Breath Weapon

The creature has a breath attack it can use three to five times each day. Typically, the creature must wait one or two rounds between breaths. The creature can move normally during a round when it breathes, but it cannot make melee attacks, cast a spell, or use a spell-like power.

The breath weapon can take any form the DM desires: a cloud of scalding steam, cone of searing flame, gout of acid, petrifying mist, and so on. A quick look through the Monstrous Manual and the various Monstrous Compendiums™ should provide plenty of ideas. Basic statistics for breath weapons are provided below.

If the creature already has a breath weapon, use the values for the next higher rank instead. If the creature is a paragon, its breath weapon uses the paragon dimensions from Table 13 and the breath weapon inflicts an average of 4.5 points of damage per hit die of the creature. For example, a paragon dragon turtle has 39 hit dice and has a breath weapon that inflicts an average of 175 points of damage. For all damage-causing breath weapons, a successful saving throw versus breath weapon reduces damage by half.

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