Magic mouth/tiny servant/dragons breath

[Joe dirt]

Would this combo works why or why not... step 1 cast magic mouth on an object and have it trigger when object animates and stays animated as long as it stays that way
Step 2 animate said object with tiny servant spell
Step 3 cast dragons breath on the mouth of the object
Step 4 send your monster with dragon breath into battle

[pygmybatrider]

This is great. There's nothing RAW that even requires you to have a mouth to use Dragon's Breath, though I can see plenty of DMs requiring it based on the use of the word 'exhale'.

A Gnomish wizard animating one of their tinker toys? Clockwork dragon?

A fire-breathing candelabra? A medieval tazer? A handheld fan that deals cold damage? So many fun opportunities.

[Joe dirt]

This is great. There's nothing RAW that even requires you to have a mouth to use Dragon's Breath, though I can see plenty of DMs requiring it based on the use of the word 'exhale'.

A Gnomish wizard animating one of their tinker toys? Clockwork dragon?

A fire-breathing candelabra? A medieval tazer? A handheld fan that deals cold damage? So many fun opportunities.

Well the spell dragons breath says that the creature must have a mouth and the one thing I see preventing it is the fact that magic mouth is from the illusion school... thus might be ruled not a real mouth

[pygmybatrider]

Well the spell dragons breath says that the creature must have a mouth and the one thing I see preventing it is the fact that magic mouth is from the illusion school... thus might be ruled not a real mouth

It doesn’t explicitly state that the target needs a mouth - at least in my printing - just that they can use an action to exhale damage in a cone.


Touch a willing creature. Choose acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. Until the spell ends, the creature can use an action to exhale energy of the chosen type in a 15 foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity save, taking 3d6 damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.

I can see the argument for the exhale part requiring a mouth, but I would also argue against it. If the spell said “breathe a cone of energy from their mouth” - maybe, but there’s enough wiggle room for interpretation. For example, engines exhale steam, but have no mouth.

[Galithar]

"You touch one willing creature and imbue it with the power to spew magical energy from its mouth, provided it has one."
XGtE 154

I would say that magic mouth wouldn't work, but improvised mouths would. An animated chest could definitely use be used, but an animated rock couldn't.

[pygmybatrider]

Whoops, there you go. I’d agree with Galithar then - as long as it could feasibly spew the energy cone from somewhere - like the neck of a teapot or the mouth of a bucket, I’d let you run free.

I’d probably also let magic mouth work, just because that’s awesome.