“Draconians, also called dragonmen, are humanoid beings with dragonlike features created during the War of the Lance. They are originally made from the eggs of good dragons corrupted with dark magic. During that era Draconians served as assault troops and special forces in the Dragonarmies of Takhisis. After the war they scattered to various regions of Ansalon. During the Chaos War a small group of the draconians find eggs containing female draconians. After the females hatched those draconians form the nation of Teyr, establishing the draconian race. Draconians are split into five principle races; Baaz, Kapak, Sivak, Aurak, and Bozak.[21] There are also noble draconians, which are formed from the eggs of evil dragons, and have a good alignment. There are flame, vapor, lightning, venom, and frost variants.”—Wikipidia list of Dragonlance creatures

Though similar in some ways to dragonborn, draconians are the twisted creations of evil magic used on true-dragon eggs. Draconians gain a few minor abilities and one significant ability in exchange for a dragonborn’s elemental resistance and breath weapon.

All draconians are immune to diseases and can last for significant periods of time without food or water. Nearly all draconians have a pair of dragon-like wings that are not strong enough to allow true flight, but can be used to increase their running speed, as well as to glide.

The magic that forms their twisted forms at birth collapses in unique and often deadly ways when a draconian dies. Auraks, born of gold dragon eggs, explode into balls of fire, where baaz, born of bronze dragon eggs, turn to stone.

Though draconian characters can be of any class, many have strong preferences. Aurak sorcerers are the most common class for that species, as are rogues and fighters for all other evil draconian species. Bozak barbarians commonly follow the Path of the Dragonwyld and rogues the Thug archetype.

Auraks (Gold)

Ability Score Increases. Your Charisma increases by 2, and your Intelligence increases by 1.

Size. 7′ tall. Medium

Speed. 30′

Darkvision. You have darkvision to a range of 60 feet.

Immunity. You are immune to disease.

Low Metabolism. You may double your Constitution modifier to determine how long you can go without food, and on Constitution saving throws when going without water.

Draconian Magic. You gain one bonus cantrip of your choice. At 3rd level, you may cast charm person once per long rest. At 5th level, you may cast misty step once per long rest. [Note: Auraks commonly possess a range of powerful magic abilities, best represented by levels in the draconic sorcerer class, though all possess some form of basic magical attack as well as limited mind-control and limited teleportation.]

Death Throes. The first time you are reduced to 0 hit points, you are reduced to 1 hit point instead and you enter a rage similar to a barbarian. You gain advantage on Strength and Constitution checks, gain 2d10 temporary hit points, and gain advantage on melee attack rolls. You may not cast either cantrips or spells. Once you use this ability, you may not use it again until you take a long rest.

Should you die before you are able to take a long rest, your body explodes, forcing all targets with 10 feet of you to make a Dexterity save (DC 8 + proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier) or take 1d10 hit points of fire damage. This damage increases to 2d10 at 5th level, 3d10 at 10th level, and 4d10 at 15th level. Damage is halved on a successful save. Your body is completely destroyed in the explosion, as are all of your items (at your DM’s discretion).

Sivaks (Silver)

Ability Score Increases. Your Strength increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.

Size. 8′ tall (male), 6′-7′ tall (female). Medium

Speed. 35′

Darkvision. You have darkvision to a distance of 60 feet

Immunity. You are immune to disease.

Low Metabolism. You may double your Constitution modifier to determine how long you can go without food, and on Constitution saving throws when going without water.

Vestigial Wings. You take no damage from falls. At 11th level, you can fly at a speed of 30 feet, but cannot hover. If you have not landed by the end of any round in which you use your fly speed, you must have descended at least one-half of the distance you traveled or you fall. [Note: Normally, sivaks are the only draconians that can truly fly. Granting them this ability in addition to their other powers would take them beyond the balance of other races. If you wish to grant sivak PCs flight at 1st level, consider allowing other PCs in your game to gain either a bonus feat or Ability Score Increase as a balance.]

Murderous Visage (Male). After you have reduced a creature to 0hp, you may assume its form, appearance, and voice as if you were using the change appearance option of the alter self spell. You can maintain this form for up to 7 days, though maintaining it requires concentration. You may return to your normal form at any time. Once you return to your normal form, either by choice or a break in concentration, you may not use this ability again until you take a long rest.

Camouflage (Female). You can use your limited shapeshifting ability to blend into your surroundings and make subtle changes to your appearance. You gain advantage on Stealth checks and checks made with Disguise kits.

Death Throes. When you die, you take on the form and appearance of the creature that killed you. This appearance lasts for 3 days, then your body disintegrates into black soot. If the creature that killed you is at least one size larger, or two sizes smaller, or is not humanoid in shape, your body instead explodes in a fireball as an aurak (see above).

Bozaks (Bronze)

Ability Score Increases. Your Strength increases by 2, and your Constitution increases by 2.

