In the description of this armor it states: “While wearing this armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC, you have advantage on saving throws against the Frightful Presence and breath weapons of dragons, and you have resistance to one damage type that is determined by the kind of dragon that provided the scales (see the table).” then it has a chart listing the resistances. I have always played it as having advantage only against the matching breath weapon. But as I read through this in the process of creating some other dragon skin armors I realized that, as written, RAW would mean advantage against ANY dragon’s breath weapon. I thought I’d raise the question of how to use this for everyone.
In the description of this armor it states: “While wearing this armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC, you have advantage on saving throws against the Frightful Presence and breath weapons of dragons, and you have resistance to one damage type that is determined by the kind of dragon that provided the scales (see the table).” then it has a chart listing the resistances. I have always played it as having advantage only against the matching breath weapon. But as I read through this in the process of creating some other dragon skin armors I realized that, as written, RAW would mean advantage against ANY dragon’s breath weapon. I thought I’d raise the question of how to use this for everyone.
I think the bolded part answers the question. As an example, if it’s red scale armor, you have fire resistance. I guess it would apply if a gold was breathing fire on you as well. Or to any other source of fire. But clearly it’s not going to help you against acid or cold, etc.
You would have Advantage on saves against all dragon breath weapons and resistance against a specific damage type determined by the kind of dragon skin used to create the armor.
Xalthu, i think the , and. Act to separate the 2 effects so that, as Sposta says you have advantage on the save against all dragon breath attacks, and you have resistance to the ne particular reach type that matches the armor type.
In this case, "dragon" means any creature with the Dragon creature type, including dragon turtles and faerie dragons. This feature does work against the type of dragon associated with the armor, because that creature also has the Dragon type.
Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair
TO maybe clarify the responses. The Dragon Scale armor, due to being made of actual dragon scales, gives you advantage on saves against dragon breath weapons. All of them. Lore-wise, maybe it's because the scales naturally link well to offer protection against the type of delivery a breath weapon offers.
Because they are from a dragon, the scales offer resistance to the specific type to match the dragon they came from.
Functionally: Red Dragon Scale armor - Red Dragon breathes on you > you roll the save with advantage and make it. Dragon rolls 40 on damage. Save cuts it in half to 20, resistance from the type halves that to 10. You take 10 points Fire damage. Red Dragon Scale armor - Blue Dragon breathes on you > you roll the save with advantage and make it. Dragon rolls 40 damage. Save halves that to 20, you take 20 points of Lightning damage
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Under stand I don’t have problem with it being all dragons I was just a bit surprised - dragons don’t get advantage against other dragons breath weapons but they do have immunity to damage of their type so I had been playing it as advantage and resistance to their type only which made sense to me with the proc of creating the armor converting the natural immunity into the advantage and resistance.
I was also sort of asking if that might not be their intention but the worded it badly
The only way we will ever know the writers intention is of they ever explicitly tell us in a Sage Advice Q&A.
However as you point out in post #4 the structure of the compound sentence shows us that the advantage on saving throws is in a separate clause from the damage resistance. If the writer intended the advantage of breath weapon saves to be limited to one damage type then there are multiple mistakes in the Dragon Scale Mail description.
First, the comma you noticed would have to be moved to the 'and' between the frightful presence and breath weapon saving throw advantage. Second, the table would need its header updated to show it pertains to damage resistance and saving throw advantage.
But I agree that this isn't the most clearly written. This mixing of conjunctions to link items in a list and link separate clauses in a sentence is the bane of the Oxford comma.
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In the description of this armor it states: “While wearing this armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC, you have advantage on saving throws against the Frightful Presence and breath weapons of dragons, and you have resistance to one damage type that is determined by the kind of dragon that provided the scales (see the table).” then it has a chart listing the resistances. I have always played it as having advantage only against the matching breath weapon. But as I read through this in the process of creating some other dragon skin armors I realized that, as written, RAW would mean advantage against ANY dragon’s breath weapon. I thought I’d raise the question of how to use this for everyone.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I think the bolded part answers the question.
As an example, if it’s red scale armor, you have fire resistance. I guess it would apply if a gold was breathing fire on you as well. Or to any other source of fire. But clearly it’s not going to help you against acid or cold, etc.
You would have Advantage on saves against all dragon breath weapons and resistance against a specific damage type determined by the kind of dragon skin used to create the armor.
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Xalthu, i think the , and. Act to separate the 2 effects so that, as Sposta says you have advantage on the save against all dragon breath attacks, and you have resistance to the ne particular reach type that matches the armor type.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I misunderstood the question, and thought you were only asking about the damage. My mistake.
I was actually asking about the breath weapon save - for all dragons or just for the one type.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
In this case, "dragon" means any creature with the Dragon creature type, including dragon turtles and faerie dragons. This feature does work against the type of dragon associated with the armor, because that creature also has the Dragon type.
Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair
TO maybe clarify the responses. The Dragon Scale armor, due to being made of actual dragon scales, gives you advantage on saves against dragon breath weapons. All of them. Lore-wise, maybe it's because the scales naturally link well to offer protection against the type of delivery a breath weapon offers.
Because they are from a dragon, the scales offer resistance to the specific type to match the dragon they came from.
Functionally:
Red Dragon Scale armor - Red Dragon breathes on you > you roll the save with advantage and make it. Dragon rolls 40 on damage. Save cuts it in half to 20, resistance from the type halves that to 10. You take 10 points Fire damage.
Red Dragon Scale armor - Blue Dragon breathes on you > you roll the save with advantage and make it. Dragon rolls 40 damage. Save halves that to 20, you take 20 points of Lightning damage
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Under stand I don’t have problem with it being all dragons I was just a bit surprised - dragons don’t get advantage against other dragons breath weapons but they do have immunity to damage of their type so I had been playing it as advantage and resistance to their type only which made sense to me with the proc of creating the armor converting the natural immunity into the advantage and resistance.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I was also sort of asking if that might not be their intention but the worded it badly
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
The only way we will ever know the writers intention is of they ever explicitly tell us in a Sage Advice Q&A.
However as you point out in post #4 the structure of the compound sentence shows us that the advantage on saving throws is in a separate clause from the damage resistance. If the writer intended the advantage of breath weapon saves to be limited to one damage type then there are multiple mistakes in the Dragon Scale Mail description.
First, the comma you noticed would have to be moved to the 'and' between the frightful presence and breath weapon saving throw advantage. Second, the table would need its header updated to show it pertains to damage resistance and saving throw advantage.
But I agree that this isn't the most clearly written. This mixing of conjunctions to link items in a list and link separate clauses in a sentence is the bane of the Oxford comma.