Son Wants To Play a Young Dragon

[angelicdoctor]

cross posted at OSRGaming.org

While listening to a recent episode of the Save or Die podcast, my 12 year old expressed interest in playing OD&D but as a young dragon character! OD&D's text encourages this type of play,

Other Character Types: There is no reason that players cannot be allowed to play as
virtually anything, provided they begin relatively weak and work up to the top, i.e., a
player wishing to be a Dragon would have to begin as let us say, a "young" one and
progress upwards in the usual manner, steps being predetermined by the campaign
referee.

however, I am wondering how one might 'stat this up' using the OD&D rules. Any thoughts? How might one incorporate such a character into an adventure or even a campaign?

Thanks in advance.

[waysoftheearth]

You may find the dragon stats in Delving Deeper useful for this, perhaps using each of the six age categories for two player levels?

You can browse their stats from the link to the dd hypertext in my sig.

[Vile Traveller]

I had a player with a young black dragon character in one of my BLUEHOLME™ Compleat Rules playtests. Level 1 character with a flying speed, 1d6 single target breath weapon once per day, no armour bonus.

Or you could just go as per the rules, so 6HD but with 1 hit point per hit die and 6-point dragon breath.

[Deleted]

I did this a few years back for a player IMC. Visit my forum in about a week and I will try to locate the complete writeup and post it for you.

[Red Baron]

A golden dragon I'd assume? (If he is playing a lawful character)

Dragons have an AC 2 (as good as a fighting-man), but cannot wear armor (no magic armor).

They can use only a select few magical items such as gems, magic mirrors, etc.

To gain experience, a dragon's gold must be carried to his hoard. A dragon's experience point total is equal to the size of his hoard. If he looses his hoard he will not lose levels, but will require more experience before leveling up.

Experience	Title	HD	Move	FC*	Breath Weapon**	Spells
0	Hatchling	1	9"/0"	Dice Up to 1	1d6	0
4000	Wyrmling	2	9"/6"	1 + 1	2d6	0
8000	Dragonet(te)	4	9"/12"	2-3	3d6	0
24000	Drake	6	9"/18"	3-4	4d6	1, 1st level
80000	Wyrm	8	9"/24"	6-8	6d6	2, up to 3rd level
200000	Great wyrm	12	9"/24"	9-10	10d6	3, up to 6th level

*ATTACK MATRIX II.: MONSTERS ATTACKING
**three (must sleep for one day/HD to restore), save for half.

[Scott Anderson]

Red Baron, that's really good work.

[Red Baron]

I fear it may be too powerful, but it is a dragon after all.

Someone did some very good work on a balrog class, you might want to take a look for inspiration.

[coffee]

Here's a link to the thread with the balrog I did a few years back:

odd74.proboards.com/thread/1841?page=1

Hope that helps!

[Deleted]

12 yo? I'm guessing he wants to play a dragon because they're cool? I would have thought so at 12, anyway.

Let him! Make the fire-breathing his "weapon" instead of a sword. Each breath rolls d6 just as a regular attack but also gets to ignite paper, wood, etc. Add a natural AC 2 (though it might be fun to have some ornamental armor made) and flying ability. Heck, you could even make it super easy on yourself and give him the fighter HD progression and fighting ability.

The kid just wants to be a dragon in a fantasy game. Make him a dragon and get to rolling some dice!

[Scott Anderson]

Don't worry about relative power level. He will be stronger than some other characters, but I would expect those players to demand more from him. The other balancing elements are reaction rolls, having to maintain a hoard, um... Being a really weird race has its own drawbacks.

[Red Baron]

Apr 13, 2015 2:27:57 GMT -6 @dubeers said:

12 yo? I'm guessing he wants to play a dragon because they're cool? I would have thought so at 12, anyway.

Let him! Make the fire-breathing his "weapon" instead of a sword. Each breath rolls d6 just as a regular attack but also gets to ignite paper, wood, etc. Add a natural AC 2 (though it might be fun to have some ornamental armor made) and flying ability. Heck, you could even make it super easy on yourself and give him the fighter HD progression and fighting ability.

