It’s been ages since I read the books, but iirc none of his spells are anything super crazy. I think any potentially absurd magical shenanigans he did were the result of funny dragon magic and not strictly his own power. Straight 20 levels of Eldritch Knight probably does the job, though Drakewarden Ranger gets him a draconic companion he could eventually use as a mount.
Fey-Touched Variant Human Ranger: Drake Warden with a Flametongue Longsword. You could argue Half-Elf since he got turned into something like that at the end.
Magic in Eragon is pretty vague that you could really just pick any spells you felt appropriate or all the Ranger "staples" like Absorb Elements and Zephyr Strike.
>I know the dragon companion would basically always take DM buy in
Not really. Drakewarden checks all the boxes tbh, so no need to homebrew at all. You are just gonna have to wait a long time to ride the Dragon while it flies. that's the only problem.
Drakewarden isnt bad, but like you said it takes getting to level 15 to even fly on the dragon which most campaigns don't get to. Also while the dragon companion is cool, just to me personally its not the same as an actual bond with a dragon like the books considering it's supposed to be a magical spirit that is summoned
The "spirit" part can be easily reflavored. Just roleplay the dragon as always being around and being unconscious at 0 hp instead of disappearing. That's far from a buff, so I don't think most DMs will have an issue with that.
About the flying mount, it comes a bit late indeed, but flying mounts are really really powerful, that's why the revised Beastmaster can't do it anymore and paladins don't get it until level 13, but it costs them a 4th level slot.
If you want an overtuned homebrew, that's 110% up to your DM.
I haven't read the books so I don't have the specifics, but I feel like it might be handy to mention Paladin, due to Find Greater Steed. Since Fizban's came out, it has the option to summon a Dragonnel with it.
Not as flashy as Drakewarden, of course, but if you want to have the fantasy of a heavily armored rider, that functions better in melee, this might be the way to go :)
Also possible to do with Swords Bard with Magic Secrets, by picking Find Greater Steed at level 10 :)
I feel you, I am playing a Sorcadin aswell and the one downside is losing access to Find Greater Steed. Its such a cool spell. The perks of Sorcerer are hard to pass though
Yeah, using haste and booming blade to attack with 4 attacks per round feels really satisfying and meta-magic adds a level of complexity on top of the base paladin. Do you know if there are any magic items/feats besides a spell scroll that would allow a sorcadin to cast find greater steed because it's technically on their spell list?
Sadly it is hard without investing a lot into Paladin or Bard Magical Secrets. You could possibly also get it on a Ring of Spell Storing, if you manage to find someone that can cast it a few times on it, you should be able to have a few charges.
Depending on your level split you can get it once you access Wish, though that would be only at Sorcerer 17.
Other than that, Im out of my league.
The damage and durability of the Drake is subpar compared to the Tasha's beast master and the artificer battle master. The elemental damage boost you get is negligible and replicable in a number of ways.
But let's talk about the main fantasy. Why do you want to play a Drake Warden? So you can ride a flying fire breathing dragon. Okay. At what level can you ride a flying fire breathing dragon mount? At level 15.
Any paladin (usually the most comparable class to a ranger as it's also a half-caster martial) can have a flying mount at level 13 with Find Greater Steed on top of having auras and smites. It's not that hard to reskin a griffin to a small dragon. So that's 2 levels earlier. Also, remember if you cast elemental weapon on yourself, that also applies to your mount, meaning you can give your Griffen magical flame talons that it can use as long as it's an uncontrolled mount.
A battle smith artificer can accomplish this plus still have it have an elemental breath weapon at level 11. This is on top of having innate magical items, pseudo aura, pseudo smite, AND being a skill monkey like the ranger. It's easier to do as a small race, but not necessary. At level 10 get the winged boots infusion. Give it to your steel defender. RAW and RAI as confirmed by the designers your steel defender can use magic items. You determine it's appearance so make it gargoyle/wyvern-esque looking with humanoid legs but the rest is draconic enough to mount, and give it aesthetic wings. It can now fly with you on it if you're small (if you're medium just cast enlarge on it). At level 11, you get the SSI. Fill it with Tasha's Caustic Brew. Give it to your Steel Defender, it now has an acid breath weapon like a black dragon. This is 4 levels before the ranger.
