Homebrew Draconian Species Details

Dragonborn

In an attempt to prevent metallic dragons from entering the War of the Lance, Takhisis ordered her chromatic dragons to steal the good dragon’s eggs with the promise to return them once the war ended. Hiding the eggs away in the mountain range known as The Lords of Doom.  Created in order to fill the ranks of the Takhisis' Dragonarmies, the generals of the dragonarmies generally used draconians as expendable shock troops.

They are not natural creatures of Krynn. They were created from the eggs of metallic dragons using dark magic called the corruption ritual. These rituals were carried out by Dracart, a wizard of the Black Robes, WyrIlish, a priest of Takhisis, and Harkiel, a dark-hearted red dragon. A single egg yielded several dozen of young draconians, depending on the color of the dragon egg, with brass eggs producing dozens upon dozens of the most numerous Baaz and gold eggs producing a dozen or fewer Auraks.

There are five metallic draconian types: Aurak, Baaz, Bozak, Kapak and Sivak and five chromatic draconian types, though these type are extremely rare and typically referred to as Noble Draconians: Flame, Frost, Lightning, Vapor, and Venom.

Like their forebears, metallic draconians appear in five varieties: aurak, baaz, bozak, kapak, and sivak, descending from gold, brass, bronze, copper, and silver dragons respectively. While each of these varieties is unique and unmistakable from the others, they share many qualities.

Despite its draconic heritage, the draconian’s body is more humanoid than draconic. The basic draconian form is that of a bipedal creature superficially resembling a lizard-man. The draconians are usually man-sized, with long legs and arms ending with razor-sharp claws. Fine scales cover the draconian from tip to tail. The nose is distinctly shorter than that of a dragon, and true dragons often see it as repugnantly short and human-shaped.

The draconian’s skin resembles thick, tough leathery crocodile hide covered with smooth scales, not unlike fish scales, that are attached to the skin. These scales are keratinous, like human fingernails, but cover the entire body. Scale color is dependent on the subrace of the draconian, but all scales lose their bright metallic sheen by adulthood. The scales “rust” along the edge and over time the corrosion crawls further up the scale. From a distance, venerable draconians look quite dull in color.

There are several gender differences among metallic draconians. Males tend to be bigger and stronger, with slightly deeper voices. Their scales are often larger as well. Females
are usually smaller and quicker. Their muscles are geared toward speed and flexibility rather than brute strength. Their eyes tend to have a lighter color. The draconian tail varies
depending on the sex of the draconian in question. Male draconians have large muscular tails, while females’ tails are more serpentine and flexible. Sivaks have tails large enough to
strike or trip opponents. Draconian tails are not prehensile, but with intense practice and training the tail can wrap around objects. Most draconians simply use their tails for balance.

It is interesting to note that many elder draconians do not have tails. The humans who trained these draconians taught them human combat styles. The tail’s weight affects the fighting stance, throwing off attacks and dodging. Originally considered a worthless feature, draconians often had their tails removed. As more draconians were being produced in the War of the Lance, training became minimal and docking the tails was less of a priority.

The most obvious draconian feature is the leathery wings. All draconians but the auraks have wings similar to their dragon parents. These two arm-like limbs have phalanges, resembling extended fingers. Each “finger” is webbed with a thin membrane of skin. Among the baaz, bozaks, and kapaks, these wings can only be used for gliding, as the base of the wing is attached simply to the back. Sivak draconians, the only draconians who can fly, have large-spanned wings attached to a superior muscular system and oversized sternum, allowing the fine manipulation of the wings for flight.

Family Life

The relationship between male and female draconians is awkward. The existence of females was revealed only in the past few decades, so most male draconians did not grow up with a feminine influence. Typically it is the female who chooses the mate, which usually involves a quite a bit of clubbing and hitting—along with no small amount of discussion among other females about the male’s qualities and potential. There are no formal ceremonies beyond a physical contest of some kind. On a social and practical level, the contest determines the roles in the raising of hatchlings. The winner usually takes the challenge of finding food and resources, while the other partner prepares the nest and tends to the eggs themselves. While draconians do not necessary mate for life, females usually continue to choose the same mate.

