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Invisibility is VERY common.  I spend alot of money for hands of glory just because of that.  That said, powerstones generally get me through.  Forced share pain is always fun to combine with vigour.  You just endlessly heal while they die.  Also, iut is good to have something for each saving throw.

Telekenetic thrust doesn't see much use around here, but it seems pretty nice.  You could only throw 7 at time (1 per manifester level), but you could bring 7 large greatswords (heck, with 250 lbs, you could try colossial greatswords)  Just remember, you have to be able to get them to your opponent if he doesn't come to your pile of weapons, so have backups for things like forest.

I'm considering the 1-shot high-ECL character activation, and I figured I'd want to do something with racial HD and LA that I wouldn't be able to start at ECL 3. I have a two ideas and was wondering about how good they'd be-- I also have a couple rules questions.

This one is stolen over from a campaign I once played in. In this campaign, the big bad evil guy was a mage who rode a young adult Blue Dragon into combat. He'd cast spells and send minions and the like, and after a long and grueling campaign we fought our way through his stronghold and did battle with him, defeating him. However, it turned out (and some of us had our suspicions, but not me) that the mage was actually a minion of the Blue Dragon, who was the real enemy. Hilarity ensued.


Idea 1 - Dragon Rider

I was thinking of a character sort of like this, being a Dragon and using Leadership to get a Grig as a rider. A Very Young Brass Dragon clocks with 7 Dragon HD and 3 LA, for ECL 10...."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true" />
I feel like this would be a very limited character, though, especially on the cramped indoor maps. I'd be wrestling with a lot of Racial HD, even if they are D12s with 6 skill points, and no class levels means no wands. Still, a True Dragon would be an awesome character to use, and although obviously the other combatants would know he's the real enemy, he'll be sturdy and have solid saves. Against a hypothetical ECL 10 full caster, I feel like he'd just get shredded, rider or no.

So, a few questions regarding this character:
Does a True Dragon have his sorcerer spells on his spell list for Wand purposes before he gets his first Caster Level?
Can a True Dragon hold/use scrolls? How about weapons? How about armor, and magic items? Can he wear gloves?
At ECL 10 with 7 HD, is the max leadership cohort level 8 (ECL-2) or 5 (HD-2)?


Idea 2 - Dragon-taur

In any case, brainstorming about a True Dragon, I thought of something that was so awesome I had to mention it, and I'm trying to see if I can get it to work: Half Dragon Centaur (4 HD, 5 LA).

Centaurs suffer a lot from some sub-par racial HD and non-great abilities that come with it. However, tack on a half-dragon template, which leans on Racial HD (making them D10s and changing skills to 6 points per level) and is best on a large creature with a high base speed (for wings to move at base speed x2 as flight). The net Natural Armor of the Dragontaur is +7, and the net ability scores are: S+16 D+4 C+4 W+2 Ch+2-- not bad. With Large, 100 Fly Speed and +16 Strength, we've already got a capable grappler. Sitting on only 4d10 hp at ECL 9 is kinda sad but Monstrous Humanoid Dice give good BAB and saves. The same "Rider" thing could be done as well, either with a ranged character or caster to support the Dragontaur, or a fighter type to do... mounted combat, I suppose.

Thinking about it now, the Dragontaur idea sounds super awesome and I want to do it (True Dragons are still cool though). The issue is I feel like 4 HD at ECL 9 might be simply not possible. Nathas is constantly struggling with his +2 LA, and running a character with 5 LA might just not be viable. He doesn't have Spell Resistance or Damage Reduction, though his high AC should keep him fairly comfortable against physical attacks, it wouldn't take too many Rays to take him out.

Is the Dragontaur possible? He'd be a hard hitter in melee, and a brutally effective grappler, and with his good fly speed he'd be terrifying (though Sewers would suck given the wings rules in there). He has profeciency with Longbow and Longsword, so he'd be okay fighting at range if he needed to. I feel like in a way I've already fallen in love with the idea of a Centaur being good as a PC. The half-celestial template might be more appropriate-- SR, DR, SLAs and wings, but no huge Strength bonus and slower fly speed makes it seem like I've traded precious attack ability for defenses.

Oh, I forgot about the mounted combat stuff you can do as a quadreped, and also about Dive-- that's a lot of damage. He won't get a rider until ECL 11, then, but he can do fine without one for a while. If he really feels the need to supplement his abilities, he could always hire a mercenary. I don't want to activate him up at ECL 11 unless other people are up there as well, and it seems only a couple fights even happen up in this range per week. That being said, starting with class levels would give him profeciencies and access to Fighter levels for some desperately-needed combat feats.

I think I'll do some brainstorming on Dragontaur then. He's got a lot of money to work with for a guy with 4 HD, and the right itemization might cover some of his weaknesses.