Dragon with a cone shaped breath weapon flying over land-based enemies and breath stacks straight down. What is the area of effect? #dnd
— M.T. Black (@MTBlack2567) July 21, 2019
Cones are as wide as they are long. Cones are also a 3-dimensional shape.
Breathing one straight down (admittedly weird) would create a circle on the ground with a diameter equal to the altitude of the breathing dragon.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) July 21, 2019
Why is it weird for a dragon to breath a cone straight down? Isn’t that the best tactic when fighting against land-based creatures that lack range weapons? Because the general assumption is a horizontally-aligned cone, and D&D tends to just kinda ignore the Z axis, fingers in the ears and humming style.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) July 21, 2019
I have always house ruled that if the dragon is flying higher than the cone is long then the breath dissipates with no effect. Eg a dragon with a 15’ cone flying 30’ High has 0 effect breath weapon straight down, but at 15’ high straight down it has a 15’ diameter. Oh definitely if it’s flying higher than its cone’s length it doesn’t reach the grind.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) July 21, 2019
Oh, I get ya. Yep, that’s one of the reasons I asked the question because the PHB kinda assumes a 2d cone Cones aren’t 2D.
I don’t know that it even really assumes a horizontal come, that’s just going to be the most common way it shows up.
Vertical cones definitely describe a circle when they impact a surface.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) July 21, 2019
That’s how cone areas work! At any given point from the origin (dragon in this case) the cone is as wide as the distance from the origin.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) July 21, 2019
gas or liquid will not conform to a cylinder shape once it hits the bottom and there are not walls, it will go outwards It will only be harmful within the cone. Beyond that it’s descriptive.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) July 21, 2019
Or, you , know, go nuts with it. It’s your game. 😊
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) July 21, 2019