squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
Reposting something Gene Weigel dug up about dragon breath weapons:
From POLYHEDRON #5 (APR 1982) DISPEL CONFUSION:
From POLYHEDRON #5 (APR 1982) DISPEL CONFUSION:
*The "Basic Set" at this time is not the 1977 version edited by J. Eric Holmes, originally for his students, but rather the 1981 TSR staff rule pile up edited by Tom Moldvay for teenagers (Also repeated in the 1981 "Expert Set" rule pile up edited Zeb Cook and Steve Marsh under "dragon turtles".) the "damaged breath weapon" rule would carry over into the next Basic Set in 1983 that was another TSR staff pile up but this time edited by Frank Mentzer doing it as a series of boxed sets of Basic(1983)/ Expert(1983)/ Companion(1984)/ Master(1985)/ Immortals(1986) for the TOYS R US market. This "damageable breath weapon" continued into the 1990's when these young player D&D versions were compiled unwittingly, by a Lorraine Williams' hire named Aaron Allston, into the D&D CYCLOPEDIA (1991) who considered this a version of D&D that was "aimed for an experienced user" which is why there was (is?) such zeal around this version all the while unaware it was actually aimed for small children.a: Does dragon breath do damage equal to the dragon's current hit points, or its original (undamaged) hit points?
A: In the AD&D system, dragon breath damage is always equal to the dragon's original hit points - even if it's currently down to 1 hp. In the D&D BASIC Set, it's the other way around; the current hit points determine the damage done.