[DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

A friend of my daughter (who plays a mermaid, discussed here not long ago), wants to create a faerie dragon character. She got the idea from D&D where the latest iteration of the creature is described in the 5e Monster Manual. My thought was to use the pixie from DF3 as a start and adjust from there.

So, first of all, has anyone designed this already?

Assuming not, here are some rough thoughts:

• Faerie dragons are described as "cat-sized" which seems to be SM-4 instead of the pixie's SM-6.
• Since the dragon is a bit larger than a pixie, ST might scale up a bit to ST -3 or -4.
• Increased DX might make sense, though it costs a lot for a creature who will likely depend on magic.
• Sharp claws and teeth also make sense and are cheap enough to fit.
• Magery
• Sense of Duty (Nature) could make sense, though the D&D version isn't really a "faerie" at all. It's a diminutive relative of actual dragons. I'm leaning more toward the idea that they are actually some sort of fae.
• Dependency (Mana) makes sense if they are fae and helps offset costs.
• Enhanced Dodge 1 like the pixie will help survivability.
• Not sure about reduced HP.
• The D&D version has "superior invisibility" which basically means it can vanish while concentrating. This seems powerful and expensive, though I'm not sure what the exact point cost would be in GURPS. I might drop this or change it to camouflage or something like that.
• They can communicate telepathically with their species. This seems like a feature in any campaign that doesn't feature them as a big thing. I may just drop it entirely.
• Improved Magic Resistance fits the D&D version.
• They have a euphoria breath weapon that I don't know how to model. It targets something within 5 feet. If the target fails a saving throw, it wanders around, basically stunned for a minute. They have opportunities to snap out of it. The breath weapon "recharges" after a few seconds (1-in-3 chance per second).
• They have innate spells and gain more as they age, but I'll model this as gaining points and adding spells. Will probably recommend that she be a wizard or other casting class.
• The one other element is that the dragons are something of a trickster, so I could add that to the racial disadvantage list.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I love these kids adding all sorts of new races to the game world!

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

The obvious implementation of the hallucinogenic breath is affliction (hallucinating), though you might want Ecstasy instead, Hallucinating is a fairly underwhelming effect.

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

Fine on the stuff I snipped, my thoughts on the rest...

Reduced HP fits the lower mass but lowers survivability, so maybe not reduced so much because there dragons.
Invisibility with requires Concentrate and Reduced duration maybe?
Racial telepathy could just be telecommunication (Racial, -20%) but more discount if race is rare.
Euphoria Breath weapon sounds like Affliction (Ecstasy) -very effective.

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

I would just like to point out that their invisibility in Gurps terms is pretty much a free action to activate.
The concentration of D&D Next does not mean they have to take an action each round, just that only one effect of that kind can be active at the same time, and it can be disrupted by damage.

I'm also thinking you need the improved version of magic resistance if you want to combine it with magery.

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

The racial telepathy could be a Perk, if you plan for one or two other specimens during the campaign as fluff encounters. That way, she'll get to use a cool ability, even if it's for something relatively unimportant, without paying through the nose for something that the players would have been just fine without.

Examples of fluff encounters: The familiar of a quest giver, a random encounter in the wilderness.

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

The Shoulder Dragon on p.27 of DF5 is similar.

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

Phone decided the Edit had to disappear.

Invisibility, switchable, reduced time (should be legal after switchable) is expensive, but it should have some kind of limitation where it can be shut down by damage, also note that most of the spell like abilities end up being alternate abilities to this, since a Faerie Dragon can't have them all active at the same time (you can only concentrate on one effect at a time)

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

The dragon is twice the size of the pixie, so we'd expect twice the ST, or ST 10. Come to think of it, with SM -6 being 0.2 yards and SM -4 being 0.5 yards, this is actually x2.5, or ST 12.5 (which I'd do as ST 12 + Lifting ST 1) This demonstrates just how amazingly strong pixies are. There's certainly precedent for faeries not being quite so strong, of course - the leprechaun is the same size as your dragon and has racial average of ST 6.

For HP, pixies actually have appropriate HP for their size (1), while leprechauns are a bit robust for their size (HP 4, when we'd expect HP 2 or 2.5). I'd probably have faerie dragons be more robust than leprechauns, so leave HP as-is for their ST.

