Dragonborn

Born of Abeir, the dragonborn are an honorable people who draw strength from the hardships of their heritage and their resolve to survive. Dragonborn are a handsome fusion of dragon and human. Tall and muscled, gifted with incredible strength and great reserves of physical endurance, dragon born are ideal warriors. Added to their physical prowess is their adherence to a disciplined life, giving them the will to excel at whatever they set out to do.    

Outlook

The number of dragonborn who remember the times before the migration are minuscule, but nearly every dragonborn living today has a relative who suffered under the dragon despots of Abeir. Chilling tales told around family hearths and the recitations of oral histories in the gallery of the City-Bastion in Djerad Thymar instill in these doughty folk a deep and abiding hatred of all dragonkind. Even though the dragons of Toril had nothing to do with their appalling treatment, dragonborn bear a grudge that burns as hot now as it ever did before. In fact, those who take up a life of dragon-hunting are among some of the most celebrated heroes in Tymanther.   Many dragonborn believe that waging eternal war against dragons cannot represent their true purpose. Tymantheran dragonborn have come to learn that Faerûn holds many new possibilities, new opportunities, without any of the prejudices of their past. Dragonborn are eager to explore and to extend the hand of friendship to their neighbors. Having no thirst for war, dragonborn work hard to achieve peaceful relations with those they meet and struggle to establish themselves as a viable nation in the tapestry of lands that make up Toril. Unfortunately for them, the strangeness of their customs and their uncertain origins casts many suspicions on the dragonborn and their motives, making establishing long-lasting alliances a challenge.   Dragonborn have always cleaved to a complex set of principles to guide their beliefs. Dragonborn society is highly ordered, with rigid castes and social expectations, but nowhere does the race’s sense of honor reveal itself more than in combat. A dragonborn always shows his enemies respect, giving his opponents the greatest due regardless of the cause that makes them foes. Few dragonborn would sully themselves by using treachery to defeat their adversaries, and they give each opponent the chance to acquit himself in the same honorable fashion.    

Dragonborn Characters

Dragonborn know that they are a displaced people, and hold true to their honor and traditions in order to maintain their lost culture. Due to their size and strength, Dragonborn excel in the art of war and many make exceptional fighters. Alternately, the dragon blood flowing through their veins grant many dragonborn sorcerous powers. Dragonborn who favor the arcane over the martial sometimes call themselves spellscales. Because Abeir was without divine influence, Dragonborn rarely follow the paths of cleric, druid or paladin.   Favored Class: Due to their size and strength, Dragonborn excel in the art of war and many make exceptional fighters. Alternately, the dragon blood flowing through their veins grant many dragonborn sorcerous powers.    

Dragonborn Society

Before their empire on Abeir spread across the world, the dragonborn formed clans that each gave its allegiance to a single dragon patron. Over the course of centuries, these clans grew into city-states which were brutally subjugated by the dragon overlords of Abeir, including the dragon overlords of the Tymantheran Empire. Though the empire is now located on another world, those dragonborn clans remain intact, and continue to form a central element of racial identity.   Each dragonborn clan is a collection of families united by a shared allegiance. Families are related by blood, while clans come together around powerful patrons, rulers, or sometimes ideals. Clan associations were formed in ancient times and rarely change, however, so it is fairly common for individuals and families within a clan to disagree about the clan's original purpose and proper role in the current age. Even so, dragonborn revere their family ancestors and the honored dead of their clan, and seek to bring glory to their clan through their own deeds.   Clan can define a dragonborn's life, and many dragonborn adventurers are motivated by the desire to overcome a mark of shame or live up to the past glories of their clans. Others flee the society of other dragonborn in an attempt to escape the responsibility of clan ties. Still others hope to achieve such glory for themselves and experience the world so that they can claim leadership as elders in their clans.

Civilization and Culture

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Dragonborn speak Draconic, and employ the draconic alphabet called Iokharic. Faerunian linguists are quick to note that Draconic and Iokharic are consistent across Abier and Toril. Dragonborn also speak Common, and the human language of the local region.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

Dragonborn Magic and Lore

Dragonborn who practice the arcane arts are most likely to tap into their bloodlines and follow the path of sorcerer. While Dragonborn wizards are uncommon, it would be considered dishonorable for a Dragonborn to pledge themselves to an entity making Dragonborn Warlocks extremely rare (and most likely exiles from their clan).    

SPELLS AND SPELLCASTING

Any unique spellcasting traditions have been lost to the Dragonborn stranded on Toril.  

Dragonborn Equipment

Dragonborn have no unusual racial equipment. Dragonborn cannot use armor made for other races and need to have any armor resized and modified for their tail. Other races cannot use armor modified for Dragonborn.    

ANIMALS AND PETS

Dragonborn have an affinity for many types of drakes and often keep guard drakes in the same way humans keep dogs. Dragonborn can train needlefang, spitting and horned drakes as well, though these drakes never reach the point of domesticity. Elemental drakes, ambush drakes and rage drakes are as dangerous to Dragonborn as they are to the other races.

History

The dragonborn of Tymanther are a people displaced, brought into Toril during the cataclysm nearly a century past. In Returned Abeir, dragonborn yet toil for dragon overlords, living and dying at their whim. But those of Tymanther are descendants of dragonborn who broke the shackles of tyranny to fight against their dread masters. A portion of their hard-won land of free dragonborn merged with Toril, separating the Tymantherans from their kin.   In the decades since, the Tymantherans have sought to forget the grief of this estrangement and have grappled with the realization that their relocation might have ultimately doomed those left behind to renewed servitude. Still, even with this knowledge haunting them, the dragonborn in Faerûn are free from the oppression defining their history and now look toward a bright future in a new world.

Common Myths and Legends

This adherence to proper behavior eclipses the race’s views toward the gods. Since Abeir was without divine influence, at least in a way that most people of Toril understand, dragonborn regard the gods and their servants with suspicion, for they have ever held themselves accountable for their own actions and never to the expectations of others, especially to some remote god or other. Although a few dragonborn have found themselves in the service of traditionally wicked institutions, they cannot share the tenets and beliefs of the organizations they serve.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The Dragonborn of Toril are a displaced people. Families of Dragonborn can be found in many regions across Faerun. Dragonborn get along best with the dwarven people, each follows their own codes on honor and conduct and they have developed a mutual respect where the two interact.

Approximate Age Categories

Adulthood: 50 years   Middle Age: 200 years   Old: 300 years   Venerable: 400 years   Maximum Age: Most dragonborn pass before their 600th year  

Dragonborn Male

Random Height: 6'0" +2d4   Random Weight: 200 lb. + (Height Roll × (2d10) lb.)  

Dragonborn Female

Random Height: 5'8" +2d4   Random Weight: 180 lb. + (Height Roll × (2d10) lb.)

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