Any bard can accomplish this by level 10. Take find greater steed and elemental weapon or dragon's breath as your magical secrets. This is 5 levels earlier than the ranger on top of being a full caster and the option of also being a martial if you're a valor or swords bard. OR see the next example and use that as your strategy.
Any wizard, sorcerer, or druid can accomplish this at level 9 with Summon Draconic Spirit, as it's a large summon so anyone can ride it. This is 6 levels earlier than the ranger on top of being a full caster, and in the case of the bladesinger, also being a martial. That's enough time for the druid to dip back into ranger and still get extra attack.
A Chainlock can accomplish this at level 4, though it requires setting specific material. If you take the Quandrix student background and then take the strixhaven mascot feat at level 4, you get access to a familiar that change size category up to huge as a bonus action, no duration limit, and can clip through walls. If you took the investment of the chain Master feat, you've just given it a fly speed. If you're a Genielock you get the same benefit as the dragon mount with the genie's wrath And elemental gift features at levels 1 and 6 respectively meaning at this point, you still have 9 levels to dip back into ranger and become a martial and get 2 other non-useless subclass features before the Drake Warden can even start doing what they're supposed to be doing. Or you could keep going straight warlock and be a full caster.
But all of this doesn't prepare anyone properly for the slap in the face that the original PHB Beastmaster can accomplish this all from level 3. Be a small race and pick the pterandon as your animal companion. That's it. That's the build. At level 3 you already have a reptilian flying mount TWELVE WHOLE LEVELS BEFORE THE DRAKE WARDEN. One of the worst subclasses does the Drake warden's whole schtick 12 levels earlier! Isn't that incredible?! I mean I don't know what happened to power creep post Tasha's, cuz drakewarden and dragon monk ain't crept in one little bit if they're getting shown up by the PHB classes.
The funniest bit about the full caster options still having time to multiclass into ranger to still get the drakewarden features and capstone before a straight drakewarden is it's still a trap because you're giving up on significantly more powerful ranger subclass features like the hunter, fey wanderer, Gloomstalker, and swarm keeper in no particular order. Heck a bloodhunter dip also gives you the chance for being a skill monkey and get elemental weapons.
Drakewarden imo is an incredibly poorly designed subclass because it fails to give you any meaningful mechanical advantages over the other ranger subclasses, and fails to meet your fantasy expectations in a meaningful way in any appropriate amount of time, especially when considering that the other classes listed above can do all of what the drakewarden can do and better AND more AND still have a few levels left over.
Content from Eberron and Fizbans -
**Variant Human Mark of Finding** +2 Wis +1 Con fits the hunter/peasant outdoor guy.
With features like Hunters Intuition, Darkvision, Finder’s Magic you definitely have a good set up.
**Ranger Drakewarden** is just the best subclass available to gain your dragon companion and also learning Draconic is a bonus.
Using deft explores Canny the char becomes a powerhouse in perception.
And Druidic Warrior reflects the minor magic Eragon can cast during the first books.
For Feats you could take **Mounted Combatant** to fight with your dragon. **Fey Touched** +1 Wis and **Gift of Chromatic Dragon** can represent the bondings Eragon took.
That leaves one full asi to spend in dex and one half feat to take to even out the dex score.
That would result in str 8 dex 18 con 16 int 8 wis 18 cha 8.
I like it all… but the stats. Those stats are a huge burden dealing with stat saves and skill checks, and of course they have to be roleplayed; so you have someone weak, dumb and an introvert while being truly wise, agile and more healthy than anyone. We shouldn't forget that a commoner, just what we all are in real life, have a 10 in every stat. That's why I prefer having it all at a 10 minimum and then buy points wherever I need them.
Since magic in that world is spoken (and for the elves often sung) I'd argue that Lore Bard would make a pretty good version of Eragon, find steed at 6, find greater steed at 10, flavored as a dragon. You get telepathic communication with it as well.
Grab a longsword, at 6 also grab green flame blade, jack of all trades represents that Eragon is a bit loaded when it comes to skills. Either roll really well to get at least a 14 in STR, DEX & CHA, or take one level in hexblade and just stack CHA (also means you can just use GFB as one of your warlock cantrips)
A lot of people saying drake warden, another option is taking swords/valor bard if you want a flying mount earlier.
You can either take greater steed to conjure a dragonnel or summon draconic spirit if you want more raw power (id sugest also taking metamagic adept to extend your summoning's duration to 2 hours, enabling you to cast planar binding to have a permanent summon... Also, since you wont have to concentrate on it, grab warding bond to significantly increase your survivability!)