After a gestation period of 6 months, a female lays a clutch of 2 to 8 eggs which usually hatch in 3-6 months. The eggs must be kept in a moist environment at a temperature roughly
equal to the mother’s body heat. Draconians have a very short childhood. The hatchling can immediately start eating solid foods and liquids, usually preferring meat and blood to
vegetables and breads. Hatchlings are very curious and get into all sorts of trouble unless carefully watched.

Creation

The creation of the draconians is well known, for the tale of their origin has been told for decades. Gilthanas and Silvara exposed the truth of their creation, the legendary Astinus
recorded their eyewitness statements, and his chronicles were spread throughout the free lands on Ansalon alongside the legend of the Heroes of the Lance:
"Joining hands, the dark-robed clerics and wizards began chanting, causing the egg to darken. It turned to a hideous green before darkening into a dull black and growing to a grotesque size. Through arcane and divine spells, they forced the eggs to grow and their occupants to multiply. The shell became leathery and slimy. As the larva-like egg split open, miniature draconians crawled into the open."

The ritual was born from Dracart the Black Robe, Wyrllish the dark priest of Takhisis, and the red dragon Harkiel. The spells governing the creation of the draconians require this
triumvirate. Greater numbers of magic users and dragons can create even more powerful draconians.

Because of this requirement, the creation of new draconians from dragon eggs has been nearly impossible after the War of the Lance. There have been occasional attempts; for instance, a group of baaz stole a clutch of brass dragon eggs in a plot to free Sanction, Neraka, and Jelek from the grip of the Solamnics after the War of the Lance. Since then, there
have been no attempts at the creation of new draconians. The discovery after the Chaos War of the female draconians meant that natural reproduction could replace magical rituals as the means of continuing the species.

Tooth and Claw

Originally intended as the Dragonarmies disposable shock troops, the dragonarmies, as well as their enemies, soon discovered just how effective this new breed of warrior could be. After the war, it was assumed that the draconians would eventually die off, but they surprised the world once again at their ability to adapt and survive.

Across Ansalon, draconians began to band together serving as mercenary armies for warlords, powerful kingdoms, and even dragons. These bands of draconians could be found throughout Ansalon, time and again proving their value and effectiveness on and off the battlefield.

Deep inside the caverns of Thorbardin, one such band discovered a hidden clutch of dragon eggs rumored to contain female draconians. With this new discovery, the draconians’ decades long struggle for survival had finally become much easier.

Homeland

Now with the ability to reproduce naturally, all that was left to ensure their survival was to find a relatively safe place to form a society of their own. Traveling east, the draconians eventually established the city-state of Teyr, once again proving to the other races that they were more than the mindless brutes they were once thought to be. Today, draconians no longer simply survive but thrive within the relative safety of their walled city.

Draconian Traits

Your draconic heritage manifests in a variety of traits you share with other draconians.

Lineage (Ability Score Increase or Feat)

Increase Constitution and any one other ability score of your choice by 1 each. Your Draconic Heritage trait grants you one additional ability score point as well, depending on the specific heritage you select.

Optional:

You may chose to customize your Draconian by customizing your origin. You may select one of the following options which replace the standard Ability Score Increase (Increase Constitution and any one other ability score of your choice by 1 each) with either the option to select any two ability scores of your choice (even the same one) to each gain a +1 bonus or you may forgo to ability score increase an select any one feat for which you already qualify for.

Age

Young draconians usually reach adult stature in 15 years. The exception is the sivak draconians who continue growing, eventually reaching their larger size at adulthood. No draconian has yet died of old age, and there are rumors that a draconian can live for a thousand years. This has yet to be proven, and death usually comes through combat. During the War of the Lance, crippled draconians were typically left for dead or pushed into killing themselves to damage as many enemies as possible. There were instances of crippled draconians buried alive in mass graves.

Given the conditions of battle, as well as the draconians’ violent death throes, draconian bodies are not recoverable. Rather than actually burying a body, there may be a grave marker commemorating the draconian’s life. Typically all that can be found is charred earth or material that marked the draconian’s passing. The soot from the sivak, the burned remains from the acidic pool of the kapak, or the dust of a baaz statue are sometimes collected and placed in a small clay jar. If no remains are recovered, one of the draconian’s most valued possessions is sometimes buried under a tombstone with the draconian’s name, regiment, and list of battles. For large engagements with many deaths, jars and possessions are placed in a mass grave and marked with a large marble block where the names are carved together.

