Dragon Shaman Build

[Illyria]

I am in a campaign with a newbie that is hot to play a dragon shaman. He built his character (lvl 9), but it is somewhat weak (as expected for a DS). I have some ideas on a build and am looking for some input. 1st off go Human Fighter 1 / DS 8 for the improved bonus combat feats & weap. prof.

Stats:

Str. 29
Dex. 20
Con. 20
Int. 16
Wis. 13
Cha. 17
(DM is generous with stat rolls & limits so he can use tougher monsters)

Dragon Totem - Copper: grants spider climb & Acid Breath Weapon (4d6 acid Dmg @ 8th lvl)

Weapon/Armor: Dragonfang Greatsword +1 w/ Corrosive + 1d6 acid damage (matches character) and Keen (x2 crit range to 17-20 x2), & Dragoncraft Copper Dragon Scale Mail

Feats:
Quick Draw
Power Attack
Leap Attack
Battle Jump
Skill Focus: Move Silently (MS skill @ 15 after feat)
Quicken Breath (use breath weapon as free action)

So the idea is the character can use spider climb & move silently to climb walls/ceilings/ etc. then suprise attack w/ breath weapon followed by a combination of Leap attack and/or battle jump to attack w/ his greatsword from above. Also Jump skill is @ a 21, ate the cross class penalties & pumped Move silently to the max. I can see this as being cool if he also incorporates some kind of spying skills (climbing the walls of the castle into the audiance hall to listen in on conversations or get the lay of the land Etc.)

Also uses boots of landing to negate some damage from landing.

Any thoughts on ways to improve this or where to take it as he advances?

[Petrocorus]

What does he need the Quick Draw for?

Maybe you could ask the DM to offer the player to play a Gestalt Dragon Shaman - DragonFire Adept.

What are the other party member?

The Copper Dragon totem does not give MS as a class skill.

[nedz]

Copper gives Hide, Gold gives Hide and Move S (As do some of the chromatics)

I'm surprised that there is no Shock Trooper in the build ?

[Dayaz]

You might consider replacing a feat or two with more metabreath. I haven't made on in a while, but here's a guide to the class.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214007

[Phelix-Mu]

I tend to like Clinging Breath over Quicken Breath. A similar dynamic, but might work better with Leap Attacking as it adds a bit of BFC to a build that is going to want to be charging about. I'd probably drop that Quick Draw, unless it's somehow key to the future of the build and pick up another metabreath feat, or one of the feats from Races of the Dragon (Entangling Exhalation is generally considered the best of the bunch by far, but the others bear looking at, since this isn't ultra optimized in the first place).

Consider some Dragon Shaman homebrew. The class is badly underpowered, unfocused, and borderline dysfunctional at some points (main class feature, breath weapon, not available until several levels in...before that it is kind of very sad). I'm sure there are several brands of this on this forum, among others, and you could tweak the class up about 200% and not even get close to Tier 2 territory (so the only worry is if it's gonna be stronger than the other characters by a noticeable margin).

[Illyria]

The quick draw was intended to work as follows:
Move silently along the ceiling, breath attack w/ quicken breath, ( dragon spirit cincture adds +1 die to breath attack for 5d6 Dmg.), draw weapon & leap attack all in the first round. Breath weapon is a free action as is drawing weapon, & spider climb requires that hands are free.

Move silently was taken @ cross class penalty.

[Illyria]

I also looked into shadow silk armor from RoFae ToM & the bonus to move silent are appealing as well as increased dex limits to armor.

It's a messed up party to be sure, everyone just kinda plays what interests them & they make due. Other characters are a ninja & Dread Necro. Dread necro uses undead army to draw fire while ninja & DS use stealth to tactical advantage. DS can heal & Dread necro has tomb tainted so she can heal herself. We will have 2 new players joining soon.

[Phelix-Mu]

Not that a stealth/infiltrator build DS can't work, but, if you are going this route, it might be best to trade out the Draconic Aura feature for something else (like Invocations from the DFA list or something). The auras are best used to support the whole party, and the BFC effect of the breath weapon is also best from a support perspective (locking down or herding the enemies while the rest of the party beats on them).

Also, just to mention it, there are more Draconic Auras in Dragon Magic, a couple of which are pretty decent (though the main list in PHB2 is good enough to soak up all the slots anyway).

[nedz]

You could show him the Dragonfire Adept (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=2) class; it's a little better and can fit the same niche.

[Phelix-Mu]

You could show him the Dragonfire Adept (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=2) class; it's a little better and can fit the same niche.

Though it is maybe a bit less versatile. DS can at least pretend to swing a sword. DFA is pretty much breathe, invocation, breathe, breathe. Also, little PrC support (though DS is probably even more despicable in this respect).

For the OP's sneaky concept, Hand of the Winged Masters is actually not a terrible PrC along those lines (dragon-themed sneakiness). It's in Dragon Magic, too, along with the Dragonfire Adept and a metric ton of other dragonish stuff.

[Petrocorus]

I still think you should talk to the DM. DS and DFA, of even gestalt DS-DFA are clearly not overpowered classes, and the DM should help the PC fit into the party.