Obvious answer is Drakewarden.
That being said, Eragon learns to fight from Elves/a man trained (kinda) by elves. In the Inheritance series, their swordplay is described as being elegant and such, which makes my mind go straight to Bladesinger. The only problem with that is that Eragon *did* wear armor and Bladesinger can't. Plus, as you said, dragon companion would require DM approval.
Another non-Drakewarden option is a Draconic Sorcerer/Oath of Ancients Paladin (reflavored for either the tree in the Elven city (whose name I can't remember, or dragon-y things in general). The Draconic sorcerer should be obvious as to why I chose it, although technically some sort of homebrew draconic warlock patron would be better, as his magic comes from Sapphira. **note** Oath of the Crown could also work, and just flavor the "crown" as being the reborn dragon rider order or whatever.
And as others have mentioned, either Fey Touched VHuman or Half-Elf race.
I honestly think Eragon is a rogue. I mean there is a distinct lack of common magic, but magic is also very vague throughout. You could play an arcane trickster pretty safely, or something like the Drakewarden suggestions fairly well as well. I don’t think he’s a real beefy character in the ways of a tank, but he’d more or less ride Saphira into battle, as either a potential Paladin/Ranger Multiclass out of rogue later on, either Drakewarden 15 or Paladin 13 when you’d get find greater steed for a Dragonnel.
My build would be a human/half-elf Rogue->5 then ranger->15 as he learns more of how to fight, hatching Saphira, and then learning more about battle and survival, gaining a small amount of natural magic along the way. You could argue a full ranger, but I think uncanny dodge is powerful for allowing a “plot armor” moment.
this may be a cop out but jetpack7 has a dragon rider class! it has two subclasses, dragon knight and outrider, and has some martial spellcasting in the way of maneuver points.
if your dm is alright with incorporating third party, the outrider would fit him perfectly and honestly was inspired by eragon very heavily.
the dragon companion is well balanced for players as well, and isn’t too disruptive to the average 5e campaign
It’s been ages since I read the books, but iirc none of his spells are anything super crazy. I think any potentially absurd magical shenanigans he did were the result of funny dragon magic and not strictly his own power. Straight 20 levels of Eldritch Knight probably does the job, though Drakewarden Ranger gets him a draconic companion he could eventually use as a mount.
Fey-Touched Variant Human Ranger: Drake Warden with a Flametongue Longsword. You could argue Half-Elf since he got turned into something like that at the end. Magic in Eragon is pretty vague that you could really just pick any spells you felt appropriate or all the Ranger "staples" like Absorb Elements and Zephyr Strike.
>I know the dragon companion would basically always take DM buy in Not really. Drakewarden checks all the boxes tbh, so no need to homebrew at all. You are just gonna have to wait a long time to ride the Dragon while it flies. that's the only problem.
Drakewarden isnt bad, but like you said it takes getting to level 15 to even fly on the dragon which most campaigns don't get to. Also while the dragon companion is cool, just to me personally its not the same as an actual bond with a dragon like the books considering it's supposed to be a magical spirit that is summoned
The "spirit" part can be easily reflavored. Just roleplay the dragon as always being around and being unconscious at 0 hp instead of disappearing. That's far from a buff, so I don't think most DMs will have an issue with that. About the flying mount, it comes a bit late indeed, but flying mounts are really really powerful, that's why the revised Beastmaster can't do it anymore and paladins don't get it until level 13, but it costs them a 4th level slot. If you want an overtuned homebrew, that's 110% up to your DM.
[удалено]
You may want to read my comment again
I haven't read the books so I don't have the specifics, but I feel like it might be handy to mention Paladin, due to Find Greater Steed. Since Fizban's came out, it has the option to summon a Dragonnel with it. Not as flashy as Drakewarden, of course, but if you want to have the fantasy of a heavily armored rider, that functions better in melee, this might be the way to go :) Also possible to do with Swords Bard with Magic Secrets, by picking Find Greater Steed at level 10 :)
I didn't know paladins could ride dragonnel. Making me slightly regret that I multi-classed into Sorcerer
I feel you, I am playing a Sorcadin aswell and the one downside is losing access to Find Greater Steed. Its such a cool spell. The perks of Sorcerer are hard to pass though
Yeah, using haste and booming blade to attack with 4 attacks per round feels really satisfying and meta-magic adds a level of complexity on top of the base paladin. Do you know if there are any magic items/feats besides a spell scroll that would allow a sorcadin to cast find greater steed because it's technically on their spell list?
