Help me make this Shugenja work

[Wonton]

So, I came up with the idea of a Dwarf Shugenja who is really all about being spiritually connected to the Earth. I even found the Dream Dwarf subrace from Races of Stone that loses the Cha penalty (so I can cast better) and gets some fluff about how they're in tune with the Earth and meditate in the "earth dream", which fits too damn well.

Thing is, normally I wouldn't be opposed to playing something weak if it has cool fluff, but this feels just a little too weak to me early on. The 3 spells I get at 1st level would look something like Magic Stone, Magic Weapon, Obscuring Mist. Compared to a Wizard, who at least has Color Spray/Sleep/Grease/Wall of Smoke to be useful even from level 1, those just look useless. And the Shugenja doesn't even have the Cleric's combat capability so fighting with a melee weapon's not an option.

Any advice on how I can make this decent? I really like the fluff, but I'm not going to play something that isn't fun just because of fluff.

[eggs]

What level range are you looking at? At very low levels, you can usually do something like throw Wild Cohort onto a build and kick ass just by sicking a riding dog at things, and at higher levels, "being a caster" is usually enough for the Shugenja to keep up with most classes beside Sorcerers, Clerics or their ilk.

[Wonton]

What level range are you looking at? At very low levels, you can usually do something like throw Wild Cohort onto a build and kick ass just by sicking a riding dog at things, and at higher levels, "being a caster" is usually enough for the Shugenja to keep up with most classes beside Sorcerers, Clerics or their ilk.

That's the thing, this game is starting at level 1. And from my experience, games never make it past level 7, and rarely even level 3 (that's just the kind of groups I play with, everything falls apart about 4 months in). So any kind of "but this character will be awesome later!" justification doesn't apply.

Wild cohort seems a bit out of left field. Where is it from?

[Togath]

acid(often gets paired with earth themed casters) or lightning(for magnetism and minerals that can generate electrical charges) abilities could fit well with an earth shugenja, and could help you out a little bit, and wild cohort is from a wotc article.
Poison themed spells could also fit the fluff well(as a lot of minerals are toxic)

[Kuulvheysoon]

Well, you could play a Wu Jen (CAr) focused on using [Earth] and/or [Metal] spells. Unfortunately, since your game is ending so early, you may not be able to grab the Elemental Mastery class feature.

[Togath]

which shugenja are you using?, the 3.0 has some support in various Rokugan books.
if the Rokugan books aren't available, then a earth/metal wu-jen would probably have an easier time, as Kuulv mentioned

[eggs]

At low levels, Cause Fear is still a Save-or-lose, Magic Weapon's still a useful buff (both for giving +numbers for punching through DR/incorporeal) and Sanctuary will still matter. At higher levels, you'll probably want to swap Cause Fear out for Obscuring Mist (at absolute worst, it blocks line of sight) and Sanctuary out for Shield of Faith (whose numbers at least scale appropriately).

Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a)'s from the WotC site. The riding dog might be conceptually out of nowhere, but something like a Badger could still fit and help to patch over melee/utility deficiencies at very low levels with its 3 attacks and burrow speed. And the draw of being a companion via character ability, rather than complete GM-fiat.

And once the Shugenja hits level 4+, Spell Focused Glitterdusts and Hold Persons are strong, and buffs like Bull's Strength and Resist Energy are legitimately useful.

But yeah, compared to a Wizard or Cleric's powers, its options do kind of suck. Welcome to D&D.

[Psyren]

1) What's your Order? Remember that you aren't restricted to an Order that matches your element - you're merely restricted from spells of your opposing element. So you can pick an offensive Order like Consuming Flame (which, happily, has no Air spells) to blast with when your buffs aren't needed. You can even fluff it as channeling the heat beneath the earth or something.

2) Spell Compendium suggests adding any element-themed spell in that book to the Shugenja's list. At a minimum, this would grant you cool [Earth] spells like Earthen Grasp and Hail of Stone, but could extend to earthy spells without the subtype as well.

[Giegue]

If your DM will allow it, look into all the D20 Rokugan supplements. They expand the shugenja's spell list quite a bit and give lots of other nice options for shugenjas that they would not have normally.

[Garwain]

2) Spell Compendium suggests adding any element-themed spell in that book to the Shugenja's list. At a minimum, this would grant you cool [Earth] spells like Earthen Grasp and Hail of Stone, but could extend to earthy spells without the subtype as well.
This, you're Earth themed, try to get more eath spell that actually do something.

Personnaly I dislike magic weapon at low levels. It doesn't do anything for you besides a +1 that is neglectable. Unless ofcourse you can persist it....

[Psyren]

Personnaly I dislike magic weapon at low levels. It doesn't do anything for you besides a +1 that is neglectable.

Actually, it's handy for bypassing DR/magic, which can be a problem at low levels. For instance, you can cast it on your ranger friend's bow (or on his quiver of ammunition), enabling him to penetrate an enemy wizard's Protection from Arrows.

[eggs]

One cool thing about magic weapon is that it's a buff whose charge can be held until a weapon needs to be drawn. If a caster is playing squire, that at worst means move action buffing.

[Wonton]

1) What's your Order? Remember that you aren't restricted to an Order that matches your element - you're merely restricted from spells of your opposing element. So you can pick an offensive Order like Consuming Flame (which, happily, has no Air spells) to blast with when your buffs aren't needed. You can even fluff it as channeling the heat beneath the earth or something.

2) Spell Compendium suggests adding any element-themed spell in that book to the Shugenja's list. At a minimum, this would grant you cool [Earth] spells like Earthen Grasp and Hail of Stone, but could extend to earthy spells without the subtype as well.

Both very useful tips. Opening up the spell list like that should definitely make it more interesting.