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View Full Version : [3.5/Heroic]Dragon Shaman Revision



Chambers
2010-07-18, 10:24 AM
Disclaimer: I've grown increasingly dissatisfied with all of the Heroic classes. Use them if you wish but I think they all need to be taken back to formula.




Dragon Shaman

http://www.dungeonmastering.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/tiamat2.jpg

Note: This class revision is intended for balance within D&D Heroic Edition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160424) but it is hoped that it will be playable in regular D&D.

The Dragon Shaman seems really neat. You get Draconic Auras and a Breath Weapon. Awesome! Your breath weapon is like a true dragons breath weapon, taking rounds to recharge. That's not as good as the Dragonfire Adepts breath weapon, but because of it you can take Meta-breath feats without having to finangle your DFA.

So the breath weapon is okay. But the auras are not so satisfying. DR Magic? Weak and just about useless past mid-level. Protects from the mob of pitchfork villagers, I suppose. So the auras are what get revised. Here's a brief list of whats changed .

Draconic Auras.
Touch of Vitality (minor change. 3 times class level x charisma instead of 2.)
Dragon Type at 20th level.


That's it. Dragon Shamans keep the same chassis (bab, saves, HD, skills) and progression of other abilities (breath weapon, natural armor, skill focus, etc).

Alignment: as standard totem restrictions
HD: standard
BAB: standard
Skills: all classes receive additional 2 skill points per level
Saves: standard
Weapon & Armor Proficiencies: standard

Dragon Shaman
{table=head]Level|Breath Weapon|Special Ability|Major Auras Known
1|1d6; 15ft cone or 30ft line|Minor Draconic Auras, Least Major Auras, totem dragon|1
2||Skill Focus|1
3|2d6|Draconic Adaptation|2
4||Draconic resolve|2
5|3d6||2
6||Least or Lesser Major Auras, touch of vitality (heal wounds)|3
7|4d6|Aura Range: 60ft, Natural armor +1|3
8||Skill Focus|3
9|5d6|Energy Immunity|4
10||Dual Minor Aura|4
11|6d6; 30ft cone or 60ft line|Least, Lesser or Greater Major Auras, Touch of vitality (remove conditions)|5
12||Natural armor +2|5
13|7d6|Aura Range: 90ft, Draconic adaptation (share with allies)|5
14||commune with dragon spirit|6
15|8d6|Swift Aura Change|6
16||Least, Lesser, Greater or Dark Major Auras, Skill focus|7
17|9d6|Natural armor +3|8
18||Aura Range: 120ft|8
19|10d6; 60ft cone or 120ft line|Draconic wings|9
20||Dragon Apothesis, Dual Major Aura|9
[/table]

Note: Abilities in bold are new or changed abilities and are detailed in full or in part below. Abilities not in bold are unchanged and are not explained here as they are not OGL. They refer to the abilities as presented in the PHB II and are listed here only for ease of reference.


Touch of Vitality (Su). As the PHB II, except that the dragon shaman may heal a number of points of damage equal to three times the dragon shamans level x charisma bonus.

Aura Range (Su). The range of the dragon shamans aura increase to the specified amount.

Dual Minor Aura (Su). The dragon shaman is able to channel and project two minor auras at the same time instead of just one.

Swift Aura Change (Su). The dragon shaman is able to change all projected auras with a single swift action.

Dual Major Aura (Su). The dragon shaman is able to channel and project two major auras at the same time instead of just one.

Dragon Apothesis (Ex). The dragon shaman gains the Dragon type, granting Darkvision out to 60ft and low light vision and immunity to magic sleep effects and paralysis effects. The dragon shaman does not use the dragon aging categories, instead retaining the standard aging category for characters. However the dragon shaman no longer takes ability score penalties for aging, though he still gains the ability score benefits, and his maximum age is removed.

Draconic Auras.

A Dragon Shaman now has two kinds of draconic auras - Minor and Major. A dragon shaman may project 1 Minor and 1 Major draconic aura at a time. There are 6 Minor auras and a 1st level dragon shaman knows all of them. There are 4 grades of Major draconic auras (Least, Lesser, Greater, & Dark). There are many Major draconic auras and a 1st level dragon shaman knows a single Least draconic aura.

