Dragonborn (4e Racial Trait Variant)

Dragonborn

Dungeons and Dragons 4e Front-cover Art-work

"Proud, honorable warriors, born from the blood of an ancient dragon god"

Racial Traits

Average Height: 6'2" - 7'2"

Average Weight: 220-380 lb

Ability Scores: +2 to Strength, +2 to Charisma or Constitution or +2 to Dexterity, +2 to Charisma or Strength (Draconian, Dragon magazine 421)

Size: Medium

Speed: 6 squares

Vision: Low-light Vision

Languages: Common, Draconic

Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Intimidate

Dragonborn Fury: When you’re bloodied, you gain a +1 racial bonus to attack rolls.

Draconic Heritage or Instinctive Flight: At character creation, you may choose either "Draconic Heritage" or "Instinctive Flight" (Dragon Magazine 421). With "Draconic Heritage", you may add your constitution modifier as extra hitpoints to your healing surge value. With "Instinctive Flight" You gain a flight speed of 6 squares (altitude limit 1). You cannot use this fly speed if you are carrying more than a normal load. You must land at the end of your turn. This benefit replaces Draconic Heritage.

Dragon Heritage: At character creation, you can choose to gain the "Dragon Breath", "Hishou" and "Toxic saliva" racial encounter power. However, a use of one of these powers expends the use of another. Alternatively, you may use replace the text of Dragon breath with a version of the racial power that becomes a standard at-will power.

Dragon Breath	Dragonborn Racial Power
As you open your mouth with a roar, the deadly power of your draconic kin blasts forth to engulf your foes.
Encounter  Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison
Minor Action	Close blast 3, Area Burst 1, Close burst 1
Target: All creatures in area
Attack: Highest Ability Modifier + 2 Vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d6 + Highest ability modifier damage. Special:You choose the power’s damage type: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison, and this choice remains throughout your character's life and does not change the power's other effects. At level 11 you gain a +4 bonus to attack rolls and do 2d6 damage, and at level 21 you gain a +6 bonus to attack rolls and do 3d6 damage. In addition, you can expend the use of an encounter attack power to gain another use of this power, instead. A use of this power expends a use of Hishou or Toxic Saliva.

Hishou	Dragonborn Racial Power
You fly across the battlefield, astounding your opponents with your astonishing speed and grace.
Encounter  Martial, Weapon, Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison
Standard Action	Melee
Effect: You may charge a target within range or move your speed and make a basic attack. Your speed increases by +2 during the movement. During the movement, you can ignore opportunity attacks, difficult terrain, and your movement qualifies as overland flight (you must land at the end of the movement if you cannot fly otherwise). In addition, you may change the damage type of the attack to the keyword of your dragon breath power. (Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison)
Special: In situations in which "Dragon Breath" may be used, you may use this power in place of it instead. In addition, you may use the power as an immediate interrupt if an ally is targeted with an attack in range of the power.

Toxic saliva	Dragonborn Racial Power
You lick your weapon, coating it in venom.
Encounter  Poison, Weapon, Poison
Minor Action	Personal
Target: An axe, heavy blade, light blade, pick, or spear, or an arrow or crossbow bolt.
Effect: Your next successful weapon attack with the target also deals 1d6 poison damage and the target is lowed (save ends). First Failed saving Throw: The target is instead immobilized (save ends). Level 11: 2d6 poison damage. Level 21: 3d6 poison damage.
Special: In situations in which "Dragon Breath" may be used, you may use this power in place of it instead.

Dragon Breath	Dragonborn Racial Power
As you open your mouth with a roar, the deadly power of your draconic kin blasts forth to engulf your foes.
At-Will  Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison
Standard Action	Close blast 3
Target: All creatures in area
Attack: Highest Ability Modifier + 2 Vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d6 + Highest ability modifier damage. Special:You choose the power’s damage type: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison, and this choice remains throughout your character's life and does not change the power's other effects. At level 11 you gain a +4 bonus to attack rolls and do 2d6 damage, and at level 21 you gain a +6 bonus to attack rolls and do 3d6 damage.

Race Description

Born to fight, dragonborn are a race of wandering mercenaries, soldiers, and adventurers. Long ago, their empire contended for worldwide dominion, but now only a few rootless clans of these honorable warriors remain to pass on their legends of ancient glory. To a dragonborn, honor is more important than life itself. First and foremost, honor is tied to battlefield conduct. Adversaries should be treated with courtesy and respect, even if they are bitter enemies. Caution and discretion are key to a warrior’s survival, but fear is a disease and cowardice is a moral failing. The drive to behave honorably extends into the rest of a dragonborn’s life: Breaking an oath is the height of dishonor, and attention to honesty extends to every word. A commitment made must be carried out. Ultimately, a dragonborn takes responsibility for his or her actions and their consequences. A continual drive for self-improvement reveals an additional aspect of dragonborn honor. Dragonborn value skill and excellence in all endeavors. They hate to fail, and they push themselves to extreme efforts before they give up on something. A dragonborn holds mastery of a particular skill as a lifetime goal. Members of other races who share the same commitment find it easy to earn the respect of a dragonborn.

