Kaiwen
2019-11-11, 12:39 PM
Purple dragons (Dragon Compendium) have the ability to turn their breath weapons into "blades of energy"–melee touch attacks that deal 1/2 normal breath weapon damage, with up to 4 iteratives that they can use as part of their normal multiattack routine. AFAIK this is the only type of dragon with this kind of ability.
What interesting things can you do with this? How does it interact with metabreath feats like lingering breath and split breath?
Can you use split breath to circumvent the iterative limit?
In the breath weapon's final form, the dragon forms a blade of energy that it uses to slash through its enemies. The dragon uses the blade as a weapon within its normal melee reach. It gains iterative attacks with this weapon as per its base attack bonus, but never more than four such attacks. The blade ignores all physical barriers, allowing the dragon to make touch attacks to strike its foes. It deals half the damage listed for the dragon's breath weapon. Because of the energy nature of the blade, the dragon does not add its Strength modifier to the damage. The dragon makes this attack in addition to its other physical attacks, although it cannot use a bite attack in the same round it attacks with its blade. The blade dissipates at the end of the dragon's action.
What interesting things can you do with this? How does it interact with metabreath feats like lingering breath and split breath?
Can you use split breath to circumvent the iterative limit?
In the breath weapon's final form, the dragon forms a blade of energy that it uses to slash through its enemies. The dragon uses the blade as a weapon within its normal melee reach. It gains iterative attacks with this weapon as per its base attack bonus, but never more than four such attacks. The blade ignores all physical barriers, allowing the dragon to make touch attacks to strike its foes. It deals half the damage listed for the dragon's breath weapon. Because of the energy nature of the blade, the dragon does not add its Strength modifier to the damage. The dragon makes this attack in addition to its other physical attacks, although it cannot use a bite attack in the same round it attacks with its blade. The blade dissipates at the end of the dragon's action.