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So far, the various guides to optimised blasters I've read have been focusing almost entirely on Fireball or, if feeling fancy, on Fire Snake. While I do agree on the fact that Fireball is indeed most of the times the best option, I keep wondering why no one ever seems to give a bit of credit to Dragon's Breath.
The sheer versatility of this spell, in terms of both damage type and area of effect, should be enough to make it a a decent opponent to Fireball. The main disadvantage is, of course, being a 4th level spell instead of 3rd. However, that extra level gives a certain number of advantages:
- +1 on the save DC.
- effectively free Elemental Spell applied for ALL damage types.
- effectively almost half the benefit of Intensify Spell (since the damage caps ad 12d6 rather than 10d6), which can be further improved with actual Intensify Spell (up to 17d6 vs 15d6 of Fireball).
I know that Admixture Wizards can change the damage type of a spell on the fly, hence nullifying one of the main benefits of this spell, but not all blasters are Wizards/multiclass Wizards/VMC Wizards, nor they should.
Furthermore, while it's true that Fireball has longer range and bigger area of effect, it's also true that these characteristics make it unusable after the first round of combat, that is when allies start positioning among enemies on the battlefield. On the other hand, the more focused and versatile area of effect of Dragon's Breath makes avoiding allies much simpler, making therefore the spell overall more useful.
Keeping in mind that this is a general question, born out of curiosity, and that I'm not looking for advice on any build, what do you think about this spell? Why is it so easily neglected? Did you have any positive (or extremely terrible) experiences with such spell?
It's a higher level. Thus you can't use lesser rods with it, it comes online later, it doesn't qualify for one of the metamagic traits, and it can have less metamagic on it.
I imagine this is why, blasters go all in on one spell and having a later spell with less support isn't the best.
I like it. Wouldn't use it on a blaster character as fireball is much better when specialized. Have had it on a few generalist characters. On prepared casters its worth having it prepared on a slot, maybe 2, for targets vulnerable to an energy type. It faces some heavy competition for 4th level slots though so probably not going to do so before level 9.
As others have said, level 3 vs level 4 is a big deal when you think about rods of metamagic. And lines are really hard to get multiple opponents with and cones require you to be in front of your defenders.
I wouldn't specialize in it as a blaster.
I have frequently recommended it on these boards, especially for spontaneous casters. All casters need a way to deal with swarms and this works for that. The flexibility on energy type and area of effect means it adapts to the the situation.
Although they are prepared casters, it can also be a lot of fun on a Magus. There you are often up front anyways, so the AoE starting at you isn't as big a deal. Go into spell combat, slice the opponent in front of you, if they go down just cast otherwise step back 5' and cast.
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Ok, I understand that the main problem is the spell level increment from 3rd to 4th, which is indeed a heavy hit on WBL. And is, in my opinion, a shame. The point is that I actually think Dragon's Breath would be especially useful on specialised blasters, and particularly prepared casters, because of the embedded versatility it offers.
Since specialised blasters usually focus on a single spell, it's important that such spell can be applied in as many circumstances as possible and is not easily countered. As we all know, fire resistance or flat-out immunity are quite common in Pathfinder, and they can easily shut down a Fireball-focused blaster. Dragon's Fire is instead pretty much immune to this problem, allowing one to be both focused and versatile. Sure, one can cast Fireball while using a Rod of Elemental Spell attuned to a different element, but then it becomes very similar to Dragon's Breath, with the exception that one can't use a second rod on it.
Similarly, while spontaneous casters can focus on a single spell, know a bunch of other spells with different damage types and cast one of those on the fly if needed, prepared ones cannot afford to fill their slots with a bunch of different spells they've not specialised into. Focusing on and preparing Dragon's Breath fixes this issue by making the prepared casters a bit more spontaneous.
Hence the question: isn't this worth the level increase?
For you, looks like it's a yes.
For those wanting to throw maximized empowered fireballs as a 3rd level spell, no.
The damage type changing doesn't play well with sorcerer draconic bloodline while the elemental spell rod does play really nicely with it. And as you've mentioned wizard can change the type as they need too.
plus waiting till lv7/8 for your main attack instead of 5/6 (which already seems long) is a hard sell.
