If you could play ANY sort of DRAGON or DRAGON-LIKE Player Character...

[Rubricae]

... What would you be?
What sort of class would they be?

In the spirit of the previous thread, except instead of only inquiring about dragons themselves - let's include creatures such as wyverns, dragonborn, dragonkin, half-dragons, dragonnel, dragon turtles, et cetera.
You may select any, all, or additional. Elaborate to your heart's content!

This is in no way indicative of any / all of the listed races being added / returned to Arelith. This is just one of those 'I wonder if other people think of this too' sort of situations. You know, for those of us who still dream of dragons.

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Personally if I had the opportunity to portray any sort of dragon I'd be INCREDIBLY torn. I'm quite fond of Blue dragons(#1 Chromatic, fight me), but Bronze is probably my favourite of the metallics. I'm personally excluding Prismatic from the picture otherwise it wouldn't be fair to the other options. I'm not sure which I'd pick over the other, I suppose it'd depend on the class. If it were Blue, I'd certainly go for something such as Harbinger or some-such. Make a real big bad 'Lord of Lightning' sort of affair. Bronze would perhaps be some sort of Liberator build, though as for what in specific I've no idea. Definitely something that keeps me near the water.

In terms of a less intimidatingly huge type of dragon to play as, it'd be a pseudodragon, an elemental drake(water, air), or some sort of faerie dragon. I find pseudodragons and drakes to be delightful, although faerie dragons would allow me to shake my sillies out in a way that fey can't quite reach.
Favored Soul would be an easy choice for any of them, or some sort of wizard. It would be pretty chill to play as someone's familiar with these choices, I can envision quite the amount of hijinks that might ensue.

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[ If you're torn on a resource beyond the wiki to look up information on dragons, try the 2e or 3e Dragonomicon: The Book of Dragons, 3e Races of the Dragon, 3e Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn, 3e Dragons of Faerûn, and the respective monster manuals ]
[ If you're just in it for pretty artwork - 3e Dragonomicon and the 5e The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons have such in droves ]
{ Special thanks to Meadow, for encouraging me to buy The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons all those months ago and permanently altering my brainwaves as a result }
{ And my poor boyfriend for patiently answering me whenever I ask 'Babe, would you still love me if I was a Dragon?' }

[Azensor]

easy choice.

goblin facade shadow dragon, dex sd build.

[Vaeldria]

I'm still inclined to prismatic largely because there's less expectations for it to be played a specific way, they fit in most environments, and can be played as a character keenly interested in the narratives of others (taking a supportive role rather than the main focus).

Putting that aside, Black is probably the most straightforward - though I prefer blue for their lightning aspect.

While I might play a metallic in a setting other than Arelith, I'm disinclined to good-aligned characters here.

[DM Starfish]

If I could play a dragon, I'd be dragon these orbs-

[Rubricae]

If I could play a dragon, I'd be dragon these orbs-

[The GrumpyCat]

As a DM I've been able to rp dragons, and it's always a blast. But as player I think I'd go for a dragonborn of some sort.

[Iceborn]

Half dragons and disciples are my favorites - then again, I love mongrels in general, the sort of 'too much of x, too much of y' for either side of their races makes for the kind of stories that I like.
Dragonwroughts are funky too.

But if we are talking about extra funky...
I'd play a wyvern.

Full dragons are - to me - almost inhumanly hard to roleplay to the sheer level of greatness and splendor that they should display. It takes an insanely good writer to make a dragon that is just good and doesn't flake down to expectation. The same I would say of many of the 'out there' races, like fey, imp and raksasha.

And in thematic choice, I coppers and brass and bronze are the most interesting of the metallics.
Coppers are hilarious.
Brass have a lot of potential by what they represent and what you could do with a brass dragon out of place.
Bronze are just rad.

Silver and gold are too one-note to me, their concepts are... either too tame and bland, or too simple for me to see any great potential outright - I can think of a few good concepts, but they rely on heavy mixing with other concepts to shine.

