Water Orc Dragon Born

[SSGoW]

What does the Water Orc http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/elementalRacialVariants.htm#waterOrcs lose when they become dragon born?

I'm creating one as a backup character (I have a feeling I'm dying later tonight *dun dun duuun*) and was just wondering what they actually lose.

Also is there really any other LA0 race that is makes a better dragon born?

[hushblade]

A better dragonborn what? the class you want to play is important for the racial choice.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Water Orc -> Dragonborn loses:
Darkvision 60 ft. (unless the Mind aspect is taken)
Light Sensitivity
+1 to attack rolls vs. creatures of the fire subtype
-2 to saves vs. spells, spell-likes, and other effects by creatures of the fire subtype
Swim speed equal to your base land speed (+8 racial bonus to swim)
Favored Class: Barbarian

Water Orc -> Dragonborn gains:
Dragonblood subtype
New age categories (middle aged at 200+)
+2 AC vs. Dragons
Immunity to Frightful Presence
Automatic Languages: Draconic
Favored Class: Fighter

Plus your choice of:
Heart (breath weapon, 1d6*level/2 with scaling distance)
Mind (scaling low-light vision, darkvision, and then blindsense)
Wings (wings)

Dragonborn Lesser Aasimar makes a good Paladin (three buffs to good stats and a dump to a dump stat), but Lesser Aasimar in general makes a good Paladin, and there are some decent abilities innate to Lesser Aasimar at low levels.

EDIT: Dragonborn Mongrelfolk (Races of Destiny) are good candidates for characters with CON-based classes, like Dragon Shaman or Dragonfire Adept, whose breath weapons have CON-based saves. The net ability adjustments for such a character would be -2 DEX, +6 CON, -2 INT, -4 CHA.

For a generic caster concerned with surviving, Dragonborn Water Halfling is the only way I can think of, off the top of my head, to get +4 CON with no level adjustment and no penalties to any mental stat (-2 STR, +4 CON). It also gets a +1 racial bonus to all saves (which is not the best, but also not bad). For an INT- or WIS-based character, Dwarf is less optimal, but still serviceable (-2 DEX, +4 CON, -2 CHA), and for an INT-based character, you can simply mitigate the racial penalties of Grey Elf by applying Dragonborn, turning it into a -2 STR, +2 INT, which is... Less underwhelming than before.

Really, the number of things you can apply "more CON" to is not exactly small.

[Keld Denar]

Minor nitpick...Dragonborn do not lose movement modes, so a Water Orc would keep it's swim speed. The +8 racial bonus is a function of having a swim speed, not a racial ability like an elf's +2 search bonus.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Minor nitpick...Dragonborn do not lose movement modes, so a Water Orc would keep it's swim speed. The +8 racial bonus is a function of having a swim speed, not a racial ability like an elf's +2 search bonus.

Sorry. It's an even more uneven trade, then.

[Morph Bark]

Water Orcs are one of the best races for Dragonborn, yes.

Others include Goliaths, Raptorans and Mongrelfolk.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Water Orcs are one of the best races for Dragonborn, yes.

Others include Goliaths, Raptorans and Mongrelfolk.

Raptoran dragonborn is the true half-dragon mechanics.

[Menteith]

Dragonborn Warforged can be solid choices, depending on what you want to do with them. You keep all of the Warforged Immunities and +4 Con, -2 Dex, -2 Wis, -2 Cha. You lose the slam attack, composite plating, and light fortification, but weirdly you can still take feats that benefit your (nonexistent) plating.

[Curmudgeon]

Water Orc -> Dragonborn loses:
Favored Class: Barbarian
That's not right. From page 10 of Races of the Dragon:
Favored Class: You retain your original favored classes and gain fighter as a favored class.

[Andion Isurand]

Arcane Gnomes from Dragon 291 are pretty nice for Int-based characters
Then apply the Arctic (Dragon 306) and Dragonborn templates for the following:

-2 Str, -2 Dex, +6 Con, +2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha

[candycorn]

Whisper Gnome is also solid. You keep small size, good movement speed, and end up with +4 Con, -2 Str, -2 Cha. Great for most caster types, especially druids. Because no dex penalty and a crazy good con score is a good thing for a druid.

Also good is Dragonfire adept (22 Con means a breath weapon DC of 16 + 1/2 HD, or +2 more with Ability Focus. Add on entangling exhalation, and you're going to be doing minor damage, and a reliable debuff. Once you get to level 5, you can add on slowing or weakening breath, and things really get ugly. Example:

Round 1: Entangle enemy with entangling exhalation.
Round 2: Slow them with slowing breath.

Net effect for round 3 (and 4, if they fail a save) in most cases? 1/4 movement, only a single standard or move action, and concentration checks to cast. Also, no five foot steps and no charges (entangle prevents this), so if they start outside threat range, they're not hitting you in melee. Your damage isn't fantastic, true, but you've got reliable debuffs.

Or:

Round 1: Entangle
Round 2: Weaken

Now, they're 1/2 movement, -2 attack, -4 dex, no running, no charging, and -6 strength. For a level 5 raging orc barbarian? 26 str would normally mean a +14 or so to hit, for 2d6+12 damage (MW greatsword assumed). Power attack would make it +9 for 2d6+22. With that debuff, it would lower it to +9 to hit, for 2d6+7. Net loss is about 15 damage a hit, and much lower accuracy for non power attack hits. Also, it cuts the effective attack range by 75% (removes charge as an option, and cuts base movement in half).

[Mithril Leaf]

Another good choice is Dragonborn Anthromorphic Bat. You get -4 str, -2 dex, +2 con, +6 wis, -2 cha. If you can throw arctic on there, you get basically the single best druid ever.