Draconian breath attacks

Version 0.31: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

When a Draconian reaches level 7, they receive a colour. Every colour (except grey) gets an associated draconian breath attack. Using any of these attacks has a cooldown of 1 + 1d10 + 1d(30 - XL) turns.

While in Dragon Form, Draconians keep their breath (or lack thereof) instead of getting Breathe Fire.

Breathe Fire

Breathe a blast of fire at a targeted monster, leaving a cloud of flames at the endpoint.

Red Draconians receive Breathe Fire, which fires a bolt of flame, and leaves a flame cloud. This can be used to place a single cloud of fire at a desired location (by aiming at a floor tile with [.]).

Breathe Frost

Exhales a blast of frost that may knock back targets.

White Draconians receive Breathe Frost, which allows you to bellow forth a bolt of frost which ignores AC and knocks back creatures.

Breathe Noxious Fumes

Breathes a blast of noxious fumes at a targeted creature.

Green Draconians receive Breathe Noxious Fumes, which spews noxious fume clouds. These clouds, like Mephitic Cloud, may confuse creatures that lack poison resistance.

Breathe Acid

Spit acid at a targeted monster, covering it in corrosive slime for a short time. It may also splash onto other nearby creatures on impact.

Yellow Draconians receive Breathe Acid, which spits a corrosive glob at an enemy, inflicting the Corrosion status (-8 AC temporarily). Unlike the other breath attacks, this targets a single enemy, though it can splash to enemies adjacent to your target.

Breathe Lightning

Releases a great discharge of electricity, causing an uncontrollable lightning storm. It partially bypasses armour.

Black Draconians receive Breathe Lightning, which blasts uncontrollable lightning around you. Specifically, it will cast Shock, Lightning Bolt, or Orb of Electrocution multiple times in random directions. If orbs of electrocution explode nearby, it can damage the user.

Breathe Steam

Breathes a jet of steam at a targeted location, which will scald any creatures it hits and will also obscure vision.

Pale Draconians receive Breathe Steam, which creates a bank of steam clouds. Steam can be used to block line of sight, and will deal damage to non-fire resistant enemies.

Breathe Dispelling Energy

Breathes a bolt of dispelling energy at a targeted creature, possibly removing some of its enchantments.

Purple Draconians receive Breathe Dispelling Energy. Like a wand of quicksilver, it removes any dispellable statuses if it hits. Ignores AC.

Monster Version

Monstrous dragons and draconians are capable of identical breath attacks which are also determined by their associated element, though there are some exceptions:

• Monstrous green Draconians and swamp dragons have Breathe Poison instead of Breathe Noxious Fumes.
• Monstrous black Draconians and storm dragons breathe regular Lightning Bolts in place of the uncontrollable havoc player black draconians create.
• The unique draconian Tiamat can breathe whichever breath attack matches her current color.

History

• In 0.32, Draconian breath attacks will be reworked for players:
  • Breath attacks will be able to store 3 charges and have an XP based recharge system. Draconians will get 2 charges when they reach XL 7.
  • Breath attacks will no longer have a cooldown.
  • Breath attacks will not affect the user, and they are intended to scale better in the late game.
  • All breaths are adjusted with some being overhauled:
    • Red Draconians will get Combustion Breath, which targets a line and causes a Fireball-like explosion to strike every target in that line.
    • Green Draconians will still have Novious Breath, which will have longer-lasting clouds and an XL-based chance to spawn additional clouds along the sides of the beam.
    • Pale Draconians will still have Steam Breath, which will deal more initial damage. The density and duration of steam clouds will improve with XL.
    • Yellow Draconians will get Caustic Breath, which is a penetrating acid bolt that leaves acidic fog clouds on all unoccupied spaces it passes over.
    • Black Draconians will get Galvanic Breath, which is a projectile that does electricity damage to all targets connected to what it hits.
    • White Draconians will get Glacial Breath, which is a penetrating beam of cold that turns anything it kills into blocks of ice.
    • Purple Draconians will get Nullifying Breath, which is a projectile that explodes in a radius of 2 and dispels magical effects on all targets caught in the explosion. It will also apply antimagic.
    • Grey Draconians will get Mud Breath, which is a projectile that knocks targets back and leaves mud around its destination.
• Prior to 0.31, purple Draconians could use quicksilver breath on themselves to dispel status effects.
• Prior to 0.30, pale Draconian's steam breath had a cooldown twice as short.
• Prior to 0.27, white Draconian's breath could only knock back flying opponents.
• Prior to 0.20, there were mottled Draconians, who had a breath that splashed Sticky Flame. It could only be used on adjacent enemies, but it could splash onto other monsters around it. Also, yellow Draconians did not have the splash effect, and Draconian player ghosts could breath bolts of negative energy.
• Prior to 0.17, Spit Acid could cause bleeding.