Underwater Breath Weapons

[interwyrm]

Should there be any change in effect for dragon breath weapons underwater? (Fire seems obvious). What about the green dragon's cone of corrosive gas?

How would you describe the effects of these things underwater?

 

[Kwitchit]

Fire- cone of steam

Cold- cone of freezing water, possibly resulting in a 40-foot cone-shaped iceberg with the PCs in the middle of it!

Gases are trickier. They'd work underwater, but I'd describe the visual difference between a breath weapon in and out of water as like the difference between squid ink and smoke

Lightning- ouch! This is the only one which might not work underwater. Fortunately, one of the two species of lightning-breathing dragon is the Blue, which lives in the desert. However the other, the Bronze, lives in water (!). However, it has a secondary breath weapon (repulsion gas) which it might use to get enemies out of the water so it can blast them with lightning.

As for rules: Fire and acid (and all other gases) have the same in-game effect. Lightning does not work underwater. Cold does the same damage underwater, and the cold damage may be enough to freeze the water- in which I'd give the PCs a Reflex save with a DC several easier than the breath weapon's to avoid getting trapped in the ice. Perhaps 10 easier to avoid being sealed in, and 5 easier to be completely free of it.

 

[Rhun]

Lightning- ouch! This is the only one which might not work underwater. Fortunately, one of the two species of lightning-breathing dragon is the Blue, which lives in the desert. However the other, the Bronze, lives in water (!). However, it has a secondary breath weapon (repulsion gas) which it might use to get enemies out of the water so it can blast them with lightning.

I'd allow lightning to work, but I'd turn it into an area of affect around the dragon. The dragon, after all, should be immune to it. Plus, there are such things as electric eels...

 

[Patlin]

As the rules generally* allow spells to work normally, I'd suggest doing the same with breath weapons. In my Age of Worms campaign, the players have taken to complaining bitterly whenever they have a lot of water to deal with anyway, so increasing the complexity of underwater effects seems to me to be undesirable.

* Fire spells requiring a spellcraft check doesn't apply to breath weapons, seems to me.

 

[Pinotage]

They work normally. I've dabbled with changing the save DCs a little. So lightning get a higher save DC, fire a lower save DC.

Pinotage

 

[Mr. Patient]

As the rules generally* allow spells to work normally, I'd suggest doing the same with breath weapons. In my Age of Worms campaign, the players have taken to complaining bitterly whenever they have a lot of water to deal with anyway, so increasing the complexity of underwater effects seems to me to be undesirable.

* Fire spells requiring a spellcraft check doesn't apply to breath weapons, seems to me.

I agree completely with the goal of not making underwater adventuring even more of a pain than it already is, but there is this:

A supernatural fire effect is ineffective underwater unless its description states otherwise.

A dragon's breath weapon being (Su), I'd argue that by RAW, a red dragon can't use his breath underwater. Other types of breath weapons appear to be unaffected.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

A dragon's breath weapon being (Su), I'd argue that by RAW, a red dragon can't use his breath underwater. Other types of breath weapons appear to be unaffected.

Dragons whose breath weapons work underwater explicitly say so. Which leaves us with such things as red dragons whose fire breath doesn't work and gold dragons whose otherwise identical fire breath does work.

And yes I generally turn lightning breath underwater into an emanation of half radius. Or double damage and range of sonic attacks.