So for specialized blasters they already have better solutions than dragon's breath gives for the problems dragon's breath solves. My blaster doesn't have multiple blast spells, just burning hands and fireball. Leaving my spells known to not have to regrab spells that do the same thing I already have a spell for, damage.
I think it's better on a non-blaster since the type changing there is more beneficial to them since they wont have other means of dealing with it.
A wizard could learn Fireball and Dragon's Breath. No big deal unless the campaign affords few opportunities to learn new spells. And a sorcerer could learn both and swap out Fireball once he's learned Dragon's Breath.For you, looks like it's a yes.
For those wanting to throw maximized empowered fireballs as a 3rd level spell, no...plus waiting till lv7/8 for your main attack instead of 5/6 (which already seems long) is a hard sell.
For a non-specialized I agree. For a specialized blaster They probably want their main blast working with the rod of maximize lesser they have.
Wizards for blasting will be admixture to deal with typing and sorcerers will want to use metamagic because it keeps their bonus damage higher.I have a dedicated blaster and he uses fireball and couldn't be nearly as effective if using dragon's breath. Hence why I pass on it.
Ok, I understand that the main problem is the spell level increment from 3rd to 4th, which is indeed a heavy hit on WBL. And is, in my opinion, a shame. The point is that I actually think Dragon's Breath would be especially useful on specialised blasters, and particularly prepared casters, because of the embedded versatility it offers.
Since specialised blasters usually focus on a single spell, it's important that such spell can be applied in as many circumstances as possible and is not easily countered. As we all know, fire resistance or flat-out immunity are quite common in Pathfinder, and they can easily shut down a Fireball-focused blaster. Dragon's Fire is instead pretty much immune to this problem, allowing one to be both focused and versatile. Sure, one can cast Fireball while using a Rod of Elemental Spell attuned to a different element, but then it becomes very similar to Dragon's Breath, with the exception that one can't use a second rod on it.
Similarly, while spontaneous casters can focus on a single spell, know a bunch of other spells with different damage types and cast one of those on the fly if needed, prepared ones cannot afford to fill their slots with a bunch of different spells they've not specialised into. Focusing on and preparing Dragon's Breath fixes this issue by making the prepared casters a bit more spontaneous.
Hence the question: isn't this worth the level increase?
Still no. Elemental rods and vmc wizard are both just much cheaper an investment than doubling rod costs. Not to mention fireball's better targeting and range.
Ok, I understand that the main problem is the spell level increment from 3rd to 4th, which is indeed a heavy hit on WBL. And is, in my opinion, a shame. The point is that I actually think Dragon's Breath would be especially useful on specialised blasters, and particularly prepared casters, because of the embedded versatility it offers.
Since specialised blasters usually focus on a single spell, it's important that such spell can be applied in as many circumstances as possible and is not easily countered. As we all know, fire resistance or flat-out immunity are quite common in Pathfinder, and they can easily shut down a Fireball-focused blaster. Dragon's Fire is instead pretty much immune to this problem, allowing one to be both focused and versatile. Sure, one can cast Fireball while using a Rod of Elemental Spell attuned to a different element, but then it becomes very similar to Dragon's Breath, with the exception that one can't use a second rod on it.
Similarly, while spontaneous casters can focus on a single spell, know a bunch of other spells with different damage types and cast one of those on the fly if needed, prepared ones cannot afford to fill their slots with a bunch of different spells they've not specialised into. Focusing on and preparing Dragon's Breath fixes this issue by making the prepared casters a bit more spontaneous.
Hence the question: isn't this worth the level increase?
This is precisely why I took it for my Dragon Disciple in PFS. So often coming across things immune to his Burning Hands, Scorching Ray, Fireball, and even his claw/claw/bite and breath weapon! Same reason he got Summon Monster IV. I mean, granted, he got these spells at 11th level and he retired at 12th, but still. The Summon Monster actually let us finish a scenario by bringing up a Mephit to move some salt when we had no digging tools and we pissed off the Xorn that could have helped it if we fed it our gold.