To many, the origin of Dragonborn are mysterious and relatively unknown. This has been in part by the Dragon's attempt to keep this ancient magic unknown to the rest of the world. How they came to be is often not entirely clear to most humanoids. Early Dragons, while not humanoid in anyway, were powerful magic users and highly intelligent despite appearing like beasts, and to blend in with humanoid society would often shapeshift in to various humanoid forms. Over time, they would develop forms in order to retain many of their dragonborn features, such as their Dragon's breath or flying, but still retain enough humanoid features which would allow them to fight with weapons they had trained with. Eventually, Dragon's in these humanoid forms would even mate with other humanoids, and their offspring would become half-humanoid, half-dragon creatures. Many of these Dragonborn later lost their ability to polymorph, and retained the feature of these half humanoid and Dragonborn creatures permanently, in part due to losing knowledge of this ancient magic. All Dragonborn possess within them latent dragon ancestry however, and with proper training, can learn to manifest this by polymorphing back in to their true, Dragon form. Arkhosian warriors thus truly are Dragons, who simply are taking a humanoid form they are more comfortable with to fight with and blend in to society with. Dragons are an inherently magical creature, and their physiology is not necessarily responsible for many of their features, such as flight or breathing elements, despite their close resemblance of this. A dragon might be able to breathe fire due to small amounts of gases built up in their system, but they just as easily can enhance this with magic to do an attack that is far more powerful than their body would otherwise allow.

The dragonborn dedication to honor and excellence sometimes leads others to view dragonborn as arrogant and proud. Most dragonborn share a great pride in their race’s past and present accomplishments, but they are also quick to admire the accomplishments of others.

Play a dragonborn if you want...

• to look like a dragon.
• to be the proud heir of an ancient, fallen empire.
• to breathe acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison.
• to be a member of a race that favors the warlord, fighter, and paladin classes.

Physical Qualities

Dragonborn resemble humanoid dragons. They’re covered in scaly hide, but they don’t usually have tails, and occasionally have wings. They are tall and strongly built, often standing close to 6½ feet in height and weighing 300 pounds or more. Their hands and feet are strong, talonlike claws with three fingers and a thumb on each hand. A Dragonborn’s head features a blunt snout, a strong brow, and distinctive frills at the cheek and ear. Behind the brow, a crest of hornlike scales of various lengths resembles thick, ropy hair. Their eyes are shades of red or gold. A typical Dragonborn’s scales can be scarlet, gold, rust, ocher, bronze, or brown. Rarely do an individual’s scales match the hue of a chromatic or metallic dragon, and scale color gives no indication of the type of breath weapon a dragonborn uses. Most dragonborn have very fine scales over most of their body, giving their skin a leathery texture, with regions of larger scales on the forearms, lower legs and feet, shoulders, and thighs. Young dragonborn grow faster than human children do. They walk hours after hatching, reach the size and development of a 10-year-old human child by the age of 3 and reach adulthood by 15. Most can live up to 200 years old, and remain vigorous and fit for the majority of their adult life. Some have been known to live much longer than this, but these Dragonborn are quite rare, and often mythic in nature. Some Arkhosian warriors, who came from the ancient Dragon city of Arkhosia that used to rule much of the known world, still exist, and are thought to be thousands of years old.

Dragonborn tend to possess the physiology of a dragon in many ways. However, their breath attacks and special features are magically animated, being only partially controlled by their physical traits. For example, most Dragonborn possess the ability to expel highly flammable and explosive gases like regular Dragons, and many Dragonborn possess wings. However, when they breathe the elements, it is animated by ancient dragon magic, and not necessarily by their physiology. A Dragon does not necessarily need a means to produce static electricity for lightning powers or a cryogenic chemical to produce freezing, and can instead can do so with magic. Similarly, Dragons are often quite heavy, and their wings are often used to glide or steer, as they are nowhere near large enough to facilitate flight in many cases. In many cases, these vestigial organs or aspects are used to help control the magic, more than they are to product the effect itself. In theory a Dragonborn could produce fire or thunder from their hands, feet, or even in mid-air, but they most easily control it via breathing the elements. This is in part due to the ancient rituals harkening back to the days when Dragons had no humanoid features, despite being highly intelligent and inherently magical creatures. While all Dragonborn have some remnants of other powers, for example all Dragonborn produce a slightly toxic chemical that helps to increase the power of their breath attacks, it is simply more pronounced in some Dragons than others.

Dragonborn Feats

Heroic Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description
Claw Fighter	Your claws are weapons.
Dragon Heart	You gain an additional use of the "Dragon Breath" racial encounter power.
Dragon Weapon Proficiency	You gain proficiency with a broad range of weapons, including weapons from the Dark Sun's player's guide, the Triple-headed flail, Tratnyr, Kukri, and Falx, and gain a +2 or +1 bonus to damage with them.
Dragonborn Senses	You gain Darkvision and a +1 bonus to perception rolls.
Empowered Breath	You gain an additional ongoing effect to your dragonbreath power.

Paragon Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description

Epic Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description

Dragonborn Utility Powers

When your Dragonborn character gains a class utility power after 1st level, you can forgo taking a power granted to you by your class. Instead you gain an Dragonborn utility power of the same level or lower.

Dragon Breath	Dragonborn Utility 2
You're dragon heritage is especially forthcoming, giving you an additional chance to use your dragon breath.
Encounter  Dragon Breath
Free Action	Personal
Trigger: You expend a use of your Dragonborn Racial encounter power.
Target: Self
Effect: You gain an extra use of your Dragonborn Racial encounter power.

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Notes

The changes are meant to mostly boost the Dragonborn's capabilities compared to other races. Somewhat weak in comparison, my goal was just to make them a little more competitive and add some extra abilities without making them too powerful or deviating from the core aspect.

The strength and con makes them good at being barbarians and wardens, gives them the option of a constitution fighter, and helps boost their abilities which are dependent on constitution, such as Draconic Heritage.

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