Dragonborn Battlemaster

[ArrixGrimm]

So my DM has agreed to allow us to make custom PCs for the LMoP starter campaign. We are mostly 3.5 players in experience, so it is nice to play a game that is more RP based then well..power building.

So with this in mind, I have come up with a character idea.

A Chaotic Good Black Dragonborn of the Folk Hero Background.

At the start of LMoP His life is already half over, the fighter being near 40 years of age at this point.

Back in 3.5, Black Dragonborns and half-dragons were hardcore evil, so I decided to use the freedom of 5e to make on that was CG over CE.

Backstory wise, he was a wander, till he came across a village and met the local druid, a beautiful wood elf druid (Where he learned Handle Animal and Survival from) Due to his heart being aflutter for said elf, he stuck around and soon enough the two wee married. Fast forward a few years, A human noble has decided he wants the forest the village is in and that the druid protects. Instead of being a man of honor, he burns the village to the ground. While the Dragonborn saved the villagers, the druid tried to save the forest but perished in the flames.

After these events, he stayed in the village (or what remained) for the next few years as it's warden, but without his wife, he did not have the heart to be called their "Warden" and took to traveling, hiding his pain behind humor and being a the loudest and happiest man in the local taverns he came across.

....RP wise, does this seem good?

[The Aboleth]

It looks good to me! You have a solid backstory and a plausible reason for why the character chooses to set out on an adventuring path. The story itself is detailed enough to provide potential hooks to the campaign later on, yet open-ended enough to not constrain character development or party cohesion. Overall, good job!

[ArrixGrimm]

Good to know I have a solid character built RP wise, and our DM plans for us to do a Jousting Tournament after LMoP, maybe said noble is there and he can get some revenge or something along those lines

[MagneticKitty]

What made him turn against his evil heritage to turn wanderer? Was his family killed in their evil ways and he saw being evil was dangerous? Or was he raised by non evil adoptive parents of a different race or metallic colored dragon born? This probably effects his personality a lot.

For example my LG paladin green dragonborn was raised by a village of gold dragonborns after becoming an orphan

[ArrixGrimm]

More then likely I will go with the idea that at a young age, he figured out that he is not a dragon, but a dragonborn. He does not have the power of a dragon, he can't make kingdoms tremble at his roar, or fly through the sky's as black death....he is in a sense a glorified lizardfolk. So, he set out into the world to find....something to claim as his power, but not from the same source as his lineage.

[The Aboleth]

What made him turn against his evil heritage to turn wanderer? Was his family killed in their evil ways and he saw being evil was dangerous? Or was he raised by non evil adoptive parents of a different race or metallic colored dragon born? This probably effects his personality a lot.

For example my LG paladin green dragonborn was raised by a village of gold dragonborns after becoming an orphan

In 5e, Dragonborn color has little to no effect on their alignment. That's not to say NPCs won't have biases or preconceived notions that may adversely affect how the character is viewed, but a black Dragonborn doesn't have to have an inherently "evil heritage" unless the player so chooses.

EDIT: How I interpreted the OP was that he wanted to use the less strict race alignment guidelines of 5e to build a CG black Dragonborn (which was something not typical in 3.5). If I misinterpreted that and the player intended the character to have an evil heritage in their backstory but they (the character) are choosing to resist that trend, then the above paragraph is moot and you can ignore it. :)

[ArrixGrimm]

It was more of the fact that many seem to think that Dragonborn = Dragons when it comes to the way they act and such. My PC is aware of his heritage but it has been many, many, many years since that bloodline started and he is fully aware he is not a dragon. It's sorta like comparing an elf to a fey...in a way

Edit: to me Dragonborn are more a product of their surroundings then of bloodline. Also, wouldn't the folk hero background smooth most things over with the common folk?

[The Aboleth]

Also, wouldn't the folk hero background smooth most things over with the common folk?

For the common folk, yes, but it might depend on how thoroughly your DM distinguishes between who is and is not considered "common folk." At the very least, I can see some arrogant nobles turning their noses up at the Dragonborn character you've described--this may or may not be further exacerbated by his coloration (as I mentioned, that detail depends on how you and your DM want to play it).

[ArrixGrimm]

I doubt my Dragonborn would enjoy nobles much, given the whole...forest fire thing....