How to make the dragonborn interesting

[Belac93]

I'm just going to say it right now; Dragonborn are boring (I'm sorry if you disagree, but please read the rest of this before posting angry stuff).

Their fluff doesn't have much to it, (they were important a long time ago?) and their abilities are lackluster. A decent attack (for a racial ability) that loses steam with levels, and an elemental resistance (which you can get from tiefling or aasimar, with better things besides).

So, my question is this: How do you spice up the dragonborn, mechanics-wise and fluff-wise? My first thoughts were to give them the option of an extra racial feature. So, either wings, natural armour, or darkvision.

Thoughts?

[Discord]

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/4i2zkx/buffing_the_dragonborn/

Here was a pretty good discussion on buffing the Dragonborn I had on reddit a little while ago. Some of the suggestions:

Scaling up the breath weapon
Making the breath weapon a bonus action
Making the breath weapon usable a number of times = con modifier per a short and or long rest
Adding con mod to damage on breath weapon
Darkvision, swimming, climbing related to what ancestry you pick
Add an ability like "Draconic Presence" Which allows you to be proficient in intimidation or persuasion to match the dragon archetype

[DragonSorcererX]

The Dragonborn are already awesome! We need to bring back that Draconic Madness of 3.5, where there was lots and lots of draconic stuff! Lets burn Unther to ashes and make Tymanther great again!

Edit: Also, what Discord said.

[MrStabby]

So there are a couple of problems with the Dragonborn. One is the balance of stats. Most classes that need Cha don't benefit so much from Str and so on. Bladelocks, Paladins and multiclass are really the options. Spells like Booming Blade do help a little. This just makes them a bit niche.

The resistance is a nice touch but I don't like the breath attack.

To fix?

Maybe a high elf style cantrip for free - of a type that deals your draconic damage (possibly in place of the breath attack).

Possibly one or other half of the elemental affinity feat (adding poison and for the respective dragon element?

To be honest I am not a fan of your suggestions of wings, natural armour or darkvision - although all for different reasons.

Darkvision almost everyone has. It stops feeling like a racial perk and more of a penalty to not have it at this stage. I would prefer to not make it worse.

Natural armour I liked at first, something like the draconic sorcerer ability. The problem is a draconic sorcerer is a pretty archetypal dragonborn and obviating one of their abilities is a bit of a downside. More generally who can use a strength boost and really take advantage of a 13+dex modifier? Who can get a lot out of strength but not wear armour? Strength rogues, maybe some rangers... even then only rogue (if swashbuckler) gets much from the Cha boost.

Wings - I think flying is just too powerful.


Also I take your point that the fluff could use some help as well

[R.Shackleford]

I'm just going to say it right now; Dragonborn are boring (I'm sorry if you disagree, but please read the rest of this before posting angry stuff).

Their fluff doesn't have much to it, (they were important a long time ago?) and their abilities are lackluster. A decent attack (for a racial ability) that loses steam with levels, and an elemental resistance (which you can get from tiefling or aasimar, with better things besides).

So, my question is this: How do you spice up the dragonborn, mechanics-wise and fluff-wise? My first thoughts were to give them the option of an extra racial feature. So, either wings, natural armour, or darkvision.

Thoughts?


Alternate racial traits based on 4e feats.

[Rhaegar14]

Darkvision almost everyone has. It stops feeling like a racial perk and more of a penalty to not have it at this stage. I would prefer to not make it worse.

I don't disagree with this thinking about the edition as a whole, but I think darkvision is perfectly fine to give dragonborn. Ffs they're draconic. Dragons have BLINDSIGHT. It makes no sense to me that dragonborn can't see in the dark when elves and half-elves (who only got low-light vision in previous editions) can.

[JellyPooga]

How to fix Dragonborn? Remove the Race from the game and turn them back into the 3.5 version of silver-scaled Hyper-Paladins of Bahamut again. Make it a dragon-focused Paladin Oath, perhaps, but open up the doors to other colours and themes.

Seriously, it was one thing I hated about 4ed. Dragonborn as a race just doesn't do it for me. I mean, even the name is lacklustre at best;

"Hey guys! I came up with ths idea for a new race. They're like dragon dudes and they're scaled and breathe fire and everything! I don't really know what to call them though. Dragonmen is lame, so how about Dragonborn?"

Err, not quite got the creative juices flowing there have we bub?

