Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Darklurch64 Aug 20, 2014 16:28:38	I'm going to be running a Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign this sunday for my friends. I do not know much about Forgotten Realms, and need some advice. One of my players wants to play a Gold dragonborn paladin who worships Bahamut. I really don't know much about it.    1. I heard that most dragonborn hate true dragon because of the slave thing. Is this true and if so why would a dragonborn worship him. Do I need to ask him to either change race or class because it doesn't make sense.   2. Would the Cult of the dragon have any Chromatic Dragonborn? I assume if yes they would kill Metalic Dragonborn.    If it is true and most dragonborn hate true dragons, then the only way I would allow him to play is with the optional background that he used to be a gold dragon and Bahamut.punished him by putting him into a dragon born body. Then again im not sure if this would work because why would Bahamut. put him into a slave body, instead of some other creature. Any help would be appriecated thx.
#2 iserith Aug 20, 2014 16:41:40	1. The player will decide this. It's his or her character, not the DM's. A player decides how his character acts and thinks.   2. It might, or it might not, whichever is more interesting in your game.   It's a fictional world and thus very mutable. Do what's most fun.
(Reply to #2) Darklurch64	I'm not very good at being creative and love facts and rules. It's what i even do for a living and im good at it. I'm very black and white when it comes to gaming, I know that isn't a good thing and i've been trying to overcome it. I love running modulars because of it. I know there isn't a offical forgotten realms 5th edition yet. I want to stay close to the offical lore and story if possible. That is why I was trying to find out if most dragonborn hate true dragons. If so then the player needs to decide if hes whole clan is like that or is he a exile. Dragonborn are uncommon and most people prolly wont know they hate true dragons. If he decides to stick with it I would like for him to come up with a reason why he or his clan isnt like most dragonborn.
#4 SpedGuy Aug 20, 2014 16:56:34	One could imagine they hate the actions of true-dragons, while still respecting the ideals of the Dragon Gods.  Maybe, in fact, this Paladin feels it is the Dragons who failed to live up to Bahamut's principals with their slavery?
#5 Atheosis Aug 20, 2014 16:59:02	http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Dragonborn   That's the 4E take on Dragonborn in Forgotten Realms.
#6 Atheosis Aug 20, 2014 17:01:44	SpedGuy wrote:
(Reply to #6) Darklurch64	Atheosis wrote:
#8 Atheosis Aug 20, 2014 17:21:26	http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Platinum_Cadre   Yep that's a perfect fit for your player's character.
#9 Darklurch64 Aug 20, 2014 17:28:13	Atheosis wrote:
#10 woif Aug 20, 2014 17:29:54	I would never ask a player to choose a different class/race because of "official lore" now if you as a DM chose to run the dragonborn culture as depicted in the forgotten realms then it would be true that most dragonborn don't worship bahamut. An excerpt from the wiki linked above "this hatred of dragons is strong, even carrying over to a condemnation of the worship of Bahamut" That being said, a few players in one of my campaigns wanted to play dragonborn who worshiped bahamut, one of them even took the paragon path (in 4e I think it was called platinum warlord or something). I liked the flavor of the characters so I decided that in my world (which was mostly just FR with a few changes) dragonborn have gotten over said resentment. Now my advice to you, decide the general rule for how 'joe dragonborn' views bahamut, then if it conflicts with the view of your player work with him to decide why his view is different.
#11 CorwynnMaelstrom Aug 20, 2014 20:37:08	Forcing a specific way of playing a character based on "normal" lore would mean that Drizzt never would have existed. I'm not going to say wether that's a good or bad thing, but it is true: drow are lore-wise chaotic evil and matriarchal. A good male drow running around on the surface is about as non-lore as you can get. Liking rules is fine, but setting isn't rules. "You gain advantage if a creature cannot see you as you attack" is a rule and should (probably) be followed. "Most dragonborn condemn Bahamut" is lore and will have loads of exceptions, including your player.   RP games are like real life. Sure there's folks like Jack Chick condeming D&D in the name of Jesus Christ, but there's bound to be devout Christians aplenty who loves to roll dice on the weekends. Let the player develop their character. All you have to do is let them know where they fit into the world as a result.   (Drizzt had not a lot of allies to start with, for sure.)
#12 Atheosis Aug 20, 2014 21:20:50	I agree that forcing a player to play their character a certain way is bad, but it is good to find out what the lore of a setting says about their caharacter concept so you can maintain the setting's versimilitude.  So if your player likes the idea of being part of the Platinum Cadre, awesome.  If not, ask him to come up with a well-thought-out explanation for why his character is such an anomaly.  What I do not like is when players intentionally ignore setting lore and have no good reason for it outside of "I want to!".  That does not help create an engaging and believable story.  I certainly wouldn't allow a player to play a Drow in Forgotten Realms unless they had a very good concept worked out.  Just saying "because Drow are cool!" would not sell me on the idea.
#13 coil6 Sep 13, 2014 10:50:08	I too have a dragonborn in my group (gold), who follows bahamut. he took the bond of once being a dragon but was punished by bahamut and was given mortal form. he also took the flaw of never admitting to being wrong wich tied nicely into the reason he was punished (to teach him humility). his cleric believes that by defeating enough chromatics will bring him back into bahamuts favor, therefore restoring him to his true form.
#14 TheLyons Sep 13, 2014 12:46:47	I have a gold dragonborn fighter/monk and a Tiefling barbarian/paladin in my game. We start next week. I'm more curious how the Tiefling barbarian/paladin of vengeance is going to work. I like giving my players creative license and both of these are 100% about story and 0% about mechanics so I actually sometimes have to step in and give advice. I really like choices like this. Very non obvious, extremely flavorful.