Dragonborn at a Glance [Hackmaster]

Dragonborn at a Glance

+2 Strength
-1 Wisdom
-1 Dexterity
No Looks Attribute
+1 Charisma


Dragonborn Pros:

*Breathe Fire. Once per day, a Dragonborn may breathe fire, as if they cast the Scorch spell at the basic level of effect. After breathing fire, they suffer from 6 seconds of spell fatigue. Note that this is a natural ability; Dragonborn Mages do not automatically know the Scorch spell, nor can their breath weapon be enhanced by spell points. Those in the area of effect may Dodge for half damage, against the d20p+the dragonborn’s Dexterity.

If the Dragonborn wishes to increase the power of the breath, or breathe fire again, they must make a physical saving throw against the total cost of the spell divided by 5. Failure on this saving throw inflicts a wound equal to the total cost of the spell divided by 10.


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Breathing Fire: An example

Ignus Rex breathes fire; for the first breath of the day, he inflicts 1d3p+6 damage, and suffers 6 seconds of spell fatigue.

The next day, Ignus Rex breathes fire again, but wishes to make it very hot, doing 1d3p+10 damage. As this is his first fire breath of the day, the initial cost of Scorch is discounted, but since Ignus increased the damage by 4 points (which would be 40 SP), he must make physical saving throw against d20p+8 (40/5). If he fails, he will take a 4 point wound (40/10). Unless the wound kills him, he breathes fire and suffers 6 seconds of spell fatigue.

Later that same day, Ignus Rex wishes to breathe fire a second time. He must make a Physical saving throw against a d20p+10; the base cost of Scorch is 50. If he fails, he will take a 5 point wound. Unless the wound kills him, he will breath fire for d3p+6 points of damage, and suffer 6 seconds of spell fatigue).
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*Resist Fire and Heat: Dragonborn naturally resist fire and heat. They receive -1 point of damage per die rolled of fire damage, and a +2 to saving throws to resist effects based on fire or heat. This includes dodge bonuses against fire attacks.


*Size Medium for Hit Points (+10)


Dragonborn Cons

*Dragonborn, while largely humanoid, do not fit in most medium or heavy armors. These must be specially made, or altered by an armorer of at least Journeyman ability, requiring 25% of the cost. This does not apply to shields, or to light armor.


*Dragonborn are a rarity, and often mistaken for lizardmen. As such, their base encounter reaction with other races is Dislike.


Fighter 30
Ranger 50
Barbarian na
Thief 40
Rogue 35
Assassin 35
Mage 60
Fighter/Mage 45
Fighter/Thief 35
Mage/Thief 50

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Sidebar: Life with No Looks

Dragonborn do not have a Looks attribute as is conventionally understood. This is not to say that they don’t recognize differences in appearance or attractiveness amongst themselves, nor to say that an individual Dragonborn cannot be beautiful to look at. It is simply that the variation in their looks has no effect on humanoid perceptions of them; humans don’t instinctively trust “pretty” dragonborn the way they do pretty elves or dwarves. As such, those two races have neither Charisma nor reaction modifiers due to looks. Only two skills key off of Looks, but these have very different reactions to this lack of an ability. Mastery in the Acting skill for Dragonborn keys solely off the Charisma attribute; a Dragonborn can attempt to act, though they face some limitations in getting others to believe that they’re not Dragonborn (though they may, for example, convince people that they’re some other Dragonborn or something similar). Seduction, however, must be taken twice… once for saurians, and once for humanoids. For saurians, Seduction is considered to have no looks component. When interacting with humanoids, the Looks of the Dragonborn is considered to be 1; -5 to all Mastery die rolls, with a base mastery score of 1. It’s hard to make them think you’re sexy when you’re 7 feet of claws and scales.

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