PDA

View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next AD&D Style Draconians



LibraryOgre
2021-05-22, 03:18 PM
Dragonborn (Draconian)
Ability Scores: All Draconians begin with +1 to Constitution. Other ability score modifiers are determined by their subrace.

Age. Young draconians grow quickly. They walk hours after hatching, attain the size and development of a 10-year-old human child by the age of 3, and reach adulthood by 15. They live to be around 80.

Alignment. Draconians are the possession of a good dragonling's body by an evil spirit. As such, most tend towards evil but, with experience, they may become neutral, or even good. Their ethical alignment tends to mirror that of their draconic ancestor, but does not need to.

Size. Draconians vary in size according to subrace. Baaz are roughly human size, but stocky. Kapaks are human sized but slender. Bozak, Auraks, and Sivaks are all slightly taller than humans, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging almost 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Natural Armor: Unarmored Draconians have an unarmored AC of 13 + Dexterity modifier. If they wear armor additional armor, they may choose the better of the two Armor Class, and add +1 to it for the additional armor. Whether they add dexterity, and how much, is determined by the artificial armor. They maintain their AC regardless of form.

Draconic Ancestry: You have the ancestry of one of the metallic dragons, which determines which subrace you belong to.

Baaz (Brass Dragon)
Ability Scores: Baaz Draconians are bred as soldiers, and as such have +1 to Strength and Dexterity.
Common Troops: During the War of the Lance, Baaz Draconians were all proficient in the disguise kit, as they often had to pass unnoticed in hostile lands. After the War, Baaz will be proficient in one type of tool.
Trained to War: All Baaz draconians, regardless of class, are proficient in light and medium armor, as well as with scimitar, Halberd, Heavy Crossbow, and Net.
Death Throes: Baaz Draconians turn to stone upon failing their third death save, then crumble to chunks of stone after 10 minutes. They may be brought back to life, but first must have Stone to Flesh cast upon them.

Kapak (Copper Dragon)
Ability Scores: Kapaks are bred as assassins, and as such have +2 to Dexterity
Poisonous: Kapak are skilled in the use of poison of all sorts. They are proficient with a poisoner's kit, have advantage on all saving throws against poisons, and possess poisonous saliva, which they may smear upon their weapons as a bonus action. This poison has a DC of 8 + Proficiency Bonus + Con modifier. The poison produced will inflict 3d6 poison damage on a failed save, and half of that on a successful one. The damage increases to 4d6 at 6th level, 5d6 at 11th, and 6d6 at 16th. Once you use your poison, it cannot be used again until you have completed a short or long rest. Poison may be harvested by a kapak with a successful proficiency check with their poisoner's kit. Such harvested poison inflicts 1d6 less damage, and requires your move, instead of a bonus action.
Death Throes: Kapak draconians, upon death, explode in a 10' radius pool of acid. This does acid damage to all within the area of effect equal to the kapak's poison. Kapak draconians can be raised, but must first have Neutralize Poison cast upon them.

Bozak (Bronze Dragon)
Ability Scores: Leaders within the Draconians, Bozak have +1 to Intelligence and +1 to Charisma
Spellcasters: Bozak Draconians know a single cantrip from the Bard, Sorcerer, or Wizard list. They receive an additional cantrip at levels 6, 11, and 16. Regardless of the list, Intelligence is their casting stat for these spells.
Trained to War: All Bozak draconians, regardless of class, are proficient in light and medium armor, as well as with Shields, Long Swords, War Hammers, and Battle Axe
Death Throes: Bozak Draconians turn into a bolt of lighting upon death, and inflict 1d6 damage per character level in a line 60' long, directed towards their killer, or in a random direction if the killer is not within 60'. Bozak Draconians cannot be raised from the dead.

Sivak (Silver Dragon)
Ability Scores: Sivak Draconians receive a +1 to Dexterity and a +1 to Charisma.
Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this speed, you can't be wearing medium or heavy armor.
Shapeshifters: As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, and sex. You can also adjust your height and weight, but not so much that your size changes. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change. You can't duplicate the appearance of a creature you've never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren't changed by this trait.
You stay in the new form until you use an action to revert to your true form or until you die.
Death Throes: Sivaks who fail their third death saving throw mimic the shape of whoever killed them, or maintain their current shape if they were killed by misadventure (q.v falling from a high place). They may be raised from the dead if they can be identified, but return to their natural shape upon returning to life (which can be a problem if they were raised by their enemies, believing them to be the person they mimicked upon death)

Aurak (Gold Dragon)
Ability Scores: Aurak receive a +2 to Charisma.
Dimension Door: As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. Once you use this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Spellcasters: Auraks know two cantrips from the Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard list. Regardless of the list, Charisma is their casting stat for these cantrips.
Death Throes: Aurak Draconians turn into a ball of fire upon death, and inflict 1d6 damage per character level in a 15' radius. Aurak Draconians cannot be raised from the dead.

