Using Special Attack Forms

make—the breath weapon always deals superior damage against multiple foes when compared to the bite.

Faced with a choice between using a breath weapon and making a full attack on one or more foes, the choice is somewhat less clear. For a Medium or smaller dragon, the breath weapon is still a better option. For a larger dragon, the choice depends largely on how many foes it can catch with its breath weapon. If it could only breathe on one foe, it will deal more damage by making a full attack. If it can catch two or more foes in its breath weapon, breathing is a better choice.

Using a breath weapon is almost always a better option than using an area-damaging spell. The saving throw DC against a great wyrm’s breath weapon is 10 to 15 higher than the save DC of its highest-level spells, and the damage potential is better as well. A bronze great wyrm that casts delayed blast fireball deals 19d6 points of damage with a saving throw DC of 25. The dragon is better served using its breath weapon (damage 24d6, save DC 37). A 20th-level rogue has a decent chance of failing her saving throw against the dragon’s breath, but will most likely succeed against the delayed blast fireball.

All this logic begins to break down, however, when a dragon is facing enemies prepared to fight, particularly if the foes are expecting a dragon of a certain variety. Once a spellcaster casts protection from energy on the whole party, warding them against the dragon’s breath weapon, the breath option becomes much weaker. However, even this depends on circumstances. If the dragon uses Flyby Attack to strafe its enemies with its breath weapon while staying mostly out of reach, two or three blasts with a breath weapon are likely to wipe out most protection from energy spells.

Spells can be a valuable alternative to the breath weapon in cases where opponents are protected by magic. Adventurers facing a white great wyrm are likely to be warded against cold, but they’re less likely to be expecting the chain lightning spell the dragon has in its repertoire. Most often, though, the lower saving throw DC greatly reduces the effectiveness of a dragon’s spells compared to what its breath weapon can do. A dragon is best off using spells to alter the conditions of the fight in its favor, as discussed in Dragons as Spellcasters, below.

USING SPECIAL ATTACK FORMS

Compared to the effectiveness of a breath weapon for a Huge or larger dragon, the big dragons’ special melee attack forms—crush and tail sweep—are almost insignificant, though still perilous for those that get in the way. Both tactics are commonly used by confident, even cocky dragons that feel quite sure of victory, and less often by more cautious dragons. The use of the tail sweep, in particular, is often likened to the way a cat treats a mouse it isn’t quite ready to eat yet. Both the crush and the tail sweep are, in effect, area melee attacks.

Crush: A crush attack can be quite fearsome, particularly because of the lingering effects of being pinned. Follow these steps to resolve a dragon’s crush attack. 1) If the dragon is on the ground when it begins the attack, it makes a Jump check. The dragon must achieve enough vertical distance with the jump to clear the heads of the creatures it wants to crush.

Table 2–2: Jump DCs to Crush Opponents shows the Jump DCs required for a dragon (with a land speed of either 40 or 60 feet) to reach the required height with either a standing high jump or a running high jump. If the dragon is flying, no Jump check is required; it simply lands on the opponents it wants to crush. 2) Determine how many creatures are in the target area. The crush attack affects any creatures located completely within the dragon’s space when it lands: a 15-foot-by-15foot square for a Huge dragon, a 20-foot-by-20-foot square for a Gargantuan dragon, or a 30-foot-by-30-foot square for a Colossal dragon.

3) After the dragon lands, each creature in the target area must roll a Reflex save against a DC equal to that of the dragon’s breath weapon.

This Colossal gold dragon’s tail sweep scatters a band of hobgoblins like matchsticks.