Yeah, sorry, I'm not a fan. I'll stop now before this gets into rant territory! :D

[Regitnui]

Seriously, it was one thing I hated about 4ed. Dragonborn as a race just doesn't do it for me. I mean, even the name is lacklustre at best;

"Hey guys! I came up with ths idea for a new race. They're like dragon dudes and they're scaled and breathe fire and everything! I don't really know what to call them though. Dragonmen is lame, so how about Dragonborn?"


Well, draconian is taken by a bunch of Dragonlance monsters. Although it's perfectly legitimate to use that name for the race in other settings, I guess.

The problem with the race is that they had no 3.5 equivalent to fall back on, unlike the tiefling. They were a 4e invention, and for most part are a straight port. However, as always, there is some salvage to be had. A few interesting nuggets:

Eberron had them related to lizardfolk; most humans wouldn't be able to tell the difference until one used their breath weapon.
I've heard it suggested that the dragonborn are humanoids who became draconic by breeding or magic, much like the relationship tieflings have with fiends and cambions.
There's always the possibility, suggested in the PHB, that they are redeemed draconians. Meant to be a dragon, but stunted and enslaved by unethical magic.


I don't have suggestions to fix them, but making them the urbane and civilized cousins of lizardfolk and kobolds seems like a good start. Perhaps they're the "elves" to the lizardfolk's "human" and the kobold's "gnome/dwarf". They never had a great empire, instead, just a loosely connected alliance of clan-cities that humans misinterpreted. They fell from grace as the more active and numerous humans invaded, history shifting the blame to the tieflings instead. They now live alongside their cousin races or serve dragons as emissaries.

Mechanically? I don't know. The odd combination of stat boosts might be most of the problem. Remove the Strength boost, leaving Cha as a nod to the 3.5 bahamit while also leaving draconic sorcerers open. Subraces then fill the gap, perhaps another mental stat for the "emissary" and Con for the "wild"?

[IShouldntBehere]

I'd say in the initial changes give them a strong viking influence, with all sorts of breath powers they get from defeating other dragons. Down the line when folks get bored with them again, you can let players add modifications to the race to shake them up.For example making them all hot chicks with big jiggly breasts or improving the way grass looks to them, or giving them the ability to fill rooms with tomatoes at will.

[Regitnui]

I'd say in the initial changes give them a strong viking influence, with all sorts of breath powers they get from defeating other dragons. Down the line when folks get bored with them again, you can let players add modifications to the race to shake them up.For example making them all hot chicks with big jiggly breasts or improving the way grass looks to them, or giving them the ability to fill rooms with tomatoes at will.

I'm torn between giving you a cookie or groaning. Possibly both.

[uraniumrooster]

I think that they were included in the game mostly for kids. I used to run an Adventurer's League kid's table at a local game shop and the young'uns loved them some Dragonborn. In a group of seven players, three of them were Dragonborn. Apart from that, I don't think I've ever seen another Dragonborn PC, and definitely not from anyone over 16.

I think, as you point out, their problem is twofold.
First, they don't fit well into the established lore of the popular D&D settings. They feel like a ham-fisted attempt to include a "cool" race in the game, not a natural part of the world. They don't appeal to most roleplayers because they just aren't all that inspiring.
Second, their mechanics are pretty meh. They have some unique racial abilities, but nothing that really stands out. They don't have any subraces that provide different ability bonuses, so they're pretty locked in to specific builds as far as optimization goes. And, for the builds that would be suitable for a Dragonborn, there are other races that offer something better.

In a home game I'm running now I changed the race to Scaled One with the Lizardfolk (martial focus), Sarrukh (spell focus), and Dragonborn (hybrid focus) as subraces. The idea was to make reptilian races feel a little bit more like part of the world, and provide more versatility to play a class other than Paladin or Sorcerer. None of the players chose to play one though, so... yeah.

[Slipperychicken]

So, my question is this: How do you spice up the dragonborn, mechanics-wise and fluff-wise? My first thoughts were to give them the option of an extra racial feature. So, either wings, natural armour, or darkvision.

