Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 6535617" data-attributes="member: 92511">I am so confused by so many comments here about the dragonborn. Granted, I have no great love for them so maybe I'm just not seeing the attractive nuances of the race for those that love them. But to keep saying "but they don't get...", "Why didn't they get...", "They don't have enough..." Yeah. It would have made sense for them to have Darkvision. I would have taken it right off the Half-Elf or Half-Orc...or even Tiefling (wanna see in the dark? Be a warlock), as a race, before the Dragonborn...But I wasn't the one designing them. Put it in. Not gonna hurt anybody.[As a completely irrelevant aside to the conversation, but I agree with those who say they should always have had tails. The designers love tiefling tails sooooo much. I can only come to the conclusion that in the design of Dragonborn, tails were chopped off 1) to separate them from the tail-y tieflings and make tiefling more "oo special", and 2) provide more differentiation from folks saying "they're just lizardmen with breath weapons". But, again, I wasn't the designer there...But they should have tails. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ]BUT, back to the complaints on what the dragonborn gets/doesn't get...You are a walking dragon-man. Yes, that matters. Yes, that gets noticed. Yes, that earns [or should earn] you some immeasurable situational "stuff" in the game world. You have resistance to an energy type. Is it going to matter every fight all of the time? No. Does it matter all of the time? Yes! Is it ALWAYS "on/active"? Yes. Does it matter what level you are? Nope. You are taking half damage ALWAYS from a particular energy type.Is it situational? Yes. As all kinds of racial abilities are. Is it "weaker" or "less special" than a dwarf getting poison resistance or a tiefling getting fire? Not really, no. It is, perhaps, en par with the variant Aasimar in the DMG, with radiant/necrotic resistance...more specialized/less likely to be encountered as often as [in most "default D&D world" cases] the tiefling's fire...unless, of course, you just take (brass, red or gold) fire yourself. But to suggest that this is a throw away ability/"not enough"/"doesn't count" as a substantial racial ability is just baffling. You have a breath weapon. A. Breath. Weapon. "It's not often enough to be a big deal"?!? (Yes it depends on the table, but with fairly conservative "short rests", you should be getting in a minimum of twice -maybe 3 times- a day!) "It shouldn't take my action [to barf up some fire or lightning]"?! Seriously? But insinuate player entitlement around here and I'll get my head chewed off!Another thing, officially speaking, the Dragonborn are an "Uncommon race." They are not an assumed part of every D&D universe. So, saying "But they're not as good as dwarves or elves" doesn't work. Apples to oranges. They are not "the same" as the default races. They are not supposed to be.The ONLY thing that tieflings have over dragonborn is darkvision. The tiefling's magic is not really any more powerful than the breath weapon. Your spells are only twice per day, once you get both of them, after 5th level. Sure, you can spam your cantrip...that does no damage! Dragonborn breath weapon does damage.  The ONLY thing half-elves have that Dragonborn don't is darkvision. Otherwise, they have a situational resistance. Check. And 2 skill proficiencies. No damage dealing pyrotechnics or devil-born spell use there. Big woo. Right, who's next...The Half-Orc has a few more traits, in number, than other "Uncommon races"...But look at what they are. Right darkvision is there again. So that's different. Once per long rest, you can "give yourself/keep" 1 HP. Congrats. A single prescribed skill proficiency (half-elves get TWO...of their choice! The bastards!) and something that gets you extra weapon damage...better make sure you always have a weapon on you. Yes. It's 3 things (4 if you count darkvision, but we already know that's the same as everyone else), instead of 2. And all of them are less effective/more situational than the Dragonborn.THe gnomes are a bit more complex, given their subraces (none of the other Uncommon types have subraces. Wussupwitdat?) Gnome Cunning (huge, as noted), Minor Illusions (again, a cantrip, but no damage), and talking to squirrels...and darkvision. OR Gnome Cunning, a situational Int. check bonus, make annoying little toys (which deal no damage, though one can conceivably start a fire. So that, I guess, could be dangerous in the right arsonistic pyromaniac gnomish mind) if you spend money and time...and darkvision.So...yeah this is a lot longer than what I think I was intending to say at the start, but bottom line...I think...If I'm remembering what I wanted it to be...the Dragonborn are not appreciably "less effective", "more situational" or chintzed out on than any other race.Just houserule them darkvision, relax, and play on! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" />PS: Also boggles that the word "situational" comes up as a misspelling. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:"  data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" /></blockquote>

Verification