History BreathWeapon / TabletopGames

*** Dragons have the usual array of breath weapons -- fire is the most common, but some variants have ice, lightning, acid and so on. More unusual examples include carmine dragons, which breathe the essence of the magic of death and cause their victims to age and wither into nothingness; toad dragons, who breathe corrosive gas that melts flesh and metal alike into slurry; and shard dragons, which breathe out a fog that induces terrifying visions when breathed in.

*** 13 times per day the Greater Demon Boak Chaos Hoof can breathe out a 45 foot diameter cloud of chlorine gas that does 21-40 HitPoints of damage and causes any victim with less than 30 HitPoints to choke to death after one melee round of exposure.
*** Dagonus the Death Dragon. This three-headed Greater Demon can generate a 180 foot long lightning bolt or 90 foot long cone of flame 7 times per day per head.

** Mukradis are monsters resembling [[MultipleHeadCase three-headed centipedes]], with each head being able to use a different breath weapons -- one head breathes fire, one spits acid and the third looses lighting bolts. A subterranean variant supposedly exist whose heads all vomit up animated acid instead.

*** Tyranids, a SwarmOfAlienLocusts that makes strict use of OrganicTechnology, includes bio-plasma as part of its arsenal, which allows the swarm's warrior forms such as the Carnifex and Hive Tyrant to hork up balls of superheated ionised gas from their mouths.

*** Tyranids, a SwarmOfAlienLocusts that makes strict use of OrganicTechnology, includes bio-plasma as part of its arsenal, which allows the swarm's warrior forms to hork up balls of superheated gas from their stomachs that're set on fire by clicking internal armor plates to create sparks.

