Any ideas on how to survive dragon breath? Rise of Tiamat, possible (spoilers)

[Odessa333]

Topic. I'm a player in my first run of Rise of Tiamat. So at the risk of spoilers, I 'think' we might fight some dragons in this. I don't know what Tiamat's stats are, and I hope I don't find out lol.

Kidding aside, as this module features dragons heavily, so I'm looking into ideas of how to survive something as powerful as a dragon's breath. Like A periapt of proof against poison seems a wise investment for green dragons. I'm wondering if there's anything similar for fire immunity say, or whatever else Tiamat and her brood might throw at our party.

For myself, I'm a high dex Bard, and I'm thinking of grabbing 'shield master' as that gives me evasion lite, which should help survive those big AoE effects. It may not be the best feat, but it's one of the few things I can think of grabbing to help survive.


Anywho, thank you for your time reading al this. Happy gaming out there.

[Dork_Forge]

With this specifically in mind I'd go Tiefling Wizard (War Wizard) and pick up Absorb Elements, then at level 4 pick up Infernal Constitition. This will give you passive resistance to Fire, Cold and Poison and then reaction resistance to Lightning and Thunder. War Wizard's Arcane Deflection also gives you reaction +4 to saves, just don't skimp on Con.

[Vessyra]

What's your race? If you're a tiefling, then infernal constitution will be handy for cold and poison resistance, along with fire from the base race.

What's you're subclass? I'm assuming valor, since you're talking about shield master. If you do have shield prof., then I can't recommend shield master enough. Do note, however: the shield bonus to dex saves only works when you're the sole target, and the evasion property only works when you succeed the save (no half damage from a failure, unlike rogues and monks). As such, you're going to want a good dex save; while proficiency can help with this, I'd still recommend a ring of evasion, for if your luck goes poorly.

If you're able to get your dex save up high, and shield master, then cold and poison are what you mostly need to look out for. Periapt of proof against poison is a great item; boots of the winterlands will help out on the cold front.

Magical secrets: fire shield and absorb elements are good, non-concentration resistance spells.

Edit: seconding the suggestion for war wizard, above. Absorb elements and arcane deflection are the two things you're looking for: elemental resistance, and bonus to saves. Do note, though, that shield master, arcane deflection, and absorb elements are all reactions. Absorb elements kicks in when you take damage, and arcane deflection after you fail a save, so it is always possible to use shield master on successful save, then absorb elements/arcane deflection on a save that fails.

[firelistener]

Absorb Elements is the easiest one to grab. Level 1 spell a lot of classes get. Also if there's a bear totem barbarian, they get advantage on the dex save and will resist elemental damage while raging. Breath attacks are nothing to them.

For a bard, there's not a whole lot you can probably do. You have a good chance of making the dex save even without shield master, so you should be even better off with it and reliably be able to tank dex saves.

[Vogie]

I'd actually disagree. I think a double-level dip into War Wizard to pick up both Arcane Deflection AND Absorb Elements is a great idea - That gives you options. Arcane Deflection isn't "free" - it limits you to only casting cantrips (and attacks) on the next turn. Absorb elements takes a spell slot, but boosts melee damage and also keeps your options open for the next turn.

Feat-wise, I'd probably pick up Lucky over Shield Master. You're likely to enjoy it more leading up to that fight and, as other posters have said, the +Shield to Dex only works on single targets, although the Pseudo-evasion is nice.

As a OSH button, There's always 2-3 levels in Barbarian. At 2, you'll have advantage on Dexterity Saving throws. At 3, you can use one of your 3 rages to gain resistance. If you go Totem, Bear would give you Resistance to all non-psychic damage for 1 minute, and Eagle would make you have a minute-long Expeditious Retreat, allowing you to Dash away from the rest of your team as a Bonus action.

[Talij]

Unless you plan on being a front line Balor bars, shield master seems excessive. Dragons aren't an enemy that can a campaign can just throw a ton of at you, so building just to handle one type of attack could leave you lacking during the normal slog through enemies.

That said, absorb elements and other resistance options others have listed are generally good.

[Lupine]

The best way to make sure the angry dragon doesn't target you is to make sure you are separate from the group. Their attacks are AoE, so the dragon isn't going to focus you with it's breath weapon, unless you are really laying on the hurt.

Also, talk to the other players. If they're worried about the dragon breath, you can request that the DM implement the "charge up" rule. (I think I first heard about this from Angrygm, but I have my own take on it)

If you don't know, the "Charge up" idea is that if a creature has a recharge ability, the die is rolled at the end of that creature's turn, rather than at the beginning. If the ability recharges, the monster takes a free action to "charge up." For a dragon, it might rear up its head. A frost salamandar might get low to the ground, and look upward. This gives players a chance to scatter, and try to mitigate the effects.

Angry takes it a step further, and keeps the recharge roll where it is, but has monsters take a charge up one round before use (this means that if the monster chooses not to use that ability, It has to wait a full turn before it can use it again). I find my way to give the same warning, but allows more choice for the monster.

[Falconcry]

Blowing a magical secret for Absorb Elements or something would be painful. If you want to keep your spell progression on track I would suggest a level of Hexblade for Armor of Agathys / Shield. Then 3 levels of Divine Sorcerer for Absorb Elements and Aid. Cast Aid with your highest spell slot then cast AoA with your next highest. Now you have Temp HP and Greater max HP as a buffer that does ice damage to the dragon. Save AE/Shield for when you get breathed on, or back handed, and you should have no issues with survival. ( Can give Aid to two other players as well).

None of the above messes with your concentration either. You can keep your ASI for more CHA.

[Eldariel]

Shield Master frankly isn't bad, but a feat is a pretty massive cost. With your Dex and Dex save proficiency it'd certainly have you covered, but unless you're using the other abilities, it's questionable if it's worth it even then. Far as spells go, Bard sadly misses out on the big ones. The Investiture series is one of the few ways to gain elemental immunities in 5e (fire and ice respectively); sadly they're really bad spells overall, and high level to boot, so they aren't that likely to be of much use. I guess 9th level spells like Shapechange, Invulnerability, True Polymorph and company have this covered but before that you're kinda fishing for raws looking for total immunity. Absorb Elements is reliable resistance as stated so that's about best you can do.