They are now freak products of some crazed wizard or dragon tampering with the natural order. The wizard and his assistants are thought dead, but a few villages of free dragonborn sit in the same region as the wizard's tower. A number of dragonborn have traveled far or settled elsewhere, often serving as mercenaries, since their breath weapons and strength are valued highly. Dragonborn travelers often conceal their race because a lot of people think they should be treated like monsters and slain. They age the same as humans. A few communities of dragonborn have migrated to regions appropriate to their color, where they have thrived; some silvers and whites in the frigid north, some red, gold, and brass nomads in a desert, and some green tribes by swamps and rain-forests. I might make each color its own subrace and give each one a different power; they don't all get the same breath weapon.


Either that, or I'd make them a non-player race and use them as monsters. But then again, I'm the kind of guy who thinks humans should be the only playable species, and that humans have all the diversity needed for player-characters in a roleplaying game.

[Waffle_Iron]

Fluff-wise, in my home game, DBs are heavily influenced by the Holy Roman Empire, mid 1200's. They claim an ancient lineage, one which previously dominated the "civilized" world.

Mind, it's only considered the civilized world to them because their empire once ruled it. Their so-called pure methods of rule have been influenced by their defeats, centuries long wars, and recently by cultural influence from the Efreeti ruled shahs to the east.

They use the word "Draco" the way we use the word "Holy", and call their nation "The Draco-Ulithain Empire"
Peoples of their nation's zenith simply called their land Ulithain, without the hubris.

NPC DBs are keenly aware of their heritage, and even a sewers filthy, copperless, street urchin will still puff his chest out at the mention of dragonkind.

Mechanically, we gave the breath weapon a 5+ recharge on d6 at the beginning of each of the DB's turns.

[DragonSorcererX]

Fluff-wise, in my home game, DBs are heavily influenced by the Holy Roman Empire, mid 1200's. They claim an ancient lineage, one which previously dominated the "civilized" world.

Mind, it's only considered the civilized world to them because their empire once ruled it. Their so-called pure methods of rule have been influenced by their defeats, centuries long wars, and recently by cultural influence from the Efreeti ruled shahs to the east.

They use the word "Draco" the way we use the word "Holy", and call their nation "The Draco-Ulithain Empire"
Peoples of their nation's zenith simply called their land Ulithain, without the hubris.

NPC DBs are keenly aware of their heritage, and even a sewers filthy, copperless, street urchin will still puff his chest out at the mention of dragonkind.

Mechanically, we gave the breath weapon a 5+ recharge on d6 at the beginning of each of the DB's turns.

NOOOOOO! Dragonborn being based on the OVERRATED ROMANS! NO! BAHAMUT! PLEASE! NOOO! :smallfurious:

[Slarg]

Easy; give them the racial ability to fly (Armor allowing), and give them a weaker, but more spammable breath weapon.

The problem with the Dragonborn is that they really don't feel like you're playing a Humanoid Dragon. You're playing..... a charismatic human with occasional bad breath.

Let me fly by my opponents breathing fire down from the heavens! Let me fly above a party of enemies in the night, only to drop down in the middle of them (Dealing damage and knocking the close ones prone upon landing, especially if I'm in Heavy Armor). Let me play as a player character who at times forgets his role and just dragons out!

Let me do the Kiss of Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23aj7dbFyJw

My perfect Dragonborn template would be:

Dragon Scales: You gain a bonus +1 AC just for being a dragon born to represent the scales of dragons.

Flight: Passive have the ability to take off and fly with a movespeed of 60.

Dragon Breath/resistance: Make it a cantrip, but give it some sort of health penalty so that using it tires you out incredibly quickly if spammed. The big thing is that the Breath needs to be more central to the Dragonborn Identity.



Don't need bonus stats. Those three things would make a highly awesome class.

[Cybren]

Easy; give them the racial ability to fly (Armor allowing), and give them a weaker, but more spammable breath weapon.

The problem with the Dragonborn is that they really don't feel like you're playing a Humanoid Dragon. You're playing..... a charismatic human with occasional bad breath.

Let me fly by my opponents breathing fire down from the heavens! Let me fly above a party of enemies in the night, only to drop down in the middle of them (Dealing damage and knocking the close ones prone upon landing, especially if I'm in Heavy Armor). Let me play as a player character who at times forgets his role and just dragons out!

Let me do the Kiss of Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23aj7dbFyJw

My perfect Dragonborn template would be:

Dragon Scales: You gain a bonus +1 AC just for being a dragon born to represent the scales of dragons.

Flight: Passive have the ability to take off and fly with a movespeed of 60.

