Little Red Raiding Hood: A Tale of & Guide to the 3.5 Dragoon (linked)

[Endarire]

I posted Little Red Raiding Hood on the Wizards boards and got little response.  It's size makes me hesitant to try reposting here, especially since this board has no [sblock=Title] tag.  (I'm aware of {spoiler}.)

Hopefully, y'all will put this knowledge to good use.

[woodenbandman]

A FFT Dragoon? 

I love you now, mr Endarire.

[Akalsaris]

I thought the formatting and such was very entertaining, though I'd have preferred a more explicit explanation of how the characters are supposed to work at various levels, and how the choices suit the party role (presumably, as a tank or damage-dealer).

I didn't even know dragoons were usually chicks - I only saw my friend's dragoon character on FF online, and thought it looked like a cool concept.  I'm playing a jump-based swordsage at the moment actually...it's ridiculous how easy and profitable it is to raise jump checks.

For races, check out Water Orc from UA, which is as melee-friendly a +0 LA as they come.  Plus, having a swim speed is always good.

You might consider putting this in the handbooks section here, since the post will be lost from the top of the main forum in a few weeks otherwise.

[Endarire]

I'll add the by-level breakdown.  Initially, dragoons will need to be rogue-like in their sneakiness.  Dragoons, in short, are melee ambushers (DPS).

Also, dragoons can be either sex; I chose female because it fit the picture.

Finally, water orcs get too many mental stat penalties to be worthwhile to most people.  I'll add them to races list.

[skydragonknight]

Ah yes. I played an epic Dragoon once in an epic game. It's nice that you give credit to TS for his hard work. Will look through it.

Edit: some things I caught
[spoiler]

Q: What about spells, powers, What about Complete Scoundrel's skill tricks?
A: As skydragonknight mentioned in this dragoon thread, there are some especially useful skill tricks like Extreme Leaper and Wall Leaper. See the SBlock below.

quoted for self-posterity.

alright....first Leap Attack got updated in Complete Adventurer errata to +100%, which means x4 for 2-handed weapons.

second:

Half-Orc: Humanoid, +2 STR, -2 INT, -2 CHA, Medium, 30' Speed, Favored: Barbarian, No LA
Half-orcs over the long-term don't get entirely shafted. As a half-orc, you can get the feat Headlong Rush (Races of Faerun 164) and nab Half-Orc Paragon2 for the ability to rage while lawful so you can legally enter Bloodclaw Master (Tome of Battle 96) and Blade Dancer (Oriental Adventures 37).

Bloodclaw Master doesn't require the ability to rage. Were you thinking of something else?

IIRC, Dragonborn gives Favored Class(Fighter). I don't -think- Humans keep favored class(any), but I'm not 100% on that.

Equipment-"wear without penalty" means nonproficiency penalty, which is a negative to attack rolls = ACP. reducing ACP to 0 eliminates this.

Speed is +3 enhancement on weapon

Sovereign Host does have Celerity(Balinor) but doesn't have Time, sadly. (Table in Faiths of Eberron) On the bright side, Olladra has the Pride domain, which is basically reroll 1s on saving throws, making auto-fail 1:400 instead of 1:20.
Dark 6 also have Celerity

that's editing done. suggestions to improve builds to follow...maybe
[/spoiler]

[Kuroimaken]

Little note on Jump. You can fall as far as you can jump with no penalty or damage whatsoever; it's after that you start getting screwed.

Tumble is still useful for jumping up when you're threatened, though.

[Endarire]

Kuro: Where is that part for Jump stated?

I need page references for Faiths of Eberron material.

Also, I fixed the errors I found and included water orcs and spider climb.  I'll write up substitute domain from Complete Champion once I get a page reference and do the levels section once I have time.

[Kuroimaken]

Kuro: Where is that part for Jump stated?

...huh. Strange, I could swear it was in the skill's description (apparently, I was wrong). I must've mixed it up with another game.

Although, I'd think it stands to reason. Otherwise, what's the point of the Jump spell? It'd be like a disaster waiting to happen...

[Prime32]

water orcs get too many mental stat penalties to be worthwhile to most people.  I'll add them to races list.

Those ability score adjustments? They don't stack with the ones the orc already gets. The final stat adjustments are +4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha. Also, half-minotaur doesn't grant you additional bonuses for increasing size - they are already included. (look at enlarge person, which gives smaller benefits than advancing to Large).

[Endarire]

I fixed the orc stats and revised my comments.  Also, page 94 of Dragon 313 specificially states:

Size and Type: The base creature's type does not change.  If the base creature is of Small or Medium size, it gains one size category becoming Medium or Large respectively.  See Table 4-2: Changes to Monster Statistics by Size in the Monster Manual for changes to the base creature when it gains a size category.  The changes in this template are in addition to the changes outlined there.

Abilities: Changes from the base creature as follows: STR +4, CON +2, INT -2

It seemed clear to me.

[Kuroimaken]

I find it sad that the most fitting Dragoons are Orcs... but at least it gives them a good reason to wear that helmet.

[skydragonknight]

Faiths of Eberron p149 is the big table with all the domains the deities have(core domains +eberron specific domains(deathless, dragon below, etc)+a lot of spell compendium domains).

No Eberron Deity has Time, despite it being in SpC, possibly because they thought it was too powerful(Imp Init for free + nice spell list).

[Endarire]

Water orcs are powerful.  If not for the WIS penalty, they'd be the obvious dragoon choice!  I'll still use half-orcs as the standard because they're core and have no WIS penalty.  Thank you for that find!

[Akalsaris]

My pleasure =) 

As far as Jump goes, a ring of feather-falling is only what, 2k?  If the DM is cruel enough to make you take falling damage, that is.  I think if you've got the strength and magic to jump that high, you wouldn't hurt yourself coming down though.  Featherfall would definitely get style points though. 

[Endarire]

I added a section on the dragoon's role under Under the Hood.

[Kuroimaken]

As far as Jump goes, a ring of feather-falling is only what, 2k?  If the DM is cruel enough to make you take falling damage, that is.  I think if you've got the strength and magic to jump that high, you wouldn't hurt yourself coming down though.  Featherfall would definitely get style points though.

Problem with featherfall is that the dragoon uses the momentum of the fall to actually charge. Featherfall kills that momentum.

[skydragonknight]

As far as Jump goes, a ring of feather-falling is only what, 2k?  If the DM is cruel enough to make you take falling damage, that is.  I think if you've got the strength and magic to jump that high, you wouldn't hurt yourself coming down though.  Featherfall would definitely get style points though.

Problem with featherfall is that the dragoon uses the momentum of the fall to actually charge. Featherfall kills that momentum.

Tempest Stormwind addressed that. In particular the psionic version of feather fall, catfall, is better for a dragoon for the reason you mentioned(they negate X feet of falling damage instead of you floating down). The Boots of Landing based off that power were reprinted in the MIC, cost a measly 500 gold and negate 20 ft(2 dice) of falling damage. Enjoy!

[Endarire]

Battle Jump (Unapproachable East 42) says it doesn't work with fly or levitate but says nothing against feather fall.

[woodenbandman]

I want to play this character now. Maybe toss a bit of Thri-Kreen into this, cast Girallon's blessing, wield your lance 6 handed and get massive jumps.

[Endarire]

Thri-kreen (Savage Species) only have 2 usable arms, unfortunately.  Shining South updated this to 4 arms, but Thri-Kreen still aren't worthwhile for most dragoons.

Also, what else do you want to see in this guide?  How do you feel about the story?  What are your LOL moments?