How can you play a dragonborn properly?

How can you play a dragonborn properly?

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depends on the setting

By not playing them at all.

by playing them as a lizardmen worshipping dragons rather than a dragon person.

They range from MUH HONOR and HATE DRAGONS people to small less smart dragons depending on the setting I've played in.

If the only thing that makes your character who they are is their race, your character is shit.

Mostly , plus adapting it to your game and group.

I'm currently playing a Dragonborn Warlord/Paladin who, despite being a good, righteous and heroic person, has a morality very much slanted towards 'Dragon'. She sincerely and implicitly believes Dragons are a higher form of existence, and that how they approach things (at least Good dragons) is implicitly right and proper. While it doesn't change how she acts, too much, it has gotten her some funny looks at her justifications, and tends to her being a bit more merciless than you might expect.

I am careful not to be a dick about it, though. She doesn't view herself as any better than the other party members- Dragonborn are, at beast, first among equals, duty bound to show others how they can live up to the Draconic ideal, rather than lording it other others with some assumed sense of superiority.

I once tricked my group with this
>Play char
>People like char
>His personality, goals, background, etc
>20+ sessions in I reveal I'm a tiefling (have the trait that lets me pass for human without even rolling)
>Suddenly they 180º their previous opinion and start spouting "hurr edgy durr" memes

I do this stuff a lot, like basing my char on an anime, known book, known movie, etc and not reveal shit till almost the end just to see how they react, 99% of the time they go full 180º on their previous oppinion

They sound like a bunch of faggots.

That is a well known fact but each race has stereotypical traits

There is no reasoning, he's just a troll.

Because it doesn't make sense. It's just how people who are bizarrely attached to human only fantasy justify themselves.

t. players who never read anything relating to 4e, but jumped on the hatewagon anyway because it was cool.

Dragonborn had a pretty fleshed-out backstory in 4e, considering that the edition strove not to provide a full setting, but pieces that DMs could use to construct their own world with.

Nobody runs them in Forgotten Realms or the like because they're not meant to be there (and also because, really, who still runs Forgotten Realms?).

I don't think it's even that. I think most of these people don't even play TTRPGs; they don't seem like the kinds of humans that can successfully navigate social situations like that. It's more just that they're a new breed of fantasy snob born of GRRM's lifeless bland fantasy and others in its ilk, who believe that if anything is really fantastical in any way it's bad.

I mean, personally, I almost 100% play human characters. But I'm not the kind of moron that thinks this makes me a better roleplayer. I just like running humans because I feel like every party should have one, and I like that sense of punching above your weight that humans have.

Maybe they don't like the idea that you're an unoriginal dickhead. They don't recognize the reference for ignorance or whatever, and perhaps in their heads they commend you for playing a solid character, only to be disheartened when they find out you're a drooling mong who doesn't have a single original idea.

That might hold a point when I base my characters on other stuff yeah, but makes no sense when I play a char, they love it and then they get angry and say it sucks 20 sessions in when they realize is a non human

Also based doesn't mean carbon copied. Like that mute Bard/Warlock with Petal familiar who talked for me.

Flash news, whatever you do it isn't original and is going to be influenced by what you read, watched, etc

Yeah fair enough, that's them being fucking retards for no reason. I have a player in my party who is playing a fucking meme character from a legend of zelda game I think, and he keeps pestering the DM to give him shit that will make the character more and more like what he's emulating, and after it came to light what he's doing its incredibly noticeable and irritating.

News flash dimwit, there is a world of difference between carbon copied characters and taking influence and combining traits from characters in different media. What a stupid post to make, did you think you were being intelligent?

why try to salvage such a shitty idea?

You mean how they are the remnants of the setting's rome equivalent that ended up in a war with another empire that left both destroyed (And the other empire becoming the tieflings)?

>Like that mute Bard/Warlock with Petal familiar who talked for me.
Am I dumb if I don't get it?

Don't worry, not many made the link between the PC and the character I based him on.

He was being intellgient.

I want you to remember that you will be forgotten 10 years after you die, and that Hitler will still be remembered long after the memory of you has faded.

You are an insignificant speck, nothing is original and even pieced together characters are still unoriginal.

Read this, and you should be good. The 5e trove in /5eg/ also back-links onto a 4e trove where you can find Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn. The crunch may not be valid anymore, but the fluff from both will see you through.

Only men of high IQ can experience the black pits of nihilism we delve into, heh.

