Homebrew Dragonborn Goliath (Death Dragon) Species Details

 

Dragonborn Goliaths are a rare and formidable blend of dragon and goliath bloodlines, born in the highest mountain peaks. Their existence is uncommon, and even harder to form bonds with, as they are both powerful and dangerous. These beings combine the raw physical strength of goliaths with the endurance suited to their draconic heritage. They can be driven by overwhelming pride and power or be weighed down by deep regret and sorrow, making them challenging to approach—especially if you value keeping your head intact. They are typically hatched from eggs, and when sent into battle, they are capable of obliterating entire armies with a single strike.

When a tribe of Dragonborn and a tribe of Goliaths merge, their societies can become deeply intertwined, assuming their relations progress smoothly. The females of this race are particularly unique—some give birth to live young, while others lay eggs, depending on their maternal ancestry. Those who lay eggs may still breastfeed, while those who give live birth might not be able to. Dragonborn Goliath males, however, have a uniform approach to reproduction, unlike the women.

Dragonborn are often taught self-reliance, while Goliaths are raised to contribute to the tribe as a whole. The Dragonborn Goliaths embody a mix of both traits, with some valuing individualism and becoming adventurers or leaders, while others embrace a more communal way of life, staying within their tribe. However, even the more communal members have personal interests and hobbies that can be vastly different from one another.

For those who become adventurers, their success or failure reflects directly on the tribe’s honor. Achieving glory brings pride and a sense of fulfillment, while failure, especially after multiple attempts, can lead to being branded a disgrace, seen as someone who has failed to contribute. In such cases, the individual may be exiled or cast out of the tribe.

Among the most ambitious of the Dragonborn Goliaths, there are those who seek power beyond the mortal realm—pursuing forbidden paths to transcend death itself. Some of these individuals, driven by their thirst for ultimate power or by a desire to escape past failures, may seek to become liches. The process is harrowing and dark, requiring the binding of one's soul to an object of great power, often at the cost of their humanity. While this path grants incredible longevity and arcane mastery, it also isolates the individual from the tribe. Such a transformation is viewed with a mix of awe and fear; those who succeed in becoming liches are seen as figures of immense power, but their ties to the tribe are severed. Most Dragonborn Goliaths would consider this a betrayal, as it turns one away from their people and their traditions, becoming something both powerful and dangerous, with no place among the living.

Dragonborn Goliath (Death Dragon) Traits

Powerful Build

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 3 and your Charisma score increase by 2.

Age

Dragonborn goliaths mature at 15 and live to be around 80 years old.

Alignment

Most dragonborn goliaths tend to be either good or evil and overall, they lean towards being lawful. They can be chaotic, but those that are, are often exiled.

Size

Dragonborn goliaths are usually pretty similar in height and build, ranging from just under 9 feet to just over 10 feet. Your size is Large.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 35 feet.

Draconic Ancestry

Choose one type of dragon from the Draconic Ancestry Table. You gain resistance to a damage type stated in the Damage Resistance column of your chosen dragon.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Darkvision

Your draconic ancestry has granted you superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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.

Draconic Toughness

Your hit point maximum increases by 2, and it increases by 2 every time you gain a level.

Draconic Feature

Tail Attack. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can make one of the attacks with your tail. Your tail is a melee weapon attack that deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage for this purpose. When you hit a creature no more than one size larger than you with your tail, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone

Natural Athlete

You gain proficiency in the Athletics skill.

Languages

You Can Speak, Read, And Write Common, Draconic, And Giant.

Breath Weapon

As with any dragon, death dragons have a devastating breath weapon. These undead creatures can unleash a blast of necrotic fire called Cataclysmic Breath, which is about as terrifying as it sounds. When used, the death dragon spews out a cone of ghostly purple flame, which deals 8d8 necrotic damage for lesser dragons and 10d8 necrotic damage for greater dragons. As if this isn’t deadly enough, the breath weapon has a brutal rider effect that will certainly up the stakes of the encounter. Targets must make a DEX and CON saving throw, taking half damage on a successful save. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution/Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus. The death dragon's breath weapon automatically kills any creature that is reduced to 0 hit points by the attack, but it doesn’t stop there. Any creature killed by this attack, along with any other humanoid corpse within the area of effect, immediately arises as zombies. This means resurrection and raise dead won’t work on creatures killed by this effect. Revivify will work, but the creature will return as a zombie. The damage increases to 9d6 at 6th level, 10d6 at 11th level, and 11d6 at 16th level for lesser dragons, the damage increases to 11d6 at 6th level, 12d6 at 11th level, and 13d6 at 16th level.

Though they have immunity to necrotic and poison damage, resistance to piercing damage, and can’t suffer from exhaustion or the poisoned conditions, the death dragon’s Undead creature type provides them with exploitable vulnerabilities.