Hi,

what type of attack is a breath attack, i.e. is it melee, magic or ranged? For example, will an item that provides more armour against ranged and magic attacks provide this bonus against breath attacks?

I looked unter "Breath" attack in the rules and FAQ but didn't find anything.

Thanks,

-Kylearan

It's a ranged attack. Alternatively, you do not have to use the template itself, you may choose to make a regular ranged attack. I believe they altered this rule to allow breath attacking creatures (hellhound and dragon) to be able to attack a hero who has them grappled in such a way that the template wouild not be able to hit them.

Kylearan said:

For future reference, the type of attack for any monster is listed on thier card next to the type of dice they roll. It will have the melee/ranged/magic symbol.

Not all breath attacks are ranged. All Monster breath attacks are ranged, but that is coincidence, not ruling.

There are several magic runes that use the breath template in the Altar of Despair expansion, so breath can also be magic.

Royaldoy said:

Wait. So a hell hound or dragon can choose to attack an individual rather than use the breath template? I thought they were required to? Is there a rule you can point us to that shows that?

Also, while we're on the topic of hell hounds, does anybody else wonder why they have "Pierce 1"? How does their fire-breathing provide a piercing-like attack? Just curious...

Thanks

jwdenzel said:

Yes. FAQ v1.4 page 2: "Attacks with the Breath ability are not required to use the Breath template. The figure's controller must make the decision before dice are rolled. If the monster or hero chooses not to use Breath, then the attack is resolved as a normal attack of its type."

This is a fairly recent change. The original rules for Breath do not say anything about having a choice. But it is official.

To answer your other question, I suggest you think of Pierce as being a way to get past armor, rather than specifically as a way of punching through it. If someone is engulfed in fire (or other dangerous substances), it's going to touch all the weak points of the armor, and even weave through indirect paths (e.g. up your sleeves) that would afford no weakness to traditional weapons.

Alternately, realize that hellhounds attack with blue + yellow dice, and that their attack is fairly pathetic even with Piercing.

Kylearan said:

A breath attack is a special rule that should be treated like blast, pierce, bleed etc. Any attack (range or magic) can have blast as part of its execution, but a breath attack in itself is not an attack type.

Having that said, the monsters Dragon and HellHound have a Ranged attack that has the breath special rule.

Antistone said:

Thanks for that information. Very helpful!

quesodog said:

Technically, there is nothing preventing a melee attack from having the Blast ability as well. I'm actually using that idea in creating my own hero.

Joram said:

Interaction warning: the utility of having Blast added to a melee attack changes dramatically based on whether or not you also have the Reach ability. (Unless you're writing in a special rule to prevent the attacker from being harmed by the blast anyway.)

Blanket warning: Existing area-of-effect weapons in Descent are not balanced (at least not based on the quests I've played), and using them as a point of comparison for developing new AoE attacks is probably a bad idea.