Nothing matters, everything is the same, and we'll all die some day.

We really got that kid didn't we. I'll give you this (you), could never make it work for me anyway.

*flicks nose with thumby*

See ya round, champ.

Checked for truth.

Wait, people on Veeky Forums actually read 4e's fluff for Dragonborn?

By not.

Yes, yes, everything is pointless, we should all just kill ourselves, Rick and Morty is the greatest show on TV, we get it.

Dragonborn are lame. Dragons are supposed to be mystical and awe inspiring. That goes out the window when you have an entire civilization of Dragon people.

Are you the kind of people posting fedoras when someone as much as suggests the inexistence of a deity?

Don't.

They probably don't actually like you or your characters you come up with, they just tolerate you and you are too self absorbed to notice.
That's why you assume they change their views after you reveal your gimick, you are assuming they object strongly to your antics.

That was not the equivalent of merely suggesting the inexistence of a deity. That was the equivalent of a fedora.

> bases unoriginal character off of anime, comic, book, or generally discouraged archetype
> Intentionally hides those core aspects of the character from other players and potentially DN
> waits till late in the game and then reveal that you were merely pretending the whole time and that your character isn't anything like how you had been playing them
> "ah-ha! I've bamboozled you with my ruse! I bet you all feel silly that you didn't let me play my favorite anime character now!"

I'm sorry, do you genuinely think you sound clever?

...

>I'm sorry, do you genuinely think you sound clever?
So not only are you trying to attack the methodology, rather than the point being made, you flagrantly misquote and misrepresent the methodology itself?
Wow, Veeky Forums is shit today.

I'm going to use an example you might not be familiar with, but you're not unlike people on Veeky Forums who think 6 months of starting strength and an overlarge surplus of calories is going to make up for a lifetime of physical inactivity and cry broscience when you suggest it might not be so or that people actually possess different builds etc.
To summarise, you're not able at all to control your amygdala when faced with the prospect that none of what you did in the last 20-30 years and none of what you'll do for the last of your life will have a drastic impact, even in the context of "meaning" from the perspective of the human species.
To summarise further, you're a crybaby incapable of accepting some hard facts about the nature of your existence and existence in general.
Faggot.

In your comment, you describe how 99% of the time, you intentionally create characters who are really X but you present it and play it as Y. Then midway through the game, you reveal that it was really Y all along (not that they'd ever know because you're literally intentionally playing them as if they're X to fool them), and it's all to make a point. What point?

All you're doing masking your real intentions, which sadly isn't even to play an unoriginal anime clone, but to play an unoriginal anime clone and have other players thank you for it.

I swear, reading your comment I was half expecting it to end with "and then the whole class stood up and clapped"

Get over yourself man, it's likely the whole table knows what you're doing but it doesn't become a problem until you do your "big reveal" and start playing your real character, the character they wouldn't have liked in the first place.

That also sounds like a fedora. Really if you need to write out three sentences to say "Life is ultimately meaningless unless we give it meaning" then you're fedora-ing.
Fedora.

>"user could you please not just play another Naruto character this time? You've done it like every game and we're all really tired of it."
>What?! These low-IQ plebs. I'll show them! I'll just make my Sasuke clone be pretending that he's not actually a Sasuke clone! They'll never see it coming!

20 sessions later

>"you fools! My character was Sasuke the whole time! I was merely pretending not to be the thing that you all hate! I bet you feel quite silly now! Now you all realize that I should have been allowed to play Sasuke the whole time because you had no complaints while I was pretending not to be Sasuke!"
>"... okay yeah so as I was saying: Dave, your dwarf opens the door to reveal a long corridor. It goes for about 100ft before forking east."

You realize that you're the group's pet retard right?

That example was way too especific, projecting much?

Dude you literally say that 99% of the games you play, you clone an anime character and try I fool the other players about it, just to show them later.

I'm just showing you what that actually looks like as opposed to how you must think it looks like if you've done it 99 out of 100 times. Self awareness my friend

>when you try to shitpost but you just look silly

>Implying shitposts in general aren't silly.

>In your comment, you describe how 99% of the time, you intentionally create characters who are really X but you present it and play it as Y.
>Dude you literally say that 99% of the games you play

Wew, that's some poor reading comprehension.

I never saud that in 99% games I play I base my chars on anime, learn to re... oh wait, this is bait, cool bro.

