I am very new to D&D and came up with a character concept a white dragonborn barbarian who... As a child, Frosty was the sole survivor of a shipwrecked vessel who then grew to adulthood alone on an uncharted, tropical island — at least that’s what the crew who finally found the runty, half-feral, adult, white dragonborn managed to piece together from the wreckage as they plundered it.
My thinking was that, even tho this character grew up isolated & with zero education, he was still naturally clever enough to use his icy Breath Weapon in unconventional ways to help him survive. Examples include: • blasting a thin layer of ice widely around his chosen sleeping area so that nothing could sneak up on him since every step would be announced by snapping/crackling ice • chasing/flushing prey into an area that it would normally be able to navigate/escape/climb, but he made the terrain slick with a coating of ice in preparation of the hunt and the animal was unable to escape his icy terrain trap before he killed it • creating structures out of ice (a small iceberg boat to go fishing or a small bridge to cross a stream, a slide of ice to break his fall) • as a physical weapon (an actual jagged crude ice spear; dangerous ice stalactites on branches that he shakes so they drop down and skewer/bludgeon unsuspecting rabbits/deer below) • handholds on an otherwise difficult-to-climb surface or adding ice so handhold could be carved • controlling the strength of his breath weapon to create snowflakes in fog or rain • And, he embraced the beastial feral-ness of his white dragon ancestry, creating a icy nest deep in a cave where he could store frozen leftovers and also sleep on and surrounded by ice as his favorite sleeping place.
In case you haven't figured it out, these activities and techniques require multiple uses per day of his Breath Weapon....And then I got home from work and actually created his character on D&DBeyond where I learned that dragonborn can only use their Breath Weapon once a day. • Is it unreasonable to ask any DM to let my dragonborn creatively use my Breath Weapon multiple times daily outside battle, maybe like it's a cantrip? • How likely am I to find a DM that will allow this? • Is my idea, born from ignorance and naivety, too flawed and incompatible with actual D&D to be playable and it should be abandoned? • Any suggestions to modify my idea to comply with actually D&D rules while still remaining as true to my original idea as possible?
The base trait says "After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest." Which does present the opportunity to use it multiple times a day already. Chromatic and Metallic dragonborn both have listed in the subrace "You can use your Breath Weapon a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest." So that's twice per day at level 1.
To be honest there is no mechanic for using the breath weapon in anything like the suggestions you made. They could be abused horribly, and would require a lot of effort on the dm’s part. I don’t mind rule of cool sometimes but this would be a nightmare, and a hard no in any game I run.
Unfortunatley, I think that's too unbalanced, but I think what you could do is play as a Storm Herald Barbarian and reflavor your ice-themed abilities as originating from your breath. It takes some time, but at 6th level you can freeze water with just a touch, which you can use to accomplish a number of the concepts you presented.
Not a great solution, sure. You'd actually be able to pull it off better if you were a spellcasting class that just reflavored your spells to be ice-based. Stuff like the Grease spell could be reflavored to slippery ice, the Alarm Spell could work with the crunchy ice you described, Tiny Hut could be a circle of protective ice.
If you still want to stick with the idea of your character being untrained, you could always make them a Sorcerer. The Draconic Bloodline subclass seems like a natural fit, although it's a bit redundant for a dragonborn, since you already natively have resistance to cold damage, but other than that redundancy all the other class features would feed well into your concept. You could even learn the Dragon's Breath spell to have an in-game, mechanical reason to be able to use your breath weapon many more times in a day.
RAW, the breath weapon only damages creatures in its area. It would have no effect on objects and could not be used in the ways you describe. But ask your DM. Personally, I might allow it. Giving up a limited use attack ability to do something else seems like it might be a fair trade. Probably, I’d let you try it for a few sessions with the understanding that we were basically play testing the idea to see if it worked.
Also, as above posters have said, you should check out Fizban’s dragonborn. They are way better designed, and the breath weapon is more effective.
On top of the issues already described, ice melts if the temperature is above freezing. The majority of the effects being asked about here are things that would probably not last long enough to actually be useful even if you did try them.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Great idea, it's not in the rules, but so long as your DM allows it, it's okay! Even if it is unbalanced (I think it isn't), DND is about FUN, so if it makes everyone happy, that's all that matters. Love the concept, by the way. Enjoy your campaign!
You can describe spells and effects in unusual ways as long as the mechanics stay the same.
• alarm blasting a thin layer of ice widely around his chosen sleeping area so that nothing could sneak up on him since every step would be announced by snapping/crackling ice • grease chasing/flushing prey into an area that it would normally be able to navigate/escape/climb, but he made the terrain slick with a coating of ice in preparation of the hunt and the animal was unable to escape his icy terrain trap before he killed it • creating structures out of ice (a small iceberg boat to go fishing or a small bridge to cross a stream, a slide of ice to break his fall) • frostbite as a physical weapon (an actual jagged crude ice spear; dangerous ice stalactites on branches that he shakes so they drop down and skewer/bludgeon unsuspecting rabbits/deer below) • spider climb handholds on an otherwise difficult-to-climb surface or adding ice so handhold could be carved • prestidigitation controlling the strength of his breath weapon to create snowflakes in fog or rain • tiny hut And, he embraced the beastial feral-ness of his white dragon ancestry, creating a icy nest deep in a cave where he could store frozen leftovers and also sleep on and surrounded by ice as his favorite sleeping place.
