Playable Race Concept: The Drakonaar

[Raugnaut]

I've done a little more work (and there's more to be done) on the racial traits. Let me know what you think. Still too powerful? Not powerful enough now?

Here comes the Sun is a very solid racial imo.

5% off harmful effects STILL has the ability to affect boss abilities, looking at those that have a 2 minute duration and are only reapplied occaisionally. Perhaps change it to all cooldowns come off 5% faster?

[Sagenod]

Here comes the Sun is a very solid racial imo.

5% off harmful effects STILL has the ability to affect boss abilities, looking at those that have a 2 minute duration and are only reapplied occaisionally. Perhaps change it to all cooldowns come off 5% faster?

Ahhh I see. % off the duration of harmful effects is limited to only certain effects in racials for a reason. Orcs 20% off stun, Mag'har 10% off Poison, Disease, Curse, etc. I understand the difficulty in tuning this kind of ability properly and defining its limitations.

I like your idea better anyhow. 5% off of all cooldowns for the player character, right? Do you think that would be OP or is it minuscule enough to be justified as a racial trait?

[froschhure]

omg.. what about colorblind people..

[Sagenod]

omg.. what about colorblind people..

I'd probably recommend the Black Draken then.

[LilSaihah]

It's all about the lore, friend. Drakonids are massive shock troops employed by the dragonflights, and they aren't a species of their own rather humanoids empowered to the form they become. Draken were a byproduct of the experimentation that led to the magic of creating Drakonids. The Draken are capable of serving more subtle purposes than the Drakonid are meant for.

But I don't want to be subtle. I want to be a dragon.

[Sagenod]

But I don't want to be subtle. I want to be a dragon.

Point taken! Blizzard wants Drakonid in game too. Where I imagine they struggle is the issues I stated before, primarily that of them not being an actual race but a transformation. If they were to be implemented they could get the Worgen treatment, though; humanoid form and drakonid form. I personally wouldn't enjoy this as a playable race but that's just my opinion.

[HoodKazekage]

I think this would be a really cool idea for the mysterious "Kyrian" on the Shadowlands image that got leaked.

[Sagenod]

After revising this post I changed the race's name, story and modified some of the racial traits. I am looking for assistance with the various pieces of concept art I have in mind. If you're an artist interested in some possible commissioned work, let me know! More to come with the story of the Drakonaar and the Dragon Isles!

[Azalar]

I pretty much like the concept, and what's more interesting about it is that it can be expanded with more and more dragonflights as time goes on, such as the Infinite or Nether ones. My only issue would be the amount of detail in their lore. Lightforged Draenei and Void Elves don't even have a fraction of what you've written lol

I'd make it simpler and just say Drakonaar have been the servants of the Dragonflights for a long time, and in a hypothetical Dragon expansion, it would just make sense they'd join the Horde or Alliance's cause for whatever reason if Dragons are already on our side.

About racials, you're correct each chromatic variant should have a different breath weapon and elemental protections, but I think the rest should be the same for all colors. Maybe giving them 1% Versatility for being such an adaptable race would make sense, in exchange for profession perks.

As for breath weapons, here's my take:

Red breath: Breathes a cone of fire with moderate range that heals allies and damages enemies for 6 sec.

Blue breath: Breathes a long line of frostflame fire that reduces magic damage taken by allies by 5% for 6 sec and increases magic damage taken by enemies by 5% indefinitely. The latter works just as DH magic damage debuff, so it does not stack.

Green breath: Breathes a cone of dreamfire that energizes allies with 10% more resource generation for 6 sec and puts enemies to sleep for 6 sec. Any damage will break the effect.

Black breath: Breathes a cone of shadowflame fire that reduces physical damage taken by allies by 5% for 6 sec and increases physical damage taken by enemies by 5%. Just like above, it works like Monk's physical damage debuff, not stacking with it.

Bronze breath: Breathes a long line of sandbreath that increases allies' movement speed by 40% for 6 sec and reduces enemies' movement speed by 80% for 6 sec.

[Sagenod]

I pretty much like the concept, and what's more interesting about it is that it can be expanded with more and more dragonflights as time goes on, such as the Infinite or Nether ones. My only issue would be the amount of detail in their lore. Lightforged Draenei and Void Elves don't even have a fraction of what you've written lol

I'd make it simpler and just say Drakonaar have been the servants of the Dragonflights for a long time, and in a hypothetical Dragon expansion, it would just make sense they'd join the Horde or Alliance's cause for whatever reason if Dragons are already on our side.

About racials, you're correct each chromatic variant should have a different breath weapon and elemental protections, but I think the rest should be the same for all colors. Maybe giving them 1% Versatility for being such an adaptable race would make sense, in exchange for profession perks.

As for breath weapons, here's my take:

Red breath: Breathes a cone of fire with moderate range that heals allies and damages enemies for 6 sec.