I basically play them as Javik.

youtube.com/watch?v=jl8AzwdhyIk

interesting, thanks

like this

>implying anyone on Veeky Forums creates their own settings
Why do you think the "Dragonborn are just plopped into established settings" is so roundly thrown about?

3.5/PF with the right combination of splats allows creation of character that's technically 150% dragon, stacking three types of "half-dragon".
The motivation of such a PC would be being more dragon than natural dragons, traveling the worlds and teaching creatures that are less of a dragon how to dragon right.

kys

Individualistic due to a weak tribal/familial instinct, view "lesser" races as anything between local fauna to prized possessions and view each other as potential threats, even their own children past x age. Do things not motivated by social pressures or desire for recognition, but out of an ingrained desire for spiritual self improvement and/or hedonistic self satisfaction.
Basically behave like a very smart cat and/or reptile.

To expand on that, its virtue signaling.
A purity test of sorts.
"Is your fantasy serious enaugh"

you are right game of thrones has absolutley made this worse.
"I dont need those flashy fantasy races i can write such GROWN UP fanasy without SILLY snowflake races"

Well in that regard why do you need magic to write a good fantasy setting? Or fictional countries? Why do you need to invent characters when history has such detailed ones?

Its a purity test that you can spin endlessly. And as such its pointless to argue on their terms.
Only children are obsessed with appearing mature.

that means you cannot controll if you have existential fear or not.

Ok bud, YOU might have existential fear. Others dont. Thats not an argument. Some people just dont care that theyll be forgotten about.

And there crumbles the entire argument.

...shit

I'm going to be honest this is an angle I never really thought about

lizard men who just ride on appearing dragon-like to more fleshy races, whose whole entire mistique is posturing, who actual dragons laugh at just as much as any other tiny fuck, and who have built a massive complex around their entire culture being built on pretending to be associated something they aren't even down to what they call themselves

>"oh, yeah, dragons? yeah, haha, we're, yknow... pretty tight. Yeah we're both pretty powerful and majestic..."
>"I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THIS LITTLE WORM IS. YOU ALL LOOK THE SAME UNDER MY FOOT. I'LL EAT HIM TOO."
>"ahaha! oh man!! bros, always kiddin' around, hahha"

I prefer Dragonborns to be affected by their ancestory; personality and flaws similar to dragon type.

>Gold Dragonborn with Wealth Devourer

you can take that quite far.
Have their culture be focused around mimicking draconic stereotypes like
suggests.
Practice Breath attacks as a form of Magical Martial arts.

It doenst have to be pathetic you know. Maybe they were manipulated by a dragon into service, maybe they just do it because they kind of look draconic.

Maybe they actually do this so other sentients dont mistake them for the moronic swamp dwelling lizardmen and take them seriously.

Or they believe it entierly.
Maybe they make it their goal to ascend to dragonhood.
Or supplant dragons.

Perhaps dragons are extinct and they see themselves as filling that role.

Aren't dragonborns just taller kobolds?

you've been spamming that too much, I this post twice today.
It loses its power if you go out of your way to show you are just shitposting.

T. A real professional

>> bases unoriginal character off of anime, comic, book, or generally discouraged archetype
>> Intentionally hides those core aspects of the character from other players and potentially DN
>> waits till late in the game and then reveal that you were merely pretending the whole time and that your character isn't anything like how you had been playing them
>> "ah-ha! I've bamboozled you with my ruse! I bet you all feel silly that you didn't let me play my favorite anime character now!"
>I'm sorry, do you genuinely think you sound clever?

He's basing his character on Char and literally played his character like Char by hiding his real identity. The other players played like shit because they based their opinions on only his race.

>I once tricked my group with this
later
>I do this stuff a lot
>99% of the time they go full 180º on their previous opinion
Did you not make this post?

...

Not even OP but
>I once tried the race thing
>I do the basing my char on another media char stuff
You know both situations are different, right? can you actually read? I'm starting to wonder if you actually can

Post dragonborn

This.

This

druids especially

Your character should be more than what's on the page. Having races with stereotypical traits seems helpful to new players, but its really a crutch that prevents you from developing real, fleshed out characters. If you're just doing dungeon crawls, which is a legitimate way of playing D&D, then thats not a problem, but too many people play by the book garbage as a result.

I play systems which only have humans, and it doesnt make my games any less interesting. There are enough cultures and places that your character can embrace in their heritage to varying degrees that I lose nothing, and my players apply their own interpretation to the characters rather than playing, in no particular order, Professor Snape, a genetic Scotsman, UggZugg, or an anime protagonist.

