Gem dragonborn partake of the heritage of gem dragons, who claim to be heirs of Sardior, the Ruby Dragon. The colors and mysterious powers of gem dragons—amethyst, crystal, emerald, sapphire, and topaz—gleam in these dragonborn’s scaled skin and course through their veins. Theirs are the wonders of the mind, the force of will, the brilliant light of insight, and the resounding echo of discovery—but also the desiccation of despair.
Creating Your Character
When you create your D&D character, you decide whether your character is a member of the human race or one of the game’s fantastical races. If you select one of the dragonborn races in this chapter, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one of those scores by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy.
The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You’re free to follow those suggestions or to ignore them. Whichever scores you decide to increase, none of the scores can be raised above 20.
Languages
Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.
Creature Type
Every creature in D&D, including each player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race option presented here tells you what your character’s creature type is.
Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the cure wounds spell doesn’t work on a Construct or an Undead.
Creature Type
You are a Humanoid.
Size
You are Medium.
Speed
Your walking speed is 30 feet.
Gem Ancestry
You have a gem dragon ancestor, granting you a special magical affinity. Choose one kind of dragon from the Gem Ancestry table. This determines the damage type for your other traits, as shown in the table.
Gem Ancestry
| Dragon | Damage Type |
|---|---|
| Amethyst | Force |
| Crystal | Radiant |
| Emerald | Psychic |
| Sapphire | Thunder |
| Topaz | Necrotic |
Breath Weapon
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with an exhalation of magical energy in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failed save, the creature takes 1d10 damage of the type associated with your Gem Ancestry. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage. This damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).
You can use your Breath Weapon a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Draconic Resistance
You have resistance to the damage type associated with your Gem Ancestry.
Psionic Mind
You can send telepathic messages to any creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand these messages, but it must be able to understand at least one language to comprehend them.
Gem Flight
Starting at 5th level, you can use a bonus action to manifest spectral wings on your body. These wings last for 1 minute. For the duration, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed and can hover. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.