Red dragon disciple is a class that represents a wielder of magic discovering and embracing a draconic heritage, eventually gaining some features of dragons. It is one of the more powerful classes due to dragon abilities, and although it is nominally for those who cast spells, many players have found it more useful for characters that focus on melee combat.
Requirements: Red dragon disciple is a prestige class, so certain criteria must be fulfilled before a character may acquire this class. These criteria are the following.
| Class: | bard or sorcerer |
|---|---|
| Skills: | lore (8 ranks) |
Class description: It is rumored that the magical powers of sorcerers and bards are somehow connected to the presence of dragon blood in their family tree. Red dragon disciples are sorcerers, and sometimes bards, who use their magical power as a catalyst to ignite their red dragon blood, realizing its fullest potential. They prefer a life of exploration to a cloistered existence. Already adept at magic, many pursue adventure, especially if it furthers their goal of finding out more about their draconic heritage. They often feel drawn to areas known to harbor dragons.
| Hit die: | d6 to d12 (see hit die increase) |
|---|---|
| Skill points: | 2 + intelligence modifier |
| High saves: | fortitude, will |
| Base attack: | middle (+3/4 levels) |
Proficiencies: No additional proficiencies are gained.
Skills: concentration, craft armor, craft trap, craft weapon, discipline, heal, listen, lore, parry, persuade, search, spellcraft, spot
Unavailable feats:
brew potion, craft wand, curse song, divine might, divine shield, extra music, extra turning, lingering song, scribe scroll, weapon specialization
These general feats cannot be selected when taking a level of red dragon disciple.
Level progression
As red dragon disciple level increases, the character improves in base attack (BA), saving throws, and hit points (HP), with the latter made more dramatic since the hit die used to generate hit points is subject to the class' hit die increase. The character also gets a level-dependent armor class (AC) bonus from draconic armor, the ability to breathe fire, and bonuses to certain abilities at specific levels from dragon abilities.
| Level | BA | Saves | Feats | Hit die | HP range | AC bonus | Breath damage |
Ability increases | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Ref | Will | Str | Dex | Con | Wis | Int | Cha | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | draconic armor | d6 | 3-6 | +1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2 | 1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | dragon abilities | d6 | 6-12 | +1 | - | +2 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3 | 2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | dragon breath | d6 | 9-18 | +1 | 2d10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4 | 3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | hit die increase | d8 | 13-26 | +1 | 2d10 | +2 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5 | 3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | d8 | 17-34 | +2 | 2d10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| 6 | 4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | d10 | 22-44 | +2 | 2d10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| 7 | 5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | d10 | 27-54 | +2 | 4d10 | - | - | +2 | - | - | - | |||
| 8 | 6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | d10 | 32-64 | +3 | 4d10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| 9 | 6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | gets wings | d10 | 37-74 | +3 | 4d10 | - | - | - | - | +2 | - | ||
| 10 | 7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | becomes a half-dragon: darkvision, immunity to fire, immunity to paralysis, and immunity to sleep |
d10 | 42-84 | +4 | 6d10 | +4 | - | - | - | - | +2 | ||
Tip: Becoming a red dragon disciple
- Only sorcerers or bards can become a dragon disciple - either class is equally suited.
- Paladins and blackguards are well suited as candidates for a third class.
- Any class that has a high reliance on strength should find this prestige class useful.
Epic dragon disciple
Embracing his draconic heritage is but one stop on the disciple's life journey. His quest to understand and harness his draconic energies has taken him into the realm of the epic.
Hit die: d12
Skill points: 2 + int modifier
Bonus feats: The epic dragon disciple gains a bonus feat every four levels. In other words, at levels 14, 18, 22, 26, and 30.
Epic bonus feats: armor skin, automatic quicken spell, automatic silent spell, automatic still spell, epic damage reduction, epic prowess, epic reputation, epic spell focus, epic spell penetration, epic toughness, greater spell focus, improved combat casting
Epic breath weapon: The save DC against your breath weapon increases by +1 every 4 levels after 10th.
Unavailable epic feats:
bane of enemies,
construct shape, dragon shape,
epic spell: dragon knight, epic spell: epic mage armor, epic spell: epic warding, epic spell: greater ruin, epic spell: hellball, epic spell: mummy dust,
epic weapon specialization, great smiting,
improved ki strike 4, improved ki strike 5, improved sneak attack,
improved spell resistance, improved stunning fist,
lasting inspiration, mighty rage, outsider shape,
planar turning, terrifying rage, thundering rage, undead shape
These general epic feats cannot be selected when taking a level of red dragon disciple.
Epic red dragon disciple level progression
In the epic class levels, hit points continue to accumulate, but now using 12-sided hit dice courtesy of the final hit die increase. The armor class bonus from draconic armor continues to improve, as does the damage from dragon breath. Also, the DC of saves made against the dragon breath starts to improve based on class level.
| Level | Bonus feats | HP range | AC bonus | Breath damage | Breath DC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 48-96 | +4 | 6d10 | 19 | ||
| 12 | 54-108 | +4 | 6d10 | 19 | ||
| 13 | 60-120 | +4 | 7d10 | 19 | ||
| 14 | first | 66-132 | +4 | 7d10 | 20 | |
| 15 | 72-144 | +5 | 7d10 | 20 | ||
| 16 | 78-156 | +5 | 8d10 | 20 | ||
| 17 | 84-168 | +5 | 8d10 | 20 | ||
| 18 | second | 90-180 | +5 | 8d10 | 21 | |
| 19 | 96-192 | +5 | 9d10 | 21 | ||
| 20 | 102-204 | +6 | 9d10 | 21 | ||
| 21 | 108-216 | +6 | 9d10 | 21 | ||
| 22 | third | 114-228 | +6 | 10d10 | 22 | |
| 23 | 120-240 | +6 | 10d10 | 22 | ||
| 24 | 126-252 | +6 | 10d10 | 22 | ||
| 25 | 132-264 | +7 | 11d10 | 22 | ||
| 26 | fourth | 138-276 | +7 | 11d10 | 23 | |
| 27 | 144-288 | +7 | 11d10 | 23 | ||
| 28 | 150-300 | +7 | 12d10 | 23 | ||
| 29 | 156-312 | +7 | 12d10 | 23 | ||
| 30 | fifth | 162-324 | +8 | 12d10 | 24 |
Notes
- Requires Hordes of the Underdark.
- Taking levels in this class does not increase spell slots like taking levels in the pale master class would.
- This class is occasionally banned from some servers as the ability increases from dragon abilities are considered "overpowered".
- Losing a red dragon disciple level that grants an ability bonus can leave a character with corrupted ability scores. This can be corrected by a Dungeon Master, but not through scripting. For this reason, some servers that allow releveling without DM assistance ban this class.