So I had an idea for a new character in my homebrew game and I'm just not sure how I would set his stats and abilities. I spoke with my dm and he really liked my idea, just didnt know how it would be created. the character I want to create is an dragon-born skeleton type thing.
Basically backstory is dragons attacked and killed a mans family. Enraged at this he used magic to create a creature from his dead son (who was dragon-born)to avenge his family and kill the dragons, but the dragons destroyed some of his bones so he used pieces from a dragon they managed to kill. This undead creature would skeletal human/dragon hybrid who is purpose is to destroy all the dragons. He would be a barbarian but would be able to use the breath attack of the last type of dragon he slayed. His alignment would be between chaotic/neutral and chaotic/evil, because hes not necessarily evil but he doesn't care about anyone or anything in his way. Any help would be fantastic!
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
I would take a dragonborn and add the following things to it. A +2 to their dexterity, a −4 to their Intelligence score, and a −4 to their Charisma score. Vulnerable to bludgeoning damage; immune to poison damage and exhaustion; immunity the poisoned condition; darkvision for 60 ft.; and they can not speak. The dragonborn would also be considered an undead creature, so no hallow places for you.
If this feels like a more of a bad thing than a good thing, you're right. It's not common for a player character to be a skeleton as skeletons are described as being fixed in the motions of their life or directed by a necromancer. I would change it to that in order to get revenge on the dragons, the character's father reincarnated his son and the son became a dragonborn. If you really wanted to have an undead dragonborn, you could simply take the stats for a dragonborn but say that you look like a ghastly skeleton.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
So, the thing is, you can pretty much just take the dragonborn and put in there the few skeleton traits without much problems. I would start from Dragonborn, remove the +1Cha from Dragonborn (because skeletons aren't very charismatic), and put Darkvision in its place. Additionally, you put in the Poison Immunity, Immunity to Poisoned and Exhaustion, but put in the Bludgeoning Vulnerability and the fact that you're now an undead (which has its own problems) to balance it. If I was ur master though, I would not allow you to use the Berserker subclass (because you could use the Frenzy everytime, and it would not be very balanced). Immunity to Exhaustion is not a problem if u don't have that subclass. So, provided you don't go Berserker, here is the race.
Skeletal Dragonborn Traits
Your draconic heritage manifests in a variety of traits you share with other dragonborn.
Undead: You are considered a creature of the Undead type, and are thus vulnerable to effects like Turn Undead and Sunbeam. As an Undead creature, you are immune to the exhaustion condition.
Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age: Skeletal Dragonborns, thanks to their undead nature, don't age. They only die when they get killed.
Alignment: Skeletal Dragonborn tend to chaotic neutral/evil alignments, being driven mainly by their spirit of revenge, not caring about the lives of those who slow down their path.
Size: Skeletal Dragonborns are taller than humans, though their lack of muscles and soft tissue makes them incredibly light, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging around 50 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Draconic Slaughter
Dragon
Damage Type
Breath Weapon
Black
Acid
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Blue
Lightning
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Brass
Fire
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Bronze
Lightning
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Copper
Acid
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Gold
Fire
15 ft. cone (Dex. save)
Green
Poison
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
Red
Fire
15 ft. cone (Dex. save)
Silver
Cold
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
White
Cold
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
Draconic Slaughter: Every time you progress in your mission of revenge, by killing a dragon, you can choose to absorb its essence. If you do, look up the type of the killed dragon dragon from the Draconic Ancestry table. Your breath weapon and damage Resistance are determined by the dragon type, as shown in the table.
Breath Weapon: You can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Your draconic ancestry determines the size, shape, and damage type of the exhalation.
When you use your breath weapon, each creature in the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, the type of which is determined by your draconic ancestry. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level.
After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or Long Rest.
Damage Resistance: You have Resistance to the damage type associated with your draconic ancestry.
Darkvision: From your undead nature, you have superior vision in dark and dim light. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Poison Immunity: Lacking internal organs or blood, poison has no effect on you: you have Immunity to Poison damage, and the poisoned condition.
Bludgeoning Vulnerability: being made of bones, you have no soft tissue to protect you from bludgeoning damage, and thus are considered Vulnerable to Bludgeoning damage.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic. Draconic is thought to be one of the oldest languages and is often used in the study of magic. The language sounds harsh to most other creatures and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants.
