Air (Chris Murray)

Attributes

 * Moderate Potency
 * Minor Range
 * Major Utility

Description
Technically not a breath 'weapon' as its combat utility is situational at best, instead granting the form additional mobility options. This option produces an unending supply of magically-charged air for Chris to use. The air is generated at a set rate, which Chris cannot modify. (The only way to stop it is to return to human form.) However, it does not seem to affect his speaking ability as it flows out of him.

There are two main uses for this air supply: The first is that Chris (and with the proper setup, another person) can remain underwater for extended periods of time (as long as Chris remains transformed and has this breath) without needing to surface for air. It isn't even necessary for Chris to hold his breath while doing so. He and anyone using him as an air supply can breathe without complications at a depth of up to 50 feet, or their normal depth at which they can do so, whichever is greater.

The other is that while he has this breath equipped, he is capable of inflating like a balloon, and can self-inflate by holding his breath, which he can do for extended periods of time. The magical charge within the air that he generates gives it a fairly significant lifting force, allowing him to float into the air if he holds it in for long enough. Where the stored air builds, how much it takes to lift Chris off of the ground, and how long it can be held, depends on his form. However, he can only inflate if his body (his scales and skin, specifically) is 'airtight', without any open cuts or wounds for the air to escape out of.

His hybrid form's torso expands into a cylinder shape (indented around the shoulders to give his wings some range of motion) until it nearly completely overtakes his body, leaving only his head, hands, feet, and wings sticking out, much akin to the Elemental Cloth's Enhanced Buoyancy function. The capacity varies by size, starting with his smallest size setting expanding into a 5-foot high, 3.5 foot radius cylinder, with larger sizes increasing his capacity proportionately. As his capacity increases at the same rate as his weight, it is possible to float regardless of his size. However, as he generates and stores 'lifting air' at the same rate regardless of size, it will take longer to get a larger form off of the ground. As a general rule, he generates 100 lbs of lifting force per minute of storage. This lifting force effectively makes him lighter in regards to how much weight his wings have to carry. So if he is standing at 7 feet tall (where he weighs 300 lbs) and has been storing air for a minute, his wings only need to carry 200 lbs, and thus he is capable of flight.

Also as a general rule, various effects begin at particular thresholds, based on how much towards his maximum size he is. Chris's range of motion is not significantly hindered until reaching 25% of capacity, after which his thighs and upper arms start getting swallowed up and his shoulders get 'locked' into holding his arms out, making it difficult to fight and to go beyond half top land speed. At 50%, the expanding torso reaches his elbows and knees, making it nearly impossible to fight, and reducing mobility to a waddle of sorts on land, though at this point he is effectively at 1/3 of his normal weight, making flight an option for mid-sized (9' or below) settings. 75% is the point where he begins to float off of the ground by buoyancy alone, if unladen. At 100% is where he hits his maximum size and buoyancy, having an extra 1/3 of his weight in lifting force for cargo. He can hold his breath until he reaches 200%, at which point the air pressure forces his mouth open and forces him to release.

At his smallest size, it takes him 1 and a half minutes to lift off of the ground, 2 minutes to reach maximum size, and can hold his breath for up to four minutes in total. These numbers increase with his size, up to taking 12 minutes to become buoyant, 16 minutes to his limit, and can hold his breath for up to 32 minutes. However, he cannot store air and change size at the same time, so no starting at minimum size for the relatively quick liftoff and slowly increasing his size and capacity as the extra pressure would support the extra weight, or shrinking down as he deflates for a few extra moments of airtime or for his wings to support him in the air. Larger forms (those too heavy to glide normally) also carry the risk of falling damage as he won't be able to slow his fall to a safe speed unless he is at a high enough altitude that he can release all of his stored air and then shrink down to a size light enough to glide, before hitting the ground. He may use his wings to keep himself airborne and slow his fall while deflating, if they aren't exhausted, but not while changing size.

Regardless of size, however, it takes at most one minute to release the stored air, depending on how long he held it in. If he held it to his limit, it will take the full minute for him to fully deflate, he won't visibly deflate until thirty seconds, and can stay buoyant for a total of 37 seconds after release. These durations are reduced if he releases before being forced to, 30 seconds per 100% of capacity to release. Chris has to release all of his stored air before he can begin storing again. However, he may re-inflate himself as soon as he empties out, if capable.

In his full-dragon form, the air goes to his underbelly, creating an oval-shaped 'bubble' inside of him, upon which the rest of his body rests on top of. At it's largest, this bubble can expand to a size of a 37 feet long and 9 and a half feet wide at its widest point. He also generates air and lifting force more quickly than in his Hybrid form, allowing him to become buoyant in three minutes, where an equivalent-weight Hybrid form would take a bit over six-and-a-half minutes. It takes 4 and a half minutes for the bubble to reach full size and he can hold his breath for a total of 13 and a half minutes, releasing at 300% capacity pressure. One minute's worth of inflation expands him to the point where his legs cannot reach the ground, preventing land-based movement, but mid-flight inflation is a viable option.

Chris may use this buoyancy to 'rest' his wings in midair while carrying his normal flight load, or in conjunction with his wings to carry much greater loads, up to 1330 lbs. Deflating takes longer, up to three minutes upon reaching his limit, one minute per 100% of capacity allowing him up to two minutes additional time of full buoyancy, 140 seconds total before he'll need to use his wings to stay aloft, unladen.