I am very new to D&D and came up with a character concept a white dragonborn barbarian who... As a child, Frosty was the sole survivor of a shipwrecked vessel who then grew to adulthood alone on an uncharted, tropical island — at least that’s what the crew who finally found the runty, half-feral, adult, white dragonborn managed to piece together from the wreckage as they plundered it.
My thinking was that, even tho this character grew up isolated & with zero education, he was still naturally clever enough to use his icy Breath Weapon in unconventional ways to help him survive. Examples include:
• blasting a thin layer of ice widely around his chosen sleeping area so that nothing could sneak up on him since every step would be announced by snapping/crackling ice
• chasing/flushing prey into an area that it would normally be able to navigate/escape/climb, but he made the terrain slick with a coating of ice in preparation of the hunt and the animal was unable to escape his icy terrain trap before he killed it
• creating structures out of ice (a small iceberg boat to go fishing or a small bridge to cross a stream, a slide of ice to break his fall)
• as a physical weapon (an actual jagged crude ice spear; dangerous ice stalactites on branches that he shakes so they drop down and skewer/bludgeon unsuspecting rabbits/deer below)
• handholds on an otherwise difficult-to-climb surface or adding ice so handhold could be carved
• controlling the strength of his breath weapon to create snowflakes in fog or rain
• And, he embraced the beastial feral-ness of his white dragon ancestry, creating a icy nest deep in a cave where he could store frozen leftovers and also sleep on and surrounded by ice as his favorite sleeping place.
In case you haven't figured it out, these activities and techniques require multiple uses per day of his Breath Weapon....And then I got home from work and actually created his character on D&DBeyond where I learned that dragonborn can only use their Breath Weapon once a day.
• Is it unreasonable to ask any DM to let my dragonborn creatively use my Breath Weapon multiple times daily outside battle, maybe like it's a cantrip?
• How likely am I to find a DM that will allow this?
• Is my idea, born from ignorance and naivety, too flawed and incompatible with actual D&D to be playable and it should be abandoned?
• Any suggestions to modify my idea to comply with actually D&D rules while still remaining as true to my original idea as possible?
The base trait says "After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest." Which does present the opportunity to use it multiple times a day already. Chromatic and Metallic dragonborn both have listed in the subrace "You can use your Breath Weapon a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest." So that's twice per day at level 1.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
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To be honest there is no mechanic for using the breath weapon in anything like the suggestions you made. They could be abused horribly, and would require a lot of effort on the dm’s part. I don’t mind rule of cool sometimes but this would be a nightmare, and a hard no in any game I run.
Unfortunatley, I think that's too unbalanced, but I think what you could do is play as a Storm Herald Barbarian and reflavor your ice-themed abilities as originating from your breath. It takes some time, but at 6th level you can freeze water with just a touch, which you can use to accomplish a number of the concepts you presented.
Not a great solution, sure. You'd actually be able to pull it off better if you were a spellcasting class that just reflavored your spells to be ice-based. Stuff like the Grease spell could be reflavored to slippery ice, the Alarm Spell could work with the crunchy ice you described, Tiny Hut could be a circle of protective ice.
If you still want to stick with the idea of your character being untrained, you could always make them a Sorcerer. The Draconic Bloodline subclass seems like a natural fit, although it's a bit redundant for a dragonborn, since you already natively have resistance to cold damage, but other than that redundancy all the other class features would feed well into your concept. You could even learn the Dragon's Breath spell to have an in-game, mechanical reason to be able to use your breath weapon many more times in a day.
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RAW, the breath weapon only damages creatures in its area. It would have no effect on objects and could not be used in the ways you describe.
But ask your DM. Personally, I might allow it. Giving up a limited use attack ability to do something else seems like it might be a fair trade. Probably, I’d let you try it for a few sessions with the understanding that we were basically play testing the idea to see if it worked.
Also, as above posters have said, you should check out Fizban’s dragonborn. They are way better designed, and the breath weapon is more effective.
On top of the issues already described, ice melts if the temperature is above freezing. The majority of the effects being asked about here are things that would probably not last long enough to actually be useful even if you did try them.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Great idea, it's not in the rules, but so long as your DM allows it, it's okay! Even if it is unbalanced (I think it isn't), DND is about FUN, so if it makes everyone happy, that's all that matters. Love the concept, by the way. Enjoy your campaign!
You can describe spells and effects in unusual ways as long as the mechanics stay the same.
• alarm blasting a thin layer of ice widely around his chosen sleeping area so that nothing could sneak up on him since every step would be announced by snapping/crackling ice
• grease chasing/flushing prey into an area that it would normally be able to navigate/escape/climb, but he made the terrain slick with a coating of ice in preparation of the hunt and the animal was unable to escape his icy terrain trap before he killed it
• creating structures out of ice (a small iceberg boat to go fishing or a small bridge to cross a stream, a slide of ice to break his fall)
• frostbite as a physical weapon (an actual jagged crude ice spear; dangerous ice stalactites on branches that he shakes so they drop down and skewer/bludgeon unsuspecting rabbits/deer below)
• spider climb handholds on an otherwise difficult-to-climb surface or adding ice so handhold could be carved
• prestidigitation controlling the strength of his breath weapon to create snowflakes in fog or rain
• tiny hut And, he embraced the beastial feral-ness of his white dragon ancestry, creating a icy nest deep in a cave where he could store frozen leftovers and also sleep on and surrounded by ice as his favorite sleeping place.
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