Baldur’s Gate 3 has 11 choices of playable races. The chosen race is what defines the first impression many NPCs will have of the player, and each of them comes with its own racial bonuses. All of these races are based on their appearances in Dungeons & Dragons’ Player’s Handbook, though BG3 allows more freedom for stat customization.
One of the available options is the dragonborn race. With the appearance of draconic humanoids, they are incredibly distinct compared to the other 10 races. There are a few different types of dragonborn that have unique abilities — so who are the dragonborn in Baldur’s Gate 3?
What Are The Differences Between The Dragonborn Colors?
The Abilities Of The Dragonborn Depend On Their Color
Unlike other races, dragonborn don’t have any unique racial bonuses that are universal to their species, and all of their traits are derived from their subrace. Dragonborn have ten subraces, which all grant the character resistance to a certain damage type, and a unique attack where the character can use their breath to inflict the same kind of damage. These subraces are ordained to different colors, but players don’t actually have to necessarily stick to these colors in customization.
White Dragonborn
Cold Damage
Frost Breath – 2d6 Cold Damage
Over time, the dragonborn breath ability’s damage output will increase — at level 6, the modifier becomes 3d6, and at level 11, it upgrades to 4d6. Acid, Lightning, and Fire breath cause the target to roll a Dexterity save, whilst Cold and Poison cause a constitution save. Resistance does not completely prevent that damage type, only halving it, but being resistant to acid or poison can be useful for tanking traps. Fire damage is the most common source of elemental damage in the game, but it also has some of the most enemies that are immune or resistant to it.
Dragonborn have some of the most unique customization options compared to the other races. Players can mix and match the color of their scales if they choose to become a Draconic bloodline sorcerer, and the appearance of this subclass’s scales is substantially different from when they’re applied to a humanoid face. Since they’re unable to grow hair in the base game, they instead have their own “Crests” menu, which allows players to change the appearance of their head. BG3 also has the option for dragonborn to have tails, which is quite a rare occurrence in traditional D&D.
Dragonborn In The World Of Baldur’s Gate 3
Some Background On The Lore Of Dragonborn In (And Outside) Faerûn
As can be gathered from the subrace descriptions, dragonborn are part of a different lineage than dragons and aren’t related to them in the same way tieflings are to fiends. They were simply made to resemble them by the gods or powerful dragons who created them. It’s actually common among dragonborn to harbor a hatred towards dragons, as they had once been enslaved by them. Due to their past, now that they’re free, they value their freedom and individuality over anything. Interestingly, dragonborn cleric players are still able to choose to worship Tiamat, who is the dragon goddess of greed.
Most dragons in D&D have typical alignments based on their color/species, but the color of a dragonborn is not indicative of their personality.
In previous Baldur’s Gate games, the dragonborn were not present, as the dragonborn first arrived at Baldur’s Gate in the time period between the second and third games. They were originally from the planet of Abeir, the twin planet to Toril, which is where the continent of Faerûn and the city of Baldur’s Gate are located. Compared to their popularity Dungeons & Dragons, the race in BG3 has become fairly sidelined, as Larian decided to allow players to assign their own stat bonuses regardless of race. When it comes to strength, dragonborn lost their key advantage.
From gnome druids to dragonborn barbarians, here are your top 3 character classes per race! pic.twitter.com/TpVBAvEql2 — Baldur’s Gate 3 (@baldursgate3) August 7, 2024
Dragonborn are few and far between in BG3 — there aren’t many particularly notable dragonborn in the game, with the biggest exception being the default Dark Urge origin. In the one-year anniversary statistics posted by the official Baldur’s Gate 3 account on X, the most popular class for the dragonborn race was the sorcerer. This may be due to it being the default option for the Dark Urge, or it could be because of the extra cosmetic flavor dragonborns receive with the draconic bloodline subclass. The dragonborn race has some of the most diversity in Baldur’s Gate 3, but it is often overlooked.
