[color:"orange"]About the fleeing that depends on the situation, because I can imagine that dieing from my hands would be better for them than dieing from their bosses hand.[/color]
Some might think that way, but if you have just killed 80% of an enemy group, the remaining ones could still try to run and escape both your wrath and that of their boss (starting a new life far, far away and all that). They might also surrender. As far as I can remember, no enemy ever surrendered or tried to run in DD. Adding this option would be a way to present enemies not just as targets to gain XP from, but as living beings who have their own goals and ambitions – particularly if you can talk to them after they've surrendered.
I also think you should get XP for defeating enemies, and those who flee or surrender count as defeated. Of course, you wouldn't get their equipment if they manage to flee, but you could ask or force those who have surrendered to hand over all or some of their possessions.
I like them surrendering better as fleeing.
[color:"orange"]and being a dragon without some really cool skills would be kinda lame[/color]
Old dragons are usually depicted as being very powerful. It would be hard to find adequate challenges for them. I think the mere possibility of playing an old and powerful dragon involves a certain risk; it might either become boring (if fighting is just a matter of choosing which of your super-powerful skills you use this time) or it might feel "un-dragonish" (if a handful of standard archers are able to shoot a dragon from the sky). And if you just fight against whole armies or against one human Siegfried-style mega-champion after the other, it would be hard to write a background story that keeps up to those challenges.
If the player character really transforms into a dragon, it might be better to have him become a young and inexperienced one or even a hatchling, without any powerful skills. This dragon might still need to learn how to breathe fire and how to use those mighty attacks that make people fear older dragons. Its scales might still be soft, so standard archers would be a danger not to be ignored. I think this would provide more interesting challenges, at least if you are able to transform early in the game.
I could agree with this if at the end of the game we could still have fun fighting with the full grown dragon even if it is too strong. (Because whats the point playing an entire game getting stronger and stronger and by the time you have some nice skills you can't do anything with them). But anyway there could be enemys that are challenging for a full grown dragon too, maybe using magic or something.
