Bohemian Ear-Spork
First Post
My initial reaction to the idea of Dragonborn was, frankly, disapointment. I'm looking more and more at a sort of fairy-tale inspired setting, and just going by the name "dragonborn" really didn't quite fit.
But my feeling is that my campaign world isn't just MY campaign world: It's ours, the players and mine. We develop it together, through play. And if someone thinks that the dragonborn are cool (and they may well be) and wants to play one, I 'm not going to say no to them.
So how do I make them fit? Proper answer is to wait until we have some actual details, and see what WoTC has to say. But that requires patience, and is no fun. Besides, this is the internet age, dammit!
Instead, I've been playing with concepts. Trying to come up with something that I like. And lo and behold, so I have. Thrice. So here are three ideas for the origin of the dragonborn. Which, if any, I end up using will depend on a number of factors.
(As a side note, "mortals" hereafter refers to any of the plausible PCs races. "Humans" is probably closer to the sense of what I mean, but when speaking of D&D you need to be more inclusive.)
Concept the First:
Dragons, from time to time, take mortal form. They lay with mortals, and children are concieved, and eventually born, in the normal way. The draconic parent will vanish shortly after the child's birth, never to be seen again. And the child? He seems normal enough, at first. Over the years, though, he begins to change. It's the eyes, first. And then scales growing upon his skin. A tail sprouts, and horns...and by the time he is an adolecent, he looks more dragon than mortal. He grows older, and stronger, and his resemblance to his parent grows stronger. And when the time is right, he'll find a place to go, to be alone. He'll die there...and some hours later, a newborn dragon will dig its way out of his cooling corpse.
Concept the Second:
Dragonborn are born to mortal parents, without apparent rhyme or reason. Perhaps it's the influence of the heavens, or a norterly wind blowing at the time of their conception. There are many theories, but no answers.
These children suffer various fates, according to where they are born. Some communities have them killed outright, or abandoned in the wilderness. In other places, they are honored, or even worshipped.
They know the language of dragons, these children, without ever having been taught. They have powers that set them apart from the mortals around them. But it is their task to act as intermediaries between the Dragons and the lesser races....
Concept the Third:
The first age was the age of Dragons. They kept the mortal races as pets, and slaves, and created the Dragonborn to act as overseers and administrators.
But it was the Dragonborn who started the revolt against the dragons, and who led the "lesser" races to victory against their masters so many centuries ago....
*****
The third idea is the simplest, but I'm currently most fond of the second. That's likely to change many times between now and the time I hold the new PHB in my hands, too.
But my feeling is that my campaign world isn't just MY campaign world: It's ours, the players and mine. We develop it together, through play. And if someone thinks that the dragonborn are cool (and they may well be) and wants to play one, I 'm not going to say no to them.
So how do I make them fit? Proper answer is to wait until we have some actual details, and see what WoTC has to say. But that requires patience, and is no fun. Besides, this is the internet age, dammit!
Instead, I've been playing with concepts. Trying to come up with something that I like. And lo and behold, so I have. Thrice. So here are three ideas for the origin of the dragonborn. Which, if any, I end up using will depend on a number of factors.
(As a side note, "mortals" hereafter refers to any of the plausible PCs races. "Humans" is probably closer to the sense of what I mean, but when speaking of D&D you need to be more inclusive.)
Concept the First:
Dragons, from time to time, take mortal form. They lay with mortals, and children are concieved, and eventually born, in the normal way. The draconic parent will vanish shortly after the child's birth, never to be seen again. And the child? He seems normal enough, at first. Over the years, though, he begins to change. It's the eyes, first. And then scales growing upon his skin. A tail sprouts, and horns...and by the time he is an adolecent, he looks more dragon than mortal. He grows older, and stronger, and his resemblance to his parent grows stronger. And when the time is right, he'll find a place to go, to be alone. He'll die there...and some hours later, a newborn dragon will dig its way out of his cooling corpse.
Concept the Second:
Dragonborn are born to mortal parents, without apparent rhyme or reason. Perhaps it's the influence of the heavens, or a norterly wind blowing at the time of their conception. There are many theories, but no answers.
These children suffer various fates, according to where they are born. Some communities have them killed outright, or abandoned in the wilderness. In other places, they are honored, or even worshipped.
They know the language of dragons, these children, without ever having been taught. They have powers that set them apart from the mortals around them. But it is their task to act as intermediaries between the Dragons and the lesser races....
Concept the Third:
The first age was the age of Dragons. They kept the mortal races as pets, and slaves, and created the Dragonborn to act as overseers and administrators.
But it was the Dragonborn who started the revolt against the dragons, and who led the "lesser" races to victory against their masters so many centuries ago....
*****
The third idea is the simplest, but I'm currently most fond of the second. That's likely to change many times between now and the time I hold the new PHB in my hands, too.