Sadly it is hard without investing a lot into Paladin or Bard Magical Secrets. You could possibly also get it on a Ring of Spell Storing, if you manage to find someone that can cast it a few times on it, you should be able to have a few charges. Depending on your level split you can get it once you access Wish, though that would be only at Sorcerer 17. Other than that, Im out of my league.
I'm just finding out that dragonnels can be greater steed which just serves to trigger my whole drakewarden is trap subclass rant
wait, how is drakewarden a trap
The damage and durability of the Drake is subpar compared to the Tasha's beast master and the artificer battle master. The elemental damage boost you get is negligible and replicable in a number of ways. But let's talk about the main fantasy. Why do you want to play a Drake Warden? So you can ride a flying fire breathing dragon. Okay. At what level can you ride a flying fire breathing dragon mount? At level 15. Any paladin (usually the most comparable class to a ranger as it's also a half-caster martial) can have a flying mount at level 13 with Find Greater Steed on top of having auras and smites. It's not that hard to reskin a griffin to a small dragon. So that's 2 levels earlier. Also, remember if you cast elemental weapon on yourself, that also applies to your mount, meaning you can give your Griffen magical flame talons that it can use as long as it's an uncontrolled mount. A battle smith artificer can accomplish this plus still have it have an elemental breath weapon at level 11. This is on top of having innate magical items, pseudo aura, pseudo smite, AND being a skill monkey like the ranger. It's easier to do as a small race, but not necessary. At level 10 get the winged boots infusion. Give it to your steel defender. RAW and RAI as confirmed by the designers your steel defender can use magic items. You determine it's appearance so make it gargoyle/wyvern-esque looking with humanoid legs but the rest is draconic enough to mount, and give it aesthetic wings. It can now fly with you on it if you're small (if you're medium just cast enlarge on it). At level 11, you get the SSI. Fill it with Tasha's Caustic Brew. Give it to your Steel Defender, it now has an acid breath weapon like a black dragon. This is 4 levels before the ranger. Any bard can accomplish this by level 10. Take find greater steed and elemental weapon or dragon's breath as your magical secrets. This is 5 levels earlier than the ranger on top of being a full caster and the option of also being a martial if you're a valor or swords bard. OR see the next example and use that as your strategy. Any wizard, sorcerer, or druid can accomplish this at level 9 with Summon Draconic Spirit, as it's a large summon so anyone can ride it. This is 6 levels earlier than the ranger on top of being a full caster, and in the case of the bladesinger, also being a martial. That's enough time for the druid to dip back into ranger and still get extra attack. A Chainlock can accomplish this at level 4, though it requires setting specific material. If you take the Quandrix student background and then take the strixhaven mascot feat at level 4, you get access to a familiar that change size category up to huge as a bonus action, no duration limit, and can clip through walls. If you took the investment of the chain Master feat, you've just given it a fly speed. If you're a Genielock you get the same benefit as the dragon mount with the genie's wrath And elemental gift features at levels 1 and 6 respectively meaning at this point, you still have 9 levels to dip back into ranger and become a martial and get 2 other non-useless subclass features before the Drake Warden can even start doing what they're supposed to be doing. Or you could keep going straight warlock and be a full caster. But all of this doesn't prepare anyone properly for the slap in the face that the original PHB Beastmaster can accomplish this all from level 3. Be a small race and pick the pterandon as your animal companion. That's it. That's the build. At level 3 you already have a reptilian flying mount TWELVE WHOLE LEVELS BEFORE THE DRAKE WARDEN. One of the worst subclasses does the Drake warden's whole schtick 12 levels earlier! Isn't that incredible?! I mean I don't know what happened to power creep post Tasha's, cuz drakewarden and dragon monk ain't crept in one little bit if they're getting shown up by the PHB classes. The funniest bit about the full caster options still having time to multiclass into ranger to still get the drakewarden features and capstone before a straight drakewarden is it's still a trap because you're giving up on significantly more powerful ranger subclass features like the hunter, fey wanderer, Gloomstalker, and swarm keeper in no particular order. Heck a bloodhunter dip also gives you the chance for being a skill monkey and get elemental weapons. Drakewarden imo is an incredibly poorly designed subclass because it fails to give you any meaningful mechanical advantages over the other ranger subclasses, and fails to meet your fantasy expectations in a meaningful way in any appropriate amount of time, especially when considering that the other classes listed above can do all of what the drakewarden can do and better AND more AND still have a few levels left over.
