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Hello, everyone! I'm new around here. I've been playing Pathfinder for a while, and my next campaign is going to have heavy D&D influences. As such, I wanted to have a dragonborn race, so I decided to create one. I thought all of you might be interested.
Without further ado,
Dragonborn
One of the first mortal races, the mighty dragonborn are proud and strong. Despite their imposing appearance, most dragonborn follow a strict and benevolent code of honor. The days of the dragonborn rule are long over. For the most part, members of the ancient race are content to pass the world on to the humans and halflings whom the served as teachers for long ago.
Physical Description: Dragonborn are huge and bulky, standing shoulder to shoulder with half-orcs, or even their full-blooded kin. A dragonborn’s body is covered in tough, leathery scales. These scales come in a wide variety of colours, with a dull red or copper sheen being the most common. Long tendrils drape from the back of their heads, looking at first glance like some form of hair. These tendrils are often elaborately decorated. Dragonborn eyes come in as many colours as their scales, though they normally match the scale colour of a chromatic dragon. This has no effect on their breath weapon.
Dragonborn clothing is elaborate and bejewelled. The dragonborn dress themselves in robes of vibrant colours, with gold or silver patterns depicting flame and dragons. Necklaces of dragon’s tooth or egg shell are common. Dragonborn armour, on the other hand, is simple and practical.
Society: Dragonborn society is divided. Some members live among humans or dwarves, serving as soldiers, labourers, historians or blacksmiths. Others, however, live in small, close-knit dragonborn clans. These clans are reclusive, though they often offer aid to those who need it. Darker rumours have begun to spread – rumours of violent clans, who savagely attack outsiders and pillage settlements, taking captives as sacrifices to a terrible dragon god.
All dragonborn live in the shadow of days long past, when the mighty empires of their race stood unchallenged. They stood side by side with dragons and humans, living and trading in peace.
Dragonborn have a gift for crafting, and dragonborn clothing and weapons are valued across the realms, though they are exceedingly rare in recent times.
Relations: Dragonborn get along reasonably well with most of the mortal races. They are strong, hard-working and honourable, traits which they value highly in others. Members of this ancient race are also stubborn and traditional, however. This stubbornness makes it hard for them to stomach some cultural differences.
It is with dwarves that Dragonborn find the most kinship, for dwarves are just as hard working and honourable as they. Dragonborn respect the tenacity of half-orcs and the ambition of humans, though these same traits lead them to keep a healthy distance at times. The structure of halfling society resembles that of dragonborn clans, and the two races trade with each other surprisingly often. Dragonborn are wary of elves and gnomes, for they are oftentimes unpredictable and whimsical, traits which dragonborn view as dangerous.
Alignment and Religion: Dragonborn, despite their draconic arrogance, are well-intentioned. Most dragonborn are lawful good. They would gladly lay down their lives for personal honour, or the lives of a trusted friend or comrade. Dragonborn, unsurprisingly, worship dragon gods almost exclusively.
Adventurers: Dragonborn embark on adventures to prove themselves, to regain lost honour, or to recover lost dragonborn artifacts. In addition, they often crusade against chromatic dragons, feeling responsible for the threat such creatures provide. Most dragonborn adventurers take melee classes, particularly fighters and paladins, however their draconic heritage makes them adept at sorcery as well.
Standard Racial Traits
• Ability Score Racial Traits: Dragonborn are strong and proud, though their massive bodies are ill-equipped to moving quickly. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Charisma and -2 Dexterity.
• Size: Dragonborn are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Type: Dragonborn are humanoids with the draconic subtype. They count as both humanoids and dragons for the purposes of prerequisites.
• Base Speed: Dragonborn have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Languages: Dragonborn begin play speaking Common and Draconic. Dragonborn with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Celestial, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Halfling and Orc.
Defense Racial Traits
• Natural Armor: Dragonborn gain a +1 natural armor bonus to their armor class.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
• Imperial Legacy: Dragonborn gain a +1 bonus on Knowledge (Arcana) and Intimidate checks.
Offense Racial Traits
• Bite: Dragonborn gain a bite attack as a natural weapon. This attack deals 1d4 damage and counts as a primary weapon.
• Breath Weapon: Dragonborn gain a breath weapon that deals 1d6 damage, plus an additional 1d6 damage per 3HD. This breath weapon is a 15 food cone that deals either acid, cold, electricity or fire damage, chosen at character creation. The breath weapon can be used once per day as a standard action. The DC for the breath weapon is equal to 10 + 1/2 the dragonborn's HD + Constitution modifier.
• Wyrmscourged: Dragonborn gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls and a + 2 dodge bonus to AC and on saving throws against the extraordinary, supernatural and spell-like abilities of dragons. In addition, they gain a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (Arcana) checks to identify dragons and can make such checks untrained.
Edit: added DC for breath weapon.
Solid, though you should list what the DC is for the breath weapon. I would imagine based off their constitution.
I always prefer +2 con and charisma, -2 dex, as dragons tend to have low touch AC and like using breathe weapons and the like which like having high charisma or con mods.
also, some name other than dragonborn would be nice, like dragonling, or drakeling, or some other thing that is infinitely more unique than my suggestions.
like it, i want to see an Skyrim Dragonborn instead of a half dragon type... How do I create it?
which abilities i need to choose?
the dragonborn in skyrim had no extraordinary abilities other than the ability to learn draconic as easily as a normal dragon...
I always prefer +2 con and charisma, -2 dex, as dragons tend to have low touch AC and like using breathe weapons and the like which like having high charisma or con mods.
also, some name other than dragonborn would be nice, like dragonling, or drakeling, or some other thing that is infinitely more unique than my suggestions.