Composer99
2021-05-23, 11:36 AM
Oh, man, draconians take me back.

One overall wording nitpick: I think you mean death throes, yes?

Possible nitpick: Some draconian entries specify their death throes happen when they fail their third death saving throw, others specify happening when they die. As far as I am aware, there's no particular need for that distinction? (Sivaks die differently when they are killed by a creature they could mimic compared to when they aren't, but I'm not aware why it would matter whether they made death saving throws or not.) Is there something I'm missing?

Anyway, I am not sure about the balance of kapaks and sivaks. The at-will bonus action poison is pretty solid, especially when you score a critical hit. Yes, it's poison damage, which a lot of creatures are immune to - but outside of a game where you journey to the Lower Planes, are such creatures really going to dominate the profile of enemies? Sivaks get an at-will effect that is more or less identical to the Change Appearance option of alter self. The at-will flight is also concerning, even with the armour restrictions.

Finally, I'm not sure about the bozak spellcasting. I have the opposite concern here as I do about the kapaks and sivaks - here I think it is too weak if they're just getting more cantrips at higher levels. I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with bozak stat blocks from previous editions to have any sensible suggestions for spells.

Breccia
2021-05-23, 12:39 PM
Some mild recomendations. Flight and teleportation at first level is extremely dangerous. I would heavily restrict both. Most likely, I would drop the weight limit to "lightly encumbered" (5 pounds/Str) and add "cannot bring other living creatures over the size of a wizard's familiar" to the teleport.

I would also be tempted to make a new Draconian Feat, one that augmented any Draconian's racials, available at a higher level. By the time the party's wizard is casting blink and fly there's less reason to be concerned about the racials.

If I remember my Krynn lore, you got a batch of draconians from a single egg. That's always been a sore spot for me in terms of raising from the dead, since "do they have a soul?" was a tough question to answer. But at the same time, I'd be extra wary of either allowing a race, or playing one myself, that could never be raised from the dead. So while, yes, traditionally draconians go boom when they fall down, I'd hate to be the DM in a game where the PCs made it to 13th level than WHAMMO one of the PCs is flat-out erased permanently, not because they licked a sphere of annihiliation but because they picked the "wrong" race. I don't think, for example, the racial bonuses of being a Baaz are worth "you crumble to dust, the end" hanging forever over your head. With the "shared soul" issue, I don't know how I would fix this, but I'd probably allow a higher-level spell, possibly resurrection and definitely wish, to do it.

Corsair14
2021-05-24, 07:53 AM
Don't try and reinvent the wheel, drangonlance nexus already did a really good workable draconians in 5e conversion which keeps the true flavor of the original draconians and the differences between them and includes the noble draconians as well.

LibraryOgre
2021-05-25, 12:20 PM
Oh, man, draconians take me back.

One overall wording nitpick: I think you mean death throes, yes?

I *knew* that didn't look right.


Possible nitpick: Some draconian entries specify their death throes happen when they fail their third death saving throw, others specify happening when they die. As far as I am aware, there's no particular need for that distinction? (Sivaks die differently when they are killed by a creature they could mimic compared to when they aren't, but I'm not aware why it would matter whether they made death saving throws or not.) Is there something I'm missing?

I wrote it once with the distinction, and once without, and wound up copy pasting one of them a couple times and changing the rest of the text. It's not important.


Anyway, I am not sure about the balance of kapaks and sivaks. The at-will bonus action poison is pretty solid, especially when you score a critical hit. Yes, it's poison damage, which a lot of creatures are immune to - but outside of a game where you journey to the Lower Planes, are such creatures really going to dominate the profile of enemies? Sivaks get an at-will effect that is more or less identical to the Change Appearance option of alter self. The at-will flight is also concerning, even with the armour restrictions.

I poked around a bit for those options. The Kapak ability is based on the core Dragonborn, but with an increase in damage because it's touch range only, and requires a weapon hit. The Sivak ability is based on the Doppleganger, and their flight is based on the aarockra (but slowed down). I don't deny that they're stupid good, though.


Finally, I'm not sure about the bozak spellcasting. I have the opposite concern here as I do about the kapaks and sivaks - here I think it is too weak if they're just getting more cantrips at higher levels. I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with bozak stat blocks from previous editions to have any sensible suggestions for spells.

IIRC, all bozaks were the equivalent of 5th level wizards. Obviously, that doesn't work well with PC races (much like kenku have lost their spellcasting since FF). That's part of why I gave them a number of martial things for free... encourage them to be wizards or sorcerers, since they can still fight as them.


Don't try and reinvent the wheel, drangonlance nexus already did a really good workable draconians in 5e conversion which keeps the true flavor of the original draconians and the differences between them and includes the noble draconians as well.

I like making things.