Where does a dragon steed get summoned from, and where is its hoard kept?

Question

A paladin's special mount ability says, in part, that

Once per day, as a full-round action, a paladin may magically call her mount from the celestial realms in which it resides. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the paladin’s level. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the paladin and remains for 2 hours per paladin level; it may be dismissed at any time as a free action. The mount is the same creature each time it is summoned, though the paladin may release a particular mount from service.

So, poof, when the paladin wants her horsey, it's there. And when she doesn't, the horsey's off in the "celestial realms," doing what paladin mounts do when the paladins aren't around (e.g. complaining to each other about their riders, playing poker, hittin' da clubs). Sure. Whatever. Then the paladin takes the feat Dragon Steed (Draconomicon 105) and decides she'd rather have something a little less...

...let's just say self-satisfied than a dragonnel (Dr 151-2).

She wants a real dragon.

But the Draconomicon explains that

A paladin who wishes to be able to summon a dragon special mount must select the Dragon Steed feat....

A paladin must provide her [dragon] special mount with a suitable lair; even a loyal silver dragon mount won’t live in the stable with the other mounts. The Monster Manual describes what type of lair each kind of dragon prefers; any dragon denied the ability to build and reside in an appropriate lair will certainly rebel against its paladin.

The dragon must also be provided treasure to keep in its lair. A minimum hoard of 1,000 gp per Hit Die of the dragon is typical, with the exact makeup depending on the type and likes of the dragon.

So when a paladin picks a dragon dragon (not some goofball wannabe) for her feat Dragon Steed, how does this change the paladin's special mount ability?

1. The paladin no longer summons her dragon steed from the "celestial realms," and she instead summons her dragon steed from a lair she makes for it on the Material Plane.
2. The paladin summons her dragon steed from the "celestial realms," but when it's around it's all grumpy if the paladin hasn't made a lair for it.
3. Something else.

No one in my campaign's taken this feat, but it's a possibility for one character. What's the best way to deal with the seemingly semi-contradictory text?

Answer 1

Well, if it is a dragon dragon (not some goofball wannabe), a powerful, intelligent being that doesn't tend to be friendly to humanoids and other pests, a more important factor than the amount of gold would be simply respect.

For a dragon to be feel treated with respect, providing a massive hoard and a comfy lair is a good start. If the dragon is treated with the proper deference, he might even overlook if the hoard is not quite up to his expectations (keyword: might). The dragon might even have goals compatible with the paladin's and take that into account.

So to answer the original question, yes, a dragon 'steed' can certainly be fussy and a fussy dragon can be deadly.

How to deal with it? Create a dragon NPC with a suitable personality and decide by roleplaying. If your paladin treats it like a horse bought with a bunch of gold pieces, he shouldn't survive for very long. If she does things right, she might get something much more valuable than a steed with a lot of hit points.

Answer 2

The Draconomicon says

Only a lawful good dragon should be allowed to serve as a paladin’s special mount. The dragonnel (see Chapter 4) is a special exception to this guideline.

It also says

A paladin who wishes to be able to summon a dragon special mount must select the Dragon Steed feat (see page 105). The paladin must choose a dragon capable of bearing her as a rider (which limits a Medium rider’s selections).

(emphasis added)
This makes a case for the dragon being summoned from its Celestial Plane home from a RAI standpoint. Regardless, and more importantly, the dragon must be summoned from the Celestial Planes according to the RAW.

Nothing about the Dragon Steed feat nor the Dragons as Special Mounts rules changes the Summon Mount class feature in such a way as to affect the method of summoning or the origin of the summon. It should be noted that a paladin who chooses a wannabe dragon (dragonnel) is choosing to have a neutral creature living in the celestial realms as his mount. This is fine; just as paladins may associate with neutral but not evil creatures, even Strongly Aligned planes don't kill people of slightly differing alignment automatically. Such a dragonnel would merely take a -2 penalty to Cha, Wis, and Int checks while at home. It should also be noted that the rules specifically call this out as an exception.