Dragon Breath/resistance: Make it a cantrip, but give it some sort of health penalty so that using it tires you out incredibly quickly if spammed. The big thing is that the Breath needs to be more central to the Dragonborn Identity.



Don't need bonus stats. Those three things would make a highly awesome class.
we shouldn't undervalue the fictional positioning of just being a large bipedal dragon person, but that isn't all positive, because it clashes with the aesthetic of lots of games. "Looking like a dragon" was one of the actual "why would you want to play a dragonborn???" entries in the 4E PHB (incidentally, it's also why so many people don't like the dragonborn)

[Slarg]

we shouldn't undervalue the fictional positioning of just being a large bipedal dragon person, but that isn't all positive, because it clashes with the aesthetic of lots of games. "Looking like a dragon" was one of the actual "why would you want to play a dragonborn???" entries in the 4E PHB (incidentally, it's also why so many people don't like the dragonborn)

For what little my opinion is worth; not being able to fly as a Dragonborn (the whole point of the race is to be a dragon person) while the Dragon Ancestry Sorcerer gets it just seems..... wrong.

I must say that I really don't get why the "problem" with playing as a Dragon person is any different than playing as a literal demon baby (Teifling); Dungeons and Dragons has both demons and dragons as huge elements in both the lore of many stories and major villains. Not trying to be aggressive, passive aggressive, or any sort of aggressive, but what am I missing here?

[Pex]

You can use the stereotype with a twist. The various dragon ancestries are the races of dragonborn with the metallic ones being Evil and the chromatic ones Good. It's an embarrassment to the true dragons, and they don't know why it happens.

[NecroDancer]

I've always enjoyed Erin M Evan's lore on the dragonborn

[Larpus]

I think that they were included in the game mostly for kids. I used to run an Adventurer's League kid's table at a local game shop and the young'uns loved them some Dragonborn. In a group of seven players, three of them were Dragonborn. Apart from that, I don't think I've ever seen another Dragonborn PC, and definitely not from anyone over 16.

I think, as you point out, their problem is twofold.
First, they don't fit well into the established lore of the popular D&D settings. They feel like a ham-fisted attempt to include a "cool" race in the game, not a natural part of the world. They don't appeal to most roleplayers because they just aren't all that inspiring.
Second, their mechanics are pretty meh. They have some unique racial abilities, but nothing that really stands out. They don't have any subraces that provide different ability bonuses, so they're pretty locked in to specific builds as far as optimization goes. And, for the builds that would be suitable for a Dragonborn, there are other races that offer something better.

In a home game I'm running now I changed the race to Scaled One with the Lizardfolk (martial focus), Sarrukh (spell focus), and Dragonborn (hybrid focus) as subraces. The idea was to make reptilian races feel a little bit more like part of the world, and provide more versatility to play a class other than Paladin or Sorcerer. None of the players chose to play one though, so... yeah.
You got me interested as I'm a big fan of reptilian races.

Could you elaborate on the specifics of each subrace so I can either ask my DM on a future date or use it whenever I DM?

[Waffle_Iron]

NOOOOOO! Dragonborn being based on the OVERRATED ROMANS! NO! BAHAMUT! PLEASE! NOOO! :smallfurious:

Oh, yeah it's the Internet, and I forgot... Read that whole thing again, but understand that I'm not a Roman fan, and I'm talking about a civilization that has fallen from ruling the mediterainian, to 1200 years later collapsing in on itself with infighting, and beleaguered by the strain of a crusade which is failing.

Plus, I don't really fall into the whole tribal national jingoistic thing, so that's not a glowing recommendation when I make it.

Lol.

[DragonSorcererX]

Oh, yeah it's the Internet, and I forgot... Read that whole thing again, but understand that I'm not a Roman fan, and I'm talking about a civilization that has fallen from ruling the mediterainian, to 1200 years later collapsing in on itself with infighting, and beleaguered by the strain of a crusade which is failing.

Plus, I don't really fall into the whole tribal national jingoistic thing, so that's not a glowing recommendation when I make it.

Lol.

I already knew it, I was just roleplaying. :smallbiggrin:

I don't like the Romans, because, everytime someone does a crossover involving them against a fantastical or mundane enemy... they win! :smallmad:

[R.Shackleford]

I already knew it, I was just roleplaying. :smallbiggrin:

I don't like the Romans, because, everytime someone does a crossover involving them against a fantastical or mundane enemy... they win! :smallmad:

Have them fight Lead, Mosquitos, and political mismanagement and see how far those Roman's get ;).

