Requesting Dragon Shaman Progression Notes Help

[inexorabletruth]

Batman just got his own Robin! :smallbiggrin:

TL;DR in Spoilers:
Please give me build advise and feat progression ideas for my Lvl 1 Female Halfling Bronze Dragon Shaman:

Ability Scores: 15, 14, 14, 14, 13, 12
Allowed Materials: all WoTC, Dragon Mag with DM approval
Setting: Aquatic, Sailing
Starting Gold: 170 GP

She's an NPC that I am turning into a disciple, so the Gender/Race/Class combo is fixed. Any templates that alter her physiology are out because of this.

In a game I'm playing my Dragon Shaman found a little orphan girl that he intends to raise as his ward. Of course, I'm thrilled! It's not every game a level 3 character suddenly gets a cohort. Still, this is only my second Dragon Shaman to build, and I don't want to mess her up, especially since the race class combo isn't exactly ideal. I got to roll the stats, but the race and class are fixed. Here's what I got:

Level 1 Halfling Bronze Dragon Shaman
Ability Scores:
15
14
14
14
13
12

I'm looking for build advice and feat progression notes.

I'm not sure where to go with all of this. A halfling's STR penalty makes me want to build her as a Defender and rely on CON and DEX to keep her out of trouble while she hurls darts or javelins at her enemies, so maybe this?

STR: 14 (-2) INT: 12
DEX: 14 (+2) WIS: 14
CON: 15 CHA: 13

But I worry about having weak STR in an aquatic campaign where climbing and swimming can come in handy a lot.

Any suggestions for build and feat progression?

[gorfnab]

Dragon Shaman Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214007)

[inexorabletruth]

Well, that's a pretty handy tool, but it pretty much tells me what I already know... that I couldn't pick a worse race/class combo.

What I want to know is how to make lemonade out of lemons. Anyone got any ideas?

[Answerer]

Find a DM that knows that your character is your character and doesn't pull BS like dictating who you're allowed to play?

Sorry, that's all I've got.

[inexorabletruth]

Lol. It's not like that. :smallsmile:

The character existed before I made her a disciple. My character is Versvesh... you can see him in my signature.

I've met an orphan girl NPC... formerly a Commoner. I'm going to train her to be a Dragon Disciple as well. The DM isn't pulling any BS. In fact, he's basically giving me a cohort without the Leadership feat.

This forum can take a kobold and make him the most powerful player in D&D.

There's no hope for my halfling Dragon Disciple?

[Igneel]

Sadly both the Dragon Shaman class and Disciple PrC were poorly written classes in regards to dragon goodness. And this is coming from a dragon-lover.

Largely the reason I say this is that the main selling points the Dragon Shaman has (breath weapon, auras) are obtainable from other sources. There is an actual feat that grants an aura, and if your dragonblooded it progresses almost like the Dragon Shaman's. Then there are other classes (Dragonfire Adept most notable), items (Metabolic Fire draconic graft), and even a race/template (Dragonborn of Bahamut) that gives you a better breath weapon.

I would highly recommend a homebrew version/s personally if your set on playing a Dragon Shaman, which there are at least two really good ones in these forums alone. If your interested you can find them in the spoiler.

Wyrmlord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224235) [<-highly suggested/recommended]
Dragon Shaman Fix (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147604)
Heroic Dragon Shaman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160615)

But if that isn't enough for you, I can't really say much else. As much as I love the DS/DD classes in flavor, the writers didn't really do a good job with them. Sorry for a lack of help.

[Answerer]

Why not Dragonfire Adept? It's actually good, unlike Dragon Shaman. And Halfling doesn't hurt much there. Actually, almost no choices whatsoever really hinder a Dragonfire Adept; they're one of the most ability-agnostic classes in the game. Con is the only ability they actually care about, and they only care about it slightly more than everyone else already cares about it.

Sure, Halfling won't help much (though Small size is nice), but it won't hurt either. And it's very dragon-themed. Actually, IMO, it's literally "well, we screwed up on the Dragon Shaman, but we can't officially say that, soo.... here's Dragon Shaman, v. 2. It works this time!"

[Igneel]

Why not Dragonfire Adept? It's actually good, unlike Dragon Shaman. And Halfling doesn't hurt much there. Actually, almost no choices whatsoever really hinder a Dragonfire Adept; they're one of the most ability-agnostic classes in the game. Con is the only ability they actually care about, and they only care about it slightly more than everyone else already cares about it.

Sure, Halfling won't help much (though Small size is nice), but it won't hurt either. And it's very dragon-themed. Actually, IMO, it's literally "well, we screwed up on the Dragon Shaman, but we can't officially say that, soo.... here's Dragon Shaman, v. 2. It works this time!"

And they even made it so that a Dragon Shaman could get a single invocation by giving up one of their auras XD

Personally I think Dex is also quite important, but that's mho, along with Cha pending on your invocations.