Blue breath: Breathes a long line of frostflame fire that reduces magic damage taken by allies by 5% for 6 sec and increases magic damage taken by enemies by 5% indefinitely. The latter works just as DH magic damage debuff, so it does not stack.

Green breath: Breathes a cone of dreamfire that energizes allies with 10% more resource generation for 6 sec and puts enemies to sleep for 6 sec. Any damage will break the effect.

Black breath: Breathes a cone of shadowflame fire that reduces physical damage taken by allies by 5% for 6 sec and increases physical damage taken by enemies by 5%. Just like above, it works like Monk's physical damage debuff, not stacking with it.

Bronze breath: Breathes a long line of sandbreath that increases allies' movement speed by 40% for 6 sec and reduces enemies' movement speed by 80% for 6 sec.

Yes! Infinite and Nether would be awesome, as well as maybe even the elemental dragons and storm dragons. To me it's really a shame that the Void Elves and Lightforged Draenei have barely any lore. I would have expected them to be delved into further in BFA but that didn't quite happen and I'm not very confident Shadowlands will rectify that. I have ideas for more Dragon Isles content other than just the race, whether it would take the form of a patch or expansion (most likely the former). So the lore is sort of integral to explain the condition of the Dragon Isles and the Drakonaar are, of course, the titular race of the area. They are sort of analogous to what the Pandaren are to Pandaria.

Now the backstory of the race originating as Titan-forged creations and such is admittedly contrived. As I write more I'll go back and edit what I have to paint a clearer picture of the state of the Dragon Isles besides just the Drakonaars' activities. This will include more history of the draconic civilization that grew on the Isles, the other beings that live there and the Old Gods' forces that yet rule the Isles by and large. Then again, now that the Old Gods are "dealt with" I might have to alter the modern state of the Dragon Isles so that is represented. Perhaps even with the Old Gods defeated, the Void's hold is so great most of the creatures are forever lost to madness. Sort of like the Void-corrupted areas on Argus, where the environment and inhabitants were twisted and consumed by madness. Perhaps Xal'atath is there. Who knows!

Regarding the breath weapons: I originally gave them more throughput benefits but people expressed concerns that would create problems with balance. So I decided on the abilities having ancillary combat benefits thus you see the debuff removal, CC, etc. I'm still not too happy with them so I'll certainly be taking your recommendations into consideration. The professions traits are an issue since I have this idea that through the progression of the story there is eventually a Chromatic dragonflight tie-in and there ends up being a mechanic that would enable a Drakonaar player to change dragonflights. Player friendly mechanic to allow players to switch at the cost of a cooldown, resource, etc. without having to make an entirely new character. So yeah I like that idea and having the profession racial traits doesn't make sense in that context, so I'm going to create a new racial trait with a homogenized effect but possibly unique aesthetics based on dragonflight. A versatility bonus makes sense, I want to do something a little more complex than a flat 1% bonus though just to spice it up.

There's plenty of work to be done on this and I hope to expand into an entire concept for the Dragon Isles were they to be implemented in game. Thank you for the critique!

[Razion]

I'm surprised there weren't any racials related to swiping enemies behind you with a tail, as it's a pretty common dragon boss mechanic to always have to look out for the tail.

[Sagenod]

I'm surprised there weren't any racials related to swiping enemies behind you with a tail, as it's a pretty common dragon boss mechanic to always have to look out for the tail.

That's actually a phenomenal idea and I think I'm going to replace the profession traits with:

[Watch the Tail] - Attacks made from behind you have a n% chance to deal X Physical damage to enemies behind you within melee range.

So you can't avoid attacks from behind, but if you have a powerful prehensile tail (not a mamby pamby decorative tail like the Draenei) you can at least slap them with it! This should be balanced as long as the damage is negligible at max level, right?

Great idea man.

[Sagenod]

Came back to this after a long, long time. Altered the story with the events of Shadowlands in mind. I would like to do more with it if the interest is there so let me know what you think!

[Nightshade711]

I’d support this.
Only thing I’d probably change is just to merge all the clans into one main race so you can change colors in the barber shop.
Probably add a way to swap the breaths out similar to the zandalari & vulpera with their racials.
(Probably wouldn’t be a canonical swap unless they’re chromatic drakonids somehow)

If they could be explained enough I’d love to see Nether/Storm variants as well.

[Sagenod]

I’d support this.
Only thing I’d probably change is just to merge all the clans into one main race so you can change colors in the barber shop.
Probably add a way to swap the breaths out similar to the zandalari & vulpera with their racials.
(Probably wouldn’t be a canonical swap unless they’re chromatic drakonids somehow)

If they could be explained enough I’d love to see Nether/Storm variants as well.

At the end of the post! I want it to be something you have to unlock by doing the questline as a max level Drakonaar once. I also like the idea of Netherwing and Twilight Drakonaar customization options becoming unlockable.