Evening, gents.  Been working on trying to make a Dragonborn character for a while now; problem is, I've been unable to find myself a decent build for the character:

Basically, I'm designing an orange/copper Dragonborn with a fondness for setting things on fire.   Problem is, I can't decide on what class I should use for the character, or whether I should use the base Dragonborn, or the Draconblood variant from Wildemont.  I've got an idea for the design I want, but I can't figure what class and race combinations could get me it; 

- Physically, he resembles the "classic" dragon; stocky, has both wings and a tail. 

- He's good with both melee and magic; his preferred fighting style involves relying on melee for one-on-one CQC combat, while using magic mostly for area-of-effect. 

- I was looking for also getting some good survivability, if possible; my DM's got a bit of a history of going crazy with necromancy spells.  Any armor is fine, I suppose; just curious.  

Anyone have any ideas?  

From what I remember, Dragonborn don't have wings, not to start with anyway.

You basically want to be good at everything. Melee, spells and survivability. That's called multiclassing and the best one I've heard of that might match your plans is a Sorcadin, Sorcerer and Paladin.

Dragonborn don’t have tails. That’s how you can tell them apart from Half-Drahons.

I forgot that they didn't have tails either, had to read over the race again.

Dragonborn look very much like dragons standing erect in humanoid form, though they lack wings or a tail.

The Draconblood variant from EGtW do have tails (the Ravenite variant does not). But neither have wings.

Quote from pocketmouse >>

The Draconblood variant from EGtW do have tails (the Ravenite variant does not). But neither have wings.

 Yes, but that Wildmount and I always assume Forgotten Realms for these conversations unless informed otherwise.

Wow; made this thread right before I went to bed last night; wake up, check it, there's all this info.  All right, let's see what we got here; 

I'm aware that Dragonborn don't naturally have tails or wings; for the tails, I figured I was going to have to run Draconblood; I was mostly just curious what others would say.  As for wings, I heard that the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer can get wings as they level up; however, I've also heard reports of several other classes getting them, like Eldritch Knight.  Are those rumors true, and if so, what would be the best class for a Draconblood?  The racial variant gets +2 to Intelligence and +1 the Charisma, so I think they'd be a good spellcaster variant.  

However, that actually leads me to my other two requirements; melee damage and survivability.  Are any classes that use Intelligence and/or Charisma capable of getting good melee and survival skills?  I'm still unsure about how good of an idea it is to focus on min-maxing, and whether or not multi-classing is worth it in the end; I've tried looking around, but everyone keeps saying that the level 20 stuff is always worth it, so I don't know if multiclassing is a good idea or not.  

Sorry for the complicated question; if you guys haven't been able to tell, I was basically attempting to make a Charizard character in DnD, and I wasn't able to figure out what would be a decent class/race combo for the character.  Thanks to that's willing to help.  

Eldritch Knight does not get wings. Draconian Bloodline and Divine Soul Sorcerers get them at high enough levels.

Paladins, and Hexblade Warlocks, and some of the Bard subclasses are all Cha based casters that can be very good at Melee.

For Int casters you only have two choices: Wizards and Artificers. The Battle Smith Artificer is an Int caster designed for melee.

Alright, so a Draconblood Dragonborn Sorcerer is going to be the base; however, I'm unsure whether Draconic Bloodline or Divine Soul would be better overall.  Also, would it be possible to have at least some melee viability with either of those two, or would I have to multiclass?  The character isn't going to be super melee focused; he's mostly magic, I was just wanting a decent fallback option as a last resort, or for one-on-one dueling.  

Sorcerers suck in melee in general. Too squishy with the d6 HD. But it is possible if you work at it.

Alright, so what could I multiclass?  You mentioned Hexblade; would that be a solid compliment?  I was also interested in some decent armor; would Paladin work?  

Hexblade Warlock, College of Swords Bard, almost any Paladin. After those, you have the rest of the Bards Warlocks and Paladins.

And Fighter or Rogue are also solid picks as well, particularly Swashbuckler Rogues. In fact, just two levels of either isn’t terrible for various reasons.

But if you only want a little bit of melee capability just in case, you already have it with either Divine Soul or Draconic Bloodline because one can heal themself and the other gets a natural boost to both HP and AC. Just take Shocking Grasp and Shield as contingencies and stay in the back and you should be okay.

If you want active melee to be your thing, IMHO don’t go Sorcerer, that’s not what they’re really designed for.

Yeah, like I said above; this guy's mostly going to be about setting everything/everyone on fire, with melee as a fallback option.  Just one last question; are different classes limited on what armor and weapons they get?  I remember reading about something called proficiencies; can't check the books right now, my friends have them.  

Quote from Flugdrekkar >>

Yeah, like I said above; this guy's mostly going to be about setting everything/everyone on fire, with melee as a fallback option.  Just one last question; are different classes limited on what armor and weapons they get?  I remember reading about something called proficiencies; can't check the books right now, my friends have them.  

 Yes. What class you pick will determine what armor, if any, and what weapons you are proficient with. If you are not proficient with armor and you put it on you have disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and cannot cast spells. 

What levels are you planning to play at?

If you aren't going to be at level 20 for a long time, then multiclassing seems a far better choice than holding out for a lvl 20 power that you'll only use for a short time.

I'm not sure what level our group will be playing to; it's been a while since any of us have done anything D&D related, and we've never been able to get a decent estimate on how high we'll get.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  

I'll see if I can get some stats rolled up for this guy; that might help with the questioning.  

Look into a wizard. Abjuration or War Magic to be able to survive in melee longer or straight up Evocation. You’re in melee? No problem, drop a fireball spell on yourself and exclude yourself from its area of effect. 

Alright; managed to get some stats for this guy.  Let me know if there's anything wrong with these; my friends have my stuff, currently, and I had to use an online stat calculator; that, and I'm still a bit new at making characters.    

Name: (Undecided)

Race: Draconblood Dragonborn

Class: Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer

Stats: 

- Strength: 14

- Dexterity: 11

- Constituiton: 10

- Intelligence: 14 + 1 (Racial Bonus)

- Wisdom: 12

- Charisma: 12 + 2 (Racial Bonus)

These may be a bit overpowered for a new character; let me know.  Like I said, I'm really new to making characters and such.  

You probably won’t need Strength, so swapping the 14 with the 12 in Charisma will be more useful if you are optimizing, and Con and Dex will be way more important for you than Int or Wis. Especially since Con is your one good Saving Throw Proficiency. Probably focusing on Cha, Con, Dex in that order with Int as a close 4th, and Str dead last would be your best bet, but if you’re doing it for RP purposes then have at it. It’s your character, you do what you want. Anybody tells you different you “cash dem outside.”

Kinda forgot to mention this, but the high Strength and low Charisma are for both roleplay purposes (he's a bit of a loner, with not much in the way of a social life, who often had to do physical activities for his family and employers; not everyone has a slave, after all) and in case I was going to multiclass (I think strength is used for both armor and weapons; right?) 

Apologizes for the massive amount of questions; I haven't played D&D much beforehand, and I usually just used a template for my characters before.