D&D General Dragonborn Physical Features

[Mind of tempest]

The only Draconians I took a liking to were the Noble Draconians from the Bestiary of Krynn book for 3e.

their wings seem almost vestigial and for cooling off rather than flying.

D&D sort of doesn't help with its main four things being "Human", "Short human", "Shorter human" and "Human with weird ears". When that's the baseline, Its easy to fit "Lizard-man", "Dragon-man" and "Snake-man" in with that as each has its own niche to fill

Mind we're still ages away from 2E days where we had gecko-men (two types), crocodile men (two types), alligator men, caimen-men and all the other sorts.

I still do not get the sacredness of the old demihumans why mush they be every where?

 

[Corinnguard]

their wings seem almost vestigial and for cooling off rather than flying

Draconians and Noble Draconians use their wings for gliding.

Glide (Ex) Winged draconians can use their wings to glide, negating any damage from a fall of any height. They can also travel horizontally up to four times the vertical distance they descend.

The Dragonborn could always resemble World of Warcraft's Dracthyr

 

[CreamCloud0]

Diversity encourages imagination.

i find this claim as equally arguable as it's sister statement 'restrictions breed creativity', especially given they seem to directly contradict what the other is saying.

 

[Clint_L]

If a player pitches a cool concept I'm inclined to go for it, so while my default Dragonborn resemble the 5e art, with tails optional, I'm flexible.

 

[Scribe]

I still do not get the sacredness of the old demihumans why mush they be every where?

Because Tolkien is why we have the western Fantasy that we do.

 

[CreamCloud0]

i don't run a game but if i did: Claws, Tails, Wings(become functional at 5th) and Horns, nominal mention of scales as i personally imagine them more with a very tough hide rather than scales specifically but the line blurs.

Glide (Ex) Winged draconians can use their wings to glide, negating any damage from a fall of any height. They can also travel horizontally up to four times the vertical distance they descend.

i really don't know why they don't use this on more flying player species, then gain proper flight at higher levels if they really need it.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Draconians and Noble Draconians use their wings for gliding.

Glide (Ex) Winged draconians can use their wings to glide, negating any damage from a fall of any height. They can also travel horizontally up to four times the vertical distance they descend.

The Dragonborn could always resemble World of Warcraft's Dracthyr

only in lunar gravity would it work

i find this claim as equally arguable as it's sister statement 'restrictions breed creativity', especially given they seem to directly contradict what the other is saying.

both can be true they create differently.

Because Tolkien is why we have the western Fantasy that we do.

I respect him as a founder but do not see what he made as any more sacred, useful as a starting line but not much past it any more, beyond some back-to-basic revamps for some things.

 

[Corinnguard]

i really don't know why they don't use this on more flying player species, then gain proper flight at higher levels if they really need it.

I wouldn't mind seeing a 5e version of PF1's Fly Skill.

Fly (Dex; Armor Check Penalty) – d20PFSRD

www.d20pfsrd.com

 

[Scribe]

i really don't know why they don't use this on more flying player species, then gain proper flight at higher levels if they really need it.

This is closer to how I'm going to do it.

I respect him as a founder but do not see what he made as any more scary, useful as a starting line but not much past it any more, beyond some back-to-basic revamps for some things.

I mean its immensely useful as the starting line, because anyone who knows western Fantasy in any way, knows what they are.

Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits/Halflings, sourced from the Trope Maker itself. I have a few custom player options, if I gave you the names, it would be meaningless. Thats the value of the baseline.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm in the same camp as Charlaquin here. Scales, Fangs, Claws, and tails. I know tails aren't like correct as per the book, but they feel right.

A lot of newer dragonborn art in official material does include tails. I think WotC recognized that most folks who like dragonborn want them to have tails.

Horns, Quills, and frills are allowed, but not required. They're almost like the equivalent of hair for the Dragonborn. A way to customize and make them unique.

Yes, my thinking exactly!

I'm torn on wings. I'm generally in the camp of "No PCs who can innately fly" so Arakroka are also out. Wings are very much a core part of a dragon however.. I may be inclined to give a Dragonborn PC maybe some sort of flightless, vestigial wings, and one day upon reaching a higher level they could allow for flight.. But level 1 PCs with flying just seems like too much of a headache for me.

I’m actually ok with Aarakocra, though I give them a talon attack and rule that they need both hands free to fly. That both fits better aesthetically to me (birds should have four limbs, not six) and it prevents flying out of melee reach and peppering enemies with ranged attacks or dropping rocks on them, prevents grappling enemies, flying up real high, and dropping them to deal fall damage, and prevents carrying non-flying allies to places they shouldn’t be able to reach.

Dragons, on the other hand, are famous for having six limbs, so that fix doesn’t work for dragonborn. Vestigial wings would be ok, but I just don’t like them aesthetically on dragonborn. I guess I think of them more as draconic humanoids than humanoid dragons, if that makes sense. And especially with the spectral wings in the 2024 rules, vestigial wings just don’t feel right to me.