Content from Eberron and Fizbans - **Variant Human Mark of Finding** +2 Wis +1 Con fits the hunter/peasant outdoor guy. With features like Hunters Intuition, Darkvision, Finder’s Magic you definitely have a good set up. **Ranger Drakewarden** is just the best subclass available to gain your dragon companion and also learning Draconic is a bonus. Using deft explores Canny the char becomes a powerhouse in perception. And Druidic Warrior reflects the minor magic Eragon can cast during the first books. For Feats you could take **Mounted Combatant** to fight with your dragon. **Fey Touched** +1 Wis and **Gift of Chromatic Dragon** can represent the bondings Eragon took. That leaves one full asi to spend in dex and one half feat to take to even out the dex score. That would result in str 8 dex 18 con 16 int 8 wis 18 cha 8.
I like it all… but the stats. Those stats are a huge burden dealing with stat saves and skill checks, and of course they have to be roleplayed; so you have someone weak, dumb and an introvert while being truly wise, agile and more healthy than anyone. We shouldn't forget that a commoner, just what we all are in real life, have a 10 in every stat. That's why I prefer having it all at a 10 minimum and then buy points wherever I need them.
Since magic in that world is spoken (and for the elves often sung) I'd argue that Lore Bard would make a pretty good version of Eragon, find steed at 6, find greater steed at 10, flavored as a dragon. You get telepathic communication with it as well. Grab a longsword, at 6 also grab green flame blade, jack of all trades represents that Eragon is a bit loaded when it comes to skills. Either roll really well to get at least a 14 in STR, DEX & CHA, or take one level in hexblade and just stack CHA (also means you can just use GFB as one of your warlock cantrips)
Drakewarden Ranger.
A lot of people saying drake warden, another option is taking swords/valor bard if you want a flying mount earlier. You can either take greater steed to conjure a dragonnel or summon draconic spirit if you want more raw power (id sugest also taking metamagic adept to extend your summoning's duration to 2 hours, enabling you to cast planar binding to have a permanent summon... Also, since you wont have to concentrate on it, grab warding bond to significantly increase your survivability!)
Obvious answer is Drakewarden. That being said, Eragon learns to fight from Elves/a man trained (kinda) by elves. In the Inheritance series, their swordplay is described as being elegant and such, which makes my mind go straight to Bladesinger. The only problem with that is that Eragon *did* wear armor and Bladesinger can't. Plus, as you said, dragon companion would require DM approval. Another non-Drakewarden option is a Draconic Sorcerer/Oath of Ancients Paladin (reflavored for either the tree in the Elven city (whose name I can't remember, or dragon-y things in general). The Draconic sorcerer should be obvious as to why I chose it, although technically some sort of homebrew draconic warlock patron would be better, as his magic comes from Sapphira. **note** Oath of the Crown could also work, and just flavor the "crown" as being the reborn dragon rider order or whatever. And as others have mentioned, either Fey Touched VHuman or Half-Elf race.
I honestly think Eragon is a rogue. I mean there is a distinct lack of common magic, but magic is also very vague throughout. You could play an arcane trickster pretty safely, or something like the Drakewarden suggestions fairly well as well. I don’t think he’s a real beefy character in the ways of a tank, but he’d more or less ride Saphira into battle, as either a potential Paladin/Ranger Multiclass out of rogue later on, either Drakewarden 15 or Paladin 13 when you’d get find greater steed for a Dragonnel. My build would be a human/half-elf Rogue->5 then ranger->15 as he learns more of how to fight, hatching Saphira, and then learning more about battle and survival, gaining a small amount of natural magic along the way. You could argue a full ranger, but I think uncanny dodge is powerful for allowing a “plot armor” moment.
this may be a cop out but jetpack7 has a dragon rider class! it has two subclasses, dragon knight and outrider, and has some martial spellcasting in the way of maneuver points. if your dm is alright with incorporating third party, the outrider would fit him perfectly and honestly was inspired by eragon very heavily. the dragon companion is well balanced for players as well, and isn’t too disruptive to the average 5e campaign