Why does Falazure have a flaming breath weapon, since he's obviously a black dragon (albiet an undead and divine one)?
That's a bit of a goof, especially since they got the white's breath right.
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"Molly ... there's a dog. So pretty ... how he shines."
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Shut the *beep* up.
shareProbably to fulfill the stereotype of a dragon, I would imagine.. The only reason he would've been a black dragon (and even *maybe* udnead) is because this dark aspect, in the human mind, is generally accepted to be a mark of evil..
I mean, c'mon.. WE all know that if they wanted a symbol of power, to D&D players, they would've done a big@$$ red dragon.. Not a black, especially as they're one of the runtier breeds... :P
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wth i thought black dragons used a acid breath weapon! x.x
share Black dragons do indeed use acid breath weapons, Green dragons use poison gas (chlorine gas I think) Blue dragons use lightning bolts, White's (as already mentioned use ice/cold and Reds of course, who usually grow the biggest, use fire.
An undead dragon is usually referred to as a Dracolich.
Falazure, in the D&D world, is a god. In fact, he's the big, bad god of undead dragons. Yes, he's a black dragon in form, but somehow I get he feeling that a god could breathe whatever the heck they wanted to.
Besides, think of it cinematically. Would you rather see flames burning as a town catches on fire? Or would you rather see boring acid dissolving half the set?
Okay, I've geeked enough for the day. :)
Well, it's the same thing I thought about Falazure using a fire breath weapon, acid is less scenic than fire (please do not tell this to Alien... ;D) and everyone who doesn't know DnD has the stereotype of fire breathing dragons, just as someone already said.
shareI'd rather see acid plaguing the town. If it were to be done really well and accurately, at least.
I agree with you on the part of a god being able to breathe whatever the heck they wanted to. If I were god, I wouldn't just have air come out of my face, but fire and lightning and acid, etc.
It's not a goof. He never used his breath weapon at all.
He was casting "Fireball" repeatedly.
Think about it; if he'd been using his breath weapon (whether it was fire or acid) it would do so much damage (how many dice is a GOD's breath weapon?) that the entire city would've been destroyed in one or two puffs.
Falazure is a god, and an evil one at that. He likes him the killing, he does. So rather than waste the city in a single attack, he wants to enjoy himself and drag out the suffering and misery and terror of his victims by casting much less powerful Fireball spells. This kills fewer people in each attack than his breath weapon, so that he can get full satisfaction out of a hard afternoon's slaughter. Plus, he's doing it as a favor to Damodar, and he knows that Damodar wants to watch and enjoy it, too.
And he's not risking much, because it's only a 3rd level spell, and how many of those does a GOD have available in a day? And he certainly had higher-level ones, too. So if he felt threatened at any point, he would still have lots of Disentegrates and Harms he could throw at whoever was getting upitty.
Which was his downfall, because if he'd have known about the second orb in the city, he would probably have breath weaponed the place to be safe, and finished the job in one go. But he didn't know, so the heroes were able to imprison him again...
~Squid
My educated guess would be that Falazure is actually a Dracolich of a once Red Dragon, hence being all evil and undead and yet retaining a flaming breath weapon. Also, Falazure wouldn't be the first undead being to ascend to godhood. Vecna, for example was once just an all-powerful lich before becoming one of the gods of magic.
shareI might have the conclusion for this discussion.
Falazure - The Night Dragon is a Neutral Evil Lesser Deity who resides in Hades. His portfolio is Decay, Undeath and exhaustion, and his domains are Death, Dragon, Evil (Darkness, Undeath).
So he is not an undead, but a God. However, he is worshipped by undeads, necromancers and evil dragons.
From Draconomicon:
"The terrifying Night Dragon Falazure, is neutral evil. He is the lord of energy draining, undeath, decay and exhaustion. Some claim he has a decaying skeletal form, but others believe that he looks like a decripit black dragon whose flesh is pulled tight over his bones.