*** The worst by far are the Great Unclean Ones, greater daemons of Nurgle, god of decay. The Great Unclean Ones can open their mouths to unleash a torrent of fecal matter, mucous, garbage and maggots. As bad as that is, the crap they squirt out is magical and full of the essence of decay, so any victim of this attack will either rot away to nothing or mutate into a daemon.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': In addition to the delightful Nurglite spells mentioned above, that Orks have a spell called Psychic Vomit. You can guess which of the caster's orifices it comes from. Tyranids work exclusively on OrganicTechnology, including some of them with have bio-plasma, where they hork up balls of superheated gas from their stomachs that's set on fire by clicking internal armor plates to create sparks.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'':
** Dragons have the usual array of breath weapons -- fire is the most common, but some variants have ice, lightning, acid and so on. More unusual examples include carmine dragons, which breathe the essence of the magic of death and cause their victims to age and wither into nothingness; toad dragons, who breathe corrosive gas that melts flesh and metal alike into slurry; and shard dragons, which breathe out a fog that induces terrifying visions when breathed in.
** Trolls have a breath weapon of sorts where they can vomit out a glob of stomach acid so strong it can melt steel.
** The worst by far are the Great Unclean Ones, greater daemons of Nurgle, god of decay. The Great Unclean Ones can open their mouths to unleash a torrent of fecal matter, mucous, garbage and maggots. As bad as that is, the crap they squirt out is magical and full of the essence of decay, so any victim of this attack will either rot away to nothing or mutate into a daemon.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** Dragons, of course, are distinguished both lore-wise and mechanically by their breath weapons. The game often tries to assign a unique weapon to new dragon types, resulting in some rather esoteric weapons having cropped up over the years.
*** Chromatic and metallic dragons are, as with everything else, ColourCodedForYourConvenience. Red, brass, and gold breathe fire, blue and bronze spit lightning, green breathe corrosive gas, black and copper spit acid, white and silver breathe gusts of freezing air. Most of the game's imitators (including ''VideoGame/NetHack'') follow suit, though different games do not always follow the same color-to-damage assignments as the original (although red is more likely to remain fire than any other).
*** Metallic dragons have ''two'' breath weapons. The second is usually some kind of nonlethal but disabling gas attack: brass dragons have sleep gas, bronzes have repulsion gas, coppers have slowing gas, golds have Fortitude-reducing gas, and silvers have paralytic gas. The second is a straight-up damage attack.
*** "Secondary" dragon types are where the really bizarre breath weapons crop up. Iron dragons, for instance, breathe molten iron, mercury dragons breathe laser beams, amethyst dragons spit exploding crystals that they can shoot with pinpoint accuracy...
*** Dragon-based classes often give breath weapons. The most classical example are dragon shaman and dragonfire adept.
*** Homebrew dragons can get even weirder. There are probably quite a few [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/printthread.php?t=169209 here]]. Aside from those there are [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3788332&postcount=9 wing dragons]] and [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59834 beige dragons]]. Wing dragons have the only breath weapon that OSHA (the Occupational Safety & Health Administration) would probably approve as harmless. It's sky painting smoke... that they can telekinetically control... and turn optic black... and then blind their targets by surrounding them in... and then do stuff like slitting the throats of in the dark. Beige dragons have an invisible line of pure elemental ennui that makes you stupider and less interesting as a person.
*** 4th edition dragon breath weapons are technically ''vomit'' weapons. The edition also adds the Dragonborn as a core PlayerCharacter race, who possess their namesakes' signature attack. The ''Draconomicon'' teaches that the magical energy of a D&D dragon's breath weapon is stored in the stomach, not in the lungs; this is what is meant by "vomit weapon". The expelled effect is explicitly magical, though—it is mystical energy, and not a biological by-product as found in some other D&D creatures.
** The game offers a substantial number of nondraconic monsters with their own Breath Weapon: Hellhounds breathe fire, as just one example. A popular method of making a "new" monster is to simply slap a Breath Weapon on an existing animal or mythical creature: the Pyrohydra, for instance, is a Hydra [[AC:[[RecycledINSPACE that breathes fire! ]]]]
*** The 5e a spell, "Dragon's breath" gives spellcasters the ability to give themselves and their allies a similar breath weapon to Dragonborn.
*** ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'': The ''Planes of Chaos'' boxed set describes the Varrangoin, bats that live in the Abyss. The Type I version breathes out a cone of cold that's 55 feet long and does HitPoints damage. The Type II variety has a breath weapon that creates a ball of fire 10 yards in diameter up to 30 yards away that inflicts 5-30 HitPoints of damage.
*** Certain "metabreath" feats can allow all these creatures to breathe something different, or even shape their breath. Often abused when one type of dragon is impersonating another...
*** The Greater Drakes in 2nd and 3rd edition have non-magical breath weapons; most drakes collect or generate a substance in their throat pouch that they can spit at enemies (exactly what it is varies by species; for three examples: the Smoke Drake generates thick smoke, the Muck Drake stores the swampy water of its lair, and the Hive Drake has ''[[BeeBeeGun a nest of hornets]]'' living in its pouch).
** Certain items, such as specific magic scrolls and the Tongue Stud of Firebreathing, allow their users to use breath weapon attacks.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'':
** Dragons have the same sorts of breath weapons they have in ''D&D'' -- fire for golds, brasses and reds, freezing wind for whites and silvers, acid for blacks and coppers, acid gas for greens (changed to poison in 2nd edition), and lightning for bronzes and blues. Most other types of dragons have associated breath weapons, of course, although these aren't always described in detail beyond their in-game effects -- for instance, magma, underworld, solar and vortex dragons have fire (which magma dragons having the option of horking up a glob of lava instead); lunar and void dragons have freezing wind; brine, rift and nightmare dragons have acid; cloud, sky, time, dream and bliss dragons spit lightning bolts; crystal and sovereign dragons have sonic roars; sea dragons can choose between a gout of boiling water and a cloud of equally hot steam; and forest dragons have a hail of rocky shards capable of petrifying victims.
** Elder Wyrms have a particularly interesting example. They have two heads, and one can breathe a line of electricity, while the other breathes a cone of corrosive vapor. Where it gets interesting is when they use their "Impossible Coordination" ability to launch both weapons at once: the electricity from the first head ignites the vapors from the second, resulting in a devastatingly powerful cone of fire.
** Mukradis are monsters resembling [[MultipleHeadCase three-headed centipedes]], with each head being able to use a different breath weapons -- one head breathes fire, one spits acid and the third looses lighting bolts. A subterranean variant supposedly exist whose heads all vomit up animated acid instead.
* ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'': The Ascending Ones' Breath of the Dragon Elixir is a crystalline powder that, when inhaled, allows its user to exhale a cloud of poisonous gases. Its name is based on the older, Classical and medieval iterations of the dragon myth, where the serpents exhaled poison instead of flame.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'':
** Dragons have the usual array of breath weapons -- fire is the most common, but some variants have ice, lightning, acid and so on. More unusual examples include carmine dragons, which breathe the essence of the magic of death and cause their victims to age and wither into nothingness; toad dragons, who breathe corrosive gas that melts flesh and metal alike into slurry; and shard dragons, which breathe out a fog that induces terrifying visions when breathed in.
** Trolls have a breath weapon of sorts where they can vomit out a glob of stomach acid so strong it can melt steel.
** The worst by far are the Great Unclean Ones, greater daemons of Nurgle, god of decay. The Great Unclean Ones can open their mouths to unleash a torrent of fecal matter, mucous, garbage and maggots. As bad as that is, the crap they squirt out is magical and full of the essence of decay, so any victim of this attack will either rot away to nothing or mutate into a daemon.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': In addition to the delightful Nurglite spells mentioned above, that Orks have a spell called Psychic Vomit. You can guess which of the caster's orifices it comes from. Tyranids work exclusively on OrganicTechnology, including some of them with have bio-plasma, where they hork up balls of superheated gas from their stomachs that's set on fire by clicking internal armor plates to create sparks.
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
** The iconic spell [[https://scryfall.com/card/m12/132/firebreathing Firebreathing]] grants this power to any one creature. Many creatures have similar abilities, especially draconic creatures of [[KillItWithFire the color Red]]. The ability is so common and iconic, in fact, that when a player says a creature "has firebreathing" it's immediately understood by most experienced players exactly what that means, word-for-word. It's also a fairly powerful ability as well. (Of course, "firebreathing" isn't an official term in the rules, apparently since the designers don't like creating keywords for activated abilities - but it's as close as an unofficial term can get.)
--->''The mage breathed in life-giving air and breathed out death-bringing fire.'' -- FlavorText for Firebreathing.
** In Tarkir, dragons are aligned with all colors of mana, which naturally draws them to other elements. The Green-White dragons, for instance, produce searing beams of [[LightEmUp light]], the Blue-White ones [[AnIcePerson ice]], the Black-Blue ones [[PoisonousPerson black corrosive smoke]] and the Red-Black ones [[ShockAndAwe bolts of lightning]]. The only ones that breath fire are the Red-Green ones, which produce unusual green flames.
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}''
** The game has the dragon template, which of course includes a Breath Weapon. Azhi dahakas from ''GURPS Fantasy Bestiary'' are three-headed dragons with a different breath weapon for each head -- fire, poison gas and hypnotic gas -- and which can use any two on any given round.
** ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Magic'' has various Breathe Ice/Fire/Radiation/Steam spells.
* ''TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles''' RPG has Breath Weapon as one of the available powers. The description broadens it so that the power can cover any self-generated projectile, even if it doesn't come from the mouth. This notably includes the Shen demons' use of flaming poo projectiles.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Talisman}}'': Most dragon enemies have a breath weapon, which they use on attacking characters before they enter combat. There is usually a condition that determines whether the character is affected by the breath attack, be it decided randomly with a die roll, based on a character having certain types of equipment in their possession (like weapons or armor), or based on the character's strength or craft scores. While many of the breath attacks cause characters to lose additional life, others may cause them to miss a turn, lose their spells, discard their fate, or anything in between. Some dragon breath weapons even affect other cards or characters that are unfortunate enough to share the same board space as the dragon.
* The D&D-descended ''TabletopGame/ThirteenthAge'' has these for dragons, as expected, but sorcerers have a variation known as the ''breath weapon'' spells -- Breath of the White, the Green, the Blue, the Black, and the Grave (because the Red ain't much for sharing). The ''breath weapon'' rule means that while the spells can usually only be cast once per day, after you cast them, you get a roll at the beginning of each action you take for the rest of the battle to see if you get another use, although you can only roll for one breath weapon at a time. A couple of their Talents, namely Chromatic Destroyer Heritage and Metallic Protector Heritage, make ''breath weapon'' spells more powerful, encouraging sorcerers who take those talents to grow into endless volleys of dragonbreath.

