Homebrew Half-Dragon Template

[Trisagon]

Hello everyone! For my custom setting, I need to modifiy the half-dragon template so that it gives an at-will dragon's breath. How should I change the CR modifier? I am also open to consider other templates which give an at-will breath weapon (1d6 for HD), either official, 3PP or Homebrew material. Thank you in advance

[Magus Black]

Exactly how balanced are you aiming for here?

Not even dragon have at-will breath weapons, they have to wait a few rounds to re-use them, and they're be little reason to use weapons unless there are some limitations here.

[Jerrod Owex]

Beyond what Magus has already said I would honestly just suggest using something along the lines of a Dragonborn for a playable race. I am presently working on a Dragonborn myself, using the race creation rules in the Advanced Race Guide(ARG). The Dragonborn have a breath weapon but its not at-will, the best it has been is labeled an encounter power in 4E.

If you are not using it for a playable race then you might just have to throw something together that you like and play test it until it feels right to you.

[Trisagon]

My bad, with "at-will breath weapon" I meant with no x/day uses limit, i would have still limited it like a dragon's breath --> "once and then wait 1d4 round".
I am not aiming for a super balanced CR, as it isnt a playable race, but since both allies and foes of the PC are going to get this template, I need to have a rough CR adjustement. it doesnt need to be exactly 1d6 per HD either, but somewhere between 1d6*(1/2 HDs) and 1d6*HD.

[Jerrod Owex]

Ok that makes more sense, I have been looking at the Breath weapon ability in the ARG and I don't feel it is useful enough at higher levels.

Anyway, it sounds like you have everything at least mostly figured out its just gonna be find a CR. This is going to be the hardest part, imo.

First though you are going to need to decide what you want to be static: the abilities of the CR. When you have that figured out it's just about play-testing it and adjusting the variable.

It essentially becomes a science experiment: try something, tweak it a bit, try again, tweak a bit more, repeat until you are happy. Honestly it is something that may technically never be JUST RIGHT and will always be getting tweaked, especially when new products are released.

[Trisagon]

I tried figuring out the CR adjustment by comparing this template with other templates which give a breath-weapon, like:

Demonic Vermin: 1d6 per CR point. Wait 1d4 between uses. CR +2

Element infused Template: 3PP Material, 1d6/3 HDs. Once every minute. CR +1.
Given that an Half-Dragon already has a breath weapon (1/day), I'd say the adjusted CR should be somewhere between +3 and +4, probably +3. What do you think?