Alignment

Dragonborn tend to extremes, making a conscious choice for one side or the other in the cosmic war between good and evil (represented by Paladine and Takhisis, respectively). Most dragonborn are good, but those who side with Tiamat can be terrible villains.

Size

Dragonborn are taller and heavier than humans, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging almost 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Glide

All draconians, except Auraks, can use its wings to glide, negating any damage from a fall of any height, provided there is enough space to spread open your wings, and allowing it to travel horizontally up to four times the vertical distance descended.

Darkvision

Thanks to the draconic ancestry of draconians they are able to see in the dim light as if it were bright light and darkness as if it were dim light. 

Languages

The draconians do not have a language of their own. Most were taught Common during the War of the Lance to minimize language barriers among the Dragonarmy troops. Many draconians flavored this language with words and phrases from various forms of camptalk and mercenary cant they picked up during the war.

In Teyr, many draconians now speak a dialect of Nerakese heavily influenced by Ogre and Goblin, often slurred by the elongated snout and tongue of the draconian head. The language often comes out with a subtle amount of hissing. Unless the listener is fluent in Nerakese, it is easy to mistake this hissing mixture of languages as nonsensical or possibly its own unique language.

Draconian spies and traders, especially the kapaks and sivaks, learn many languages to better disguise themselves during deep recon within enemy territory. Engineers usually
understand a good bit of gnomish vocabulary, including technical terms in the fields of engineering, architecture, and the sciences.

You can speak, read, and write Common, Draconic, & Nerakese. 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. Nerakese is the human dialect spoken in and around the city of Neraka.

Draconic Heritage

Every draconian is born with a vision of the dragon he or she could have been. Few can tell whether it is a curse to remind them of an unattainable ideal or a path to guide them toward what they could be. The dream is also a constant reminder that draconians are considered perversions of dragons. This fact can never be erased; even new generations of draconians dream of dragons.

You have draconic ancestry. Choose one type of dragon from the Draconic Ancestry table. Your breath weapon and damage resistance are determined by the dragon type, as shown in the table.

