D&D 3E/3.5 3e dragonborn

[Ravilah]

I can't imagine that this has never been discussed before, but finding old threads is like looking for a needle in a...um...thread stack.

So I've been playing with a group of 4-5 guys (all new to roleplaying) off and on for about a year (maybe 10 sessions all told). Hearing their comments, I thought they might enjoy 3.5. Since this is my preferred system, I tried them out on it last night and they all seem to like it.

Except for one guy...

His only upset was that there wasn't a dragonborn race to play. All dragon-related races are complicated to make (and have level adjusts), and weren't really advisable as a first-time, first-level player. He's being a good sport but really is disappointed.

So I've been thinking of how to homebrew a dragonborn (they fit into my homebrew world easily enough), and it's really quite easy except for the matter of dragon's breath.

What is a non-broken use of dragon's breath as a racial ability? A cone-shaped fireball (1d6/level) once a day? Modified burning hands (cap off at 5d4) every ten minutes?

I used to be a quite adept at 3.5 but I haven't played in 3 years, and I need some advice.

Thank you, 3.5 Maestros everywhere.

R

 

[Dandu]

Spellscale race: Races of the Dragon, p. 21
Draconic template: Races of the Dragon, p 74

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The 3E Dragonborn is in Races of the Dragon, if you can lay hands on that. I don't remember its crunch off the top of my head.

 

[Duke Arioch]

The 3E Dragonborn is in Races of the Dragon, if you can lay hands on that.

This.
It is basically a template-like race. You take one humanoid race, strip everything except ability changes (+2Dex, -2Con for elves, etc.), add in Dragonborn +2Con, -2Dex, and choose one of the aspects (similar to Hellbred), which grant cool abilities which scale with your lvl.

 

[Lord Vampyre]

By RAW you could have a Dragonborn (Lesser Assimar). This would give the character a +2 to Con, Wis, and Cha, and a -2 to Dex. And it would still only be a LA +0 race.

I'm actually running a campaign where I've rewritten the fluff on the Dragonborn, and then taken away the +2 to Wis and the -2 to Dex.