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I made a new prestige class for my current campaign. It may seem a bit odd and a little off-balance, but that's because it's really only meant for this campaign, even though it can be tweaked and such. What do you think? Tell me whether or not you think it's a good idea.

Dragon-Bonded (Name might be changed for some reason, I dunno)

d10 Hit Die

Requirements:
BAB of +5 or higher
Feats: Mounted Combat
Skills: Diplomacy 4 ranks, Handle Animal 4 ranks, Ride 8
Language: Draconic
Special: Must have formed a special bond with a dragon creature. (As to what this bond entails, I suppose we might have to discuss that later.)

Table 1-1, the Dragon-Bonded
Level___Base Attack___Fort__Ref___Will___Special
1_______+1__________+2___+0___+2___Dragonriding, Empathic Link
2_______+2__________+3___+0___+3___Bonus Feat
3_______+3__________+3___+1___+3___Keen senses
4_______+4__________+4___+1___+4___Fly-by attack, Telepathic Link
5_______+5__________+4___+1___+4___Frightful Presense
6_______+6__________+5___+2___+5___Bonus Feat
7_______+7__________+5___+2___+5___Joining of Wills
8_______+8__________+6___+2___+6___Bond of Strength
9_______+9__________+6___+3___+6___Bonus Feat
10______+10_________+7___+3___+7___Bond of Life

Class Features
Weapon and Armor proficiency:
A dragon-bonded gains no new weapons or armor proficiencies.

Dragonriding: A dragon-bonded may add his class level as a bonus to any Ride checks made in conjunction with riding a dragon.
In addition, any dragon ridden by a dragon-bonded enjoys maneuverability of one grade better than normal (maximum perfect maneuverability).

Empathic Link: Up to one mile, the dragon-bonded and his pact-partner are able to sense the feelings and emotions of the other (Fear, anger, happiness, hunger, contentment, and so on.) In addition, the bonded and dragon can send simple messages such as "Attack" and "Stay" through their emotions. For example, If Maxim wanted to tell the branchsoarer to stay behind to avoid getting hurt, his emotions would convey a strong amount of concern.

Bonus Feat:
A dragon-bonded gains a bonus feat drawn from the following list:
Mounted Archery
Ride-By Attack
Spirited Charge
Trample

Keen Senses:
At 3rd level, a dragon-bonded gains dark-vision out to 60 feet and low light vision

Fly-by attack:
When the dragon the dragon-bonded has made a pact with is ridden by the dragon bonded at at least 4th level, it is treated as having the Flyby Attack feat.

Telepathic Link:
The link between the two grows, granting them the ability to speak to each-other telepathically in full conversations.

Frightful Presense:
A 5th-level dragon-bonded can unsettle foes with his mere presense. The bonded can activate his frightful presence as a free action. Creatures within a radus of 30 feet per point of charisma modifier (minimum 30 feet) are subject to the effect if they have fewer Hit Dice than the bonded (dragons are immune to the effect.)
A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a Will save (DC 10 + bonded's class level + bonded's Cha modifier) remains immune to that bonded's frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or fewer HD become panicked for 2d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 2d6 rounds.

Joining of Wills:
As the bond between dragon and bonded grows stronger, their minds become more closely linked. Thus, any force that tries to act on one mind has to first break through the combined mental strength of the bond. Both the dragon and the dragon-bonded add half of their partner's will save to their own.

Surge of Strength:
A dragon-bonded can call for a quick boost of strength from his pact-partner, dealing an extra 3d6 damage on any one attack. The dragon-born must decide before an attack is resolved whiether it will use this power. If the attack misses, that use of the surge of strength is wasted.

Bond of Life:
At 10th level, the bodies and minds of the pact partners become so entwined that their fates also become so linked that the rider does not die unless the dragon does. The bonded ages along with the dragon and, left alone, would die whenever the dragon dies of old age as well. As such, both parties become more resiliant to damage, negating the chance to die if massive damage is taken. There are other consequences, but we'll have to work those out later. I'm tired x.x

Now, for the bonuses the dragon gets:
Level*_Bonus HD__Bonus AC__Strength Adj___Special
1_____+2_________+4_______+1_________Empathic Link, Improved evasion, Share saving throws, share spells
4_____+4_________+6_______+2_________Improved speed, Telepathic Link, flyby attack
7_____+6_________+8_______+3_________Joining of Wills, command creatures of it's kind
10____+8_________+10______+4_________Spell resistance, bond of life

Looks pretty interesting, although, for the keen senses ability, wouldn't darkvision overlap low light vision as a superior, thus low light vision wouldn't be needed.

And, a suggestion, perhaps the rider could have an ability that always lets him take 10 on a ride check, even when rushed, hurried, or threatened and the like?

That would be sweet, yeah. I suppose you wouldn't risk falling off a mount that has a mental bond with you.

Meh; Dragonheart, Eragon, the current campaign I'm in, take your pick.

Yes, this class is an amalgam of the Initiate of Draconic Mysteries, a Dragon Rider, and my own design. I tried to keep all the bonuses one would get from the union to a minimum, but perhaps at level 4 one would become immune to sleep and such. It's a work in progress, of course, so I welcome any input.

Haha~ The draconomicon is my bible. I used that book along with the special qualities of the paladin's mount from the PHB 3.5
I also wanted to add somewhere the Blood Bond quality: Whenever the either pact-partner witnesses the other take damage, they gain an additional attack bonus. I believe that's how it went.

Bond of life seems a bit weird to be. Perhaps make it a bit more like monks and druid's timeless body but also have it increase when you die of old age to the same as the dragon. Otherwise if the penalties from old age still apply then your dragon bonded would be a frail old man for the majority of his very long career.

just for clarity

Low light vision and Darkvision are two different things. Darkvision is black and white and doesnt work in twilight situations. Such as dim light or dusk and dawn. So they are both useful biggrin