In the annals of Wizard lore there exists a deep collection of knowledge for the purpose of communicating with dragonkin. The dragonkin have a very small amount of blood in common with the true dragons of Elanthia and retain some of their powers. When a Wizard successfully Calls a Dragonling, a young one from a line of dragonkin will be summoned to the do the Wizard's bidding. This could be for a powerful strike on a foe, assistance with climbing a high cliff (by a brief boarding and disembarking process), to rescue them from an otherwise unappealing point where other spells or rings may not work, for attempting to Intimidate a group of foes, to drag their corpse and sail away with it to a safer point (requiring a way to activate it upon death), to impress a crowd by aerial displays of colorful smoke and magic, to hover around them briefly for an increase in bonuses relating to fire and to occasionally strike fear/stuns/attacks on FOES, to increase with the chances of finding valuable treasure (since all dragons are aligned instinctively with a magnetism to loot), to bat their wings and create a thunderous version of CALL WIND (perhaps launching objects in the room at the targets, bowling them over with damage from the tremendous heat and air wave pressures, with a chance they will be devoured by the Dragonkin if it happens to sense enough for and becomes bloodthirsty enough, of 'shaking' treasure off the targets or weapons out of their hands, of igniting them with IMMOLATION burning effects, also tremendous screeching which could cause ear and head trauma/stuns/occasional deaths). It might be able to scoop you up off the ground momentarily if you are incapacitated to toss you into another room where they guard you until you're recovered. Dragonkin must be fed if they are around you a long time or they will fly away requiring the Wizard to attain raw meat to give them from time to time. It is impossible for FOES to kill a dragonkin but they might successfully get them to leave if the FOE is powerful enough and would have otherwise taken them out. If you hit a 100 with the spell and it is an attack version, then a pack of dragonlings will appear in a feverish assault on the room, a 'Cone of Elements' but of 'Dragonkin'. If the Wizard offers the dragonling precious gems of a high enough value, they will gobble them up and become charged up and be aided by bonuses for chances of activating the "Cone of Elements' version of the attack spell or severity/success of inflicting other damages, etc. If they occasionally drop a dragonling scale or shed a tooth then they may have some magical properties or be used as a dagger.
The Dragonling will also be capable of casting an illusion at the enemy which will deceive them potentially into believing they are a fully grown full blooded dragon. If successful, the FOE's might shrivel or die in panic, drop their weapons and all their loot, surrender and flee to another room, attack themselves or believe in rare cases that they are being attacked by a stream of fire or physical volley which kills them in reality.

Like the previous post, I've spent some time on this one, too. And I'm afraid my third opinion remains consistent.

My first opinion is - setting aside for a moment the entire dragon / dragonkin challenge this would cause, this is a strong spell amplification for enhancing Call Familiar. While I'm not sure we'd ever be able to sell the ability to summon a dragon (no matter how small or evolutionally challenged it might be), I do like the potential for 'supersizing' say . . . a wolf . . . to do many of these things. Imagine if that pesky Owl of a prominent mage were to suddenly become 'giant', and could so carry that mage in extremis, or screech (as suggested) at such volume / amplitude / frequency as to disable a foe. Yep, some good ideas.

My second opinion is - if we stay with the enhancing familiar concept, mind you - I like the fact that having a familiar present in combat can actually be additive to the wizard's offensive capabilities. One of the frequent discussion points is the amplification allowed by a spirit-type summoned being (Spirit Slayer). Permitting something of this nature feels wizardly, and could allow for that dread double-strike or gain in efficiency that we might be seeking.

My fourth opinion is - treasure to feed? Interesting concept. I think I'd be down with it, but I suspect we'll hear others suggest that's too much, or that smacks of component requirements, or other expressions of dislike. I wouldn't mind it, though, if there were some mechanism that allowed for offsetting the sad effect that Charge Item suffered from in our recent history. (Read that as, this would be justified because. . )

Thanks for putting these up for consideration.

Doug

<poke Methais>

HEY! Neither of those were me... :)

>Imagine if that pesky Owl of a prominent mage were to suddenly become 'giant', and could so carry that mage in extremis, or screech (as suggested) at such volume / amplitude / frequency as to disable a foe. Yep, some good ideas.

Well I think that sounds just plain awesome! :)

Signed,
Raelee and her Strings

>Speaking to Zyllah, Alyias says, "See? Raelee knows all."