Arguably the coolest race in the game, the Dragonborn are a staple of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. Being a dragon humanoid is already a fun concept, and many fun perks come with this breed. However, it’s also known in the community for being a little weaker than others, but there are ways around it.
With regards to mechanics, roleplaying, and lore, there are quite a few interesting details to read in order to prepare a powerful Dragonborn character. Please note that lore-based details may not apply if you are playing in a homebrew scenario.
Dragons come in many colors, but there are two main groups. Chromatic, which uses basic colors for the dragon (red, green, blue, etc.), and Metallic, which is a color based on a metallic material (bronze). , copper, gold, etc.). The Player’s Handbook shows some options that mix these two categories.
In terms of gameplay and combat, these colors determine two aspects of your character: their breath weapon, an elemental area attack that can be performed once per long rest (which may differ as explained later). ), and tolerance. kind of damage.
For example, the Red Dragonborn is immune to fire damage and can breathe fire at enemies in a 15-foot cone. Some breath weapons attack in a line instead of a cone.
Story-wise, chromatic dragons are usually considered evil creatures. For they are all descendants of Tiamat, who is also evil. Metallic dragons are considered good creatures. You can be a good Red Dragonborn or an evil Gold Dragonborn, so it doesn’t determine your attributes, but it’s a fun backstory idea that you’re part of a legacy of good or evil. gives you
This detail is often ignored, but nothing prevents you from using it and making it a bigger part of your character.
Four Fizban’s Dragon Treasury
As I said at the beginning, the Dragonborns aren’t as powerful as they appear, so if you’re strictly about min-maximizing your character, you might want to choose another species. However, there are some extension books that offer more room for customization. But the best is Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons.
First, it better separates the Chromatic and Metallic categories, allowing you to get bonuses not only for your color, but also for being a Chromatic or Metallic Dragonborn. We will also create a third category, Gem Dragonborns, which can be used for some interesting and fun concepts.
Chromatics can disable immune damage for 1 minute. Metallics can take a second breath attack to incapacitate or push enemies away. Gems can fly and hover for 1 minute.
With this book, the breath weapon also only takes one attack instead of the whole action and can be used more often.
The gem Dragonborn is worth noting. Because their breath attacks and resistances use damage types that are rarely available to players. For example, Force or Psychic he can be immune to damage.
Just for fun with the concept, you can create a totem warrior barbarian who is an emerald dragonborn and gain immunity to all damage types. Oh, and you can use this book to create your character, and you can add stat bonuses everywhere.
3 how people perceive you
The Dragonborn can trigger different reactions each time it spawns. They have a unique appearance, resembling some of the strongest and most dangerous creatures in the entire realm. Or they may think you’re weird.
All of these options offer strong backstory concepts and role-play opportunities when you’re already at the table. You can also use your dragon’s fear to intimidate anyone who wants to harm you.
Or maybe you simply don’t care and try to live in peace, ignoring other people’s reactions to your presence. Check with your DM to see how the Dragonborn are treated in their world and see how much fun you can have.
2 Which class is right for you?
According to the Player’s Handbook, anything that relies on Strength and Charisma is on your side. The former is incremented by 2, the latter by 1. A paladin who can wield both physical and divine powers to fight his foes, shouts so right away.
Gaining resistance as well makes you a better tank and gives you the chance to hit multiple people with your breath weapon. , can fully demonstrate the capabilities of the tank.
Fizban’s lets you choose to increase Ability Score, offer awesome Breath Weapon modifications, and many other interesting builds. Spellcasters can have a good time with the Dragonborn. Resistance can help with your low health bar, and feats can help you here as well.
But this versatility also improves with the aforementioned tanks. Barbarians and fighters also have good resistance on the front lines, in case you don’t want to be a paladin.
1 your racial feat
Honestly, the Dragonborns can’t pull off the most exciting racial feats. There are niche feats and very niche feats from his two options provided by Xanathar’s Guide. Either way, it’s still useful for some builds.
Dragon skin grants claws as a natural weapon, grants d4 + strength, and increases either strength, endurance, or charisma by 1. But the best thing here is to make it more difficult to scale and change the base armor class calculation to 13 + Dexterity instead of the average 10 + Dexterity.
Free mage armor that is always on. It’s a bit more useful for spellcasters, so you don’t need to use spell slots for mage armor, but this feat is more useful for fighters and rogues, as 13 has a higher bonus it can offer, so you can ditch light armor.
Shields are still available, so achieving 20 in Dexterity will result in AC of 18 without shields and 20 with shields. More than a magic shield.
Fear of dragons is another reason why Dragonborn makes great tanks. You can use your breath weapon to roar and force a Wisdom saving throw on all nearby enemies. When they fail, they’ll be frightened, and it’s an embarrassing situation.
You can try to exit the state each time you get hit, but otherwise it lasts for 1 minute. It’s an effective crowd control mechanism, and since Fizbang allows you to use your Breath Weapon more often, you can use this trait more often, or even scare enemies into attacking them in the same turn.
Attacks can still end states, but they still work.