(Two of the biggest factors in the fall of the Roman empire was they consumed a lot of lead... like.. wow levels. It was even in their pipes. Also environmental vectors spreading disase... The the "barbarians" happened :p.)

[Sigreid]

I would:

> Make them the bastard children of dragons and humans (those human weirdos will sleep with anything that's why all the half races are half human).
> Tie their attribute modifiers and apperance to their draconic parent.
> Make their breath weapon recharge, just like mommy or daddy's'

Edit: And I don't think they were included for kids, specifically. I think they were included because of the popularity of the Dragonlance books and setting.

[Cybren]

Have them fight Lead, Mosquitos, and political mismanagement and see how far those Roman's get ;).

(Two of the biggest factors in the fall of the Roman empire was they consumed a lot of lead... like.. wow levels. It was even in their pipes. Also environmental vectors spreading disase... The the "barbarians" happened :p.)
The lead thing is a bit of a historical myth:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/leadpoisoning.html

[JackRackham]

I've explicitly removed them from my setting for a couple reasons.

First, they're too specific for my tastes in terms of look and feel. They feel to me like cat folk or the avian race from PF, where they're just too weird and non-human to fit in most settings. You could probably say the same for kobolds, but kobolds are sort of grandfathered in.

Second, for as specific and weird as they are appearance-wise, there's not really a wow-factor in terms of fluff or abilities to make them interesting enough to work in.

Finally, they stepped on the toes of something more specific I wanted for my world - a race of islanders (think Samoans, Tongans) descended from dragons who - while looking humanoid - actually have more of a 3.5 half-dragon feel and some cool draconic fluff.

The point is, even in a setting where I had in mind a race descended from the union of the last true dragons to humanoid refugees who fled to become stranded on a chain of volcanic islands, before I even looked closely at 5th edition, let alone decided to base the setting in it, I just didn't feel like they were cool enough or fit well enough to put them in my game. I home brewed something, instead.

[Mr Adventurer]

The breath weapon should absolutely be a bonus action
It should be based on Con or Str, your choice when you make the character.
It should recharge on a short rest.
They should get low-light vision.

That would do it, for me. No big changes, just amp up their dragony nature by boosting the lacklustre breath weapon so it actually is something that happens.

[Giant2005]

If I cared enough about Dragonborn to bother, I'd make a Dragonborn-only class that focuses on unlocking the ancient power held within their blood. It is basically the only way to make a race awesome without making it overpowered.
That is basically what I did with my Vampires supplement - Vampires are far too powerful to be a reasonable racial choice, so I moved a bunch of their abilities to a class in order to add a little opportunity cost.

[Gastronomie]

Ehhh, sorry to cut all the discussion above, but I personally think that making the breath weapon strong wouldn't make them "interesting" at all. Only "stronger". If it was as an action, it wouldn't be much of a difference in power, because all Dragonborns are melee fighters anyway, and can inflict better damage using a sword. And if it was a bonus action, well sure, if it's only 1/day or something it might work, but it'll be hard to balance.

I think that the better idea is to give fluff-like abilities according to their ancestry.

Black Dragon
-Can breath in water
-Advantage on skill checks related to swimming
-Can see through murky water normally
(Black Dragons live in marshes and swamps, so this wouldn't hurt)

Blue Dragon
-Advantage on skill checks related to living and surviving in the desert
-Advantage on Persuation checks against those of lower power, given you're willing to pay a price
(Blue Dragons live in the desert, and commonly recruit humanoids as loyal servants by giving them the right payment)

Green Dragon
-Advantage on skill checks related to living and surviving in the forest
-Advantage on Deception checks
(Green Dragons live in the forest, and are skilled liars. This ability seems strongest of the five I listed here, but this is because the Poison damage type is obviously the weakest of the five, to the point where it's really incompetent - to make stuff balanced, the fluff should be stronger)

Red Dragon
-Advantage on skill checks related to living and surviving in volcanic areas or in burning areas
-Advantage on Intimidation checks against those of lower power
(Red Dragons live near volcanos, and threat the weak into submission)

White Dragon
-Advantage on skill checks related to living and surviving in cold areas
-Advantage on skill checks related to pursuing prey during hunting
(White Dragons live in arctic areas, and are the most skilled hunters of the dragons)

How would this work?

