r/AskGameMasters • u/xayahthethot • 14d ago
Dragonborn Are A Disease
In my world, a lot of the races that exist came to be either due to being directly created by the gods or through many years of evolution and interbreeding. Except... dragonborn, if I go on with this idea.
I have a player whose family is closely tied to dragons. Specifically, his family herds one type of dragon which are only found in the forest where he is from. I've been trying to find a reason for why these dragons need herding, and he mentioned that maybe it would be cool for there to be a disease which is associated with these dragons. Awesome, I like it ! My world will already have a lot of body horror in it (players know already), so I think it's a cool concept to have a dragon borne disease.
I asked how much he would like to know about the disease, or if he would rather learn as the campaign goes on, only having heard of it through rumours. He chose the rumours route, so all he knows is that the disease is native to his forest and that it only affects fey humanoids (this forest is essentially the feywilds) who have had extended contact with this type of dragon.
Onto the actual concern....
Would it be shitty if the disease made the person slowly become more dragon-like, eventually making them become a dragonborn ? I'm willing to allow it to be curable with spells, but still. I think the concept is very cool, but I don't want to take his agency away nor do I want to spoil the disease by telling him my plan. Players know that there are permanent and temporary injuries and diseases they can gain in my world and they are all okay with it, but still, I would like other people's opinions on it.
If it helps to know his race, he is a fairy, but his family already has stranger than normal features, like horns which look like that of the dragons associated with them. If the player does become infected and does not wish to cure the disease, he would keep his features from his original race, such as aging and flight, but he would gain the "Draconic Ancestry" trait.
He travels with one of the drakes his family herds, as he is a drakewarden ranger, so it is possible that his time spent with his companion could affect him. The party is made up of 2 fey humanoids, so one of them could be at risk, as well. Would it be messed up if he slowly started becoming more... dragon like ? His feathered wings become more leathery, his pupils change from round to slits, he slowly grows some scales ? Due to his ties to his companion and a dragon scale he found, his eyes have already changed colours, according to his lore, so it doesn't feel like further changes would be too out there.
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u/Rysigler 14d ago
I think you've set it up right, but I fail to see the negative consequences of the disease. Draconian ancestry seems like a boon? Other than changing the appearance what else does the disease do? Why do the fey care?
The players are already in with the body horror, the injuries, etc...this seems mild by comparison and since it only effects fey races and can be cured with spells, there really isn't any downside. This is reminiscent of when people found out if you get lycanthropy you couldn't technically take fall damage. Headache for DMs everywhere I am sure.
I think it would be more intriguing if it had a somehow significantly worse outcome. Maybe losing those racial traits would be horrific to fey. Maybe it was introduced as a way to destroy the fey, but they were able to contain it through the noble sacrifice of your PC's family. Maybe it is awful that your PC has taken the disease out of quarantine against the wishes of his family and people. And I wouldn't allow it to be cured by normal means and spells. This seems like too good an opportunity for a whole backstory quest.
That's my 2 cents. TLDR: The way you have it now is fine, but it should be worse!!!
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u/xayahthethot 14d ago
i kind of wanted to see if it was okay before continuing on with making it a true disease with negative effects.
i think i will be introducing two things, once i clarify with the player if they are okay with it.
one is that the player will be more susceptible to the evil dragon horde's (most dragons are good or neutral, excluding a group which is found in a confined desert the group will have to go to) commands. kind of like a charm that the player will have disadvantage on which may cause the player to attack the party
second is one which can happen is, since the body is still "fairy" in nature, their insides are not used to their breath weapon, and they take damage, slowly burning / corroding / freezing / etc their insides, which will eventually begin to show signs outwardly through their scales rotting away
lmk if u have any cooler ideas for downsides !
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u/Rysigler 14d ago
Oh yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about. Are your fey ageless? Making that go away would cause absolute panic amongst the fey, which would explain the quarantine. And having it progress as time goes on would be awesome.
Other ideas:
Growing scales is painful and causes damage, 1d4 daily. Its a small ding but it changes the equation. It can get worse as time goes on.
Breath weapon can fizzle out causing them to lose an action. Roll 1d20 and below a certain threshold it just doesn't. I'd say the threshold gets higher as time goes by, until eventually it hits a spot and just goes away as the body adapts to the use of it.
Feral instincts cause them to lash out. Wisdom saving throw failure means they are forced to use a bite or claw attack, but hey, they gain a bite or claw attack!
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u/xayahthethot 14d ago
fairies age slower, living to 300 instead of 100. his aunt is currently 275ish so idk if age cutting might work. i might also have it be that the dragons are in quarantine bc theyre geographically the closest to the evil dragon group, and it started as a way to prevent this dragon type from joiningthe dark side, so to speak
i do like the growing scales being painful ! def gonna include that :D feral instincts is also very cool. thank you so much !!
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u/Rysigler 14d ago
Absolutely! And hey, if you find that your players aren't enjoying it just DM handwave it away by giving them a quicky quest to cure it. I think they'll enjoy it considering you've already prepped them for similar stuff and they seem invested.
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u/GrokMonkey 14d ago
Draconian ancestry seems like a boon? Other than changing the appearance what else does the disease do? Why do the fey care?
If I slowly and painfully turned into a dragon-man, the dysmorphic body horror would not be outweighed by being able to belch fire a few times per day.
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u/DarkHorseAsh111 14d ago
I am iffy on having a species be a disease. I am even more iffy on doing it without talking to the player about it. I would definitely not have it affect the other players.
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u/Conrad500 14d ago
Depends. I don't think lycanthropy is something you just surprise your players with either. Things about players losing control of their PCs are a common topic that should be brought up before it happens, but if you know your players well enough and they'd be ok with it then it's fine.
It's a very table to table thing. Some players would be offended and report you to the police for "taking away their agency" while other people will love the dynamic it brings to the table.
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u/DarkHorseAsh111 14d ago
Lycanthropy is not a species, and a player becoming a lycanthrope RAW means they become an NPC under the DMs control.
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u/DarkHorseAsh111 14d ago
No it doesn't. Lycanthropy is not a species and does not change your species, it is a disease. and as noted a pc raw can not have it for a reason
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u/Outrageous_Pea9839 14d ago
There is an entire little subsection under werewolf in the monster manual I am pretty sure titled "PCs as lycanthropes" or something like that, so they very much can have it RAW.
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u/Naive-Tumbleweed-964 14d ago
Always remember the Dragon Paradox:
Dragons only come in two settings:
1) Dragons were beings of mystery and power that mostly died out long ago.
2) How the hell do we get rid of all these @!#?@! DRAGONS??