General Prestige Class : Dragon Devotee
"I am even more than I appear to be. At heart, I am dragon!" - Braxon
Dragons hold a great fascination for some individuals, leading those folk into closer and closer association with the powerful race. Some individuals (primarily those related to sorcerers) feel the call more strongly, thanks to their dragon ancestry, occasionally even leading them to attempt to awaken their blood and bring those traits to the fore. Learning more about dragons is the first step toward understanding them. The dragon devotee expands upon this knowledge and begins to manifest dragon-like qualities.
Dragon devotees are most often fighters or rogues who desire the power and the glory of dragonkind. They need to have basic knowledge about dragons and understand their language. Comprehending the mindset of dragons lets you delve deeper into what it means to be a dragon and to help you become one of them. An above-average Charisma score is necessary to gain the class's spellcasting ability.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Dragon Devotee, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Race: Nondragon, can't have draconic template.
- Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 1 rank
- Base Attack Bonus: +5.
- Languages: Draconic.
Class Skills
The dragon devotee's class skills are Climb, Concentration, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Listen, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Spot.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
As you advance through the levels of this class, you improve your combat skills and gain improved (or new) spellcasting abilities.
Ability Increase (Ex): When you enter this class, your I Charisma score increases by 2 points. At 3rd level, your Constitution score improves by 2 points. At 5th level, your Strength score improves by 2 points.
Natural Armor (Ex): A dragon devotee's skin thickens and toughens, developing minuscule scales. This change provides a +1 bonus to your existing natural armor bonus to AC, or simply a +1 natural armor bonus if you had no natural armor to begin with.
Combat Technique (Ex): At 2nd level and again at I 4th level, you become more deadly in combat. Each time you gain this class feature, you can choose either to take a bonus feat (any feat from the list of fighter bonus feats for which you meet the prerequisite) or to improve the extra damage dealt by your existing sneak attack, skirmish, or sudden strike class feature by 1d6. (The skirmish class feature is described in the scout class, and the sudden strike class feature is found in the ninja class.)
You must already have the sneak attack, skirmish, or sudden strike class feature in order to choose this option. If you have more than one of these class features, you must apply the bonus to a single class feature (but you can choose a different class feature at 4th level from what you chose at 2nd level).
Draconic Resistance (Ex): At 2nd level, you become resistant to paralysis and magic sleep effects, gaining a +4 bonus on saves against such effects.
Ignore Spell Failure (Ex): Normally, armor of any type interferes with an arcane spellcaster's gestures, which can cause his spells to fail if those spells have somatic components. Beginning at 3rd level, you can ignore the arcane spell failure chance when casting 0-level and 1st-level arcane spells. This benefit doesn't apply to spells higher than 1st level, including 0-level or 1st-level spells that occupy a higher-level spell slot because of the application of a metamagic feat.
Spellcasting: At 3rd level and 5th level, you gain spells per day, spells known, and an increase in caster level as if you had also gained a level in sorcerer. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained.
If you don't have any levels in sorcerer before reaching 3rd level in this class, you gain spells per day, spells known, and an increase in caster level as if you were a 1st-level sorcerer. You use all the normal rules for sorcerer spellcasting as described in the Player's Handbook.
Upon reaching 3rd level in this class, you add magic fang to your sorcerer spell list as a 1st-level spell and greater magic fang to your sorcerer spell list as a 3rd-level spell. You can choose these spells as spells known (assuming, in the latter case, that you are able to know and cast 3rd-level sorcerer spells), and you can use spell trigger items such as wands that contain these spells.
Claws (Ex): At 4th level, you gain two claw attacks that each deal damage according to your size (see the table below). If you already have claw attacks, use the value given here or your existing claw damage, whichever is greater. These claws are primary attacks unless you already have secondary claw attacks, in which case they remain as secondary attacks.
Draconic Template: At 5th level, you gain all the abilities of the draconic creature template that you have not already gained as dragon devotee class features - except that you do not apply the template's level adjustment. Specifically, you gain the dragonblood subtype in addition to any subtype you might already have. You also gain darkvision out to 60 feet, low-light vision, and a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks and Spot checks.
| Dragon Devotee | Hit Die: d6 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spellcasting |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Ability increase (+2 Cha), natural armor | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Combat technique, draconic resistance | - |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Ability increase (+2 Con), ignore spell failure | +1 level of sorcerer |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Claws, combat technique | - |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Ability increase (+2 Str), draconic creature template | +1 level of sorcerer |
| Size | Claw Damage |
| Up to Tiny | 1 |
| Small | 1d2 |
| Medium | 1d3 |
| Large | 1d4 |
| Huge | 1d6 |
| Gargantuan | 1d8 |
| Colossal | 1d10 |
Dragon Devotee Lore
Characters with the bardic knowledge ability or ranks in Knowledge (arcana) can research dragon devotees to learn more about them. When a character makes a bardic knowledge check or a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.
- DC 10: Some individuals find dragons so fascinating that they try to become more like them. These creatures call themselves dragon devotees.
- DC 15: Rogues and fighters who become dragon devotees manage to maintain most of their key abilities while making themselves more dragon-like.
- DC 20: Dragon devotees become draconic creatures in the end, though some are not satisfied with this transformation and follow a different path to seek even greater draconic power.
Player characters trying to locate a dragon devotee should make a DC 20 Gather Information check to discover the location of and the method for contacting one. Characters who make this check in a settlement located within 10 miles of a dragon's lair get a +2 circumstance bonus on their check.