The dragons handbook

Dragons have been known to outrun elves, out swim sharks, and out climb Gollum. The average top speed of a dragon on the ground is mph.

Average flight top speed is mph. DO NOT challenge a dragon to a race. They will invariably win. Dragons are known for their dodging abilities. They can range from being fast enough to dodge a supersonic bullet or slow enough to dodge mph trucks. When fighting a dragon with arrows, don't think you're so cool and try to be Legolas. You will be sent home in the same envelope as the condolences letter like all the other losers who tried it.

Plot its movements. Of course, dragons know magic-as if the fire, claws and wings weren't enough. Read Dragon Magic for more details. This is the dragon's un-dowithoutable trademark. See Breath Weapons for more details. Probably the most. No one knows why. I don't really like most of these spells for builds that have already devoted huge build resources to being a dragon, but the smite might be good for something.

Your inflict spells become slightly better at healing undead. Mostly kinda dull, but being able to DMM Ferocity of Sanguine Rage with a dragon's attack routine is potentially cool.

Grants a bonus on saving throws against the abilities of dragons and dragonblood creatures. Cure spells heal living creatures for slightly more. Intimidate becomes a Cleric class skill and you deal 1d6 extra damage to creatures under some manner of fear effect. Persistent Spell CA - The the various breath spells originally published in Draconomicon were rewritten in the Spell Compendium so that a they actually function and b they can be persisted. Beast Strike DM - Lets you add your claw damage to unarmed strikes.

Yes, you can use it without forgoing claw attacks on a full attack. Unfortunately, due to small size, your claw damage is likely something of a small dice, but I think enhancement bonuses and the bonus damage from Beast Claws should apply even if other sources of bonus damage like sneak attack don't get added a second time.

If you use unarmed strikes and Dragon Magazine material is allowed, it's worth considering. Fly up, take any standard action, then fly away. So this isn't really black so much as it is Gold for flightless dragons and redundant for others. Requires auto-qualification cheese. Improved Flight RotW - If you're not a Mercury Dragon, this is the best way of increasing your maneuverability, as it doesn't have the rough prerequisites that Improved Maneuverability does.

Improved Rapidstrike Dcn - Adds 4 iterative attacks on a pair of natural weapons so claws or wings generally for dragons. Note that it doesn't require that you have Rapidstrike for the same pair of natural weapons, just that you have it, so Rapidstrike claws will qualify you for both Rapidstrike Claws and Rapidstrike Wings.

You can get it with a level in Monk or a Wyrm of War feat. One level of Cloistered Cleric or two levels of Singer of Concordance can snag this for free.

It needs Turn or Rebuke attempts to fuel it though, which is kind of unfortunate. Metabreath feats become a lot better for Ravening dragons, as they defer having to wait to recharge their breath weapons until after three consecutive rounds of being able to use it. Most combats won't last long enough for you to suffer the drawbacks of breath weapon novas. Hell yes. If you can spare the feat, this is well worth it. Flyby Breath DCS - Allows you to use your breath weapon as a free action as long as you don't do anything else except move on your turn.

Potentially worth it in the right build. Improved Energy Drain LM - Gives you a small buff for an hour after you inflict a negative level on someone, such as with a Shadow Dragon's breath.

A 1 level dip in Soul Eater lets you qualify. As above, you can qualify with a 1 level dip in Soul Eater. Has Clinging Breath as a prereq. However, the recovery time for your breath weapon increases by 3 rounds. It also requires you to use a full round action on the breath attack.

If you're a Cobalt Dragon you should probably take it, because you need to deal your damage all at once to bull rush effectively. It also might be worth it if you have Travel Devotion or something to reliably move with your swift action. However it forces you to wait a round before using it again, and unlike metabreath feats, it's language suggests the wait time might not be deferred by Ravening. It states that "if you must normally wait to use the supernatural special attack, you must wait one round in addition to the normal period you would wait to use the ability again.

Unless of course Unnatural Power is more specific and the needing to wait is swept aside by the ability to use your breath weapon that round. Ask your DM. I'll take the most problematic reading as ways of circumventing this problem are worth noting.