Dogma
Falazure teaches that even a dragon's long life span need not be the limit to a dragons existence. Beyond the world of the living is another realm, one of undeath eternal. It is generally accepted that Falazure created (or had a hand in the creation of) the first undead dragons, such as dracoliches, vampiric dragons, and ghostly dragons.
I have been unable to find any confirmation on whether Falazure can breathe fire or not, but all dragon gods have several types of breath weapons, so it is certainly possible. However as was already pointed out, a breath weapon from a dragon god would destroy everything (Bahamut (other dragon god) 36d10 damage). So It is most likely a fireball he casts over and over.
Or it might just be a simple irrelevant and insignificant error on behalf of the filmmakers...big deal. :)
An age 12 Black Dragon in 3.5e D&D is a 37HD creature, deals 24d4 damage with it's breath weapon, has charisma of 20 and can cast spells as if it were a 15th level sorcerer. A 15th level sorcerer with charisma 20 can cast 7 3rd level spells per day. Not a bad attempt.
Now, looking up Faiths & Parthenons from looking at Bane and Cyric, the first two evil gods I ran into (Bane being the equivalent of 65th level and Cyric being 53rd) they both have spell-like abilities that can be used at will as if they were a caster in the mid twentieth levels. Neither of these guys has Fireball on their list, but Cyric does have disintergrate which is about a 6th level spell if I remember it right. And this is AT WILL. I would imagine even this mere dracolich god who would probably be only 50HD at most would easily be able to have a 3rd level spell at will.
The only problem THIS leaves us with is the fact those were some bloody pathetic fireballs... but then, what'd we expect when the lightning bolts were causing explosions and knocking people down 5 feet away, and the barbarian's sword seemed to be able to mysteriously knock down opponents it had missed by a clear 6 inches.
Manual of the Planes has both Bahamut and Tiamat, although both seem to be nerfed versions, being only around the 50HD mark, CR 25 and being rather weak compared to the gods I was looking at in Faiths & Panthenons.
The devine versions of these guys however... Bahamut is divine rank 10, and has a few 9th level spells in his list of things he can cast at will, so it's pretty much guaranteed that if he wanted it, this guy would have it :P
And to think, I haven't even PLAYED the game in about 3 years
I believe that this deviation from the D&D Draconomicon results from a marketability perspective. It would be more acceptable to the majority of the viewing audience that a traditional dragon would breathe fire. It is only in the books of D&D we see other forms of dragons having different breath weapons, but there are only a RPG people out there in the viewing public. To a non-D&D guy, a dragon is already a mythical creature; to have ACID as it breath weapon makes it an "impossible" fiction.
I don't remember Bahamut breathing all the elements, but I could be wrong. Tiamat who has 5 BW's is an exception as she embodies all 5 evil dragons, and is physically able to breathe so (having 5 heads).
Going back to Falazure, he obviously looks like a Black dragon (from the horns) and fits the portfolio he represents: decay, undead. Comparing the physiology of the five chromatic dragons, the black stands out as the more evil-looking (the horns, like that of a Balor's).
As for the fireball thing, there is a scene where Falazure bursts out not balls of fire but cones of it (just after Melora is stripped of the curse), i.e. he uses it as a Breath Weapon. There is a number limit for Falazure to be casting fireballs, as he does have a 1d4/round limit to use his BW; seems he used both.
In the draconomicion there's a feat, or maybe a spell, or maybe both, I can't remember right now, that lets the dragon change the element of it's breath weapon. So you can have blacks using fire or reds using ice or whatever takes your fancy.
Or maybe Falazure just chuged a few potions of fire breath befoe attacking the city :)
This Dragon was not a pure bread Black Dragon. Plus a dragon god should be able to decide what kind of breath he wants. I'm not going to judge him.
shareWhy attempt to explain movie plot effects using game mechanics when there are much better things to discuss, like barbarian females with plucked eyebrows, make-up and shaved armpits?
There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. -George Carlin