I opted for strength largely because I was modelling it after the 4e version, which has an inclination towards being Paladins of Bahamut (or Apsu), as well as the fact that base races with strength bonuses seem to be kind of rare in PF.
As for the name, well, I'm not too creative with names.
I always prefer +2 con and charisma, -2 dex, as dragons tend to have low touch AC and like using breathe weapons and the like which like having high charisma or con mods.
also, some name other than dragonborn would be nice, like dragonling, or drakeling, or some other thing that is infinitely more unique than my suggestions.
I opted for strength largely because I was modelling it after the 4e version, which has an inclination towards being Paladins of Bahamut (or Apsu), as well as the fact that base races with strength bonuses seem to be kind of rare in PF.
As for the name, well, I'm not too creative with names.
the strength thing is on purpose, which is kinda why i would opt for Con to at least follow pathfinder's design, in that strength is powerful on a race and thus any race with a bonus to strength and some other good stat would instantly make it very good choices. you might also notice that con with Int is a rarity as well.
as for name, i think i came up with a neat name a while ago now that i think about it for a dragon related race. "Dragneel" is what I called them, still semi-screams dragon without having it in the name per-say.
The constitution thing would certainly make them less of a one-note race. I've always kind of thought Con was a filler stat, and tried to avoid it when possible. I'm also kind of worried changing it to a Con bonus would make them significantly worse melee characters than humans. I'm pretty new at race design, however.
The constitution thing would certainly make them less of a one-note race. I've always kind of thought Con was a filler stat, and tried to avoid it when possible. I'm also kind of worried changing it to a Con bonus would make them significantly worse melee characters than humans. I'm pretty new at race design, however.
it would work well with their breath weapon, also gives them a +1 to fort saves. if you added racial feats which gave them dragonlike abilities that ran off of con or charisma, it would mesh well with current pathfinder. like flight for 1/2 level + con rounds per day, or an elemental aura doing 1d6+con damage when struct, or other things like that.(look at kobold or drow feats maybe for ideas)
also, yeah humans are the BEST core race at melee classes and in general(+2 to anything, a bonus feat and +1 skill points all really favor melee but can be generally useful), with half elves being close behind them. if you're more powerful than a human you're going to have problems when the rest of your party are other core races.
as it is, this race would make a good bad-touch sorcerer or oracle, con would make it more general and rounded.
i feel like mentioning that i have no issue with them keep str, so long as you are aware of the precedent and any side effects it will cause.
True. The thing with races is, it's hard to make them general enough to fill multiple roles, but niche enough to be good at them. Unless it's human or half-elf. My ideal position for the dragonborn would be for their niche to be as a strong choice for the Paladin and Sorcerer classes. I want them to be good Paladins, so I went with an ideal stat set-up for the class. Would giving them Con make them bad Paladins? If it doesn't, I'll change it, especially if it opens up more build options.
it's 1 less point or 2 occasionally if he's two-handing, with 1 less to hit, and he can't dead lift a wagon cart as easy. it won't make them wholely worse, as it might give them more wiggle room to need to lay on hands themselves, or any other number of uses of having more HP, fort saves and better breath weapons. their smite will do more damage(by hitting more often) like normal with a +2 to chr. so they should still be pretty good paladins, especially if they just go full armor bonus and forget dex mod to armor. also, +2 charisma means +1 to all saves on a paladin.
they'll make less good sorcerers in general as they're worse with ranged attacks with that -2 to dex, but their non-touch attacks with saves will be better.
Thanks for the insight. I'll probably switch them to Con. Time to get working on that Dragonborn Bloodrager I had planned as a campaign villain...
I like it and like that the breath weapon scales. Dragonian could be an alternate name to Dragonborn (or Dragonkin).
When trying to name anything, keep in mind that the name does not necessarily have to relate the originating item or species. Looking through biology or naming trends throughout history, things have been named for a variety of things (sometimes silly things). You could potentially call them the Rinthkari, or the Forgal, or the Drankil.
Naming things gets easier when you try to let go of preconceived notions about names. As odd as that might sound (though assumptions as to your naming conventions is not to be implied, just trying to make a general statement.)
The name can also help set up how the race itself speaks. By providing a unique name to the race you can use that as a basis for the nomenclature of the entire race.
Hope that helps for trying to think of a more unique name then Dragonborn.
For something easier you could name them Drakefolk (taking after the Lizardfolk). Potentially you could go with Dracorum.
Feel free to use any of the given names.
Happy Gaming!
Oh! i also wanted to add that i really enjoy the race presented and think it would be fun to include them in a campaign at some point and time.
Thanks! Always neat to know your work has been appreciated. The race's name would, I suppose, be a reference to either their imperial history or their status as the first of the mortal races. Stuff to think about.
the dragonborn in skyrim had no extraordinary abilities other than the ability to learn draconic as easily as a normal dragon...like it, i want to see an Skyrim Dragonborn instead of a half dragon type... How do I create it?
which abilities i need to choose?And what happens with dragon shouts?
Also, a human with the Dragon subtype and the ability to learn and cast power word regardless the class he hasNow thats a good damn racial ability, don´t ya think?
anyone can learn draconic and shout, dragonborns are just better at it, almost like they were part dragon or something. it would be like them gaining an exp bonus for any class with X ability. it's not really a race thing.
Thanks! Always neat to know your work has been appreciated. The race's name would, I suppose, be a reference to either their imperial history or their status as the first of the mortal races. Stuff to think about.
then make it something fancy and then say it means eldest or elder in their tongue.