Rules edition: This guide uses the 2014 Silver Dragonborn from the Player’s Handbook with the 2014 Paladin. It identifies optional subclass sources separately. The 2024 Dragonborn has a revised Breath Weapon and different character-creation rules; do not combine it with the legacy fixed ability increases described here.
A Silver Dragonborn Paladin can pair cold resistance and a limited area attack with the Paladin’s armor, healing, and weapon features. The character works best when you plan around what each trait actually does: the breath weapon is an action, Charisma supports Paladin features, and the Silver ancestry does not force an oath or alignment.
2014 Silver Dragonborn traits
The 2014 Dragonborn receives a +2 Strength increase and a +1 Charisma increase. Silver ancestry gives you resistance to cold damage and a 15-foot cone breath weapon that deals cold damage. Each creature in the cone makes a Constitution saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes half damage on a successful save and full damage on a failed save. The breath weapon deals 2d6 damage at level 1, increasing to 3d6 at level 6, 4d6 at level 11, and 5d6 at level 16. You regain its use when you finish a short or long rest.
Using the breath weapon takes an action. It is not a bonus action, spell, or weapon attack, and it does not use a spell slot. If you use it, you do not also take the Attack action that turn unless a separate feature gives you another action. Its save DC uses Constitution, so the +1 Charisma does not improve it. The 2024 Dragonborn breath weapon follows different rules.
Ability scores for a Paladin
Strength supports attacks with most heavy weapons and the 2014 Paladin’s heavy-armor approach. Charisma powers your Paladin spell save DC and contributes to Aura of Protection at Paladin level 6. Constitution adds hit points and helps with concentration saves. The Silver Dragonborn’s increases support Strength and Charisma, but do not make Constitution irrelevant.
For example, point buy can start with 15 Strength, 14 Constitution, and 14 Charisma before ancestry increases, giving you 17 Strength, 14 Constitution, and 15 Charisma. Adjust the rest for the campaign, armor, and skills. If the DM uses the optional Tasha’s custom origin rules, the ancestry increases can be reassigned under that option; this is not the default fixed-score version presented above.
Choosing an oath
Oath of Devotion is the classic protector. Sacred Weapon lets you add your Charisma modifier to attack rolls with the weapon for its duration, and its other features focus on defense and fighting undead or fiends. The oath fits a character who wants an explicit code, though Silver ancestry does not require a noble or lawful personality.
Oath of the Ancients can suit a guardian who protects life and hope. Its spell list and later aura support a defensive style. Oath of Vengeance suits a Paladin who pursues a particular enemy; Vow of Enmity grants advantage against its target under the feature’s conditions. These three oaths are in the 2014 Player’s Handbook.
Other oaths come from supplements and may need DM approval. Oath of Conquest is in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything; Oath of the Crown is in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide; Oath of Redemption is in Xanathar’s; Oath of Glory is in Mythic Odysseys of Theros; and Oath of the Watchers is in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Choose by the oath’s actual features and your campaign, not by assuming silver ancestry grants fear resistance or dictates an oath.
Breath weapon, attacks, and Divine Smite
The cone is most useful when several enemies are close together and you can avoid catching allies. It can also deal damage when you need to conserve spell slots. Against one enemy, a weapon attack may be a better use of your action, especially when you want to use Divine Smite after a melee weapon hit. Divine Smite is not a bonus-action spell: when you hit with a melee weapon attack, you can expend a spell slot to add radiant damage as the feature describes. On a critical hit, the attack’s damage dice, including the extra dice from a smite, are rolled twice.
Polearm Master can give a qualifying bonus-action attack after you take the Attack action using the specified weapons. That attack can be a chance to land a Divine Smite if it hits with a melee weapon. The feat does not let you use a bonus action breath weapon, and you cannot trigger its Attack-action benefit on a turn when you only use your action to breathe cold. Sentinel can help protect allies by limiting movement after qualifying opportunity attacks; read both feats’ trigger wording carefully.
Paladin spells, Lay on Hands, Channel Divinity, and subclass features each have their own actions, bonus actions, or reactions. The breath weapon competes for your action; Polearm Master and some oath features compete for your bonus action. Choose what matters most on the turn instead of assuming every feature can be used at once.
Cold resistance and campaign fit
Cold resistance halves cold damage you take, subject to the normal resistance rules. It is especially useful in a campaign with cold-damaging creatures or environments, but it does not protect against other damage types or remove every environmental hazard. Your Paladin’s armor and defensive features still matter.
The cold breath and metallic ancestry can shape how the character looks or relates to draconic history. Silver dragons are often portrayed as protective, but that lore is a roleplaying prompt rather than a rule that determines your alignment or personality. Your Paladin might embrace that legacy, challenge it, or follow an oath for personal reasons unrelated to ancestry.
2024 rules note
The 2024 Player’s Handbook updates both Dragonborn and Paladin rules. It removes fixed ability score increases from species, changes how the Breath Weapon is used and how often it is available, and revises class progression. If you build a 2024 character, use the 2024 species, background, and class rules together. The fixed +2 Strength/+1 Charisma and short-or-long-rest breath described above are the 2014 version.
Official Rules Sources
- Player’s Handbook (2014) (Dragonborn, Paladin, combat, feats, and spells)
- Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (Conquest and Redemption oaths)
- Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide (Crown oath)
- Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (Watchers oath and optional custom origin rules)
- Mythic Odysseys of Theros (Glory oath)
- Player’s Handbook (2024) (separate current Dragonborn and Paladin rules)
