Also not to beat a very familiar dead horse but I also don’t get why… the entire population of dragon RPers can be judged by a few bad eggs and yet it is never acceptable to make the same sweeping judgment of, say… orc players. Or Pandaren. Or Elves. If generalizing these isn’t okay, it shouldn’t be okay when aimed dragon RPers either.
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Sounds like you’re a dragon RPer levington 
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I mean I could be Seven Layer Burrito RPer and I’d say the same thing
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That sounds more tasty to me.
I think the dragon hate stems from people automatically assuming the person RPing a dragon is going to RP a certain way (godmoding, etc). It’s not hard to see why even if it is wrong.
I’ve never met a serious dragon RPer. They’re usually joke characters or easily I can make fun of them because they’re obviously trolls trying to get a rise out of people who might be interested in actually RPing with them.
I don’t know if I could pull dragon RP off, but if dragons are ever added as a playable race I’ll be the first to roll one. I do have an idea or two for a dragonsworn or whatever they’re called. That seems fun. Last guard of the weakened dragon flights.
I’ve considered RPing a dreadlord a few times.
That sounds even more fun, frankly.
I have some tips if you want. Contact me in game.
Your idea sounds fine, and you shouldn’t hesitate to roleplay the character concepts that you think would be fun.
Dragons aren’t nearly as powerful as they once used to be, and I’d go so far to say that the dragonflights are far more communicative with the mortal civilizations in the world now than they had been when they were more mythical.
You don’t have to hide your character’s nature of being a dragon in order to play one well. All that any dragon roleplayer needs - and this is applicable to any kind of character, not just dragons - is any sort of justification for being where they are. It blows my mind to no end that people put dragon RP on this pedestal of things that you can’t RP. So long as you’re not playing a dragon just to be stronger than everyone else and godmod folks, what’s the harm? Nothing.
Some of the most fun I’ve had in recent times is RPing my bronze dragon as being stuck in his mortal form due to being affected by an curse (think magic similar to what Dar’khan did to Kalec in the Sunwell Trilogy), and while his draconic powers are incredibly limited he’s still a dragon. One thing I’ve been having fun with is having him being pretty open about being a dragon. Is it unusual? Sure, but he’s an unusual character living through unusual circumstances. It’s been an absolute blast, and while I get the occasional snob here and there shooting a nasty whisper, the fun with exploring the character idea more than makes up for it.
You shouldn’t let yourself be bullied into not playing a character how you want to for fear of being seen as a “special snowflake” or the like. Roleplay is meant to be creative, and as much as people may want to deny it, pretty much every character is unique and has something special that sets them apart from others. If there’s no special golden rule saying that you can’t do something, then go for it.
I’d rather RP with someone spinning a rather ‘out there’ character concept than someone else who’s just run of the mill.
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They just are lonely and need mortal friends now okay
I apologize for giving the impression I lump all dragon RPers into one stereotype or that there’s only one way to play them well.
There are definitely too many stereotypes about what kind of players play what kinds of classes/races. Worgen, Pandaren & Vulpera players face it every day. “Is it ok for me to play a dragon?” is a question that shouldn’t need to be asked. The need for the question bothers me just as much as the “no DKs allowed” rules some people have.
So I apologize again that my previous post caused bad feelings.
What I was trying to say is that playing a dragon well should be done the same way any other kind of character is played well.
Let people find out the important things about your character through play, not through your profile is my personal advice. The same advice I give to anyone just starting to try to figure out what to do to create a backstory. Others may feel that long autobiographies are the best profiles, and that’s fine, but that is not my experience. Getting to know someone IC is fun. I don’t try to read up on all lore either. I didn’t know the Black Prince was a dragon for quite a while into MoP.
Trying to figure out how I (IC) felt about the surprise or what to do about it was fun. Which is just as true about anything I suddenly find out about someone.
i never got why people needed to rp a dragon to surprise someone. dragons are just cool flying lizard fellas who sometimes are elves. i think the only surprise dragons i can remember is the red dragon from the badlands and the black dragon from highmountain.
the rest are like “hello mortal i am crenandostraza”
play a dragon and have fun…
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Awkwardly enough, all the dragon RPers from BC would probably be upfront and fine in modern times.
I really love the idea of somebody playing as an undead dragon! I’ve known a few red dragons in my time, but I’ve yet to meet an undead one! That sounds like a pretty cool foundation for a character.
Personally, I’ve had a lot of good experiences with dragon RPers, and it makes me sad that a lot of people get disheartened about engaging with them in RP because of bad apples.
I feel like it’s never the character concept that’s in the wrong, but it’s entirely to do with the person behind the keyboard that makes or breaks the character. The people who play as godmodders and that sort of thing are going to always RP that way regardless of what it is they’re playing.
