Breathes Sound

[CivBesch]

How do I know, please in simple terms, how much damage a monster can do in a single turn?

I am for instance facing a giant gold dragon, which should probably not be a major problem for a 16 level character. The new part of this monster is that it breathes 'sound'. I don't like the 'sound' of this sound-breathing. What does the (2) behind 'breathe sound' actually mean?

Is it correct to state the following:
1d3 for a monster that moves quickly, means that you can be hit twice in one turn with either 1, 2 or 3 damage?

[Pete Mack]

I don't know what a 'giant' gold dragon is. But sound breath damage (like all the higher elements) is 1/6 of monster HP; sound is capped at 500 damage. If it's a mature gold dragon, the damage is 73. If it's a young gold dragon, it's 44; if it's an ancient gold dragon, it's 146.

[luneya]

Checking the monster list, this is almost certainly a giant gold dragon FLY. The (2) means that its sound breath does a max of 2 damage (which is indeed 1/6 of its 14 hp). Go ahead and swat it.

Moves quickly means that if you're at base speed, the monster can potentially get two full turns before you get your next turn. If the monster can launch multiple attacks per turn, then you need to be prepared to face the whole lot twice over. But that dragonfly can only launch one attack per turn--either a 1d3 bite or an equally pathetic sound breath--so it's not a threat.

[Derakon]

Sound damage will however stun you, which substantially increases your failure rates of all kinds, and makes you worse at melee/archery. The stunning from a 2-damage breath will wear off quickly, but against bigger foes it's worth drinking a potion (e.g. Cure Critical Wounds), in part because if enough stunning attacks get layered on you, then your stun progresses to Heavy Stun (even worse failure rates / combat), and from there to Knocked Out, which is effectively paralysis and usually a death sentence.

[Sky]

Afaik only monks and plasma hounds can knock you out, from experience. You can take plasma vortex and impact hounds breaths for days and never go over Heavy Stun.

[Derakon]

I wouldn't count on that. In any event, in my experience being stunned is debilitating enough that it's always worth curing ASAP.

[Pete Mack]

Once you hit heavy stun, it's time to quaff CCW. Your accuracy goes way down, as does your damage, and all your fail rates go up. It's really not optional. And yeah, impact hounds would do for you just fine, if a big group got you at once. Gravity hounds are worse, f course, since they slow you as well. And it's not just breaths. Once you're deep enough, beware of the Grand Master Mystic. He can take a normal speed character to knocked out in a single turn (albeit with low probability.) Certainly he'll put you in heavy stun in a single turn.