D&D 5E (2014) Dragonborn breath prof per day; does it work?

[jmartkdr2]

I would say no but it still won't be worth an action 99% of the time. You could make it at will and it wouldn't get a lot of use.

OTOH, it'd be a strong bonus action, which is probably why that's a popular option.

 

[NaturalZero]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Inchoroi]

I dunno. Having thought about it today, I think that--you know, being dragonborn--the dragonborn should be able to use the breath weapon more often than once per short or long rest. I have not come up with a satisfactory way of balancing it, though.

 

[darjr]

How about as many times as the Tier they are in?

once at tier 1, twice at tier 2, etc.

thiugh I really think there should be a way to make it a bonus action too. Maybe at tier 2? Or 3?

 

[NaturalZero]

How about as many times as the Tier they are in?

once at tier 1, twice at tier 2, etc.

thiugh I really think there should be a way to make it a bonus action too. Maybe at tier 2? Or 3?

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.

 

[darjr]

A new mechanism has to have a first time sometime.

 

[Horwath]

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.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I was mostly concerned if there was some unforeseen consequences I hadn't considered.

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.