You might also note that the levels for the breath weapons don’t line up with the CRs of the dragons. The red boxes cover the range of damage, with the red dots representing average damage. You can see the assumptions made for Constitution along the x-axis. The blue bars represent player HP at each level, with darker being bigger hit dice. I have seldom rolled out a dragon that doesn’t drop at least one party member with the breath weapon on turn 1.Ĭheck out this comparison of red dragon breath weapon damage vs.
You want the dragon to be fearsome (beyond the frightful presence). Whether you’ve played with or against a dragon, you know the breath weapon is brutal. There’s give-and-take with any design mechanic. I hesitate to call these “issues” because I don’t think there’s anything broken about the breath weapon. This mechanic is good, but I’m a tinkerer.