They could be a kobold with just a shoe to its name, and they’d still find a way to put said shoe up your character’s butt. No amount of plate armor or magic warding will stop them, either. But it just so happens that dragons are bigger and “scarier”, so they get stuck with the bad rap.
There’s plenty of good dragon RPers out there, but I think a lot of them tend to hide it from everyone but their inner friend circle for fear of OOC exile just for wanting to play something they’re passionate about.
I say go with it 100% because it’s usually the people who are a tad bit nervous / self-conscious about it who have nothing to worry about since they’re not going out of their way to be IC jerks, while the people who are gonna be bad apples are gonna do it regardless of how everyone else feels about what they’re RPing!
The more people RPing as something against the norm with positive intentions, the better! People like that change minds. 
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Overhauling my orc mage into a dragon was probably the best thing I did for him.
Initially, I had trouble reconciling it with certain facts in his backstory, but the idea that he had been hiding profound truths from his friends and adopted family actually made it fit a lot better.
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The way I see it, labeling something as a ‘taboo’ for RP is just outright snobbery. When I was playing on my bronze around the time I first started him up, one of the first people to shoot me a whisper send me a nasty message about being “another POS dragon RPer on this server” and to “come back when I rolled a real character.” Had me on ignore immediately after sending that (which is typical). Their RP profile had them listed as a “lore-abiding RPer and that if you want her respect, you’ll respect the lore.”
People like this need to have something be labeled ‘taboo’ so they can point a finger at others and downplay them for the sake of sating their own egos. Like… THIS is the sort of person who gets a rise out of the idea of them being the “roleplay elite”, which anyone who uses that gets a major yikes by default and should be avoid. These are the people who perpetuate the idea that you can’t be a dragon “becuz thatd b bad arr pee.”
You know what drives me up the wall the most? The people who think that playing a commoner by default makes you some great RPer because you’re not RPing something as grandiose as an undead dragon.
Sorry Karen, but you playing a simple dusty old maid for the sake of being a dusty old maid that has zero character aside from being a dusty old maid doesn’t make you a great RPer. Again, I would MUCH rather RP with the big damn hero in the corner of the bar than Charlie the Mud Farmer.
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I think there’s good and bad taboos.
“Dragon RP is bad” is a stupid taboo. They exist in universe, there’s a lot of fun stories to be had, and it makes sense to RP them
Other taboos can be like, to aid people’s safety/security, or simply to avoid uncomfortable situations. Like, there’s a taboo against Child RP. I can totally understand that one, because there’s been some sickos who’ve used that sort of RP ENTIRELY inappropriately. There’s a taboo against homophobic RP, again one that’s ultimately good for the community, as it means the average RPer won’t entertain homophobic folks bringing their belief into RPs.
So yeah I guess I’m saying that taboos are not all snobbery. But some certainly are.
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That much I’ll agree with, at least in the sense that it’s obvious (or at least it SHOULD be obvious why someone shouldn’t RP something that’s racist/homophobic/transphobic) for certain things.
Let me amend what I said before: RP taboos in the sense that you can’t RP something because someone claims that it doesn’t jive with the lore, even in instances where the concept exists or could exist within the Warcraft Universe, or because it doesn’t conform to some lofty/arbitrary standard is RP snobbery.
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Go all in and make it a Scarlet Crusader dragon.
On a serious note, this sounds sooooooooo cool.
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There’s been so much helpful advice in the past few days that I don’t think I can properly respond to each piece individually, but I really appreciate all of the feedback! 
A bit of a mixed reception, but way more encouragement than I expected, which was my main concern above everything else- that I’d be locking myself into a very narrow social niche with her.
Seems like the big thing I really need to be conscious of is using her as an excuse to god-mode in RP and how I want to handle any potential “reveal” of what she is. Given some of the allies you often see associated with the Ebon Blade, abominations and liches and the like, I don’t see much reason that it would be some big secret… but then I also have to consider how forthright she would be with that information to outsiders, and whether she has any actual ties to the Horde or remains technically neutral.
(Also settling a name, because I managed to reserve seven variations. One of which is “Synistrasza”, which I think might be a ~little~ on the nose… the others being Kierastrasza, Soniastrasza, Alorastrasza, Anorastrasza, Meristrasza, or Maristrasza.)
Kind of a tangential question, but are there any active Horde guilds out there at the moment with a strong Death Knight/Ebon Blade presence I should look into?
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Dragons aren’t necessarily super OP, it’s worth noting. The adventurer in quests kills lesser dragons like they’re nothing, quite frequently. You don’t need to be OP just because you’re RPing a dragon imo! 
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Huh. I just realized, the “crime” part was “wanting to RP a Dragon.” The whole time I thought it was debating on starting to RP while having a crappy ooc-ish character name or something like that.
Go RP the Dragon! It sounds like a fun idea to play out.
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