Upon reading the description of Half-Dragons I noticed the breath weapon is dependent upon racial HD. What about humans and other races that do not have racial HD? Do these just not get a breath weapon?

Upon reading the description of Half-Dragons I noticed the breath weapon is dependent upon racial HD. What about humans and other races that do not have racial HD? Do these just not get a breath weapon?

Races with no racial hit die are considered to have 1 HD, because that is the minimum any creature can have.

Correct; a half-dragon with no racial HD would have a breath weapon that deals 1d6 points of damage. Not an awful lot, but this was a purposeful design choice because the flavor of a humanoid half-dragon isn't one that we at Paizo particularly like, and it's one that a LOT of our customers have expressed exasperation with. Primarily because back in the 3.5 days, half-dragon was probably THE most overused template of them all. We (Paizo and our readers) mostly got sick of them, causing the half-dragon to go on the LIST for the last 50 or so print issues of Dungeon. That meant that if someone put a half-dragon into an adventure, they had to have a GREAT reason and GREAT background for that half-dragon.

Half-dragons in Pathfinder are intended to skew toward monsters. Things like the dracolisk would be a perfect example, but other creatures with racial HD work well, particularly animals, vermin, magical beasts, and aberrations.

Now... I do understand that dragonpeople are a popular choice for players as PC races. And even though a half-dragon PC or NPC would have a pretty weenie breath weapon, his ability score increases and defense alone should MORE than make up for that fact.

I could certainly see a feat like the following existing though:

Improved Breath Weapon
Your breath weapon gains power as you gain class levels.
Prerequisite: Half-dragon with 0 racial HD, Ability Focus (breath weapon)
Benefit: Your breath weapon now deals 1d6 points of damage per character level (Reflex half; DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + you Con modifier). You can use your breath weapon a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1/day), but must wait 1d4 rounds between each use.

Aren't HD Hitpoint Dice? So, a level 1 barbarian would have 1d12 hp which is 1 HD that uses a d12. Different creature types use different dice sizes for their hitpoints as well.

So is a humanoid/half-dragon still a kiss of death in an adventure (not necessarily from Paizo, but in general)?

The idea is the half-dragons exist as fluff, and may never even see stage time in the flesh. I can't go into a great deal of detail at the moment, but suffice to say the PCs are expected to become morally outraged at the existence of these half-dragons.

Aren't HD Hitpoint Dice? So, a level 1 barbarian would have 1d12 hp which is 1 HD that uses a d12. Different creature types use different dice sizes for their hitpoints as well.

No, the difference here is in the Racial HD versus character advancement. A calss level is advancement gained through skill, talent, and training, while a racial HD is advancement based on the Creature type. Abilities that are dependent on HD are not affected by Class level, which is where your Barbarian's hitpoints come from.

Caedwyr wrote:

Aren't HD Hitpoint Dice? So, a level 1 barbarian would have 1d12 hp which is 1 HD that uses a d12. Different creature types use different dice sizes for their hitpoints as well.

No, the difference here is in the Racial HD versus character advancement. A calss level is advancement gained through skill, talent, and training, while a racial HD is advancement based on the Creature type. Abilities that are dependent on HD are not affected by Class level, which is where your Barbarian's hitpoints come from.

Yeah that is why I was wondering if a humanoid half-dragon gets a breath weapon...

Correct; a half-dragon with no racial HD would have a breath weapon that deals 1d6 points of damage. Not an awful lot, but this was a purposeful design choice because the flavor of a humanoid half-dragon isn't one that we at Paizo particularly like, and it's one that a LOT of our customers have expressed exasperation with. Primarily because back in the 3.5 days, half-dragon was probably THE most overused template of them all. We (Paizo and our readers) mostly got sick of them, causing the half-dragon to go on the LIST for the last 50 or so print issues of Dungeon. That meant that if someone put a half-dragon into an adventure, they had to have a GREAT reason and GREAT background for that half-dragon.

Half-dragons in Pathfinder are intended to skew toward monsters. Things like the dracolisk would be a perfect example, but other creatures with racial HD work well, particularly animals, vermin, magical beasts, and aberrations.

Now... I do understand that dragonpeople are a popular choice for players as PC races. And even though a half-dragon PC or NPC would have a pretty weenie breath weapon, his ability score increases and defense alone should MORE than make up for that fact.

I could certainly see a feat like the following existing though:

Improved Breath Weapon
Your breath weapon gains power as you gain class levels.
Prerequisite: Half-dragon with 0 racial HD, Ability Focus (breath weapon)
Benefit: Your breath weapon now deals 1d6 points of damage per character level (Reflex half; DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + you Con modifier). You can use your breath weapon a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1/day), but must wait 1d4 rounds between each use.

This is a great feat, and I'd really like it to end up actually published somewhere. I'm definitely one of your customers and one of your readers, and I REALLY like humanoid, playable dragons, and a big part of that is a breath weapon. Otherwise you're just a funny looking lizard man. I suspect a LOT of your other customers like humanoid, playable dragons, they just weren't as vocal as the ones who were exasperated, since, well, they were getting what they wanted and had no need to voice any complaints. Perhaps a Paizo take on something like the Draconomicon, were you can tuck all the feats you need to get a real "dragony" feel for your half-dragon, amongst other things.

Personally I think that feat's a bit much. I'd take that feat, remove the Ability Focus, and change it so that it's 1d6 for every 2 HD. Make it like the dragon shaman, or warlock for how it progresses. Heck, put it on par with the 3.5 dragonborn at least. And if you're really hard up for the 1d6 every HD, then take a Greater version of the feat, and make that have the Ability Focus requirement. Heck, add in that it can even be used every 1d4 round at that point too.

Considering Pathfinder removed LA, and if you did put it back in it's basically one less adjustment, add that in with the LA-buyoff that a substantial number of people use from Unearth Arcana, and you've got one heck of a PC playing in your game. Heck, an NPC would be even worse with that.

Now... I do understand that dragonpeople are a popular choice for players as PC races. And even though a half-dragon PC or NPC would have a pretty weenie breath weapon, his ability score increases and defense alone should MORE than make up for that fact.

Maybe something that looks like this: Dragon girl

I once tried to make it as a LA +0 race in 3.5 (obviously getting rid of most of the stat boost and a few other things)

Well, that feat is one way to get the hal-dragon's breath weapon... after that, you might want to check out a feat in Races of the Dragon. While it's 3.5, it barely requires a change for Pathfinder:

DRAGON BREATH
You can use your breath weapon as often as a normal dragon.
Prerequisites: Half-dragon, 6 HD, breath weapon.
Benefit: You can use your breath weapon every 1d4 rounds.
Normal: A half-dragon’s breath weapon can only be used once per day.