I've had to break this up into four posts because of the per-post size limit. If this were simply a regular advert then I would trim it down to promote just the 'coolest' parts, but my reasons for posting this require me to go into at least a certain amount of detail. To the best of my knowledge there are no rules against doing this - but if there's a problem please delete this thread entirely, and I'll repost it as a link and put the relevant information on my website.
INTRODUCTION
Back in December 2006, I started a . There were some useful replies, and an expressed interested in being kept informed about my progress. As one year has passed since then, I thought it would be worth posting an update (in fact I'd originally planned to do this
exactly one year after my design post - but I only remembered a few days after posting my Winterland advert, and I always wait at least two weeks between starting promotional threads).
The first version of the dragon class was made available for testing in January 2007, about a month after my post - but it was an early and very incomplete prototype with only a handful of powers. Over the last year I've fleshed out the rest of the powers, constantly polishing, refining and balancing to create something that I'm now fairly happy with.
As with all classes in God Wars II, I wanted the dragon class to support a wide range of different playing styles, with sufficient variation that two dragons would rarely look or play the same - and I wanted this variation to allow players the freedom to create a wide range of dragon-like creatures from mythology and fiction. I also strongly felt that the dragons should really feel like mighty beasts of legend, rather than just the couple of stat modifiers and simple breath attack that most implementations seem to reduce them to.
THE BASICS
The dragon class is designed to cover most dragon-oriented concepts, including humans (dragon slayers, dragon riders, etc) and draconians. However I've already had to break this into four posts, so I've decided to focus exclusively on the third and more traditional advancement route - full dragons.
Although you begin play unclassed, it's possible to start out as a newborn dragon right from the start by taking the Dragon Hatchling talent. The easiest way to do this is to select 'concept' during character creation, and choose one of the three dragon concepts (Green Dragon, White Dragon or Red Dragon).
Dragons come in a range of different colours. By default they are green, but if they select one of the four lesser calling talents (Black Dragon Descendant, Blue Dragon Descendant, Red Dragon Descendant and White Dragon Descendant) their scales will adopt the appropriate colour and their breath attack will be replaced accordingly (white dragons breathe frost, black dragons spew forth acid, etc).
PEDIGREES AND BREEDS
At age 200, dragons may choose to branch into a specific pedigree or breed by selecting the appropriate subclass. A very brief summary of these options is as follows:
Chromatic Pedigree: The natural progression from the basic dragon, this includes the standard five chromatic colours along with a sixth - yellow. The chromatic dragons have exceptionally tough scales, and gain additional benefits from their treasure hoard.
Metallic Pedigree: The bronze, copper, gold, silver, platinum and brass dragons of this bloodline were the first to unlock the primal fury of draconic Rage. While raging, they get increasingly stronger the more injured they become.
Crystal Pedigree: The onyx, sapphire, ruby, pearl, diamond and emerald dragons of this bloodline were the ones who discovered the secrets of draconic elemental magic, which they wield with unparalleled skill and power.
Celestial Pedigree: The void, star, solar, lunar, astral and celestial dragons of this bloodline were the first to travel the planes and explore beyond the Dragon Realm. They have spiritually ascended, and are no longer creatures of pure flesh and blood.
Hydra Breed: The hydra are the multi-headed dragons, possessing at least three heads (but usually more). They aren't coloured by Dragon Descendant like regular dragons, but can instead choose up to three different colours along with a pattern. Their colouring indicates both their offensive and defensive capabilities (e.g. a black, blue and red hydra could breathe acid, lightning and fire from its different heads, and would be particularly resilient against those three damage types).
Serpent Breed: The serpents are the limbless dragons, although their tiny fins are still capable of drawing the sigils required for draconic magic. Their tail is considerably stronger than most dragons, and their bite injects a deadly venom. Serpents are very fast swimmers, but are also more than capable of slithering across solid ground.
Wyvern Breed: The two-legged wyverns are the largest breed of dragons, and their powerful tails are tipped with a deadly venomous stinger. Wyverns lack the forelimbs of most other dragon types, and instead rely on their huge spiked wings as their primary mode of attack.
Dracolich Aberration: The dracoliches were created by a great ritual that went awry, causing them to descend into a state of undeath. Their animated rotting corpses are immune to pain, and they can breathe ethereal ghostfire. Upon reaching age 300 each dracolich is required to choose one of three subroutes: the Mummified Dragons are those who have preserved their flesh - they are exceptionally tough, and can infect their victims with a horribly rotting disease; the Skeletal Dragons are those who allowed their flesh to rot away entirely, making them more agile and removing many of their fleshy weaknesses; the Spectral Dragons are those who have transcended their physical body entirely, becoming ethereal beings - most physical attacks simply pass through them, while their ethereal talons and jaws are capable of ripping apart ghosts as easily as living creatures, and are unhindered by physical armour.