Dragonborn aspects

[HiddenLineage]

Which Aspect do you tend to like the most?

I personally went for a Druid Dragonborn(Formerly Aasimar for the +wis). I was looking at Heart, seeing as how I could get Wings from Wildshaping, but Mind looks promising too. That Darkvision and Blindsense looks sexy.

Heart (Su): A dragonborn who chooses heart as
her draconic aspect gains a breath weapon. The breath
weapon is a bright, shining line that coruscates with
every metallic color. The line’s length is 5 feet per Hit
Die the dragonborn has, up to a maximum of 100 feet at
20 HD. The breath weapon deals 1d8 points of damage,
plus an extra 1d8 points for each 3 HD the dragonborn
possesses (2d8 at 3 HD, 3d8 at 6 HD, and so on). The
damage can be acid, cold, electricity, or fi re, changing
on each use as the dragonborn chooses. A successful
Refl ex save (DC 10 + 1/2 the dragonborn’s HD + her Con
modifi er) halves the damage. A dragonborn can use her
breath weapon once every 1d4 rounds.


Mind (Ex): A dragonborn who selects the mind aspect
sharpens her senses, gaining immunity to paralysis and
magic sleep effects. She gains darkvision out to 30 feet
and low-light vision, plus a +2 racial bonus on Listen,
Search, and Spot checks.
At 6 HD, the dragonborn’s darkvision extends to
60 feet.
At 9 HD, the dragonborn’s darkvision extends to 90
feet, and her low-light vision allows her to see three
times as far as a human in shadowy illumination.
At 12 HD, the dragonborn’s darkvision extends to
120 feet, and her low-light vision allows her to see four
times as far as a human in shadowy illumination.
At 15 HD, the dragonborn gains blindsense out to
30 feet.


Wings (Ex): A dragonborn who selects the wings
aspect hatches sporting fully formed wings. Dragonborn
can use these wings to aid their jumps (granting a +10
racial bonus on Jump checks) and to glide. Those with
6 HD or more can use their wings to fl y.
Gliding: A dragonborn can use her wings to glide,
negating damage from a fall from any height and allowing
20 feet of forward travel for every 5 feet of descent.
Dragonborn glide at a speed of 30 feet with average
maneuverability. Even if a dragonborn’s maneuverability
improves, she can’t hover while gliding. A dragonborn
can’t glide while carrying a medium or heavy load.
If a dragonborn becomes unconscious or helpless while
in midair, her wings naturally unfurl, and powerful
ligaments stiffen them.
The dragonborn descends slowly in a tight corkscrew
and takes only 1d6 points of falling damage, no matter
the actual distance of the fall.
Flight: When a dragonborn who selected the wings
aspect reaches 6 HD, she gains a f ly speed of 30 feet
with average maneuverability. A dragonborn can’t
f ly while carrying a medium or heavy load or while
fatigued or exhausted.
A dragonborn can safely fl y for a number of consecutive
rounds equal to her Constitution modifi er
(minimum 1 round). She can double this length of
fl ight but is fatigued by such exertion. The dragonborn
is likewise fatigued after spending a total of more
than 10 minutes per day fl ying. Because a dragonborn
can glide before, after, and between rounds of actual
fl ight, she can remain aloft for extended periods, even
if she can only use fl ight for 1 round at a time without
becoming fatigued.
When she reaches 12 HD, a dragonborn has enough
stamina and prowess to fl y without tiring. She can fl y
at a speed of 30 feet (average maneuverability) with no
more exertion than walking or running.
A dragonborn with fl ight can make a dive attack. A
dive attack works like a charge, but the dragonborn
must move a minimum of 30 feet and descend at least
10 feet. A dragonborn can make a dive attack only when
wielding a piercing weapon. If the dive attack hits, it
deals double damage.
A dragonborn with flight can use the run action while
fl ying, provided she flies in a straight line.

[Hirax]

Mind for casters, wings for non-casters, usually.