[the secret fire]

Heh. The Holy Roman Empire had next to nothing to do with ancient Rome, people. They were not "Romans" any more than someone living in the Dakotas is a Native American.

As Voltaire said: "Ce corps qui s'appelait et qui s'appelle encore le saint empire romain n'était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire."

[JellyPooga]

If I cared enough about Dragonborn to bother, I'd make a Dragonborn-only class that focuses on unlocking the ancient power held within their blood. It is basically the only way to make a race awesome without making it overpowered.
That is basically what I did with my Vampires supplement - Vampires are far too powerful to be a reasonable racial choice, so I moved a bunch of their abilities to a class in order to add a little opportunity cost.

As I mentioned above, a transformative Paladin Oath, to make someone of a different race into a Dragonborn as part of their devotion to a Dragon or Draconic deity (which is akin to their original incarnation in 3.5) is the way I'd go. Silver-scaled hyper-paladins all the way!

There's already half-dragons, which are an established piece of lore going way back, to fill the "dragon-man" niche, as far as I'm concerned. Draconians are mentioned in the PHB, but only a vague "they get magic powers instead of a breath weapon" describes what differences they have with "regular" Dragonborn; no solid rules. This only says to me that whoever wrote the rules for Dragonborn simply didn't care enough about them to actually bother writing them up properly. If they can't be bothered, neither can I.

Give me something that's got some well established lore/provenance; a lizardfolk player race, or the Gith (they've even got two sub-races built in!) or do something really unique like...I dunno, inverse monkey-men from mars with lazer eyez (with "z's")*...just don't try a fob me off with some half-baked race and hope it sticks because they have "Dragon" in their name.

Sorry. I said in my last post I wasn't going to rant, but I couldn't help myself.

*actually, don't do this. Ever.

[DragonSorcererX]

As I mentioned above, a transformative Paladin Oath, to make someone of a different race into a Dragonborn as part of their devotion to a Dragon or Draconic deity (which is akin to their original incarnation in 3.5) is the way I'd go. Silver-scaled hyper-paladins all the way!

There's already half-dragons, which are an established piece of lore going way back, to fill the "dragon-man" niche, as far as I'm concerned. Draconians are mentioned in the PHB, but only a vague "they get magic powers instead of a breath weapon" describes what differences they have with "regular" Dragonborn; no solid rules. This only says to me that whoever wrote the rules for Dragonborn simply didn't care enough about them to actually bother writing them up properly. If they can't be bothered, neither can I.

Give me something that's got some well established lore/provenance; a lizardfolk player race, or the Gith (they've even got two sub-races built in!) or do something really unique like...I dunno, inverse monkey-men from mars with lazer eyez (with "z's")*...just don't try a fob me off with some half-baked race and hope it sticks because they have "Dragon" in their name.

Sorry. I said in my last post I wasn't going to rant, but I couldn't help myself.

*actually, don't do this. Ever.

I would like a class like the Dragonfire Adept and that only the Dragonborn can be part of, a class that gives you a real Breath Weapon, Natural Weapons (Tail, Claws, Bite), Flying Speed (Dragon Wings).

[comk59]

Ehhh, sorry to cut all the discussion above, but I personally think that making the breath weapon strong wouldn't make them "interesting" at all. Only "stronger". If it was as an action, it wouldn't be much of a difference in power, because all Dragonborns are melee fighters anyway, and can inflict better damage using a sword. And if it was a bonus action, well sure, if it's only 1/day or something it might work, but it'll be hard to balance.

I think that the better idea is to give fluff-like abilities according to their ancestry.

Black Dragon
-Can breath in water
-Advantage on skill checks related to swimming
-Can see through murky water normally
(Black Dragons live in marshes and swamps, so this wouldn't hurt)

Blue Dragon
-Advantage on skill checks related to living and surviving in the desert
-Advantage on Persuation checks against those of lower power, given you're willing to pay a price
(Blue Dragons live in the desert, and commonly recruit humanoids as loyal servants by giving them the right payment)

Green Dragon
-Advantage on skill checks related to living and surviving in the forest
-Advantage on Deception checks
(Green Dragons live in the forest, and are skilled liars. This ability seems strongest of the five I listed here, but this is because the Poison damage type is obviously the weakest of the five, to the point where it's really incompetent - to make stuff balanced, the fluff should be stronger)

Red Dragon
-Advantage on skill checks related to living and surviving in volcanic areas or in burning areas
-Advantage on Intimidation checks against those of lower power
(Red Dragons live near volcanos, and threat the weak into submission)

White Dragon
-Advantage on skill checks related to living and surviving in cold areas
-Advantage on skill checks related to pursuing prey during hunting
(White Dragons live in arctic areas, and are the most skilled hunters of the dragons)

How would this work?