Their small size combined with the incredible maneuverability afforded by Flight (I assume they can fly, at least) means a high DX can be useful for delivering touch and/or missile spells on-target. Some sort of poisonous bite or stinger (probably with the same effect as their breath weapon) can also allow them to fight in melee in spite of their low ST (and thus low damage).

Sounds like an Affliction. A 5' reach in DnD is roughly comparable to a 1 yard reach in GURPS (in either case, it lets you hit adjacent foes), but melee attacks can be Parried, which you don't want here. I'd suggest Jet +0%, which gives Range 5/10, and then Reduced Range x1/5 -20%, for Range 1/2. Note that, as this isn't a cone or area effect like most breath weapons, a high DX will help in delivering it. If it's something the character has to breathe in, consider Respiratory Agent +50% (and has the benefit of ignoring DR and the like). Note if you don't go for Respiratory Agent, you may be better off with ignoring Jet and making it Reduced Range x1/10 -30%, for Range 1/10 (if you dislike it being usable - at +3 to resist - out to 10 yards, shorten it; by RAW this gives no further discount, but it probably wouldn't break anything too badly to just give it 1/2 the worth of Reduced Range x1/10, or -15%, for a total of -45%). For the effect, GURPS does have a Euphoria effect, but that's just penalties. Daze seems the most appropriate. It has the disadvantage of ending if the character is struck, but I wouldn't be surprised to find the DnD effect to work similarly. Optionally, combine Euphoria (+30%) and Daze (+50%), which will cause the character to suffer the penalties of Euphoria (-3 to most rolls - DX, IQ, skill, and self control) once the Daze wears off. If you wish to maintain the delay between uses (note the dragons in DF have no such restriction, although they do have a cost of 2 FP per use), a 1-in-3 chance of recovering each round is roughly equivalent to a 3-round recharge. DnD rounds at least used to be ~6 seconds long, so this puts it around the same level as a 15-second recharge, -20%. If it is indeed a 1-in-3 chance each second, that's a 3-second recharge; the shortest recharge for Takes Recharge is 5 seconds and -10% - -5% for a 3-second recharge seems appropriate.

Personally, I favor a No Wounding attack with a Side Effect over Affliction. Consider Toxic Attack 2d+1 (Jet +0%; Respiratory Agent +50%; Side Effect: Daze and Euphoria +130%; No Wounding -50%; Reduced Range x1/5 -20%) [20] as opposed to Affliction (Jet +0%; Respiratory Agent +50%; Daze +50%; Euphoria +30%; Reduced Range x1/10 -30%; Reduced Range, Max Only x1/5 -10%) [19]. The former will, on average, cause the foe to resist at HT-3, with Daze lasting (20-HT, minimum 1) minutes (or until the character is hit), and Euphoria lasting (20-HT, minimum 1) minutes after Daze wears off. The latter will cause the foe to resist at HT, with Daze lasting MoF minutes (or until the character is hit) and Euphoria similarly lasting MoF minutes after Daze wears off. Each has Range 1/2, with the Side Effect build simply having half the penalty at Range 2, while Affliction gives +3 to resist. The Side Effect build also scales up more readily - each -1 to resist costs around [+5.04] (the cost of +2 to damage, which is 0.6 dice), while for Affliction each -1 to resist costs [19].

If you opt to allow bites or the like to deliver the same effect, consider taking the above builds, taking off Jet and Respiratory Agent, and adding on Follow-Up +0%. Set the resulting ability as an Alternate Attack to the breath weapon, and you're good to go.

Consider allowing the character to get a Perk similar to Leprechaun Charms for such innate spells; this allows the character to learn them even if he/she lacks the prerequisites.

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

I would combine the pixie template with the shoulder dragon (DF allies) and work from there. Here is what I got so far.



That is a lot, but if you are doing this for one person, it really doesn't matter, let them have it and have fun!

But, lets try and make it cheaper:


Boom! 20pt Racial Template!

Re: [DF] Faerie Dragon racial template
 

You might also find some useful ideas in the fly-dragon monster write-up on pp. 16-17 of Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2.