[Jopustopin]

I think it's clear that Heart is the most useful over the widest swath of levels. I wouldn't pick up wings unless I was playing after level 12.

[HiddenLineage]

Personally, I'm not even gonna bother with Wings. I can just Wildshape into a bird.

[Rubik]

I think it's clear that Heart is the most useful over the widest swath of levels. I wouldn't pick up wings unless I was playing after level 12.Or playing a warforged, what with the infinite stamina and all.

Also, I like heart with a psion build, since you can use it to (ab)use Gemstone Breath with metapsionic and metabreath feats. And you can get flight and darkvision any number of ways for nearly any character you like, if you try.

[HiddenLineage]

I don't think that you keep the unlimited Stamina if a Warforged becomes a Dragonborn.

I think you keep racial stat bonuses, that's it.

[AmberVael]

I don't think that you keep the unlimited Stamina if a Warforged becomes a Dragonborn.

I think you keep racial stat bonuses, that's it.

Dragonborn specifically says you retain your subtypes. Warforged gains most of its benefits from the Living Construct subtype, which includes immunity to fatigue and exhaustion.

[Lateral]

I think it's clear that Heart is the most useful over the widest swath of levels. I wouldn't pick up wings unless I was playing after level 12.

Eh. Its damage is kind of wimpy and it's only usable about once or twice an encounter. Unless you're using it with a DFI or Psion to get metabreath feats on your other breaths, it's not really worth it. Mind is really only darkvision until high levels; at higher levels, it's great, but for most of play it's only decent. The +10 jump bonus from the Wing aspect, though, is quite useful for most characters from level 1, and gliding can still be extremely convenient. At mid levels, 10 minutes per day should be plenty for most combats, and most characters should have a pretty good CON modifier as a Dragonborn anyway. Frankly, I'd take Wings over the other two in most situations.

[candycorn]

I think it's clear that Heart is the most useful over the widest swath of levels. I wouldn't pick up wings unless I was playing after level 12.

Disagree. I think Mind is. Paralysis immunity, good at all levels, and darkvision/low light is useful at all levels.

Starting at level 9, low light vision starts getting really good. Don't underestimate x3 low light. It means that you can stay out of the dim light for most races, and still be in bright illumination for you.

At level 12, you can be 80 feet from the party torch, and see just fine.

And, at level 15, blindsense is a solid ability to have, if a bit late.


However, at low levels, Wings provides a fantastic jump bonus, which is great for Warblades, or anyone with the swift leap ability. Glide also negates all fall damage ever, so that's a solid plus. On upper levels, you get ex flight, which is dead sexy.

[Wings of Peace]

On upper levels, you get ex flight, which is dead sexy.

This essentially. I'm fond of the Wings aspect when optimizing for ex. features because I can get most of the other aspects' best bits fairly easily via other templates, 0 LA flight as a template and not a base creature on the other hand is harder to come by.

[candycorn]

This essentially. I'm fond of the Wings aspect when optimizing for ex. features because I can get most of the other aspects' best bits fairly easily via other templates, 0 LA flight as a template and not a base creature on the other hand is harder to come by.

That's the biggest draw, but even at low levels, a +10 to jump isn't shabby. With a 40 foot base speed, and +30 from a spell, that can be a +26, before stats or ranks, at level 1. That requires a cleric (specific domains have Expeditious Retreat) or a sorceror/wizard.

With a 22 strength orc warblade? You're looking at +20 with strength, 4 ranks, and the boost. Without a running start, you'll autopass jumping a 10 foot wide pit. With one, a 20 foot pit is easy as pie.

[Darrin]

For Rangers (and other classes with a "dead" bonus feat, such as Track or Endurance), check the last paragraph in the sidebar at the bottom of page 10. Dragonborns can swap one of their existing feats for a "1st-level-only" feat that requires the dragonblood subtype. Unfortunately, there are only three of those, but they have some interesting possibilities:

Dragon Tail: Adds a secondary natural attack to your full-attack progression, which is quite nifty for a TWF beatstick or a totemist. You can then take Prehensile Tail (Savage Species) for an additional hand, and you now qualify for Multiweapon Fighting if you want to go that route.

