| Author |
Message
|
| Hal Maclean |
 Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 4:58 am Post subject: Different sorts of dragon breath attacks? |
 |
|
Patron
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 40
|
Some of the chatter in another thread touched upon the idea of different sorts of dragon breath attacks and I thought the idea worthy of its own discussion.
Let's make a list of various breath attacks, both in published games and in our home campaigns.
Share and share alike! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
| Phil Larwood |
| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 6:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 15 Mar 2008
Posts: 48
|
I'm assuming you are not asking for run of the mill breath weapons, so I'm going to ignore the standard set:
1. Coldfire (from the Frostburn supplement).
2. A glob of molten steel.
3. lightning and fire (my version of a purple dragon's breath weapon for a Greyhawk campaign).
4. A cone of wooden splinters (I think a monster in one of the Tome of Horrors books has a breath like this).
5. Boiling water (probably an oriental dragon's breath weapon).
6. River slime filled with disease and biting insects.
7. Ball lightning (a variant blue dragon).
8. Splinters of bone charged with negative energy (a death dragon I made up).
9. Melting gas (would leave non-organic items intact).
10. Boiling blood (a nasty vampire oriental dragon).
11. A gas that turns the victim to silver or gold. Instant dragon treasure!
12. A plague of flesh-eating flies.
13. Intoxicating gas that causes the victim to lose all inhibitions. Woohoo!
14. Stream of contact poison (like the old Greyhawk dragon).
15. Flaming plasma (as in super-heated electrically charged gas).
Okay, I'm done. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Hal Maclean |
| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 40
|
Oh yeah! Are those all from official supplements? I don't recognize the source for all of them.
I remember a dragon that breathed some sort of necrotic energy that turned its victims into zombies but I'm not sure if that was a homebrew or a published adventure. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| varianor |
| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 602
|
| Arcana Evolved had variant dragons and breath weapons, like steam or a cone of rocks. I think I saw one where it breathed a swarm of scorpions, but that was a DM's creation. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Hal Maclean |
| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 40
|
What if...
All dragons were born "hollow" in some way. Meaning that they got to chose their breath attack based on what they used to fill the hollow part of their souls.
Most swallow the essence of fire but they could swallow something else instead. Perhaps even life? And they you'd get dragon that heal when they breath.
Just thought of that. Not sure if it's a good idea but I'm adding it to my idea file tonight  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Phil Larwood |
| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 3:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 15 Mar 2008
Posts: 48
|
| Hal Maclean wrote: |
Oh yeah! Are those all from official supplements? I don't recognize the source for all of them.
I remember a dragon that breathed some sort of necrotic energy that turned its victims into zombies but I'm not sure if that was a homebrew or a published adventure. |
Well, to tell the truth most of them are from homebrew stuff I've done. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| The Jade |
| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 4:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Subscriber
Joined: 31 Dec 2007
Posts: 59
|
1. Boiling vomit (causing heat damage and nausea due to the stench)
2. BUBBLES! (that pick the players up and float them away)
3. Chocolate sauce (in appearance, smell and taste... actually a laxative so powerful that sampling victims might blast off everything below their rib cages.)
4. Glue or a cone of webs.
5. Angry ghosts of past victims, freed from their imprisonment if they slaughter a hero.
6. Horny monkeys that won't take no for an answer (A hunnid fiddy of 'em--great distraction.)
7. A conical vortex of air that sucks heroes up into the dragon's gullet.
8. Needles (organic, growing by the hundreds of thousands within the drake's esophagus.)
9. Political rhetoric (too inhumane for anything but the hardiest players)
10. Yo mamas (All of them. All in one big dragon belch.) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Tom |
| Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 24 Jul 2008
Posts: 12
|
| I once used a dragolich who was breathing a swarm of insects, mostly maggots, which the party had to take care of... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Hal Maclean |
| Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:15 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 40
|
This would make a really good brainstorming thread...
"100 Variant breath weapons for dragons"
Just a thought. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
Sure, I'll do some.
1) Boiling tar or pitch or lead.
2) Elemental earth, like concrete, that freezes a PC for a round or two.
3) Steam (extremely nasty IRL, and could be nastier still if it were acidic).
4) Blood (blinding and foul---may have blood magic effects like KQ#6)
5) Undigested meals, mostly bones and armor, the way an owl regurgitates skin and bones. Mostly a nausea/stinking cloud effect.
6) Pure phlogiston, which burns even magical armor.
7) Pure negative energy.
 Black Plague and immediate illness.
9) "Pepper spray": a blinding attack.
10) Lasers.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Hal Maclean |
| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 40
|
Here's what it looks like so far.
(1) A glob of molten steel.
(2) A cone of wooden splinters.
(3) Boiling water.
(4) River slime infested with disease and insects.
(5) Splinters of bone charged with negative energy.
(6) Gas that melts organic materials.
(7) Boiling blood.
( A gas that transforms victims into statues of silver or gold.
(9) A plague of flesh eating flies.
(10) Intoxicating gas.
(11) Stream of contact poison.
(12) Flaming plasma.
(13) Wave of necrotic energy that turns its victims into zombies.
(14) A cone of rocks.
(15) A swarm of scorpions.
(16) A healing breath.
(17) Boiling vomit.
(1 Giant bubbles that trap victims and then cause them to float away.
(19) A chocolate sauce that is actually a magical laxative...
(20) Glue or sticky webs.
(21) The angry ghosts of prior victims.
(22) Horny monkeys...
(23) A vortex of air that sucks victims into dragon’s gullet.
(24) Political rhetoric.
(25) Yo mamas...
(26) Boiling pitch, tar, or lead.
(27) Elemental earth, similar to concrete, that encases victims.
(2 Befouled blood.
(29) The sickeningly undigested remains of earlier victims.
(30) Pure phlogiston.
(31) Pure negative energy.
(32) Pepper spray.
(33) Lasers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Hal Maclean |
| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 40
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Hal Maclean |
| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:35 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 40
|
As an aside. For of you who enjoyed (or at least read) "GM Gems" and "PC Pearls" many of the articles found within those books began with brainstorms on the werecabbage forum.
You never know, if Wolf ever decides to release a Best of KQ he might throw in a "From the Forums" section with a few brainstorms. Assuming his forumites give him something to work with... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Aeolius |
| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 15 Oct 2008
Posts: 53
Location: NC
|
(1) Abalone Dragon - a cloud of cyanide, causing paralysis and possible intestinal disorders.
(2) Coral Dragon - a spray of coralline algae which hardens over the victim.
(3) Pearl Dragon - a stream of sharpened oyster shells
(4) Wyrm o'War / Jellydragon - a jet of Phosphyre; a bioluminescent substance similar to the Coldfire in Frostburn. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Daigle |
| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Contributor
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 562
Location: Redmond, WA
|
A breath weapon that acts like a line of enervation.
A cone of blinding pure white light.
A sphere of cacophonous sound. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