Of the chromatics, I like all of them except red.
Red suffers from the same as above - they are too one-note; they are the stereotype of the evil dragon and they fill all the slots of the evil dragon bingo, and that to me is boring. Every other chromatic has something that pushes them to a more interesting direction.
Generally speaking -
Blues are surprisingly wholesome despite being LE.
Greens are Machiavellian bastards.
Whites are more feral and in tune with nature.
Blacks are outright sadistic.

The planar dragons are... a thing. I generally don't pay them that much mind - some of them are neat and some of them are just the product of some writers snorting a new product. Like, prismatics are rad, but then we have Radiant Dragons, Force Dragons, Song Dragons, Magma Dragon, Pandemonium Dragon, Zombie Dragon, and a bajillion dragonlike creatures.

Circling back -
I played exactly 2, but very nuanced RDDs in my time as RPer, strangely my first and currently last character. They have the exact mixing of mundane but still touched by something extraordinaire that makes for a strange, compelling character.

A wyvern would be the next evolution of that. A wyvern is not a true dragon, most wyverns are dumb as a sack of bricks, but one that is self-aware enough to understand their position in life and what they themselves represent would make for an emotionally fraught character, and that to me is a goldmine of possibilities.
For this very same reason I also enjoy playing kobolds.

[Disaster Lesbian]

GEM DRAGON.

Gem Dragons are utterly fantastic, interesting and an often overlooked set of Dragons - they even have their own particular kind of deity amidst the pantheon; Sardior!

Given the chance, would play either an Amethyst or Crystal dragon.

[Naghast]

Probably a brass. Or a copper.
Or a prismatic or some other weird dragon type i'd dig out.
Considering how much i love magic you can probably figure out what i'd play. Or not! Who knows.

Dragons are cool.

[Kuma]

i wouldnt

dont like em

I'd be more likely to play some sort of madcap dragon cultist (or indeed literally Cult of the Dragon character).

[LichBait]

I would play a Blue Dragon. They are the best dragon. I enjoy the Lawful Evil organization dragons such as the Blood of Morueme.

[Waldo52]

i wouldnt

dont like em

I'd be more likely to play some sort of madcap dragon cultist (or indeed literally Cult of the Dragon character).

Agreed.

I'm a broken record on this subject but I think we need fewer special race characters, not more.

[Hazard]

i wouldnt

dont like em

I'd be more likely to play some sort of madcap dragon cultist (or indeed literally Cult of the Dragon character).

Agreed.

I'm a broken record on this subject but I think we need fewer special race characters, not more.

I agree. We need more avenues of roleplay for people who want to play 'Medieval Guy Transported To Faerun and Is Perpetually Vexxed About It' and fewer fantasy elements.

Also the only correct answer is Faerie Dragon.

[Edens_Fall]

Prismatic Dragon for sure. Some sort of Melee build.

. . . darn, now I'm sad we can't play Dragons anymore.

[Rubricae]

i wouldnt

dont like em

I'd be more likely to play some sort of madcap dragon cultist (or indeed literally Cult of the Dragon character).

Agreed.

I'm a broken record on this subject but I think we need fewer special race characters, not more.

... this is a thread about 'what if you could', not 'they are being added what are you planning to play'.
no debbie downers allowed in my sandpit.

[facesmash]

GEM DRAGON.

Gem Dragons are utterly fantastic, interesting and an often overlooked set of Dragons - they even have their own particular kind of deity amidst the pantheon; Sardior!

Given the chance, would play either an Amethyst or Crystal dragon.

I was looking for this before I put it. +1 for me especially the Amethyst Dragon. Thats what I would rock for sure.

[ReverentBlade]

Tiny red dragon wizard with a human familiar. They pretend to be the other way around.

[Cthuletta]

I'd make a character that is meant to be funny, to be honest.
A halfling copper dragonborn or half dragon bard that speaks in riddles or saunters through the streets strumming a lute and singing silly songs. Copper dragons are funny creatures, they're probably my favourite dragon for personality alone.
Naturally they'd probably follow Brandobaris

[Preserver]

Definitely a Red Dragon. Sit on my treasure, eat people, be worshipped by Kobolds.

