Dragon Breath

[Patlin]

Thank you, Captain Arbitrary, for your profound insight.

I'll have to check the most recent version, but I know for sure that some versions of this spell specifically outlawed having two castings in effect at the same time. So perhaps not so arbitrary, eh?

 

[Cabral]

The Draconomicon version specificly prohibits it. And the tactic is not so feasible with the 1 rnd/lvl duration of the Complete Divine version. Not having the the Spell Compendium, I can't speak for that one.

Direct damage on a non evocation spell, is questionable and transmutation is strong enough as it is.. Boosting sorcerers to compensate for thier class drawback in a multichoice spell is a mistake. I am glad they nixed part of that at least.

The downside is that the damage is fairly weak. Also, the area affected is small (in the draconomicon version) and tactically limiting (line or cone only). Polymorph (level 4) is a multichoice spell and so is Shapechange (level 9) which can accomplish the same thing and much more. I wouldn't be surprised if they started with polymorph when designing the spell ...

 

[kjenks]

Although (unlike some people) I looked up the Complete Divine version of the Dragon Breath spell before posting, I just double-checked; there is no limitation on the number of such spells which can be in effect at any time. So a level 10 sorcerer could cast three of them then go into battle and have 7 rounds of overlap -- more than enough time to finish most battles at that level.

With three Dragon Breath spells running, the sorcerer gets at least three rounds of breath weapon attacks, and has pretty good odds of getting another attack on each of the next four rounds (depending on the 1d4 rolls).

Of course, there are better level 5 spells for a sorcerer, but for an NPC who's really into his draconic heritage, this would be a fun schtick.

 

[Cabral]

While I'm sure such a character would miss quite a bit in those three rounds, I still think it's a bad idea to allow multiple ongoing Dragon Breath spells.

That said, it might be fun to look into combining the Draconomicon Dragon Breath spell with the breath related dragon spells (also in Draconomicon). It's too bad the spell allow you to qualify for metabreath feats.

 

[el-remmen]

dusts off mod hat and slips it on

Hey Kjenks, please tone down the snark in this thread. It is totally coming out of nowhere and is not appropriate on these forums regardless.

I leave it to you to edit your posts.

Thanks.