That said then, what about the lair? The rules do say that you need to provide an appropriate lair for your dragon-companion, and must stock its lair with treasure. They do not say where that lair ought to be, other than saying that it must be provided because dragons resent being sent to the stables the summoned horses normally reside in. This seems to indicate that the lair ought to be built on the Celestial Plane on which the dragon chooses to reside. Even if you decide not to enforce this mechanically, any dragon is likely to refuse to accept a lair which it never has access to and, since your summon mount ability only functions while the Dragon is on the Celestial Plane, having it lair elsewhere is likely to make your summoning of said dragon limited to appointments by prior arrangement only (though this might already be the case, socially). Building the lair on a celestial plane does not, of course, remove the preferential terrain requirements of your dragon. Fortunately, many celestial planes (especially the Beastlands) are conducive to a variety of high-quality lair locations. Indeed, this may be why your dragon chose to live in the Celestial realms to begin with.

TL;DR: It is not silly of the dragon to demand a lair, it is silly of you to build it where the dragon can't use it and you can't summon the dragon from. Build the lair on a Celestial Plane.

Answer 3

I think feats should have precedence on what it's written on the PHB. The feat says that the dragonnel replace your special mount. I read it as "your special mount is no longer the creature that is specified by the rules in the PHB", thus it is no longer summoned from the celestial realms. So I'm inclined toward your first interpretation: the paladin no longer summons her dragon steed from the "celestial realms". She summons her steed from a lair she makes for it on the Material Plane.

Answer 4

Where the steed is summoned from would be up to your DM but the rules seem to lean toward it residing in the material plane in its lair and being summoned from there. It could easily be swung that the steed resides in the Celestial Realm and you give it treasure to take to its lair when you summon it.

When you take a draconic steed you must provide it with a lair somewhere filled with 1000 gold worth of treasure per Hit Die. EX: The dragon is 5HD it would need 5000 Gold worth of treasure in the lair.

How the Dragon would act if the requirements were not met could be up to the DM. Personally I would roll a percentile with a fail chance of 2 times how each 100 Gold treasure the character is short by. On fail the dragon would refuse to come. EX: The dragon requires 5000 Gold but only has 4500. The fail chance would be 10%.

Answer 5

The feat doesn't specify where the Dragonnel (or a Dragon, if chosen) actually comes from, and the flavor text for Dragonnel only states that:

In the wild, dragonnels typically lair in hidden caves located far from civilization

So there are two possible answers to where the creature comes from (and your DM should decide which one applies):

1. You pay the Dragonnel (or Dragon) to spruce up its home in the celestial realms (which would be weird - the dragonnel isn't a good creature, it's neutral according to the Draconomicon (p. 151) so maybe he comes from neutral realms?)

2. You find the Dragonnel a lair in the Material plane and spruce it up accordingly

As for what happens when you don't make him happy, I imagine the DM would do something like this: he would become less and less loyal, eventually deserting you, requiring you to train a new one, which takes six weeks and a new handle animal check (Drac. p. 152)

Also supporting this answer, the Draconomicon on page 139 (emphasis mine):

Dragons as Special Mounts

A paladin must provide her special mount with a suitable lair; even a loyal silver dragon mount won’t live in the stable with the other mounts. The Monster Manual describes what type of lair each kind of dragon prefers; any dragon denied the ability to build and reside in an appropriate lair will certainly rebel against its paladin

And:

Finally (and perhaps most important), the dragon must be treated with the respect that a creature of its intelligence, power, and stature commands. It is not a dumb beast to order around, nor is it merely a minion to command. Even lawful good dragons are willful creatures with their own desires and needs.

Answer 6

The rules for paladins summoning their mounts from somewhere else have been written later than the Draconomicon.
When the draconomicon came out, mounts always resided on the same plane of the paladin and did never get portaled in. The descriptions in the Draconomicon reflect that status. How to reconcile that is something the DM and the group should aree upon before such a character enters play.