I'm down with where Sovelis' creation is going. However, I see a lot of positives and very few negatives to outweigh them. Immunity to exhaustion and poison seems like a big deal, with the vulnerability to bludgeoning seeming outweighed. In other words, I feel like why would you not be a skeletal dragonborn, as opposed to normal dragonborn? Changing breath weapon? Immunity to exhaustion? Immunity to poison? Darkvision? All I have to do is become undead and be vulnerable to bludgeoning? Seems like the scales are unbalance in my opinion.
You lose the +1 Cha, too. Also, consider that after lvl 11, you would most likely be immune to poison anyway in any seriousfight because of Heroe's Feast. If it seems too much, make it like Dwarven Resilience: adv on saves and resistance to poison dmg.
I think becoming genuinely undead is pretty likely to cause problems, how about this (much stolen from the good work above) :
Dragoncharred: Legend has it that someone killed by dragonfire can be revived if they are bathed immediately in a pool of dragon's blood while another person adds their own life blood given in sacrifice. The burnt corpse returns to a magic half-life as one of the beings known as Dragoncharred. Their flesh is permanently half dead, scarred by the searing blast of dragon's breath. The pain from these wounds is never alleviated, even by the strongest magics - only bathing in fresh dragon blood brings relief.
Ability Score Changes: +1 Str, +2 Con, -1 Cha
Alignment: After the trauma of their resurrection, and suffering constant pain, the Dragoncharred tend toward chaotic and evil alignments.
Draconic Nemesis: The dragon that took your life has left its mark on your body. Choose a Draconic Nemesis from the table (use the same table as Dragonborn)
Breath Weapon: You have absorbed some of the power of the dragon that killed you, and you can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Your draconic nemesis determines the size, shape, and damage type of the exhalation. Etc.
Damage Resistance: The elemental force which killed you once can barely hurt you now. You have Resistance to the damage type associated with your draconic nemesis.
Dragon Hunter: Sustained by an unending hatred of dragons you cannot be Charmed or Frightened by a dragon.
Half-Death: The magic that sustains your body makes you very difficult to destroy. You cannot be killed instantly when damage exceeds your maximum hitpoints, and you have advantage on Death Saving throws.
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So I had an idea for a new character in my homebrew game and I'm just not sure how I would set his stats and abilities. I spoke with my dm and he really liked my idea, just didnt know how it would be created. the character I want to create is an dragon-born skeleton type thing.
Basically backstory is dragons attacked and killed a mans family. Enraged at this he used magic to create a creature from his dead son (who was dragon-born)to avenge his family and kill the dragons, but the dragons destroyed some of his bones so he used pieces from a dragon they managed to kill. This undead creature would skeletal human/dragon hybrid who is purpose is to destroy all the dragons. He would be a barbarian but would be able to use the breath attack of the last type of dragon he slayed. His alignment would be between chaotic/neutral and chaotic/evil, because hes not necessarily evil but he doesn't care about anyone or anything in his way. Any help would be fantastic!
What mechanically are you hoping to accomplish?
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Basically A skeleton race pc with draconic elements.
I would take a dragonborn and add the following things to it. A +2 to their dexterity, a −4 to their Intelligence score, and a −4 to their Charisma score. Vulnerable to bludgeoning damage; immune to poison damage and exhaustion; immunity the poisoned condition; darkvision for 60 ft.; and they can not speak. The dragonborn would also be considered an undead creature, so no hallow places for you.
If this feels like a more of a bad thing than a good thing, you're right. It's not common for a player character to be a skeleton as skeletons are described as being fixed in the motions of their life or directed by a necromancer. I would change it to that in order to get revenge on the dragons, the character's father reincarnated his son and the son became a dragonborn. If you really wanted to have an undead dragonborn, you could simply take the stats for a dragonborn but say that you look like a ghastly skeleton.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
So, the thing is, you can pretty much just take the dragonborn and put in there the few skeleton traits without much problems. I would start from Dragonborn, remove the +1Cha from Dragonborn (because skeletons aren't very charismatic), and put Darkvision in its place. Additionally, you put in the Poison Immunity, Immunity to Poisoned and Exhaustion, but put in the Bludgeoning Vulnerability and the fact that you're now an undead (which has its own problems) to balance it. If I was ur master though, I would not allow you to use the Berserker subclass (because you could use the Frenzy everytime, and it would not be very balanced). Immunity to Exhaustion is not a problem if u don't have that subclass. So, provided you don't go Berserker, here is the race.
