Better Know a Pretender: The Green Dragon

[WingedDog]

I can add that Green Dragon is great dominion pusher and could be used for domkill strategy due to his great mobility and stealth in human form.

[OmikronWarrior]

Originally Posted by WingedDog

I can add that Green Dragon is great dominion pusher and could be used for domkill strategy due to his great mobility and stealth in human form.

Somewhat true, but the Master Druid form of the Green Dragon does not come with stealth. Unless...

Originally Posted by Fantomen

In CBM the bile has AOE 10 and you get 20 prot, making the dragon much more viable.

Holy cow! The Green Dragon is already an excellent expander. Just doing the math in my head, it could probably kill off 30 some infantry before even reaching the beast. It would just take a few turns for the dying to set in. That really is an enormous, and in my mind unnecessary, buff.

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

Dragons also don't need Dom9 to be SCs, so a respectable Dom 5-6 can be sufficient. This is the major advantage of the Wyrm - dom 9 is cheap - but the Wyrm doesn't have the high protection to rely on. (Do playtest to see how much of a difference this makes in your willingness to attack various indies, as obviously dom9's awe does increase survivability, and that may be a factor against some indies).

True, but I think its the difference of being able to take 90-95% of provinces, and 80-85% of provinces. The difference is not enormous, but the trick is figuring out which provinces cannot be taken. Since these guides are primarily written for novices, I gave the "path of least resistance." Also, more hits (due to lacking Awe) means more afflictions. Obviously, less Dominion means less Dominion spread means less Dominion related bonuses and potentially having to fight outside of friendly dominion.

Still, if the saved points are used to buy a second path, I think you are right that it can be worth it. Fantomen suggested Death and gave good reasons for it (though the extra Fear from Death is somewhat muted in Dragon shape). I think Air, depending on diversity needs, is a better choice. Immediately it provides a great deal of protection from a Dragon's major weakness, arrows and especially crossbolts, by casting Air Shield. Later, Air would grant acces to Mirror Image, Mistform, and Shock Immunity for SC duty. Or, it can cast the buffs/debufss Wind Guide, Storm, Mists, Arrow Fend, and possibly Fog Warriors.