Draconic Heritage

METALLIC DRACONIAN SUBRACE	DAMAGE TYPE	DRACONIC DEATH THROE		DRACONIC LEGACY
Baaz (Brass)	Fire	Petrifies to stone upon death. Trapping the piercing or slashing weapon that killed you. Your body explodes after 1d4 rounds dealing slashing damage to everyone within a 10 foot radius. A successful Dexterity save avoids the weapon becoming trapped and a second Dexterity save, when the your body explodes, for half damage.		+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Proficiency in Deception, Disguise kit, Martial & Simple Weapons, Light & Medium armor & Shields, Damage Resistance to fire damage, Natural Weapon Claws. Innate spell casting (shocking grasp, magic missile, & Web), & Strategic Advantage.
Bozak (Bronze)	Lightning	10 ft. radius (Dex. save), 1d6 slashing damage, 2d6 at 6th level, 3d6 at 11th level, 4d6 at 16th level	Your flesh crumbles from your body exposing your skeleton. then your bones immediately explode.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Proficiency in Simple Weapons & Light armor,  Damage Resistance to lightning damage, Natural Weapon Claws.
Kapak (Copper)	Acid	10 ft. radius (Dex. save); 1d6 acid damage, 2d6 at 6th level, 3d6 at 11th level, 4d6 at 16th level	Your body rapidly dissolves and melts into a 10 foot wide pool of acid.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Proficiency in Stealth, simple & martial weapons, light armor,  Damage Resistance to acid damage, Natural Weapon Bite, Venomous saliva (males only) or healing saliva (females only).
Sivak (Silver)	Cold	5 ft. radius (Dex. save); 2d6 fire damage, 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, 5d6 at 16th level	Your body changes to exactly resemble the creature that killed you, then your body bursts into flame.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Proficiency with light & medium armor, GreatAxe, Handaxe, Greatsword, longsword, & simple weapons, Powerful build, Fly speed 40 ft, Damage Resistance to cold damage, Murderous Visage, Sweeping Tail.
Aurak (Gold)	Fire	10 ft. radisu (Dex. save), 4d6 force damage, 5d6 at 5th level, 7d6 at 11th level, 8d6 at 16th level	Your body explodes in a burst of arcane energy.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Damage Resistance to fire damage, Natural weapon claws, Arcane Blast, Alternate Form, Dimensional Step, Disguise Self, Breath Weapon.
CHROMATIC DRACONIAN SUBRACE	DAMAGE TYPE	DRACONIC DEATH THROE		DRACONIC LEGACY
Vemom (Black)	Acid	10 ft. radius (Dex. save); 1d6 acid damage, 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, 6d6 at 16th level	Your body rapidly dissolves and melts into a 10 foot wide pool of acid.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Proficiency with Stealth, Simple weapons, Longsword, & shortsword, & light armor, Natural Weapon Claws, Damage Resistance to acid damage, Paralyzing Bite.
Lightning (Blue)	Lightning	10 ft. radius (Dex save); 3d4 Lightning damage, 5d4 at 5th level, 8d4 at 11th level, and 11d4 at 16th level.	Your body explodes into a massive lightning discharge.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Natural Weapon Claws,  Damage Resistance to lightning damage, Innate spell casting (shocking grasp), Aura of the Guardian.
Vapor (Green)	Poison	10 ft. radius (Dex. save); 2d6 poison damage, 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, 6d6 at 16th level	Your flesh dissolves and releases a cloud of noxious vapor.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Proficiency with Nature and Flute, simple weapons, Natural Weapon Claws, Damage Resistance to poison damage, Innate spell casting (any one cleric cantrip of your choice), Bolster Allies.
Flame (Red)	Fire	5 ft. radius (Dex. save); 3d8 fire damage, 4d8 at 6th level, 5d8 at 11th level, 6d8 at 16th level	Your body explodes in a ball of fire.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Proficiency with Athletics, light & medium armor, [Tooltip Not Found], & simple weapons, Powerful build, Fly speed 40 ft,  Damage Resistance to fire damage, Natural Weapon Claws. Innate spell casting (fireball, gain at level 5), Draconic Rage.
Frost (White)	Cold	10 ft. radius (Dex. save); 2d6 cold damage, 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, 5d6 at 16th level	Your body immediately freezes and explodes sending shards of ice in every direction.	+1 Bonus to 1 [Tooltip Not Found], Proficiency with perception and Athletics, Light & medium armor, Simple weapons and Longsword, Bonus language Giant, Natural Weapon Claws,  Damage Resistance to cold damage.

Death Throw

When a draconian dies, either after failing three death saving throws or is killed outright by a single attack, or other singular source of damage, the magic contained within the draconians' underdeveloped draconis fundamentum organ is violently unleashed. Baaz skin and muscle petrify and turn to solid stone; a kapak’s body melts into a puddle of bubbling & boiling acid; a bozak’s bones shatter explosively; Sivaks shapechange or explode; and auraks burst into flame. This release of magical energy destroys all non magical equipment, potions and scrolls must make a saving throw to avoid destruction, all other magic items survive the destruction of the draconians body unless the item description says it is particularly delicate. 

Your character level determines when you will experience your death throw as more powerful and experienced draconians have gained more control over the innate magical energies bound within their bodies. A draconian of levels 1 - 5 gain disadvantage on death saving throws, upon the 3rd failed death saving throw your death throw immediately activates. A draconian of levels 6 - 10 rolls death saves as normal, upon the 3rd failed death saving throw your death throw immediately activates. A draconian of levels 11 - 16 gain advantage on death saving throws, upon the 3rd failed death saving throw your death throw immediately activates. A draconian of level 17 - 20 have attained such control over their death throws that the draconian can choose to completely suppress the death throw from occurring, in addition to gaining advantage on death saving throws they may choose to either allow their death throws to proceed or not upon failure of 3 death saves or by being killed outright.

A draconian that experiences its death throws can not typically be resurrected due to the destruction of its body. Only a True Resurrection or a Wish spell can return a dead draconian to life, unless the draconian's death throw did not occur either because the draconian has reached 17th level or higher or the dead throw was halted by some other means.