Skeletal Dragonborn Traits
Your draconic heritage manifests in a variety of traits you share with other dragonborn.
Undead: You are considered a creature of the Undead type, and are thus vulnerable to effects like Turn Undead and Sunbeam. As an Undead creature, you are immune to the exhaustion condition.
Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age: Skeletal Dragonborns, thanks to their undead nature, don't age. They only die when they get killed.
Alignment: Skeletal Dragonborn tend to chaotic neutral/evil alignments, being driven mainly by their spirit of revenge, not caring about the lives of those who slow down their path.
Size: Skeletal Dragonborns are taller than humans, though their lack of muscles and soft tissue makes them incredibly light, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging around 50 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Draconic Slaughter
Draconic Slaughter: Every time you progress in your mission of revenge, by killing a dragon, you can choose to absorb its essence. If you do, look up the type of the killed dragon dragon from the Draconic Ancestry table. Your breath weapon and damage Resistance are determined by the dragon type, as shown in the table.
Breath Weapon: You can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Your draconic ancestry determines the size, shape, and damage type of the exhalation.
When you use your breath weapon, each creature in the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, the type of which is determined by your draconic ancestry. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level.
After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or Long Rest.
Damage Resistance: You have Resistance to the damage type associated with your draconic ancestry.
Darkvision: From your undead nature, you have superior vision in dark and dim light. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Poison Immunity: Lacking internal organs or blood, poison has no effect on you: you have Immunity to Poison damage, and the poisoned condition.
Bludgeoning Vulnerability: being made of bones, you have no soft tissue to protect you from bludgeoning damage, and thus are considered Vulnerable to Bludgeoning damage.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic. Draconic is thought to be one of the oldest languages and is often used in the study of magic. The language sounds harsh to most other creatures and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants.
I'm down with where Sovelis' creation is going. However, I see a lot of positives and very few negatives to outweigh them. Immunity to exhaustion and poison seems like a big deal, with the vulnerability to bludgeoning seeming outweighed. In other words, I feel like why would you not be a skeletal dragonborn, as opposed to normal dragonborn? Changing breath weapon? Immunity to exhaustion? Immunity to poison? Darkvision? All I have to do is become undead and be vulnerable to bludgeoning? Seems like the scales are unbalance in my opinion.
Published Subclasses
You lose the +1 Cha, too. Also, consider that after lvl 11, you would most likely be immune to poison anyway in any seriousfight because of Heroe's Feast. If it seems too much, make it like Dwarven Resilience: adv on saves and resistance to poison dmg.
I think becoming genuinely undead is pretty likely to cause problems, how about this (much stolen from the good work above) :
Dragoncharred: Legend has it that someone killed by dragonfire can be revived if they are bathed immediately in a pool of dragon's blood while another person adds their own life blood given in sacrifice. The burnt corpse returns to a magic half-life as one of the beings known as Dragoncharred. Their flesh is permanently half dead, scarred by the searing blast of dragon's breath. The pain from these wounds is never alleviated, even by the strongest magics - only bathing in fresh dragon blood brings relief.
Ability Score Changes: +1 Str, +2 Con, -1 Cha
Alignment: After the trauma of their resurrection, and suffering constant pain, the Dragoncharred tend toward chaotic and evil alignments.
Draconic Nemesis: The dragon that took your life has left its mark on your body. Choose a Draconic Nemesis from the table (use the same table as Dragonborn)
Breath Weapon: You have absorbed some of the power of the dragon that killed you, and you can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Your draconic nemesis determines the size, shape, and damage type of the exhalation. Etc.
Damage Resistance: The elemental force which killed you once can barely hurt you now. You have Resistance to the damage type associated with your draconic nemesis.
Dragon Hunter: Sustained by an unending hatred of dragons you cannot be Charmed or Frightened by a dragon.
Half-Death: The magic that sustains your body makes you very difficult to destroy. You cannot be killed instantly when damage exceeds your maximum hitpoints, and you have advantage on Death Saving throws.