"Hero' s Handbook: Dragonborn" is an extensive, intensely-detailed tome that adds such a degree of depth and flavor to the 4th edition's newest core character race that GMs and players alike will find nearly boundless possibilities for their dragonborn NPCs and characters. GMs will appreciate the level of background provided on the cultures and histories of the race. They will no doubt find that they can pick up any, many, or all of the threads offered by the clans' details, information, and histories and tie them into richly detailed storylines, adventure seeds, and NPC and PC motivations. Players will appreciate the options provided in the forms of new powers, paragon paths, feats, and especially the inspired back story and character-development information and tables provided.
But to say only that is to seriously understate the scope of this book. Picking up "Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn" for the first time, I had the expectation, based upon the title and my presumptions about what character-based supplements have been in previous editions, that this was going to be simply a "player's option" type of book that would add some depth and detail to the dragonborn race, but then would pretty much only offer use in customizing my dragonborn player character. To my happy surprise I found that, in fact, the book offers so much more.
The book itself, paperback and black-and-white, won't jump off the shelf at you. While the layout is familiar and has the look of a core rulebook, and while the interior artwork is pretty good, the disappointing cover art is just a step above childish, cartoonish caricature. Fortunately, though, this is most definitely the only drawback of the work as a whole. Production values being average and cover art aside, you will not want to go without this supplement.
"Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn" opens with a discussion of the history of the dragonborn race. The level of depth in this area is so great as to offer the seeds for player inspiration during character generation, GM adventure planning, and even the potential for an entire campaign based upon the intricate motivations and relations between the various dragonborn clans. In three beautifully-imagined and well-written chapters, the history of eight major clans and a number of minor clans is laid out. Here alone authors Jeff LaSala, Aeryn "Blackdirge" Rudel, and Harley Stroh would have had enough material to create a respectable piece of work. The first chapter lays out the history of the race as a whole and then each of the clans briefly. Chapters two and three then go in to further detail on the individual clans, giving GMs a wealth of information to work with. These two chapters also offer up player crunch in the form of paragon path options specific to each clan.
The book goes on, in chapter four, to detail over thirty new feats for all three tiers. Many are clan-specific, helping dragonborn characters to become paragons of their kind. A number are class-specific and lend class powers a more draconic feel. Several are also available to any dragonborn in general and augment things like their breathweapon or other draconic features like scales and wings.
Chapter five is decidedly player-centered, offering players some tables to randomly generate inspiration and background for their dragonborn characters. While one is in no way beholden to the results generated by the tables, even just skimming over them and picking and choosing, players are likely to find some gem of insight into their character's past and motivations. GMs, too, can use these tables to continue to build player hooks into their adventures throughout a campaign and keep a dragonborn character coming back for more.
The final two chapters detail new monsters and magic items of draconic persuasion. Many of the new monsters are just sample members of the various dragonborn clans, but a decent number of other drakes and serpents have been created that can be installed into any number of settings as a foe or even a steed for any party or character. The magic item chapter, while somewhat brief and offering mainly dragonborn weapons, is nothing to sneeze at and has almost twenty new items from level two right on up. While dragonborn characters especially will covet the treasures in this chapter because of their significance to their draconic heritage, none require that their wielders specifically be dragonborn. As such, they can be used just as widely by any GM or player as any other item from the core rules set.
"Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn" is exactly what a third party supplement should be. It takes what the core rules give us, and adds detail and depth in a thoughtful and imaginative way. This book gives players and GMs so much to work with that, should they choose, they could go just as far as to spice up their individual dragonborn characters, or take it all the way and create a fully-developed, intricately-detailed dragonborn campaign. Whether dragonborn are going to be rare, unique creatures of myth in your game or dominate the spotlight, this supplement is an absolute "must have." Let's hope that Goodman Games continues to draw on LaSala's, "Blackdirge's," and Stroh's creativity and inspiration to keep the "Hero's Handbook" line going and continues to fill the void of details left by the core rulebook's sadly underdeveloped racial entries.
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