Dragon Wings: Negates all falling damage, so essentially an always-on feather fall, only it works in AMFs and even while unconscious. Even better, you're now only one feat away from getting a flight speed, so you can essentially get two Dragonborn aspects for one: take the Heart or Mind aspect, and then pick up Improved Dragon Wings later.

Dragonwrought: Only available to kobolds, but this allows you to take a different "1st-level only" feat at 1st level and then take Dragonwrought later. Unfortunately, Dragonborn may do some wonky things to a kobold's racial abilities (such as losing your bite/claw/claw attacks).

There's another trick I like to use with Frostblood Orc/Half-Orc Rangers: They get the Endurance feat for free, and they also get an interesting little clause that allows them to take another bonus feat if they pick up Endurance later. If you're multiclassing, you have some control over when you take your 3rd level of Ranger, so you can pick up some feats that are normally difficult to pick up between 3rd and 6th level: Superior Unarmed Strike, Improved Natural Attack, etc. Once you've got your new bonus feat, go through your Ritual of Rebirth. Poof, your nearly useless racial bonus feat (Endurance) goes away, but you keep the bonus feat. If you still have Track, you can swap that for Dragon Tail or Dragon Wings, take the Heart aspect for a breath weapon, and pick up Improved Dragon Wings later for flight. (Note: same trick works with Undying Way Monks and Horse Totem Barbarians.)

[HiddenLineage]

Heart let's me qualify for Metabreath Feats, of which I'd grab Recover Breath and Clinging Breath, to use with Draconic Wild Shape and then Dragon Wild Shape in epic levels. And with the Draconomicon in use, the dragons expand ALOT.

[StonerEvanB]

2 character ideas I've been messing with are as follows:
A winged aspect dragonfire adept who took Dragon Tail at 1st;
A heart aspect generic warrior (UA) who takes both Dragon Tail as well as Dragon Wings.
Personally, I prefer the second option, as the warrior class progression I wrote up turns him into a fairly lethal "mini" dragon with Unarmed Strike, Superior Unarmed Strike, Versatile Unarmed Strike, Improved Dragon Wings, Improved Natural Attack(Tail), Ability Focus (Breath Weapon), and so on.
Add the feral template, and you're even more dragon-esque, with claws, Fast healing, improved grab, etc.
A note about the second option-any of the generic classes work, so long as you take it at 1st level, since they all grant a nonspecific bonus feat, which you need to get both Wings and Tail. I chose the warrior way because I'm a feat-whore. Pick your particular poison and go with it.

[Soranar]

Heart, though it requires a few feats, can be pretty damn good.

-entangling exhalation
-shape breath ( so you get a cone instead of a line when you need it)

With those two feats, any character gain battlefield control that works against anything but enemies with evasion (which are quite rare)

On top of this you can target creatures with vulnerabilities to certain elements. You can also start a fire, put out a fire.

Sure, for arcane casters and the like, that's mostly useless. But for a martial character it's a fairly unique ability.

[Troacctid]

A note about the second option-any of the generic classes work, so long as you take it at 1st level, since they all grant a nonspecific bonus feat, which you need to get both Wings and Tail. I chose the warrior way because I'm a feat-whore. Pick your particular poison and go with it.
Literally any class works, since you can trade any of your previous feats for Dragon Wings or Dragon Tail upon becoming a dragonborn. In fact it actually works better with specific bonus feats, because you can ditch them and not even care. Dragonfire Adept is a perfect example—trade away your Dragontouched feat that's just sitting there doing pretty much ****-all now that you're already dragonblooded (and immune to sleep and paralysis if you picked Mind), and you can get a free set of wings. That's value right there.

[eggynack]

I like mind. The other two just get turned off by wild shape, so you're going a lot of your druid career without access to the abilities in most situations. Mind just stays on all the time, giving solid advantages that wouldn't really be worse than the other two if you got it for the same amount of time.