The kid just wants to be a dragon in a fantasy game. Make him a dragon and get to rolling some dice!

That does sound like a lot of fun. 

[jcstephens]

First Fantasy Campaign has rules for creating monster PCs on page 52. Basically, a 1st level whatever has half standard hit dice, all other stats remain the same. Add HD and AC, then multiply by 100 to determine experience points for second level. Add 50% more for each level after that.

Some rulings are needed to make this work, when we tried this out I had to rule that a gargoyle PC wouldn't get immunity to normal weapons until 4th level. But it is a perfectly usable method.

[kesher]

Whoa--I never noticed that! Awesome!

[thorswulf]

A very cool idea. Attribute are not even really a problem. A dragon PC with a high CON is just a very robust dragon! One with a high DEX is better at shooting fire! I think I would even keep the fire breathing to 3 times per day, as a claw or bite would still do only 1d6. One hp per hit die at first level seems a little high, but considering the restrictions about magic items it seems fair.

[coffee]

Apr 13, 2015 14:28:45 GMT -6 jcstephens said:

First Fantasy Campaign has rules for creating monster PCs on page 52. Basically, a 1st level whatever has half standard hit dice, all other stats remain the same. Add HD and AC, then multiply by 100 to determine experience points for second level. Add 50% more for each level after that.

Some rulings are needed to make this work, when we tried this out I had to rule that a gargoyle PC wouldn't get immunity to normal weapons until 4th level. But it is a perfectly usable method.

Yeah, I was influenced by that in creating my Balrog.

[Fearghus]

Sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I like the curve ball so many young players will throw at you. One of my players wanted to play a young dragon and it was (and still is) fun to play. My player is pushing 40, like me, so even for older players something fantastical and outside the norm can be fun.

[angelicdoctor]

Apr 12, 2015 19:17:23 GMT -6 Red Baron said:

A golden dragon I'd assume? (If he is playing a lawful character)

Dragons have an AC 2 (as good as a fighting-man), but cannot wear armor (no magic armor).

They can use only a select few magical items such as gems, magic mirrors, etc.

To gain experience, a dragon's gold must be carried to his hoard. A dragon's experience point total is equal to the size of his hoard. If he looses his hoard he will not loose levels, but will require more experience before leveling up.

Experience	Title	HD	Move	FC*	Breath Weapon**	Spells
0	Hatchling	1	9"/0"	Dice Up to 1	1d6	0
4000	Wyrmling	2	9"/6"	1 + 1	2d6	0
8000	Dragonet(te)	4	9"/12"	2-3	3d6	0
24000	Drake	6	9"/18"	3-4	4d6	1, 1st level
80000	Wyrm	8	9"/24"	6-8	6d6	2, up to 3rd level
200000	Great wyrm	12	9"/24"	9-10	10d6	3, up to 6th level

*ATTACK MATRIX II.: MONSTERS ATTACKING
**three (must sleep for one day/HD to restore), save for half.

What happened to levels 3,5,7, and 9-11?

[tetramorph]

angelicdoctor, HD and lvl do not always exactly correspond in 0e.

I believe Red Baron is suggesting 6 lvls here. The HD just increase by a greater factor than one.

Many odd characters have lvl limits in 0e, so perhaps this is suggesting that 6th lvl (and 12 HD) is "name" lvl and maxed-out.

At least, that is how I read it.

[Punkrabbitt]

My 12 year old daughter wants to play a fire-breathing magic user... I decided first to treat it as a "burning hands" spell imported from later additions, but then I reconsidered and said, why not? It is a d6 dmg singke target attack with a range of 30 feet, usable once per turn. She is dragonborn, which in roleplsying terms means people dont like her much. It hasn't broken thd game at all.

[kesher]

Amen, brother!

[magremore]

punkrabbit, That is awesome. I’ve been thinking of sneaking a “Yoga Flame” spell into the next adventure I run for my kids as a kind of Easter egg which would basically work like that. Not sure my 11-year-old daughter will get the reference (to the old Street Fighter II video game), but my 8-year-old will!