Why play a dragonborn instead of a human?

As a draconic looking Skyrim Argonian with an interesting biological heritage. If you don't know what I mean, you didn't player around with the character creation enough in that game.
Honestly I hate pretty much all official and fan art of D&D dragonborn. They're too monstery looking. They stand out too much from the other races in terms of appearance. In fantasy settings, it's more believable if the appearance of alien races make certain concessions to anthropomorphism.

As far as personality or culture, have fun with it but don't be stupid. If you can't recognize your RP or your setting as being stupid, don't expect a miracle overnight

Fuck off, I'm playing a magnetic sphere. With a feather cap on it.

Playing as a different race is usually like choosing to be something other than a white dude running around. It's make-believe diversity. In a world of only humans, even then you'd probably be wanting to choose a human with a different culture or race, or even profession, to see how others interact with you within the game world and whatnot.

Even in a world with dragon born, why not just play a human with a different culture?

Humor me.

You've literally just described one of the aspects of kobolds. And why does everyone keep trying to make dragonborn into shitty fucking lizard people instead of what they are, social humanoid dragons?

No.

Because you want to play a dragon person. Is that not enough? Does every racial pick have to have some deep philosophical reason why you wish to play that race instead of simple aesthetics and playing with ideas of being a dragon person?

You're a fucking hipster, stop pretending you're anything but.

Why do you want to play a dragon person, other than aesthetics?

No idea, user. If most of the worldbuilding expresses humans as a unified race, it's as good as anything else, but if there's differences in culture and whatnot, there's probably not much reason to have non-humans other than having mechanical differences, but humans could do those too.

Thing is most people don't want to commit to such things because humans are the default, safe option for most people, as far as I understand.

>why you wish to play that race instead of simple aesthetics and playing with ideas of being a dragon person?
This guy mostly gets it.
Still, I don't know why humans couldn't fit in to have a community of people that act like dragon people. Hell, it's a great idea. I'll use it at some point.

What makes me a hipster?

Even in a world with X, why not just play a human with a different culture?

Humor me.

A lot of character decisions are made based on aesthetics. Artistic taste is often it's own reason.

>there's probably not much reason to have non-humans other than having mechanical differences, but humans could do those too.

You could go the other way there too. Why have humans if non-humans can fill whatever role humans do?

Oh yeah, of course. Apparently most people hadn't thought of having humans fill in the role of what non-humans can do, but the other way around, anthropomorphism, is stupidly common.

Dunno, I guess I just dont have respect for people who want to play something so outlandish. I get that its a fantasy, but playing as something so weird just seems like a play for attention or attempting to bend the game into your own weird noninclusive story around your epic dragon man. Were it a setting with nothing but beast/weird races it'd make more sense I guess.

I dunno, settings without humans are relatively uncommon even when humans offer nothing other than 'Oh, humans exist and are very average'

Id be fine with that, I actually hinted at that near the end of , but having both seems kinda dumb.

Well, to consider setting, you can make humans the most outlandish thing in the game, and being humans is automatically being speshul, in context. It all depends, really. If a race of dragon people is commonplace, then it's not really all that big of a deal.

... Yeah, that's the thing. Humans are "average", and their cultural values are usually nothing special or particularily interesting. You may say, yes, I want to have a self-made character, but characters don't ever exist in a vacuum. Outside influences and such enrich and spice up the setting. Might as well use them. The setting needs people as much as people need the setting and whatnot.

>playing as something so weird just seems like a play for attention or attempting to bend the game into your own weird noninclusive story around your epic dragon man
Except he comes from an entire race of these people, who obviously have existed for a very long time and probably have had friendly relation with many cultures and races. There is more than likely many epic dragon men within the setting. Ancient Heroes of dragonborn kind who did epic things and their stories handed down through the ages. There are probably entire communities of dragonborn farmers and butchers and commoners, who are just as much people as the humans or elves or whatever else.

And this speaks to some weird psychological hangups you have about nonconformism and people being different. Besides that they are PCs, they are going to be weird and special just by dint of being the main characters of the story.

Thats my biggest problem with D&Ds settings; there's no real indication of what's commonplace and what isnt. Is this magical artifact amazing or is it like a collectors item? Is a first encounter with a beast race like meeting somebody from mars, or laos?

>but its really a crutch that prevents you from developing real, fleshed out characters
Why?
How does making my character a fantasy race prevent me from making them an interesting character?