In both forms, buoyancy-aided flight (where he has stored enough air to float into the sky with it alone) is laterally slower than wing-based flight, to offset the fact that it can be sustained much longer. Hybrid forms are limited to a top speed of 5 MPH, and take twice as long to make a turn, which can be maintained for as long as he can stay buoyant, while his full-dragon form can reach up to 30 MPH while expending his wings' endurance, or 15 MPH without exhausting them. Chris will by default float upwards, up to (given maximum buoyancy and no load) 1 foot per second for Hybrid form, 2 feet per second in full-dragon form. Chris may influence his vertical rate (upwards or downwards) by three feet per second in Hybrid form, and 3 feet per second without exhaustion or 10 feet with exhaustion in full-dragon form. It is possible for Chris to remain airborne indefinitely in his full-dragon form, as long has he can use both his wings to a gliding capacity and his inflation ability.

Releasing stored air pushes him in the opposite direction of where he's aiming at up to 10 MPH while he is fully in the air or in water, regardless of size or form. Load decreases the speed at which he can launch himself by such deflation, with carrying a load equal to his weight halving this speed, loading up twice his weight reducing it to 1/3, and so forth.

Inflating while under water causes him to float to the surface quickly, as expected for something being filled with large quantities of air. However, he is immune to the complications related to the rapid decompression caused by surfacing quickly with this breath equipped. Also as befitting something containing several cubic meters of air, he can support a great amount of weight with his buoyancy, 80% of his weight per 1% of his air storage capacity, up to 80 times his weight in Hybrid form (6-48 tons, depending on size setting). In this case, there is no 'tradeoff' in terms of which size to use for his Hybrid form: Larger sizes are always preferable, as he can support more weight for longer. His full-dragon form's only setting can support up to 59,400 lbs (just under 30 tons), at 90% of his weight per 1% of capacity. Like with aerial buoyancy, his aquatic buoyancy is at its maximum at 100% capacity. This, however, does not increase his carrying capabilities on land. Exceeding his land carrying capacity causes the weight to squeeze the stored air out of him, regardless of the degree of inflation. Shallow water also limits his capacity, depending on the depth of the water. For example, if he is at nine feet of height, and in 3 feet deep water, he can only carry 1/3 of his normal load before being pushed to the bottom, and exceeding that has the same effect as overloading on land.

Chris may be subject to techniques and devices related to inflation while equipped with this breath. Chris may be filled with any gaseous substance that doesn't carry health risks upon intake, aside from oxygen displacement (as it won't stay in his lungs for any significant amount of time) and barotrauma (meaning he can withstand the gas coming in at high pressure), and doesn't react in air. However, outside inflation sources will not receive any buoyant force aside from what it normally gives, and will 'dilute' the buoyant air that Chris produces, or vice versa, with his buoyancy being determined by a weighted average based on how much of which substances he's storing. This means that he can experience fluctuations in buoyancy even when at full size as the ratio of his produced buoyant air increases over time.

Number based stuff to determine ratios

(All numbers approximate) Air Breath's lifting force: ~12.5 Kg/m³ Production/Expansion rate: ~2.72 m³/minute (45.33 l/sec) in Hybrid form, ~6 m³/minute (100 l/sec) in full-dragon form.

Furthermore, if the outside substances is required to enter through his mouth, then he can only take it in when he starts storing, as opening his mouth to input the source will cause him to release what he has stored, and the released air and other stored gasses will prevent any intake until he is emptied out. If at any time an outside source is removed, it cannot be reinserted for the current inflation cycle. Unless the outside inflation source does not require him to hold his breath to remain inside of him, he cannot be filled with only the outside substance, as anything that requires to hold his breath will also initiate production of his own lifting air.

Devices to slow or prevent the release of stored air may be used to increase the amount of time he can stay aloft, but care must be taken, particularly if he is completely prevented from releasing his stored air from his mouth, as if he exceeds double the amount of pressure needed to force such a release, then his body will 'break' under the pressure. This is not fatal in and of itself, only causing, in Hybrid form, a number of medium-level cuts (one per two minutes he had held his breath or equivalent in terms of amount of stored gas quantity, so a range of 4 to 32) in random places on his body, or in full-dragon form, a single long cut (which is treated as 9 medium cuts by his regeneration) widthwise across the center of his underbelly, where the stored air will leak out over one minute. Similar, though fewer (same rate, minimum one), cuts will form if he is forced to return to human form while inflated to at least 50% of capacity. Below that amount, and all of the stored air can be released 'safely' as he returns to human form.

The stored air may be used as somewhat of a buffer against attacks reaching vital points, but it is difficult for him to use it in this capacity due to the amount of time required to form such a buffer, the fact that he can only do so if he hasn't recently sustained any wounds, and the aforementioned mobility restrictions. Piercing and slashing attacks sustained while inflated will not cause him to burst, only to leak. However, while it is possible for a strong blow to force him to release, particularly if he is only slightly inflated (though unlike against piercing or slashing attacks, he may immediately re-inflate after emptying), striking him when he is inflated enough to float, or near that point, will more likely only knock him away, without causing him to release, if such a trajectory is unobstructed. Blunt force has the highest chance of this knockback, while piercing attacks still stand a decent chance of a successful puncture. Projectiles that would bruise him will force him to release, while those that would partially pierce would go deep enough to puncture him and cause him to leak out, with the released air pressure quickly dislodging the projectile.

The air only provides lift while Chris is storing it. Once released, it will act like normal atmospheric air, so his breath cannot cause a balloon or other inflatable object to float upwards. He may, however, inflate it to the desired size in one go, without having to stop and refill his lungs.