how does a dragon's strafing run work?

[Kol Korran]

i'm not sure i got the term right (i'm not a native English speaker). when a dragon flies over, and breaths WHILE flying, does it's breath cover more turf then breathing while on ground? less? are there rules for that? where? i don't have many books, can anyone explain them if they are from a non common book? (i got mostly the core books, races of..., complete series, Eberron books and very few others...)

(search word: Tomer)

[tyckspoon]

It covers the same space it does on the ground; the main difference is that breathing down from the air makes it a lot easier to use the full area of a cone weapon. The other benefit is that a dragon making strafing runs will spend most of its turns outside the effective reach of many opponents; their maneuverability is bad, but a dragon's flight speed is very high.

All the rules for how it works are in the core books- breathing from the air works exactly the same as breathing on the ground, the area is just modified for working in 3d space instead (basically you have to think about the full cone instead of just the 2d spread that usually represents it on the grid) and the flight maneuverability rules are there too. If you can find a copy Draconomicon has some examples and diagrams to help understand it, but it doesn't change the rules.

[TurtleKing]

Yes the term is correct. You would need Draconomicon to really help. Having Flyby Attack or even better Adroit Flyby Attack lets you attack as you move. As for the area not sure. The line version probably would be similar just with a lenght the same since you only put out so much. Cone is where it gets tricky.

[Eldariel]

Standard Flyby Attacking Dragon from MM just picks any point during its move and the breath weapon occurs in that stilled moment. Breathing while moving in high velocity to hit a wider area...I don't think Draconomicon actually covers anything like that so you'd have to homebrew if you wanted more "realistic" versions of those rules.

[Keld Denar]

The Dragonlance Campaign Setting has the Strafing Breath feat, which allows a dragon to cover a HUGE area by breathing while flying, especially with a cone shaped breath weapon.

[MesiDoomstalker]

The Dragonlance Campaign Setting has the Strafing Breath feat, which allows a dragon to cover a HUGE area by breathing while flying, especially with a cone shaped breath weapon.

Please tell me its a metabreath with at least an extra 4 to the recharge?

[Jeraa]

Nope. But it does require Flyby Attack and Flyby Breath (which makes using your breath weapon a free action while flying). Strafing Breath has unlimited uses, doesn't affect the recharge, and lets you add one half your fly speed to the area affected by your breath weapon. (so a 60 foot cone one a dragon with a 200 foot fly speed would instead affect an area 60 foot wide by 160 foot long.)

[Aneurin]

...which sounds pretty scary.

On the other hand, how often is that more helpful than a normal-use breath weapon? How many situations will you ever face where the dragon will hit more targets than in a 60ft circle (to use the above example), if they were to effect a 60x160 rectangle? In this situation, you're probably in a mass battle squishing worthless NPCs, and the impact of strafing breath or other mass-destruction abilities is entirely questionable. Same story with an NPC dragon hunting a PC group.

Finally, how often will you face enemies with enough space/lack of cover to really use this effectively? If the DM/PCs plan ahead, at least.

Speaking for myself, as a DM and optimistic dragon player, I'll take it just because it's cool, rather than because it's particularly useful.

[Tvtyrant]

...which sounds pretty scary.

On the other hand, how often is that more helpful than a normal-use breath weapon? How many situations will you ever face where the dragon will hit more targets than in a 60ft circle (to use the above example), if they were to effect a 60x160 rectangle? In this situation, you're probably in a mass battle squishing worthless NPCs, and the impact of strafing breath or other mass-destruction abilities is entirely questionable. Same story with an NPC dragon hunting a PC group.

Finally, how often will you face enemies with enough space/lack of cover to really use this effectively? If the DM/PCs plan ahead, at least.

Speaking for myself, as a DM and optimistic dragon player, I'll take it just because it's cool, rather than because it's particularly useful.

Well, what if you are using Entangling Breath on a spread out group of PCs? Even if it doesn't do that much damage it locks them in place, and then you can make a second run with super metamagic and be sure to hit them all.

