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Heritage of Heroes: Gem Dragonborn

Heritage of Heroes: Gem Dragonborn

file000257178609For all the races in all the worlds… what about the subraces? Heritage of Heroes brings you variant racial features for Midgard to help your hero stand out from the pack.

The following variant traits allow you to play a dragonborn descended from gem dragons. Your other dragonborn traits remain the same.

Gem Dragonborn Traits

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 Presence. Instead of a breath weapon, you can use your action to exert a supernatural presence. When you use your draconic presence, creatures within 15 feet of you make a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus. Starting at 6th level, you may select which creatures are affected by your presence.

After you use your draconic presence, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

Condition Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws to resist spells and effects that impose status conditions, determined by your draconic ancestry.

Table 1: Draconic Ancestry

Dragon Condition Resistance Draconic Presence
Amethyst Charmed Soothing Presence
Crystal Blinded Blinding Presence
Emerald Deafened Mesmerizing Presence
Sapphire Frightened Grounding Presence
Topaz Exhaustion Frightful Presence

 

Soothing Presence. Each creature within 15 feet that is aware of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be affected by the calm emotions spell (both effects) for 1 minute. The effect ends if a creature’s saving throw is successful, the effect is dispelled, or you attack that creature or its allies.

Blinding Presence. Each creature within 15 feet that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be blinded for 1 minute. A creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Mesmerizing Presence. Each creature within 15 feet that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed for 1 minute. A creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Grounding Presence. Each creature within 15 feet must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or fall prone. Flying creatures in this radius are pulled from the air and fall prone when they reach the ground.

Frightful Presence. Each creature within 15 feet that is aware of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Variant: Breath Weapon and Damage Resistance

Your draconic ancestry grants you a damaging breath weapon and resistance to that damage type. This replaces your Draconic Presence and Condition Resistance feature, making your racial features more like a dragonborn of chromatic or metallic heritage.

When you use your breath weapon, each creature in the area of the exhalation must make a Constitution saving throw. 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.

Table 2: Variant Draconic Ancestry

Dragon Damage Type Breath Weapon
Amethyst Force 5-by-30-ft. line
Crystal Radiant 5-by-30-ft. line
Emerald Thunder 15-ft. cone
Sapphire Thunder 15-ft. cone
Topaz Cold 5-by-30-ft. line

For gem dragons as monsters, see Gem Dragons of Faerûn at DMsGuild.com.

9 thoughts on “Heritage of Heroes: Gem Dragonborn”

  1. Awesome work! I really like the aura abilities and condition resistances, they work really well and feel completely natural. Makes me want to play one!

    1. James J. Haeck

      Being able to repeat the save at the end of each turn keeps its power in check. Only Soothing Presence doesn’t do that, but continuing combat at all ends the effect.

  2. I would purchase this as a PDF as well. I’d love to see some artwork featuring gem dragonborn in it, too.

  3. Hey James, I’m really enjoying the whole “Heritage of Heroes” series. Several people have been asking about a PDF version of this and I’ve just assembled the following print-friendly version of this article on Homebrewery.

    http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rkbnisI8U

    Would you be interested in working on the rest of the series? I too think it would be fun to have the whole series in “D&D layout” even it there is no extra artwork.

  4. William Gettinger

    Shouldn’t topaz breath be necrotic damage? The horrid wilting spell pulls moisture from living creatures, which is what I’d assume is what a breath of dehydration would do. And this spell does necrotic damage

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