Homebrew Dracon (Enerithan) Species Details

Overview

The dracons are a species of dragon-centaurs that have first appeared a decade prior to the shattering of the spheres, on the fringe of the Known Spheres. Dracon exploration ships were first spotted in the phlogiston and at the edges of known space, and were beginning to make contact with the smaller communities in space.

 

Description

A dracon is centaur-like in appearance, with a heavy four-legged body with broad, flat, elephantine feet and a long, snakelike tail. Its torso and arms are human-like, although its six-fingered hands end in claws. A dracon's head is reptilian, with the horns and flanges of a dragon.

 

Dracons speak their own language and that of dragons. A few speak the common trade tongue, though haltingly and with a thick accent. Their speech is often formal and ornately ceremonial.

 

Personality

Dracons are herd creatures, and their lives are circumscribed by a series of formal rituals designed to allow them to interact with the rest of the herd with no dissension. 

 

A lone dracon is a rarity. Most dracons cannot survive outside the family unit, and become sick and confused if denied access to the leadership of the eldest of their herd for extended periods of time. A dracon left by itself will try to find another dracon family to adopt it. If this is impossible, it will attempt to form a new herd, even adopting non-dracons into its "family".

 

Most observers speculate that only the most adventurous of the dracon species travel, but even so most dracons seem stuffy and passive, more content to retreat than fight. There are exceptions, in particular those dracons who have adopted humanoids into their family units.

 

Society

Dracon families are huge, and there is good evidence that all dracons are members of one enormous kin-group. Further, it would appear that all dracons are natives of the same planet, and that they have only recently made the first steps among the stars.

 

The herbivorous dracons follow a strong herd instinct among their people, which carries through into space. Dracons prefer to travel in familial units, headed by the eldest dracon. Dracons separated from their family will usually become ill unless they find a method of recreating a familial unit, and individual dracons have been known to adopt non-dracons as pseudo-family members.

 

The leader of a dracon herd is called a kaba. Assigning the role of kaba is determined not by the strongest, nor the swiftest, but by means of a system of kinship that borders on the mystical. Dracons have a flair for genealogy, and through a long series of questions and answers can tspecies one dracon to another in a fashion that determines who rules the dracon herd. Cynical non-dracons believe that the dracons make up such relationships on the spur of the moment, relating old slights and favors in their attempts to determine precedence. If such is the case, this method of dealing with leadership shows that the quick-thinking and the crafty tend to survive.

 

The kaba of the herd is assisted by a shalla, or high priest. Each herd, no matter how small, has a shalla, who is keeper of rituals, advisor to the kaba, and a healer to the people. The shalla is typically a cleric, with the more powerful shalla usually found with larger herds.

 

When dracon herds meet, the first order of business is to determine who is the kaba of the entire group, empowered to make decisions. This is done in an odd fashion, by determining the relationships and favors exchanged between groups. There is no shame for a deposed kaba removed from their post by a new kaba that outranks them – the position is a duty, and the reward for such duty is that someone more powerful will come along and give you a rest.

 

Faith

The dracons have a pantheistic religion incorporating the dracon equivalents of human, dwarven, and elven deities, including gods of war, fertility, storms, and the sea. The dracon gods are always pictured together in a huge herd, moving together and led by the Ub-Kalla, who always knows the correct course in every situation. To be called Ub-Kalla by a dracon is considered to be a high honor, for your decision-making is compared favorably with dracon thoughts.

 

The dracons hold all dragons in awe, and the shalla have declared that they are the messengers of the gods. As a result, their every action is watched carefully for signs from the gods, indicating their needs or their intentions.

 

The dracons also tell tales of a spider-like Dark God that lies beneath the sands of their homeworld, waiting to pop up to trap youngsters that stray too far from their parents. This creature may be real or the product of the herd mentality, but the dracon faith makes heavy use of imagery of the Dark God as an enemy and a tempter. The semblance between this Dark God and the spider-like neogi may be a coincidence or the result of real encounters with the slaving species. Whatever the cause, the dracons hate spiders in general and the neogi in particular.

 

Notable Dracons

• Chirp and Trivit were dracon brood-brothers who joined the crew of Teldin Moore, the Cloakmaster, after adopting him as their kaba.
• Kaba Danel was the latest kaba to lead the dracon herd onboard the Spelljammer.
• Eremic Besoom of the Watery Glade was the kaba and co-leader of the Stellar Nomads native to the Stellar Islands in Krynnspace.
• Riktal Vlakis was the only survivor after his pack was wiped out by elves in Clusterspace.
• Stakahlla was an ancient and powerful dracon who spoke on behalf of all dracons in wildspace, and served as kaba for the dracon herd on the Rock of Bral.

Dracon (Enerithan) Traits

As a Dracon, you have these special traits.

Thumb Claws.

Thumb Claws. Dracons have long thumb-claws. When you make an unarmed attack, on a hit the target takes slashing damage equal to 1d4 plus your Strength modifier.

Powerful Build.

Powerful Build. You have advantage on Strength-based ability checks and Strength saving throws. In addition, you count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Charge.

Charge. If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and stop you can immediately use a bonus action to make a trample attack against the target.

Trample.

Trample. You have a heavy body that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with a trample, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier bludgeoning damage.