If a Dragonfire adept meets the stat requirements for a Metabreath feat from Draconomicon, can he still take them even though his breath weapon technically doesn't use a cooldown? Would he just be unable to use his breath weapon for the specified number of rounds, or would it only apply to the breath effect he used for the metabreath effect?
[RPG] Can a Dragonfire Adept use Metabreath feats
dnd-3.5e
Related Solutions
Yes, you can take higher-level Stances at your first class level
There are several issues here.
First of all, this line is in the form of a descriptive statement, not a prescriptive one: it describes the usual case of things, rather than defining a limitation on your options. I would argue that it is there solely to help players new to the book, who are creating their first martial adept from level 1.
After all, a great many statements are made in Wizards’ products that assume you are single-classed, and starting from ECL 1 is the default assumption for the game. The Wizard’s Specialization feature says you cannot cast spells from your banned schools – but you actually can, you just need to get that ability from another class.
In addition, the line does not say “first-level martial adepts are restricted to 1st-level Stances.” It says that they “begin play” with a single 1st-level maneuver. A multiclass character taking his first level in a martial adept class after ECL 1 is not “begin[ning] play,” so the statement does not apply to him.
For that matter, taken literally, that would imply that any martial adept has only a single 1st-level Stance when the game starts – even if he started at level 20 and took Martial Stance feats repeatedly. Clearly, this is not the case, which is only further evidence that the line is not a rule, but a hint or (supposedly) helpful description.
Finally, if you rule that it does prevent higher-level Stances from being taken for your first class level, it flies in the face of the entire Tome of Battle design pattern. Tome of Battle was intentionally designed to mesh well with previous books and existing characters – that is why the Initiator Level rules were written the way they were in the first place.
Every single other method of learning any maneuvers – Stances included – allows those with higher Initiator Level to “skip” lower-level maneuvers – because Wizards finally understood how important it was to the system that characters be getting level appropriate class features, even if they multiclass. For instance, a 12th-level character, with no martial adept levels, still has an Initiator Level of 6, and can take Martial Study or Martial Stance to get a 3rd-level maneuver or stance, respectively.
This single supposed exception does not make any sense in light of the context that Tome of Battle provides, does not have the form of a prescriptive rule, and does not actually specify your first martial adept level but rather whether or not the character is “beginning play,” which really does not make much sense if taken literally.
Is Flyby Attack basically a midair version of Spring Attack, or does it actually grant a second move action while airborne if I attack in that round? Does it stack with Spring Attack?
Flyby attack lets you make any standard action in the middle of a move, so it's much more versatile than Spring Attack. However, it doesn't defend against AoO! This lends itself to drastically different usage than Spring Attack, despite the superficial similarity; flyby attack works best with ranged/magic attacks, such as a breath weapon.
The text of the feat specifically forbids a second move action.
Would Hover and Wingover be useful, or does Draconic Flight already confer their effects?
Draconic Flight grants good maneuverability, which already gives the ability to hover (the feat hover has an error in the description). Wingover probably wouldn't be that useful by itself. However, if you really want to improve your flight capabilities, you'd be better off taking Improved Flight (Races of the Wild) to improve your maneuverability class. RAW this isn't allowed, since it says it requires "natural flight", but I think anyone who can has an intrinsic ability to fly meets the spirit of the requirement. So you could try convincing your DM of the same if this is important to you!
What are some feats that can help me make the best of my 3 natural weapons (2 claws, tail)
Multiattack, certainly! I imagine there are some dragon specific feats that might help, too. But, I'm not super familiar with Draconic Adept, so you might want to make sure focusing on your natural weapons will be effective. Glancing over the class, it has a poor BAB and no melee abilities, which makes me doubtful that your claws+tail will be very useful if you stick with the adept!
Best Answer
Only with a House Rule That Permits It
Because the dragonfire adept supernatural ability breath weapon says that "you gain a breath weapon that you can use at will as a standard action," and Metabreath Feats in the Draconomicon says, "To take a metabreath feat, a creature must have a breath weapon whose time between breaths is expressed in rounds" (66), the answer is no, a dragonfire adept can't take metabreath feats.
Although there's an argument that the time between a dragonfire adept's breath weapons is 0 rounds--or even 1 round using the breath effect ability--, that duration is never explicitly expressed that way, instead using this language: "Also, you can't apply the same breath effect to your breath weapon in two consecutive rounds (though you still can use your normal fire breath weapon every round)."
Seriously, only the DM knows how an effect functions in a game wherein the DM permits abilities to be employed by creatures that specifically can't employ them.
A Somewhat Murky Workaround
This might not be the real question, though. If the real question is, "Is there a way for a dragonfire adept take metabreath feats despite his breath weapon's lack of a recharge rate measured in rounds?" then I point you to general feat Power Surge (Dragon #313 57) and janusjones's Dragonfire Adept Handbook, which discusses how to do exactly that and many more dragonfire adept features in much greater detail.