They are clearly distinct from dragonborn, but the book has actually been criticized by reviewers for not explaining exactly what the distinction is. In 5e, Hoard of the Dragon Queen is so far the only place where half-dragons have been seen. This obviously did not retroactively change the person’s ancestry, just changed their bodies to match those of “born” half-dragons. In 3.5e, there was a “prestige class” called the dragon disciple that gained this as its final level, for example. Sometimes ritual or magics could be used to infuse a person with draconic aspects, in game terms becoming a half-dragon. Literally is a dragon, in game terms and in fluff terms, though with a roughly humanoid body shape. half their ancestry (one parent, or child of two half-dragons, whatever someone who was, strictly-speaking, a quarter dragon or eighth dragon might still be modeled with the half-dragon rules). Someone who has strong draconic ancestry, e.g. I've included these images to help explain my confusion. Here are two images, the first one is a "half-dragon" from the front of the Hoard of the Dragon queen module, and the second one is a "dragonborn" from the 5e player's Handbook. (I'm assuming here that the answer will be the same regardless) (Thus introducing me to the term Draconian)Īre there clear differences between these three races, (in the same way there are differences between Goblins and Hobgoblins, or Dragonborn and Lizardfolk and Kobolds,) or are they really just three different setting names for the same basic race?Īnswers can either be D&D 5e specific, or be based on the lore from all editions of Dungeons and Dragons.
However, the dragon breath rules are not at all similar for the half-dragon and the dragonborn, and I've also noticed wiki article that imply that they are different races entirely. I had assumed that when writing the adventure they were only allowed to use known material from Basic, and so renamed the Dragonborn into "Half-Dragon" for the sake of compatibility etc. In the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure, for example there is a Half-Dragon npc. What are the differences between "Dragonborn", "Half-Dragon", and "Draconian" races in D&D?