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Skyrim Tabletop - Who Becomes the Dragonborn?


ShadCroly

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So a bit of a forward: I and a number of my friends are fans of the Pathfinder Tabletop Role Playing Game and the idea was recently hit upon to try and create a campaign set in the Elder Scrolls universe during the events of TESV: Skyrim, following the events of the main storyline and as many of the sub-plots as possible (faction storylines, Civil War, Dawnguard DLC, Dragonborn DLC, etc.).

 

The idea seems sound enough; there's more than enough content to build a full 1st-20th level campaign around (probably into epic levels as well), finding/creating maps might be difficult but not impossible, and as the game would use the Pathfinder RPG game rules, people are okay with there being a few little discrepancies between the game and the tabletop rules (really minor things, like the College of Winterhold having more than five schools of magic taught). Heck, someone on the Paizo player forums already came up with a mock-up for what the races of the Elder Scrolls might look like in a tabletop RPG format, so a couple people are already musing about what kind of race they wanna play.

 

But here's the catch I've suddenly run into... who gets to be the Dragonborn? In a single player experience, of course the one player is going to be the Dragonborn, but what happens when you suddenly throw multiple people in the scenario, people who probably don't want to be stuck in the "And The Rest" crowd?

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Why not go the 'drawing straws' route? It will eliminate the need to argue over who gets to be the Dragonborn, etc. There are a number of phone/tablet apps and online apps that can prevent cheating if that is a concern.

 

You can also make sure everyone in the game feels equally important by creating certain quests that help other individuals shine through while even the Dragonborn gets a backseat. Unlike the game you could also have the Dragonborn unable to use certain spells/equipment/etc. Make it its own unique class maybe? If you make the Dragonborn less 'all powerful' like it is in the game it should give everyone an even playing field.

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Just a dumb question. Why are you limiting the number of dragonborn in the game?

 

That's one option I'd been considering, but I also started to question how powerful a party full of Dragonborn characters might be (since, mechanically, a Dragon Shout is basically a dragon's breath weapon, only the player gets way more utility out of it).

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Dragonborn is exceptionally powerful with shouts and has a natural ability to learn them quickly. Non-Dragonborns can shout also, for example Draugrs and Ulfric Stormcloak. So if its a question of who can shout, them potentially everyone could, although you might limit it to Nords.
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Imagine tamriel full of dragonborns, or nords who studied the voice, just like ulfric did.. Then the world would suffer terrible pain from too much shouting... and eventually.. what happened to falmers may happen to the nords,, except that it will be the ear they will no longer need.. :wallbash: Edited by jhncanson
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  • 1 month later...
I suggest shouts as a school of magic. Add Dragonborn verses practiced shout users. Dragonborn operate under time or turn constraints where as the practiced users can only cast the amount they have prepared in advance. Say something like "storm call" Dragonborn wouldn't be able to cast shouts for the next 3 turns, and practiced users can only have one prepared going into combat. I am not so versed in the tabletop rules but someone moreso could adapt a system like that.
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