[Kol Korran]

ok. got it. thank you folks! got what i need.

[Aneurin]

Well, what if you are using Entangling Breath on a spread out group of PCs? Even if it doesn't do that much damage it locks them in place, and then you can make a second run with super metamagic and be sure to hit them all.

A line breath weapon from the ground could do the same thing. Or a large area cone from above. Strafing breath is only really powerful with the metabreath feats, like Lingering and Entangling breath. Plus, you still have to wait 1d4 rounds before you can use it again (that's without any metabreath recharge increases/decreases).

In any case, my point was "how likely is it you're going to effect more targets with a breath weapon using strafing breath as opposed to a regular conical breath weapon?" and the answer I came up with was "not very."

[Tokuhara]

I actually have a question:

Tome Dragons have an exploding spit as their breath weapon. Let's say I strafed, entangled, lingered, and maximized my breath weapon. What exactly would it look like?

[hamishspence]

If the feats specify that the breath has to be a line or a cone- they wouldn't be usable with ones that don't manifest that way.

[Basket Burner]

I actually have a question:

Tome Dragons have an exploding spit as their breath weapon. Let's say I strafed, entangled, lingered, and maximized my breath weapon. What exactly would it look like?

Ever fired the Shocksplinter weapon in Iji? Imagine that, rapid fire.

[Tokuhara]

Ever fired the Shocksplinter weapon in Iji? Imagine that, rapid fire.

Can't say I have

[hamishspence]

What source has Entangling Breath, anyway? I didn't spot it in Draconomicon.

[Derjuin]

What source has Entangling Breath, anyway? I didn't spot it in Draconomicon.

Might be referring to Entangling Exhalation, from Races of the Dragon (pg. 101). It's not really a "metabreath" feat, it just cuts the damage in half and, if it deals any damage at all, entangles each victim for 1d4 rounds, inflicting 1d6 of the same energy type in damage every round they're entangled.

[Aneurin]

Ah, just found it - Races of the Dragon, and it's actually Entangling Exhalation. It also requires Dragonblood Subtype, although I'd assume that a dragon has that by default. If it doesn't? That's a little odd...

There's a feat, Shape Breath, that allows you to use a line breath weapon as a cone, or a cone breath weapon as a line, at the cost of +1 round recharge.

Tokhura - When I read that, the picture in my head was just of a dragon flying overhead, drooling, and the rivers of drool on the ground just exploding at random, and in general acting like glue.

[hamishspence]

Ah, just found it - Races of the Dragon, and it's actually Entangling Exhalation. It also requires Dragonblood Subtype, although I'd assume that a dragon has that by default. If it doesn't? That's a little odd...

On the first page of Races of the Dragon, under "Dragonblood Subtype" it states "Should a creature acquire the dragon type, it loses the Dragonblood subtype".

Which is pretty odd.

[Getsugaru]

On the first page of Races of the Dragon, under "Dragonblood Subtype" it states "Should a creature acquire the dragon type, it loses the Dragonblood subtype".

Which is pretty odd.

What they mean by that is that the Dragonblood Subtype, which makes you count as both a Dragon+Whatever Type you already are for all intensive purposes, is lost if you are actually a dragon, which would make the Subtype redundant (Dragon+Dragon for all intensive purposes). Anything that requires the Dragonblood Subtype can be taken if you are a Dragon (or a Half-Dragon), because the Dragonblood Subtype is just another way of saying "You are part Dragon. Good for you."

[candycorn]

On the first page of Races of the Dragon, under "Dragonblood Subtype" it states "Should a creature acquire the dragon type, it loses the Dragonblood subtype".

Which is pretty odd.

Races of the Dragon, page 4, sidebar on Dragonblood Subtype:
Dragons automatically qualify for any classes, prestige classes, racial substitution levels, feats, powers, or spells that require the dragonblood subtype.