At any level when the dragon shaman learns a new major aura, he can also replace a major aura he already knows with another major aura of the same or lower grade.

So it's a mash-up of sub-systems. Different types of auras like the Marshall, different grades of auras like the Warlock. It is important to note that a dragon shaman may only have 1 Minor & 1 Major draconic aura active at a single time.

Minor Draconic Auras.


Anti-Dragon Aura - +2 luck bonus to armor class & saving throws vs Dragons. +1 per four dragon shaman levels (max +5).
Dragon Skin - +1 enhancement bonus to Natural Armor per two dragon shaman levels (max +5) and energy resistance 10 to your totem dragons energy type. Increases to resist 20 at 7th dragon shaman level and resist 30 at 11th dragon shaman level.
Endurance - DR 1/Alignment per half dragon shaman level (min 1, max 10). Chromatic dragon shamans get DR 1/Good, while Metallic dragon shamans get DR 1/Evil.
Energy Shield - As standard, except 1 damage per half dragon shaman level (min 1, max 10).
Insight - +1 insight bonus on class skills granted by Totem Dragon. +1 per half dragon shaman level (max +10).
Vigor - Fast Heal 1, +1 per 4 dragon shaman levels (max +5). Only affects characters at or below one-half their full normal hit points.


Major Draconic Auras

Least

Armor of the Juvenile - No Armor Check Penalty on Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, Tumble & Swim checks.
Draconic Resolve - As Remove Fear.
Dragon Stalker - Allows character to hide from Blindsense & Scent. Creatures with Blindsense & Scent must make appropriate Spot or Listen checks to notice the character. Does not grant character ability to hide without cover or concealment.
Invisible Wings - +10 enhancement bonus to all forms of movement. Increases to +20 at 8th dragon shaman level, +30 at 16th dragon shaman level. May use Balance, Climb & Move Silently at full speed with no penalty.
Wisdom of the Wymling - As Comprehend Languages.


Lesser

Dragons Sight - Gain low light vision, darkvision out to 10ft per dragon shaman level and blindsense out to 5ft per dragon shaman level. Take 1/2 penalties for distance on Spot.
Dragon Strike - As Fell the Greatest Foe.
Mantle of the Ancient - Gain SR 12 + dragon shaman level against spell-like effects of Good or Evil creatures. Chromatic dragons gain SR against Good creatures, Metallic dragons gain SR against Evil creatures.
Spirit of the Ancient - Weapons gain alignment descriptor and overcome damage reduction as that alignment. Chromatic dragons gain Evil weapons, Metallic dragons gain Good weapons.
Voice of the Old - As Tongues.


Greater

Aura of Evasion - Grants Evasion that works in all armors. Characters that already have evasion or improved evasion gain a +4 bonus on Reflex saves.
Draconic Might - +4 enhancement bonus to Strength, Constitution, & Charisma. Immune to fear, magical sleep & paralysis.
Dragons Flight - As Mass Fly, but characters must stay within the range of the draconic aura.
Essence of the Ancient - Weapons do the totem dragons energy type damage.
Energy Immunity - Characters gain immunity to the totem dragons energy type.
Thoughts of the Ancient - As Telepathic Bond.


Dark

Aura of the Great Wyrm - As Holy or Unholy Aura. Enemies only make a single save vs the blindness or strength damage effect. Chromatic totem dragons gain Unholy Aura, Metallic totem dragons gain Holy Aura.
Freedom of the Anicent - As Freedom of Movement.
Mind of the Great Wyrm - As Mindblank.
Vision of the Great Wyrm - As True Seeing.



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Extra Aura [Genera]
Prerequisite: Dragon shaman 6th level.
Benefit: You gain an additional Major draconic aura of a grade up to one lower than your highest grade known. You may take this feat multiple times, each time gaining a new Major draconic aura.

Chambers
2010-07-22, 11:55 PM
Changed the progression of the Breath Weapon to start at 1d6 at first level. Not much fun waiting til 4th level so you can use one of your major class abilities.