Dragon Shaman's feats (3.5)

[Laharal]

Any hints on feats that could be useful to a Dragon Shaman? (like boosting his draconic aura, raising his breath weapon' lethalness, etc)

Many thanks

[jokey665]

Draconomicon, I think, has a bunch of breath weapon altering feats that are pretty interesting.

[Tavar]

Either Dragon Magic or Races of the Dragon has a feat that allows you to have 2 aura's up at once.

[Thurbane]

Dragon Magic: Double Draconic aura (must be 12th level).
Ability Focus (Breath Weapon).
Entangling Exhalation (I think you need to be Dragonblood).

The feats I've gotten good use out of with my current character (Dragon Shaman 12) are Maximize Breath, Clinging Breath, and Armor Proficiency (Heavy).

[Laharal]

Questions: Maximize breath Breath weapons are supernatural abilities and not spells: are these abilities are (rulewise) treated as spells or is an homerule?

Ability focus: Is for monsters. Can you really pick ability focus if you have a supernatural ability but considered a pc? (Btw my Shaman is an orc)

[arguskos]

Ability Focus is a general feat, it doesn't have the [Monstrous] tag, so yeah, you can take it. :smallwink:

[Laharal]

Heigthen breath (p.70, Draconomicon) raises the breath weapon DC +1... ability focus would do a +2 on the breath weapon DC... can I combine the two feats or would it be considered ''broken''

[arguskos]

Eh, I don't see how boosting your save DC by three for 2 feats is an issue. Depends on how your DM feels though.

Were you in my game, I'd probably tell ya to have a good damn time. :smallwink:

[Laharal]

Many thanks.

Another question: is the dragon shaman considered to already be dragontouched (which gives the same benefits as a dragon shaman class features) or to already have draconic heritage (already devoted to a specific dragon) regarding feat selection?

[Thurbane]

Many thanks.

Another question: is the dragon shaman considered to already be dragontouched (which gives the same benefits as a dragon shaman class features) or to already have draconic heritage (already devoted to a specific dragon) regarding feat selection?
No, you'd need to take the Dragontouched feat, or gain dragon blood some other way. Dragon Shaman itself does not give it (Dragonfire Adept, however, gets Dragontouched as a bonus feat at 1st level).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Heighten Breath can be applied multiple times, up to your Con mod. If you have Con 18 (+4), you can use Heighten Breath to add +4 DC, but you add +4 rounds to how long you wait before using it again. The same goes for Clinging Breath, for example a breath weapon that deals 80 damage set to cling for three rounds would deal 40 damage the second round, 20 the next, and then 10, and you'd be waiting an extra three rounds before you breathe again. Metabreath feats aren't really worth it unless you can either do a ton of damage in one shot, or if you have something decent to do in the rounds between breaths.

I would get Entangling Exhalation from Races of the Dragon, and Recover Breath from the Draconomicon, and spam that every round to keep the opponents debuffed. Sadly you can't get any breath weapon feats until you have a breath weapon, so 6th level at the earliest unless you're a Dragonborn (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060105b&page=1), which would give you a second breath attack with a separate wait time and almost guarantee that you could use a breath weapon at least every other round. Heavy armor proficiency is decent, and Shield Specialization and Shield Ward from PH2 are nice if you're going to be using one. If you're going to be spamming Entangling Exhalations you may want to get Combat Reflexes and a reach weapon.

You could max out your Intimidate skill, get the Never Outnumbered skill trick in Complete Scoundrel, and take Imperious Command from Drow of the Underdark, probably also visit the Otyugh Hole to get Skill Focus: Intimidate without spending a feat, or Menacing Demeanor if you're a half-orc. The feat Frightful Presence in the Draconomicon (page 106) is also a decent choice, since Shaken foes take a -2 penalty to almost every one of their d20 rolls including saving throws and checks to resist Intimidate checks. If you Intimidate an already shaken foe, they'll become Frightened for a round, or with Imperious Command they'll cower for one round and then be frightened on the next round. There's also Dreadful Wrath, a regional feat in Player's Guide to Faerun, which is basically a better version of Frightful Presence but you can get both and they'll stack.

[Draz74]

Ability focus: Is for monsters. Can you really pick ability focus if you have a supernatural ability but considered a pc? (Btw my Shaman is an orc)

There was even an FAQ entry that specifically stated Ability Focus should be allowed for PCs, even in a Core-only game. The example they used was a Monk boosting its Stunning Fist DCs. So yeah, totally legal to take this for your breath weapon.