Vis-a-Vis the original question: Let me spin ye a yarn about versions long past... Once upon a time in a fabled time known as 2nd edition I believe: "Dragonborn" wasn't a race, but rather, a "transformation" that other races went through, ala Werewolves or vampires. Thus: was the explanation for the lack of tails. Also why Dragonborn were universally brown as opposed to chromatic/metallic colours.
Personally though: I basically always give Dragonborn tails, and scale colours, because well: they just look sort of weird without those in my mind, and it's more fun; which in the end; is the entire point.
It was likely just a creative choice to make them distinct from other draconic humanoids. Personally I wish they had kept the tail. Reptile people look more natural with tails than without even if they wouldn't serve an anatomical advantage.
That said I was able to reconcile the lack of tail by thinking of them less like humanoid dragons and more like Yautja from the Predator films with a dragon's head. Scaled body, animalistic head, but otherwise a humanish body shape. When you think about it the Dragonborn ARE aliens, after all. At least in Faerun. They literally come from another world. So in a way they're draconic alien creatures who have settled down on Toril.
Some thoughts from the peanut gallery ( shells included): 1) there is no official explanation on why they don’t have a tail and/or wings. 2) like (apparently) most folks out there many of my Dragonborn have tails - I never really paid any attention until I saw this thread. 3) according to FR lore ( so it only really applies there) the Dragonborn were created as a slave/servant race by the dragons of Toril. And they chose to make them tailless and wingless. Why? The lore doesn’t say but my guess is as follows: A) if they had wings they could easily escape the dragons as there were places on Toril that the dragons didn’t control. B) Tails would have allowed a much more efficient swimming style also allowing them to flee the dragons. Further, by breeding them to be fully upright and bipedal the need for a tail to balance the body when running was eliminated so the tail may have evolutionarily costly and more efficient to breed it out . Now, even humans are occasionally born with at least a bit of a tail - it’s normally surgically removed right after birth but it does happen so in a species without the millions of years of evolutionary history that humans have having the tail ( and not just a vestigial one) might be fairly common so having a PC Dragonborn with a tail might not be that uncommon. 4) the tail, like the wings may be missing for game balance as a Dragonborn with a tail really should have a natural swim speed just as the lizard folk do. It may also be missing to help differentiate Dragonborn not only from half dragons but also from lizard folk.
The much deeper question is: why do dragonborn females have breasts?
It has something to do with artists and art directors that have a limited view of humanoids and sexual dimorphism.
This. Also, the miniature artists needed a quick and easy way to distinguish males from females but lacked any knowledge of authoritative lore to fallback on re: how to do so, defaulting to human expectations as the easy way.
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Here is a link with some info that will probably provide the info you are looking for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgS5_TAdbPc
Vis-a-Vis the original question: Let me spin ye a yarn about versions long past... Once upon a time in a fabled time known as 2nd edition I believe: "Dragonborn" wasn't a race, but rather, a "transformation" that other races went through, ala Werewolves or vampires. Thus: was the explanation for the lack of tails. Also why Dragonborn were universally brown as opposed to chromatic/metallic colours.
Personally though: I basically always give Dragonborn tails, and scale colours, because well: they just look sort of weird without those in my mind, and it's more fun; which in the end; is the entire point.
What I did is I made wings where you only glide at lower levels, but when you level up you get to fly.
It was likely just a creative choice to make them distinct from other draconic humanoids. Personally I wish they had kept the tail. Reptile people look more natural with tails than without even if they wouldn't serve an anatomical advantage.
That said I was able to reconcile the lack of tail by thinking of them less like humanoid dragons and more like Yautja from the Predator films with a dragon's head. Scaled body, animalistic head, but otherwise a humanish body shape. When you think about it the Dragonborn ARE aliens, after all. At least in Faerun. They literally come from another world. So in a way they're draconic alien creatures who have settled down on Toril.
In my opinion they could use their tail to attack but only unarmed strikes as they would not be able to hold anything with it
Some thoughts from the peanut gallery ( shells included):
1) there is no official explanation on why they don’t have a tail and/or wings.
2) like (apparently) most folks out there many of my Dragonborn have tails - I never really paid any attention until I saw this thread.
3) according to FR lore ( so it only really applies there) the Dragonborn were created as a slave/servant race by the dragons of Toril. And they chose to make them tailless and wingless. Why? The lore doesn’t say but my guess is as follows: A) if they had wings they could easily escape the dragons as there were places on Toril that the dragons didn’t control. B) Tails would have allowed a much more efficient swimming style also allowing them to flee the dragons. Further, by breeding them to be fully upright and bipedal the need for a tail to balance the body when running was eliminated so the tail may have evolutionarily costly and more efficient to breed it out . Now, even humans are occasionally born with at least a bit of a tail - it’s normally surgically removed right after birth but it does happen so in a species without the millions of years of evolutionary history that humans have having the tail ( and not just a vestigial one) might be fairly common so having a PC Dragonborn with a tail might not be that uncommon.
4) the tail, like the wings may be missing for game balance as a Dragonborn with a tail really should have a natural swim speed just as the lizard folk do. It may also be missing to help differentiate Dragonborn not only from half dragons but also from lizard folk.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
This. Also, the miniature artists needed a quick and easy way to distinguish males from females but lacked any knowledge of authoritative lore to fallback on re: how to do so, defaulting to human expectations as the easy way.