At any rate, jacking up breath damage is pretty good for Cobalt Dragons. It never received errata likely due to growing pains of the 3. Yes, Ravening Dragons can spam it as many times per round as they have free actions. If you rule that Power Surge's cooldown isn't deferred with Ravening like metabreath feats, this can remove said cooldown, which is probably worth it. It should also stack with Rapid Breath, which means you can reliably get multiple breaths off in a given fight even without Ravening.

If you are Ravening however, this won't solve the Power Surge problem as it explicitly works with recharge time like metabreath feats do. Spell Drain LM - Lets you steal a prepared spell lost by a creature you bestow a negative level on. Note that Factotums have a caster level. Being able to hose down a whole battlefield can come in very handy. Dragontouched DM - If you need the dragonblood subtype, and aren't getting it from a dip in DFA or Dragonblood Sorcerer, then this is where you need to go.

Your fingers are already itching to type the words "Sam, what are you thinking? The Vow of Poverty is full of fail! Moreover, if you're in an all VoP campaign, it will mean considerably less downtime for magic item back orders, which means you can advance more quickly in level and consequently be less likely to run into that first extra level of dragon. I also personally find the idea of a dragon forsaking its hoard quite compelling.

However, if you're planning on breath weapon blasting, this is red as you will be considerably more wealth dependent. I personally don't like this feat, because it ultimately means you're not really playing a dragon so much as a half-dragon flind gnoll, but it's certainly a powerful option. Mouthpick Weapon LoM - Replaces your natural bite with a weapon that can make iterative attacks.

If you aren't using Unarmed Strikes for iteratives, these aren't a bad way to go. Also, if you plan to use your breath weapon often, make sure it and the mouthpick weapon will play nicely together before you shell out for one, though at least in the LoM description there doesn't seem to be any RAW reason that they shouldn't.

You automatically gain proficiency in a mouthpick weapon you wield as well, so you might actually be able to cheese your way out of paying a feat to get into Abjurant Champion with one of these. Bag of Tricks SRD - If you're a Ravening Dragon and enemy corpses or daily hunting aren't options for feeding, one of these is worth the expenditure. Crown of the Northwind DoF - Gives you the secondary breath effects of the standard five Metalic Dragons if you deal the same type of damage with a breath weapon and lets you treat your age as Young for effects of the breath weapon that depend on age like damage, effect duration, or number of negative levels if you're a shadow dragon.

If you have a magic weapon that adds the type of damage that your breath weapon deals to your attacks, the cincture also increases the DC of your breath weapon by 1.

Note that this will cease to work if you're using Breath Weapon Substitution, as the weapon probably won't be keyed to your breath weapon specifically, as the weapons are made from the remains of deceased dragons. Originally Posted by Book of Vile Deeds page The victim effectively ages, moving him or her to the beginning of the next age category.

Originally Posted by Races of the Dragon page 8. Age: After a dragonborn underoes the Rite of Rebirth, she emerges as an adult creature regardless of her previous age. Originally Posted by Races of the Dragon page 4.

Dragons automatically qualify for any classes, prestige classes, racial substitution levels, feats, powers or spells that require the dragonblood subtype.

Originally Posted by Races of the Dragon, page A substitution level is a level of a given class that you take instead of the level described for the standard class. Feel free to tear into anything I've said now. It's like Sovereign archetypes, but different. And awesome. And sort of like Calvinball. Re: The Truest of the True: A Handbook to non-Kobold Dragons WIP I think you really need to mention the feats Half Dragon Form Cheezy as hell without dragon magazine with constrictor naga but pretty ok with flind gnoll Improved Dragon Wings since you can ignore the pre reqs getting flight for a feat is nice and could help give some versatility to dragons without flight speeds and maybe Hidden Strength if you can figure out a way to cheese it maybe aging yourself with a spell then changing form or saying your half dragon form is your dragon form Its two main sources of power where dragon pacts and dragonblood spellpacts.

Which are really good and deserve mention they are found in dragons of faerun. My favorite goodie for dragons is also found there, quite hidden actually. They take the immunity to fear away, and give larger penalties to fear effects They are the fear moths pg You probably want to mention the breath of unlife same book, pg. Which allows to use Cha instead of Con to qualify for metabreath feats. The crown of the northwind is also a really good item pg. Thanks a lot Gengy for the awesome Start your review of The Dragon's Handbook.

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