[-XXX-]

this is a thread about 'what if you could', not 'they are being added what are you planning to play'.
no debbie downers allowed in my sandpit.

If I could, I wouldn't

We've been there, done that - no redeeming qualities have been found.
Arelith alternate universe with PC dragons sits right between the Marvel Arelith universe and the Arelith universe where all characters are Pikachu.

Your sandpit is sinful - let it go

[Rubricae]

this is a thread about 'what if you could', not 'they are being added what are you planning to play'.
no debbie downers allowed in my sandpit.

If I could, I wouldn't

We've been there, done that - no redeeming qualities have been found.
Arelith alternate universe with PC dragons sits right between the Marvel Arelith universe and the Arelith universe where all characters are Pikachu.

Your sandpit is sinful - let it go

rude for what

Tiny red dragon wizard with a human familiar. They pretend to be the other way around.

oh my god i love that idea so much

I'd make a character that is meant to be funny, to be honest.
A halfling copper dragonborn or half dragon bard that speaks in riddles or saunters through the streets strumming a lute and singing silly songs. Copper dragons are funny creatures, they're probably my favourite dragon for personality alone.
Naturally they'd probably follow Brandobaris :D

ok i'm asking this because i think i'm just weird but what draws you to copper metallics? i'm curious.
i personally am not the FONDEST of them because the blurbs from the lorebooks make them seem super obnoxious but i wanna know if there's more to them than that.

[Norsepal]

probably a dragonborn ngl

they're even canon to the setting/lore atm iirc?

[Svrtr]

probably a dragonborn ngl

they're even canon to the setting/lore atm iirc?

There are "Dragonborn" in 3e but they aren't the humanoid dragon people, not the ones from 5e. Those ones from 5e were added in 4e.

3e has the dragonborn of bahamut as a thing oft forgotten about (I myself forgot about them because I had to spend 5 minutes finding their wiki page because I forgot the "of bahamut" part: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... of_Bahamut )

[Iceborn]

I'd make a character that is meant to be funny, to be honest.
A halfling copper dragonborn or half dragon bard that speaks in riddles or saunters through the streets strumming a lute and singing silly songs. Copper dragons are funny creatures, they're probably my favourite dragon for personality alone.
Naturally they'd probably follow Brandobaris

ok i'm asking this because i think i'm just weird but what draws you to copper metallics? i'm curious.
i personally am not the FONDEST of them because the blurbs from the lorebooks make them seem super obnoxious but i wanna know if there's more to them than that.

What's not to like about coppers?
You have one of the more mystical, magical creatures of the setting. Of -all- settings.
A creature that is literally the first word of the setting's namesake.
A force of nature privy to mysteries of the arcane, of reality that often rival that of the deities.
An absolute killing machine of a living creature that doesn't even have to try to be a CR 15 hazard -

and they spend their time carefully affixing buckets of water on top of doorframes and thinking about limericks.

All dragons are super obnoxious; they are entitled to be. They are dragons, you are not. They do everything with literal draconic confidence and authority. It falls to a competent writer to play their nature in a way that is interesting, or obnoxiously only to the characters.

The only type of dragon that are devoid of that authority are Silvers, and I precisely dislike them for that reason.

[Kenji]

While roleplaying one, I'd avoid boring any other player character with details, culture, and lore of each dragon color or chroma but focus on what makes any dragon-related PC interesting: the exclusion from others, not finding a place of belonging, a feeling of loneliness because no one can truly comprehend what the character is going through, the sensation of the mystery of one's heritage, the hidden power from the lineage yet to be explored, so many things.

I may be projecting, but if I see a dragon-related PC come up to me, DO NOT talk about how evil red dragons are and how you're a white dragon, that shit bores me as a player to death and confuses the heck out of my character, as in "What do I care about you being a dragon in a humanoid body when all I care about is surviving in the cold of Skaljard? Can you breathe fire and make it warmer for us all?"