* ''Varanae'' generic RPG supplement ''Monstrum 1''. Eurytion are a race of giants that can breathe out a flame attack up to 30 yards away once per minute. The flame does an amount of damage equal to the Eurytion's HitPoints.

* ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'': Dragons of C'iel and Gaira. The former has a breath weapon that consists of feathers of light, that may instead cause the targets to stop the fight, and the latter one made of chains of darkness that end on spikes and can inmobilize their enemies. The game features also normal dragons, that have breath weapons ''a la'' TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons above.
* ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'': Head-mounted weapons are sometimes depicted as coming from where the HumongousMecha's 'mouth' would be, though they are functionally no different from depictions of EyeBeams or skull mounts. The 100-ton 'Berserker' mounts a flamethower within its NoseArt mouth for terror factor as it approaches with its {{BFS}}, and the 'Hauptmann' carries a small beam laser in a cigar-like casing in the mouth.

* Dragons of C'iel and Gaira in ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy''. The former has a breath weapon that consists of feathers of light, that may instead cause the targets to stop the fight, and the latter one made of chains of darkness that end on spikes and can inmobilize their enemies. The game features also normal dragons, that have breath weapons ''a la'' TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons above.
* In ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'', head-mounted weapons are sometimes depicted as coming from where the HumongousMecha's 'mouth' would be, though they are functionally no different from depictions of EyeBeams or skull mounts. The 100-ton 'Berserker' mounts a flamethower within its NoseArt mouth for terror factor as it approaches with its {{BFS}}, and the 'Hauptmann' carries a small beam laser in a cigar-like casing in the mouth.