D&D 5E Dragonborn breath prof per day; does it work?

[Remathilis]

Running this past all the math folks and char ops people.

Would changing Dragonborn breath weapons to proficiency bonus per long rest instead of 1 per long/short rest have any unforeseen consequences? I realize at high level that is 6 uses of 5d6 damage, but that still seems unimpressive to 20th level PC standards. I'm not saying this would fix Dragonborn, but would it break anything?

 

[commandercrud]

If you think it would improve your game, go for it. 5e isn't the perfectly tuned well oiled machine people make it out to be.

 

[J-H]

My houserule is:
Dragonborn breath weapons do (Proficiency Bonus) x d8 damage and can be used once per Constitution Modifier per long rest.

This helps it not be overshadowed by cantrips, and gives the Dragonborn the ability to use it slightly more often.

 

[cbwjm]

I think it would be fine, I was considering doing something similar as well as upping the damage a bit and making it something that a dragonborn player might actually consider using at higher levels.

 

[Remathilis]

If you think it would improve your game, go for it. 5e isn't the perfectly tuned well oiled machine people make it out to be.

I was mostly concerned if there was some unforeseen consequences I hadn't considered.

 

[Inchoroi]

Running this past all the math folks and char ops people.

Would changing Dragonborn breath weapons to proficiency bonus per long rest instead of 1 per long/short rest have any unforeseen consequences? I realize at high level that is 6 uses of 5d6 damage, but that still seems unimpressive to 20th level PC standards. I'm not saying this would fix Dragonborn, but would it break anything?

I think it'd be fine, personally. I have a dragonborn in my game that never uses their breath weapon, simply because he's playing a sorcerer and gets more mileage out of things like lightning bolt (iirc, he's used it once, back at level 3 during the second session, and not once since then). In reality, 5d6 damage as an AOE at level 20 isn't that much better than a cantrip.

 

[Unwise]

We just misread the rules and thought it used a bonus action to activate. It is definitely used every time it is available, but nobody has complained about it being OP.

 

[Quartz]

Would changing Dragonborn breath weapons to proficiency bonus per long rest instead of 1 per long/short rest have any unforeseen consequences? I

By not splitting usage across Short Rests you're encouraging the 5-minute workday.

 

[DEFCON 1]

By not splitting usage across Short Rests you're encouraging the 5-minute workday.

Barely. The dragonborn's breath weapon is so much less powerful than probably any other attack the dragonborn will get from their class, the only time they'd spam it (and possibly run out) would be the select times when it was their only attack available. But those times will be so few and far between I don't think it'll ever actually come up.

Truth be told... even with more uses of the breath weapon per rest, I seriously doubt any dragonborn PC will ever actually use them all before they rest again anyway.

If it was a Bonus action to use, then sure the PC might blow through all of them in a single combat. But even then I doubt its loss would make that player tell the rest of the group "Okay everyone, we have to take a long rest now because I don't have any more uses of my breath weapon left."

 

[Charlaquin]

Seems like a downgrade to me, but I don't see any problem with it.