Dragonborn Hellbred

[Khedrac]

I had a thought about combining the Hellbred race (from Fiendish Codex II) with the Dragonborn template (sort of) from Races of the Dragon.

The question becomes: what abilities would one actually get?

With a rider of "does anyone think this worth it?" or "what would you use this for?"

[BowStreetRunner]

Here's the confusing part. The Hellbred race doesn't have a standard set of racial ability modifiers. Instead it has something called Infernal Aspect. Infernal Aspect gives you a choice between Body (Ex) which comes with a +2 CON and -2 INT and Spirit (Su) which comes with a +2 CHA and -2 CON. Now a Dragonborn keeps the original racial ability modifiers of its former race, so these should remain, but some DMs have a problem with the racial ability modifiers being listed under another ability and not up at the top like normal so don't count these as staying through the Right of Rebirth. (And besides, who ever heard of an ability modifier that was a Su ability??? Really, do they think when they write this stuff up?)

So anyway, my take has always been that you keep the ability modifier (+2 CON, -2 INT <or> +2 CHA, -2 CON as appropriate). Additionally, your new type and subtype will be Humanoid (dragonblood, hellbred). Size will probably be Medium, Speed 30 feet (but they never actually published this in the racial entry, so it might depend on their original race). Languages will include Infernal and Draconic automatically as well as whatever languages they spoke in their original race. Favored class will be fighter and paladin and they can multi-class into paladin freely. They lose Devil's Favor and any other bonus devil-touched feats they received if they took the Body aspect. They keep nothing else from the Hellbred race - everything else they get comes from Dragonborn.

[Khedrac]

...useful information...
Thank-you - that is pretty much what I expected.

It makes it pretty much just another couple of race options (+4 con, -2 Dex and Int or +2 Chr, -2 Dex) with automatic languages and paladin classing fun but no other benefits coming from Hellbred.

Hmm, might be useful but probably not worth the hassle. What I probably ought to do is glance at some of the Stormwrack races to see how they would combine with Dragonborn...

[Red Fel]

Thank-you - that is pretty much what I expected.

It makes it pretty much just another couple of race options (+4 con, -2 Dex and Int or +2 Chr, -2 Dex) with automatic languages and paladin classing fun but no other benefits coming from Hellbred.

Hmm, might be useful but probably not worth the hassle. What I probably ought to do is glance at some of the Stormwrack races to see how they would combine with Dragonborn...

It's not the most useful, but it is highly flavorful, particularly when you realize something important.

You know the Hellbound ability, that limits a Hellbred's ability to be raised? Dragonborn lose that.

Think about it for a moment. Here is a damned soul whose last-minute repentance earned him a reprieve from the Pit. He promptly pledges himself to an LG deity and gets a new lease on life. How do you think Cosmic Evil feels about that?

It's one Hell of a story hook.