See, I like this! But we could even go a step farther. Why not make each color a subrace in it's own right?

Also, one of my fixes for dragonborn is calling them Dragonkin. I played too much Skyrim to get past that name.

[Gastronomie]

See, I like this! But we could even go a step farther. Why not make each color a subrace in it's own right?Thanks~.

Since I find it difficult to assign different stats to each color, how about changing the ability score bonus to simply "+1 CHA, +2 to STR, DEX or CON"? I mean, to allow DEX builds and casters. Right now the Dragonborn Draconic Sorcerer is weaker than a human Draconic Sorcerer, in-game wise... which really makes no sense.
I would like a class like the Dragonfire Adept and that only the Dragonborn can be part of, a class that gives you a real Breath Weapon, Natural Weapons (Tail, Claws, Bite), Flying Speed (Dragon Wings).I think JNA had a homebrew about that (I remember because he was using it in all the PbP threads for a while lol). Maybe check it out?

[Waffle_Iron]

See, I like this! But we could even go a step farther. Why not make each color a subrace in it's own right?

Also, one of my fixes for dragonborn is calling them Dragonkin. I played too much Skyrim to get past that name.

One of my players is a DB ranger named Fus Ro Dah.

[Ralanr]

See, I like this! But we could even go a step farther. Why not make each color a subrace in it's own right?

Also, one of my fixes for dragonborn is calling them Dragonkin. I played too much Skyrim to get past that name.

When I first played a dragonborn I thought about doing this, with every color being closely related to the neutral attitude of their dragon type (Whites were cunning but savage hunters. I also only got as far as whites and Silvers, with silver dragonborn technically being all one big clan of seperated individuals to mirror the traveling of a silver dragon). But as for actual stats I drew blanks.

The +2 str and +1 Cha doesn't need to change (I think wizards purposely tried to make stat arrays among races as diverse as possible, I could be wrong though). But the minor effects on breath weapons would be interesting.

Though one thing that always pissed me off about dragonborn is that most of the time a dragonborn player is only going to have four skills. I'm sure a minmaxer can dispute this, but it annoyed me that dragonborn had no racial skills.

Giving them a skill would at least have something that scales better into higher levels and is more likely to be used (even if you didn't put points into history, it can still be used later in a campaign for information. The breath attack however would be a waste of an action beyond being awesome since the party had better AoE by then).

[RossN]

I think varying their appearance could help a lot. Base Dragon are basically scaly orcs vith vaguely draconic heads - strong, tall, broad shouldered, heavily built, tailess... give me a Dragonborn with vestigal wings, or a tale, or a long sinuous neck. The Draconians in the Dragonlance setting have some variety in shapes and abilities, why not 'regular' Dragonborn?

[Sigreid]

I think varying their appearance could help a lot. Base Dragon are basically scaly orcs vith vaguely draconic heads - strong, tall, broad shouldered, heavily built, tailess... give me a Dragonborn with vestigal wings, or a tale, or a long sinuous neck. The Draconians in the Dragonlance setting have some variety in shapes and abilities, why not 'regular' Dragonborn?

My dragon born, the only one I've ever made, is described as looking like a humanoid silver dragon. Glinting metallic scales, ridge fin and all. It's clear what his ancestry was.

[Herobizkit]

Make them kobold-sized.

Done. ^_^

[RossN]

My dragon born, the only one I've ever made, is described as looking like a humanoid silver dragon. Glinting metallic scales, ridge fin and all. It's clear what his ancestry was.

Yes, that sounds a much more interesting look than the scaly orcs we have now.

[Lombra]

I think the designers flattened the dragonborn race because the setting of 5e is assumed to be long after the time of previous edition. The continuous breeding with other races made dragonborns less related to dragons than their ancestors.

But yeah, some better options would be cool, like extra proficiencies and more uses for the breath weapon, this alone would make them equally intreasting as the other classes.