Dragonsborn Breath Weapon Issue

[Ruin Explorer]

I wouldn't allow it, because you'd be making a rod for your own back when he later decides to produce acid factories and so forth.

I'd rule that the acid gas he produces is volatile and evaporates into stable compounds upon leaving his body. That's why the acid breath doesn't have an 'ongoing acid damage' component if additional justification is needed.

That's my recommendation.

I'd tend to agree. Even ignoring the potential game-balance stuff (notice the player seems to be trying to be helpful on this), it seems like the acid must evaporate/break down within seconds.

I mean, I can see uses for acid-breath, like blowing into a non-magical iron lock or delicate mechanism to potentially wreck it (you could certainly destroy a very large amount of textiles or food with it), but storing it? Seems far-fetched given how it appears to operate, even if the player is willing to be balanced with it.

 

[Andur]

It's just projectile vomitting...

 

[James McMurray]

I wouldn't let it work. Dragonborn breath weapons do not deal ongoing damage. This almost certainly means they go inert near instantaneously, else any that stuck would still burn.

 

[Fkewl]

Well, i guess it all boils down too : "The Rule of Kewl"

If it's kewl for the player, then go along, restrict and organize so no munchkinism happens, but get's that feverish happiness when he unleashes if Can Of WhoopBreath on unsuspecting ennemies.

But if we go into "Regulated Environnement", then no Players Creations(TM) can happen

 

[Ginnel]

I'd say Ok, just so happens the Acid breath destabalises in hmm lets have a think 5 minutes?
This alleviates the acid producing industry problem but still lets the player use his "good" idea.
And the damage it goes is 1D6 + con - mins since it was produced or even just 1D6 - 3 and limit it 4 squares, of course glass bottles aren't going to be free maybe 1gp a time? couple this with a range of 10.

Do not allow the player to create endless flasks of acid, just don't its game/world breaking and if he wants a ranged dragon breath make him spend a feat to get the effect as per the article suggestion.

 

[Aservan]

I think it is a neat idea in some ways. Kind of like letting the dragonborn with fire breath never need a flint and steal. Minor flavor advantages are fun.

That said dragonborn breath does not deal ongoing damage which does mean it is very unstable as an acid. Also it is a vapor or else you are suggesting that the dragonborn can puke up several times his body weight in liquid (225 ft²). His body has also evolved so that he can fire this diffuse vapor from his mouth. He would have to retrain himself to dribble it into a glass. Make him spend a feat on this. Your precedence is in the dragonborn ecology article. Then make the bottles cost a lot. After all, well made glass is already expensive in a medieval economy and one with a well fitting stopper that doesn't fall out is expensive.

In other words: do what the DMG says. Find ways to say yes that won't ruin every one's fun.

 

[keterys]

Work it like a ritual - figure out a cost for additional materials to make the acid keep (say, the cost of an acid flask - after all, if dragonborn could do it for free the price would be lower, so clearly it must cost them about that much) and then let him do it as a 5 minute ritual. Done.

 

[Enaloindir]

I'd make it to resemble a normal ranged weapon attack, such as a thrown dagger. However, because it's an improvised weapon and does not grant any proficiency bonus, bumping the damage up one step should not be a real problem...

Dragonbreath Flask
At will * Weapon, acid
Standard action
Target: One creature
Attack: Str vs. AC
Hit: 1d6+Con modifier acid damage

Like this, the flask would be a cool signature item/attack for the dragonborn, but wouldn't become better than any normal attacks/powers.

Perhaps increasing the area of effect to a "burst 1" wouldn't be overpowered, but I'd err on the side of caution... and keep the area effect to the characters who normally have access to them.


-Enaloindir

 

[Klaus]

I would definitely rule against doing this and i can think of many ways to explain why:

Game mechanics reasons:
1)the range of the breath is a 3x3 square, with NO way to make this smaller, he can't concentrate it enough to stick any meaningful amount in the bottle. congratulations you have a bottle with a thin gas in it, it deals (1d6+con divided by 64) damage, round down, minimum 0.

2) its an attack, breathing on the bottle attacks the bottle. it either breaks or doesn't but it isn't filled

3)the rules don't state there is any 'actual' acid, therefore there mechanically isn't (pretty weak argument, to be honest)

fluffy reasons:
1) none of the other breaths leave residue, neither does acid, think of it as an acidic fire that dies away in a few secounds or a spray that reacts with air and is instantly activated but then decays in a few secounds. In the bottle it would flare up, and then become inert spittle in a rounds worth of time.

2) Dragon breath is magic, you can't hold magic in a bottle...unless you have the brew potion ritual.

3)if this worked, we'd all be doing it, and you could buy it in a store

4)trying to only fill a bottle with your breath will cause the acid to build up in your own mouth, damaging you instead.


some of these arguments are better than others, but at least one of those should hold enough water.

Seconded.

 

[Dave Turner]

Note that the new Dragon article on Dragonborn has a racial feat that allows the use of the breath weapon in basically the same way. I think it turns the breath weapon into a Range 10 burst 1 attack?

From this, I'd suggest:

1) Don't let the player get away with the acid flask thing. It's a cool idea, but I'd be hesitant to make it a permanent feature of my campaign. I would let a player do this once, as a one-off stunt, when he first suggested it.

2) After that, I'd point him to the feat in the Dragon article and make him spend a feat for the ability to turn his close blast 3 ability into a ranged 10 burst 1 ability.

3) If the player wants to describe this feat as him spitting into jars and then throwing them, I'd have no problem with that. I'd just assume that the PC always has a flask ready to use when he wants to use it. I wouldn't bother with the fiddly details of figuring out at what rate the acid eats through glass bottles and stoppers.