D&D 5E Dragonborn breath prof per day; does it work?
- Thread starter Remathilis
- Start date
NaturalZero
Hero
I don't think this change fixes what's wrong with dragonborn. Let players use it as a bonus action and suddenly it's an iconic power again that folks want to use, ala 4e.
jgsugden
Legend
Honestly, allowing it at will won't break the game. 7, 10, 14 and finally 17 damage for an action, even in a small area, when the DC is not going to be your highest DC possible.... just fine. I tend not to change the rules of the game, but I did give one dragonborn PC a magic item that allowed him to use his breath weapon as a bonus action, and to recharge it on a roll of 6 (similar to a dragon). The PC was far from overpowered before finding the item, and ended up not using it as often as he could.
humble minion
Legend
As player of a silver dragonborn PC currently (7th level) these changes wouldn't change how often i use my breath weapon (ie, basically never).
The damage is just so low it's rarely useful. I hit much harder with my melee weapon, and i can do that multiple times and be more likely to knock an enemy out of the fight, rather than annoying 3 or 4 (best case) with a piddling amount of damage. It was handy at level 1 & 2, i used it once at level 4 when fighting a huge mob of fire creatures in a tight group (it was largely ineffective due to poor damage output), and i think since then I've only used it to freeze water.
It's the action economy that makes dragonborn breath weapons so marginal, not the number of uses per rest.
The damage is just so low it's rarely useful. I hit much harder with my melee weapon, and i can do that multiple times and be more likely to knock an enemy out of the fight, rather than annoying 3 or 4 (best case) with a piddling amount of damage. It was handy at level 1 & 2, i used it once at level 4 when fighting a huge mob of fire creatures in a tight group (it was largely ineffective due to poor damage output), and i think since then I've only used it to freeze water.
It's the action economy that makes dragonborn breath weapons so marginal, not the number of uses per rest.
NaturalZero
Hero
I was trying come up with a new paradigm for classes and race design and was considering using tier as a progression. At this point though, "proficiency bonus per day" is a more and more used mechanic and I think that adding tier in there too ads a needless extra layer. I'd run with prof bonus per day or half prof bonus per day to keep things elegant and congruent.
Horwath
Legend
I would make it 1d6 damage per per proficiency bonus.
Might even detach Con from DC and put it at 8+2×prof bonus
at-will but you need to roll 1d6 and you cannot use it that many subsequent rounds.
On average that makes it a 1/2 per encounter power, unless you are really lucky. Might be better to roll 2d3 for better consistency.
Might even detach Con from DC and put it at 8+2×prof bonus
at-will but you need to roll 1d6 and you cannot use it that many subsequent rounds.
On average that makes it a 1/2 per encounter power, unless you are really lucky. Might be better to roll 2d3 for better consistency.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
It seems okay to me, but the place to look for unforeseen consequences are other abilities that key off breath weapon uses. The Dragon Fear racial feat is the only one I know of, but it's possible there might be some 3PP stuff in your game.
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