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In an encounter last night I ruled a dragon's breath weapon was a spread and would wrap around corners and continue to flow, albeit still using the maximum distance of the breath weapon. (That's pretty easy to figure out using a VTT.)
Yet today I can't find any reference to the breath weapon being a burst, a spread, or any other kind of effect other than a simple "cone".
Did I rule it correctly that it's a spread? What's your opinion?
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I would rule that it continues in a generally straight path. So it would not turn 90 degrees around a corner. However, it would wrap around an obstacle in its path, while leaving a safe space directly behind the object in question. The size of this space would depend on the size of the object. Hence why the fighter can hide behind his tower shield and not be as hurt.
The default for cones is burst.
Most cones are either bursts or emanations and thus won't go around corners.
Emanations are bursts with a duration other than instantaneous.
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Yeah, I found that section about "most cones are bursts", but that's talking about spells. And while the dragon's breath weapon is Supernatural, it is not Spell-Like. From the description in the Draconomicon (yes, 3rd Ed) they describe the ichor/phlegm used to "power" the breath weapon as physiological and not magical. Of course, as it's fluff they also state that the in-game researchers don't really know how it works specifically...
In any case, I will keep the breath weapon to a burst in the future unless someone knows of a source that states otherwise.
Thanks everyone. :)
Creative Director
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Unless otherwise specified, cones are bursts. That's what "most cones are bursts" more or less means. Clouds, on the other hand, spread around corners and are a bit more sneaky in getting to you, but since no dragons currently have a cloud shaped breath weapon, that's not an issue here.
As for Pathfinder dragons (and, honestly, for 3.5 dragons, despite what the Draconomicon maintains)... their breath weapons are magical and use magic as power. They're not physiological defenses like poison... if they were, they would be categorized as Exceptional Abilities and not Supernatural Abilities.
Unless otherwise specified, cones are bursts. That's what "most cones are bursts" more or less means. Clouds, on the other hand, spread around corners and are a bit more sneaky in getting to you, but since no dragons currently have a cloud shaped breath weapon, that's not an issue here.
As for Pathfinder dragons (and, honestly, for 3.5 dragons, despite what the Draconomicon maintains)... their breath weapons are magical and use magic as power. They're not physiological defenses like poison... if they were, they would be categorized as Exceptional Abilities and not Supernatural Abilities.
I believe you meant "Extraordinary" instead of "Exceptional".
That and it should be mentioned that the Dragons Breath Weapon deals normal damage to a Golem since it is not a spell-like quality. It is a Extraodinary or Supernatural ability (Ex by Pathfinders ruling, Su by Draconomicon, Pathfinder overrules the latter though)
Just thought I'd share that...lol
As to the discussion of the individual dragons breath-weapon, it entirely depends on the type for a start. "Line" breath weapons are easy to work out, "Cones" (depending how they are used) may produce a 'spread' effect beyond that which the cone normally produces if it strikes a barrier of obstacle - but such is entirely open to the DM to rule upon and how much of the cone's distance was unused before hitting the barrier would perhaps add a radius of sorts onto the 'spread' at the point of impact. Again, a houserule but one that follows logical line of thought.
A "Cone" would infact spread as others have said to flow around a corner, though decent enough cover does provide advantages even against this (no damage on a reflex save as if you had evasion - I am still sure it works this way as it did in 3.5). Though that being said "Cone" breath weapons like a Dragons are mediated by the same spreading limitations as does say..."Detect" spells aimed toward a partially open door. The effect does reach into the room but not etirely enough to reach/affect everything inside based on the line of sight in realtion to the area of effect through the aperture the ability is aimed at.
But since a Dragons breath weapon is VERY damaging however - it may very well destroy these barriers anyway and flow through into that area normally.
But since a Dragons breath weapon is VERY damaging however - it may very well destroy these barriers anyway and flow through into that area normally.
Or you could have a very interesting situation where the PCs and NPCs scramble to cover, only to have that cover destroyed by the breath, to scramble to another piece of cover, etc..
I remember when green dragons had clouds of chlorine gas as their breath weapon, not cones of acid...
I remember when green dragons had clouds of chlorine gas as their breath weapon, not cones of acid...
I always thought that was really cool....
I remember when green dragons had clouds of chlorine gas as their breath weapon, not cones of acid...
I remember that too..., dont know what they changed it...
I still give my Green Dragons the chlorine gas as a houserule, doesnt really change much about how it works - call me nostalgic, I just prefer it that way...lol
I'm sorry, but I can't resist. I'm getting a masters degree in fluid dynamics, and this screams 'fluids problem.' So, in the real world, it will depend on the Reynolds Number flow we are dealing with. If it's low enough then the fire will flow around and hug the obstacle. If it's too high there will be a detached turbulent wake region that you won't have the fire flow into. To solve this problem we need to know three things:
1) what's the size of the obstacle?
2) how fast is the fire breath traveling?
3) can it be modeled as high temp air?
So lets have fun with math. Vortex detachment occurs around a Re=4000. Lets assume that the fire breath can be modeled as air at 1600K, so it has a kinematic viscosity of 254.5E-6 m^2/s. If the obstacle is, say 2m, that means the velocity would need to be a minimum of 0.509 m/s, or 1.14 mph (from Re=U*D/nu). This substantiates the claim that pretty much no cone will wrap around an obstacle.
But it's cool...supports the PF rule, right?
Yeah, it supports the PF ruling. Unless a description says otherwise, pretty much all blasty effects will be moving with too much velocity to wrap completely around an obstacle. Intuitively this should make sense, I'm just supporting it with fluid dynamics ;)