I understand necro wizards can command anything undead with 8 int for ever. There is actually a blue dragon in the lore of the setting i was thinking about turning it into an undead of x size that would work.
Pantagruel666-- oh man I didnt even know about the find greater steed spell. Thats almost perfect. I think he would love the idea of the visual of doing some chanting and bamph out a grotesque dragon to ride. Gah! Now I wish I was playing that character!! Lol
Filitheageronimo-- that second choice was my first thought but I didn't know if it would actually work with the multiclass.
Okay!
Funny quote from campaign, "The only thing you want to do is kill everything huh?"
"Thats right! (With lots of enthusiasm)"
May i throw in the Hexblade as a possible class. Is provides a certain amount of fighting prowess and the ability to cast lvl 9 spells.
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]Bhuraelea- thanks! I wasnt sure if the warlock would make a necro. I mean on paper it's the base class that seems most likely to be one but I've never played a lock to see if it worked out that way.
On paper it wont, but if you tweak the spell list a little bit, it can be.
Also i would suggest to home-brew a lvl 9 spell to zombiefy a dragon:
Thinks i would include in the spell:
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]Anything can be granted with Wish, and a few level 20 mages can permanently True Polymorph into a CR20 Ancient White or Brass Dragon. I think Zombification actually weakens dragons, so arranging some mcguffin that grants your player access to some level of Zombified dragon isn't that outlandish, players can potentially gain Pegasus or Wyverns as mounts completely outside the chain of progression, acquiring a zombie of a CR6 Young White Dragon isn't that outlandish, and it's large category, just enough to ride.
BTW, is his Oathbreaker, by chance, named Arthus?