Dragonborn Essentials stat options..anyone know for sure?

[RLBURNSIDE]

Hi there, I couldn't find a definitive answer to this, does anyone know what next month's Essentials product will offer Dragonborn in terms of racial stat boost options?

I.e. is is Str + Con, or Str + Dex, or what?

thx in advance, and sorry if this has been answered before!

 

[Jack99]

Pretty sure Mike ( [MENTION=697]mearls[/MENTION] ) knows, but so far, he ain't spilling....

 

[karolusb]

Know for certain? No.

Speculate? Dragonborn are depicted as arcane casters far more often then rogue types. I would speculate it will be between Con and Int. My guess is Str + Cha/Int.

 

[lutecius]

Know for certain? No.

Speculate? Dragonborn are depicted as arcane casters far more often then rogue types. I would speculate it will be between Con and Int. My guess is Str + Cha/Int.

the db arcane caster is already covered by sorcerer (cha based). con makes a lot more sense.

 

[Larrin]

They have two racial abilities that key off of con; Draconic heritage (Healing surge gain con mod) and damage on dragon breath. Con is not a bad prediction. If you look at thematic class choices I think fighter, paladin, sorcerer, barbarian (though i disagree with this one) are what WoTC has been presenting to us. Essential wise this means knight, slayer and cavalier. Knight is str/con, slayer str/dex, and cavalier is unknown, but str/cha seems like a valid prediction. I think dragon born is more knight than slayer, so con stands. The real question in my mind is will it be str cha/con or str/con cha. I prefer the latter, but the former fits more classes.

 

[RLBURNSIDE]

I also like the Str + Con

option a lot. (for purely selfish reasons, I admit. as this change would allow me to use a str 18+2 at first level while maintaining all the feats I need)

Although str + dex or str + wis would also fit a lot of classes too. Str + Dex I could also see that happening and opening up Rogues and ranged rangers (not iconic, I know, but oh well). A lot of wis based classes would fit too thematically if that's the option. I also agree Cha covers the Sorcerer / arcane side of dragons, so in this edition are not likely to be Wizards. If anything, Str or Con, AND Cha OR Int, would make them great at a large number of classes. I hope they fix the attack progression of breath attacks too. Melee clases can't spare the feats to boost it, especially since without implements via making the breath an arcane power, it can barely hit. Hopefully there will be some way to use regular magic weapons as the implement type for boosting DB.

Probably won't happen due to balancing with other classes needing implement proficiencies, but one can dream, can't they? It seems bad that racial powers can't benefit from implements by default. Let's hope this oversight can be corrected. The only balance issue is for those who can re-spawn their DB, AFAIK. And those are already the dragon magic sorcerers, who probably have DB - boosting implements anyway.

 

[ourchair]

Know for certain? No.

Speculate? Dragonborn are depicted as arcane casters far more often then rogue types. I would speculate it will be between Con and Int. My guess is Str + Cha/Int.

CON would make sense as it reflects well on the flavor of having more potent surges than other races, but I also think INT would be interesting since the fluff portrays the race as being nostalgic and full of a sense of history.

 

[Davachido]

Do we really need another Str/Con race? We already have too many as it is in my opinion. If they were going to have Con I'd prefer them to be Con/Cha instead of Str/Con.

If they were going to keep Str though they should be Str/Int making them share a primary stat with many arcane classes (espcially making them better swordmages) OR Str/Wis making them better striker-esque paladins and better Wis-based fighters.

 

[ourchair]

Do we really need another Str/Con race? We already have too many as it is in my opinion. If they were going to have Con I'd prefer them to be Con/Cha instead of Str/Con.

I concur with this.

I get so annoyed looking at the Character Builder and seeing that the Warforged, the Goliath and the Minotaur. And it's not like these races have received the kind of broad feat support that other races have gotten that would give them broadly distinct build possibilities from one another.

(And with Essentials, the Dwarves have gone STR+CON too! That disappointed me.)

 

[Camelot]

I think Constitution will be a better score for the dragonborn, since they already rely on it so heavily. But the question is, which score can you replace Con with?

• Shared Classes: Cleric, Paladin, Warlord, Sorcerer
• No matter what, dragonborn will be good at these classes, all of which are thematic.

+2 Str, +2 Con or Cha

• Unique Classes: Fighter, Barbarian, Warden, Runepriest
• With this array, dragonborn become better at these classes, since they can combine Con with Str.
• Fighter and Warden are thematic because they are defenders, and dragonborn are the poster child defender next to dwarves. Unlike dwarves, dragonborn carry an innate secondary controller aspect (because of dragon's breath), which further reinforces Fighter and Warden as thematic since they both can be secondary controllers (though Fighters not as much, since Str/Con fighters tend to be strikers).
• Runepriest is thematic because they are religious, and dragonborn have heavy religious themes from their dedication to history and closeness to Bahamut.
• Barbarian should be noted as belonging to this array since, although a Cha, Str/Con dragonborn can still function well as a Str/Cha barbarian, a Str, Con/Cha dragonborn is effective at other types of barbarians as well.

+2 Cha, +2 Str or Con

• Unique Classes: Bard, Ardent, Battlemind
• With this array, dragonborn become better at these classes, because they can combine Cha with Con.
• Bard is slightly thematic, since a Cha/Con bard is a valorous bard, and dragonborn are made to be very valorous.
• Battlemind, being a defender, is somewhat thematic, but the psionic power source is not very compatable in regards to theme with the dragonborn. This applies to ardent as well, though temperamental emotions may be a good theme for a dragonborn.

While Cha, Str/Con is viable, I'd cast my vote for Str, Con/Cha, because the classes it becomes better at seem to fit better with the dragonborn, in addition to just simply providing more optimized options.