Size. 7′ tall. Medium

Speed. 35′

Darkvision. You have darkvision to a distance of 60 feet.

Immunity. You are immune to disease.

Low Metabolism. You may double your Constitution modifier to determine how long you can go without food, and on Constitution saving throws when going without water.

Vestigial Wings. You take no damage from falls. At 11th level, you can fly at a speed of 30 feet, but cannot hover. If you have not landed by the end of any round in which you use your fly speed, you must have descended at least one-half of the distance you traveled or you fall.

Death Throes. When you die, your skin and flesh dry and crumble. Your bones then explode, forcing all targets with 10 feet of you to make a Dexterity save (DC 8 + proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier) or take 1d10 hit points of piercing damage. This damage increases to 2d10 at 5th level, 3d10 at 10th level, and 4d10 at 15th level. Damage is halved on a successful save. Your body is completely destroyed in the explosion, as are all of your items (at your DM’s discretion).

Kapaks (Copper)

Ability Score Increases. Your Dexterity increases by 2, and your Constitution increases by 1.

Size. 5’6″-6’6″ tall. Medium

Speed. 35′

Darkvision. You have darkvision to a distance of 60 feet.

Immunity. You are immune to disease.

Low Metabolism. You may double your Constitution modifier to determine how long you can go without food, and on Constitution saving throws when going without water.

Vestigial Wings. You take no damage from falls. At 11th level, you can fly at a speed of 30 feet, but cannot hover. If you have not landed by the end of any round in which you use your fly speed, you must have descended at least one-half of the distance you traveled or you fall.

Poison (Male). As an action, you may coat a bladed weapon or up to 3 pieces of ammunition with your poisonous saliva. The weapon remains poisoned for 1 minute or until it damages an opponent. An opponent damaged by the weapon must make a Constitution save (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Constitution modifier) or take 1d6 poison damage. At 5th level, the target also becomes poisoned for 1 minute on a failed save. At 11th level, the damage increases to 2d6. Any creature affected by this poison may make a new save at the beginning of each round to negate the effect. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier before taking a long rest.

Healing Saliva (Female). As an action, you may tend to the wounds of a comrade using the regenerative powers of your saliva. The target may spend one Hit Die to regain hit points. The number of Hit Die the target may spend increases by one at 6th level (two Hit Dice), 11th (three Hit Dice), and at 16th (four Hit Dice). A target may not gain the benefits of this ability again until it takes a long rest. If the target has no Hit Dice to spend, they instead heal 1d6 hit points plus their Constitution modifier.

Death Throes. When you die, your body sprays into a pool of acid 10 feet in diameter. Any creature in the area must make a Dexterity save (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or take 1d10 hit points of acid damage. This damage increases to 2d10 at 5th level, 3d10 at 10th level, and 4d10 at 15th level. Damage is halved on a successful save. Your body is completely destroyed, as are all of your items (at your DM’s discretion).

Baaz (Brass)

Ability Score Increases. You Constitution increases by 2, and your Dexterity increases by 1.

Size. 5-6′ tall. Medium

Speed. 35′

Darkvision. You have darkvision to a distance of 60 feet.

Immunity. You are immune to disease.

Low Metabolism. You may double your Constitution modifier to determine how long you can go without food, and on Constitution saving throws when going without water.

Deceptive. You gain proficiency with Deception checks.

Vestigial Wings. You take no damage from falls. At 11th level, you can fly at a speed of 30 feet, but cannot hover. If you have not landed by the end of any round in which you use your fly speed, you must have descended at least one-half of the distance you traveled or you fall.

Death Throes. When you die, you reflexively grasp anything in your space (including weapons, enemy limbs, etc) and then turn to stone. If you died from a melee attack, your opponent must make a Dexterity save (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or have their weapon trapped. If their weapon was a natural attack, such as a monk’s fist or a bear’s claws, the target becomes grappled. To remove their weapon or break the grapple, your opponent must succeed in either an Athletics check or Acrobatics check against the same DC. Your body collapses to dust 1d4 minutes later. Your items are not petrified or destroyed in this process.

Further Playtest Options

In place of a flat increase to walking speed (35′) for draconians with wings, we are playtesting the following ability:

Winged Loping: Once per round, when you take the Dash action, you may move at twice your walking speed.

This means that a draconian that runs can move at 3 times their walking speed, but can take no other actions. This appeals to some of our playtesters as a more interesting option, while limiting the benefits to specific situations.

Playtesting

We’re always looking for playtesters for our races, classes, archetypes and other designs here at Tribality. Wizards had the benefit of 175,000 playtesters over 2 years to get their ideas to the table; clearly we don’t have that luxury. Each of our builds are as balanced as we can design with a small playtest group and over a century of collective gaming XP. And we are always excited to hear when players get these ideas on the table and provide us with constructive ways to make them better.