Metallic dragons, levels of sorcerer, and cleric spells

Question

According to the entry for Copper Dragon, they can choose cleric spells for their sorcerer spells known, but it implies once they are of an age category where they gain spellcasting. If a wyrmling copper dragon took levels in sorcerer, could they still choose cleric spells as their spells known? Is this mentioned anywhere in any book? I don't think there is any ruling in the Draconomicon or Races of the Dragon, so I am guessing if any source did exist, it would likely be in something like Dragon magazine.

Answer 1

Dragon rules are rarely consistent, complete, or considerate of their implications.

^{(Comment to the question by J. Mini, 2021-10-31 23:16:17Z)}

This comment is entirely true, and this question is an excellent example.

Monster Manual includes a generic “Spells” ability shared by all true dragons on page 69, which on this subject says only that “Some dragons can also cast spells from the cleric list or cleric domain lists as arcane spells.” Individual types of dragon include a note that says “* Can also cast cleric spells and those from the […] domains as arcane spells,” e.g. on page 73 for blue dragons. Note the asterisk, which does not correspond to anything else in the dragon’s entry. Some SRDs—but not the official one—change this asterisk to a superscript numeral, which is then applied to the “Caster Level” heading of the dragon’s “Abilities by Age” table.

The problems with this are myriad:

• There is the general problem of a footnote marked with an asterisk, but no corresponding asterisk anywhere in the text. That’s confusing.

• Because of the way true dragon entries are laid out, we have generic abilities that apply to several separate creatures, and it’s not entirely clear how that works when the table entry for a given creature lists, say, “—” for caster level. Does that mean they have the “Spells” ability, but just count as a level — sorcerer, i.e. not a sorcerer, and therefore can’t cast any sorcerer spells? Or does that mean that they don’t have the “Spells” ability at all until the caster level column has an actual value in it?

• Saying that these dragons can cast these as “arcane spells” doesn’t actually tell us that dragons can learn and cast these spells as sorcerer spells. It only tells us that such spells are subject to arcane spell failure, use arcane material components and not divine foci, and so on. As-written, nothing ties these spells to their sorcerer spells known or spell slots—there’s an argument here for all dragons with these footnotes being able to cast any and all spells from those lists, as much as they want, regardless of level.

Effectively, there’s a piece missing here; it should read something like

Dragons can learn a cleric spell, or a spell from the listed domains, instead of a sorcerer spell. Such spells are still cast as arcane spells.

or

Dragons add cleric spells, as well as spells from the given domains, to their sorcerer spell list, and can learn and cast those spells as normal for sorcerer spells.

or something. But it doesn’t say that. We know it needs to; we know dragons aren’t supposed to have unlimited casting of cleric spells. But this question hinges on exactly what it should have said, which we don’t have.

• For example, if it said the second version I’d suggested, we’d know for sure that any dragon who had at least some native sorcerous spellcasting with this special ability would retain that ability when they took sorcerer levels (or prestige class levels advancing sorcerer spellcasting, though see here for more on that). We still wouldn’t know about those dragons who have caster level “—” though.

• If, instead, it used the first version above, it’d be debatable and ambiguous.

• And if it said something that explicitly referenced its native spellcasting as having this option, we’d know sorcerer levels wouldn’t allow the dragon to continue doing that.

But since it says nothing, and we’re left guessing exactly what it should have said, we have zero ability to determine the answer to this question, as a result.

Despite the copious text written further on the subject of dragons, I cannot find any that clarifies this situation, not even in unofficial developer commentary.

Answer 2

The ruling you're looking for is in the Monster Manual itself, in the "Dragon, True" section.

Monster Manual p. 69 says:

Spells: A dragon knows and casts arcane spells as a sorcerer of the level indicated in its variety description, gaining bonus spells for a high Charisma score. Some dragons can also cast spells from the cleric list or cleric domain lists as arcane spells.

The ability to cast cleric spells is part of the Spells racial feature that dragons have, which means it applies only to spells granted with that very ability. We can confirm this by checking some clearer examples.

Consider, for example, the cleric's own Spells feature (Player's Handbook 32), which includes:

Spells: A cleric casts divine spells ... A cleric may prepare and cast any spell on the cleric spell list (page 183), provided that he can cast spells of that level, but he must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation.

So clerics have an ability that says they can prepare any spell on the cleric list. But a 10th level wizard can't take a level of cleric and start preparing cleric spells in her wizard spell slots; the cleric's line about preparing cleric spells applies only to the cleric's own Spells ability. Contrast that with the rainbow servant's capstone (Complete Divine 55):

Cleric Spell Access: A 10th-level rainbow servant can learn and cast spells from the cleric list, even if they don’t appear on the lists of any spellcasting class he has.

That ability is distinct from the rainbow servant's Spells per Day/Spells Known ability. If a copper (or any) dragon could prepare cleric spells in any arcane class, they would need a separate ability stating that. But their ability to prepare cleric spells is part of their Spells ability, which means it only applies to the spells cast with that ability.