Small racial benifits for Dragonborn

[Ralanr]

So I was a little bothered that dragonborn in 5e only have two abilities. While my DM has told me that they are very good abilities that are on par with most races, I still felt that they should get something. So I decided to build up some racial benefits that are relatively small and situational but give an extra benefit for picking a certain dragon type. They're based off the fluff of their respective dragon color.



Black Dragonborn: Hold breath for up to 5 minutes, or are proficient in history or investigation checks to determine the age and make up of an item.
Black dragonborn clans take refuge in ruins if they do not live within cities or other settlements. While they don't share the obession and sadism of black dragons, they do have a love for ancient knowledge and are particularly unlikely to let certain possession go sometimes. This varies from member to member, but understand an items age and make up of items are commonly taught.

Blue Dragonborn: They are proficient in nature/survival checks that have to deal with desert terrain.
Blue Dragonborn clans take refuge in deserts, sometimes acting as raiders or as guides for merchants.

Green Dragonborn: TBD

Red Dragonborn: Proficient in insight checks to determine the rank of an NPC or Player
Red Dragonborn clans have strict hierarchy systems and have developed a natural ability to notice powerful individuals.

White Dragonborn: Can remember every detail from a battle perfectly, or proficient in intimidation against animals.
White Dragonborn clans far in the north are not as primal as the white dragons, but they show ferocity on par with many beasts in battle.

Brass Dragonborn: Proficient in insight checks against lying.
Brass Dragonborn encourage conversations and have found that people have certain signs they give away when lying. Even the best lier can't fully hide their lie.

Bronze Dragonborn: Proficient in athletic checks to swim.
Bronze Dragonborn clans are often found near coastlines. They're a competitive bunch with a love for swimming deep into the ocean for fishing.

Copper Dragonborn: TBD

Gold Dragonborn: TBD

Silver Dragonborn: Proficient in persuasion checks with people they have just met.
Silver Dragonborn clans encourage making friends with everyone they meet, even if they only meet them once.


Shamlessly copy pasted from alackthereof (Thank you very much on your suggestion)

Black: You can hold your breath for twice as long as normal.
Blue: Advantage on Survival and Nature checks in the desert.
Green: Advantage on Deception checks to tell lies.
Red: Know Your Enemy (as the Battle Master Fighter ability), but limited to reveal the comparison of only one of the following: Strength score, Dexterity score, Constitution score, Armor Class, or hit points.
White: Advantage on Intimidation checks to frighten.
Brass: Advantage on Insight checks to detect falsehoods.
Bronze: Advantage on Athletics checks to swim.
Copper: Advantage on checks related to hospitality.
Gold: Advantage on checks to use a disguise kit and on Deception checks to disguise yourself.
Silver: Advantage on Persuasion checks to dissuade evil actions.

Thoughts?

Out of all of these I think Red is probably the most powerful.

Now that I think about it, I guess it'd make sense for the dragonbreath weapon to be a bit weaker than it already is if they were to develop other abilities. So this would mean their max damage from the breath attack is 4d6...hmm...

[alackthereof]

Based on the fact that the dragonborn get a scaling ability, that is why they get very few other items on their list. If you are still set on giving them something extra, either reduce the Strength increase to 1, get rid of the Charisma bonus, or drop the breath weapon damage by one die.

As far as your sample bonuses, I think that these suggestions might be worthwhile:
Black: You can hold your breath for twice as long as normal. ((Someone with a +4 Con modifier would already be able to hold their breath for 5 minutes))
Blue: Advantage on Survival and Nature checks in the desert.
Green: Advantage on Deception checks to tell lies.
Red: Know Your Enemy (as the Battle Master Fighter ability), but limited to reveal the comparison of only one of the following: Strength score, Dexterity score, Constitution score, Armor Class, or hit points.
White: Advantage on Intimidation checks to frighten.
Brass: Advantage on Insight checks to detect falsehoods.
Bronze: Advantage on Athletics checks to swim.
Copper: Advantage on checks related to hospitality.
Gold: Advantage on checks to use a disguise kit and on Deception checks to disguise yourself.
Silver: Advantage on Persuasion checks to dissuade evil actions.

[Ralanr]

Based on the fact that the dragonborn get a scaling ability, that is why they get very few other items on their list. If you are still set on giving them something extra, either reduce the Strength increase to 1, get rid of the Charisma bonus, or drop the breath weapon damage by one die.

As far as your sample bonuses, I think that these suggestions might be worthwhile:
Black: You can hold your breath for twice as long as normal. ((Someone with a +4 Con modifier would already be able to hold their breath for 5 minutes))
Blue: Advantage on Survival and Nature checks in the desert.
Green: Advantage on Deception checks to tell lies.
Red: Know Your Enemy (as the Battle Master Fighter ability), but limited to reveal the comparison of only one of the following: Strength score, Dexterity score, Constitution score, Armor Class, or hit points.
White: Advantage on Intimidation checks to frighten.
Brass: Advantage on Insight checks to detect falsehoods.
Bronze: Advantage on Athletics checks to swim.
Copper: Advantage on checks related to hospitality.
Gold: Advantage on checks to use a disguise kit and on Deception checks to disguise yourself.
Silver: Advantage on Persuasion checks to dissuade evil actions.

You're right. Those suggestions are very worthwhile. The only ability I can think of that might be too powerful is red, but I'm not really against it either.

[eleazzaar]

Green: Advantage on Deception checks to tell lies.
White: Advantage on Intimidation checks to frighten.
Brass: Advantage on Insight checks to detect falsehoods.
Gold: Advantage on checks to use a disguise kit and on Deception checks to disguise yourself.


These are advantage on pretty much the most common and obvious use of the skill-- it varies, but they are not that much less powerful than just blanket advantage whenever using that skill. You might argue that every use of "intimidate" is to frighten. I wouldn't consider them "relatively small and situational".

[alackthereof]

You're right in that some of those skill uses are a bit too common, but I think if you were to pare back on the breath damage or change the ability score modifiers, you could implement these changes and just drop the conditional aspect of the skill uses. Being a bit more versatile is a decent tradeoff for reining in on another existing benefit if we're looking to keep things balanced.

[Ralanr]

These are advantage on pretty much the most common and obvious use of the skill-- it varies, but they are not that much less powerful than just blanket advantage whenever using that skill. You might argue that every use of "intimidate" is to frighten. I wouldn't consider them "relatively small and situational".

Well it was originally just to apply for animals. Hmm...maybe I should scrap this. Not really thinking enough on it.

[alackthereof]

Well it was originally just to apply for animals. Hmm...maybe I should scrap this. Not really thinking enough on it.

I wouldn't completely discount these ideas. They're certainly a variant you could have in the campaign as a trade-off for a reduction in power in one other aspect. You just need to make sure that whatever you diminish balances out with what you offer.