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marjan
2007-03-06, 12:42 AM
Any thoughts of feats or such that would work good with this class? Only thing that I came up with is Entangling Exhaustion.
I am realy interested in the class but I don't see much of use of it.

JimmyDPawn
2007-03-06, 01:23 AM
There's an alternate class feature in Dragon Magic that let's them grab an Dragonfire Adept Invocation (spell like ability) in exchange for slightly less potent auras. Or one less, I can't recall.

You also might want to consider Dragontouched; it gives them the dragon blood subtype, a few other little bonuses, and lets them take feats as though they were a sorcerer with Draconic Heritage.

PnP Fan
2007-03-06, 03:03 PM
Also in Races of the Dragon, and the Draconomicon there are feats that allow you to do interesting things with breath weapons, once you get to 2nd or 3rd level and have a breath weapon.

Person_Man
2007-03-06, 03:45 PM
Multi-class with Marshal (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b) and that PrC in Dragon Magic that also grants an aura. Then a few levels of Bard followed by the Sublime Chord PrC works well.

The Frightful Presence feat from the Draconomicon grants a dragon's Frightful Presence.

Dragon Shaman is an odd class - the BAB/hit points/AC are too low to be a Tank. The breath weapon isn't powerful enough to be a strong blaster. They can't get enough special breath effects to pull off effective battlefield control. They don't have enough Skills to be a Skill Monkey. Their aura's aren't powerful enough to be a useful buff at mid-high levels. So playing one sorta just leaves you in the middle, without a clear role to play or niche to optimize.

If you want a dragon themed high Cha character, consider the Dragonfire Adept (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=2).

marjan
2007-03-06, 04:33 PM
that PrC in Dragon Magic that also grants an aura

That would be Dragon Lord I believe. One question about it: Would bonus from his aura and Dragon Shaman's aura stack or not.

Person_Man
2007-03-06, 04:59 PM
That would be Dragon Lord I believe. One question about it: Would bonus from his aura and Dragon Shaman's aura stack or not.

I'm not sure. I don't own the book, I've just read a friend's copy. Just check the wording of how Dragon Lord is written.

But I see no reason why you couldn't have multiple different auras up and running, as long as they don't apply to the same thing. Isn't there a feat in Dragon Magic that specifically lets you have 2 Draconic Auras up and running at the same time anyway? You could conceivably get 6 at once at pretty low levels - 2 from Marshal (major and minor), 2 from Dragon Shaman, and 2 from Dragon Lord.

Still not as useful as a regular Cleric casting buff spells, but still useful, and probably more helpful if your DM runs multiple marathon combats in a single game day.

I_Got_This_Name
2007-03-07, 05:14 PM
Dragon Shaman is a secondary healer. They really come into their own when you have a party full of characters with theoretically infinite endurance (i.e. limited by HP), since, with a Dragon Shaman, you never enter a battle at less than half health (Vigor Aura). They also save the Cleric (or, more likely, the wand) resources for brining the 80-HP tank from 12 to 40 HP, letting him heal the last 40 and ignore the first 28. Of course, if you're using your shaman that way, dip one level then take something else.

They can also stand near the front lines and use their active healing as needed.

its_all_ogre
2007-03-07, 05:17 PM
the dragon shaman fluff seems like such a cool class.
unfortunately when it comes to the crunch they just don't work out that great.

as npc dragon worshippers who guard the dragons lair however, they rock!

reorith
2007-03-07, 10:16 PM
a dip in barbarian will give you martial weapons prefiecency, fast movement and rage.

for feats, alertness is fun and the so are metabreath feats.

Dhavaer
2007-03-07, 10:23 PM
Dragon Shaman is a secondary healer. They really come into their own when you have a party full of characters with theoretically infinite endurance (i.e. limited by HP), since, with a Dragon Shaman, you never enter a battle at less than half health (Vigor Aura). They also save the Cleric (or, more likely, the wand) resources for brining the 80-HP tank from 12 to 40 HP, letting him heal the last 40 and ignore the first 28. Of course, if you're using your shaman that way, dip one level then take something else.

They can also stand near the front lines and use their active healing as needed.

What would the ultimate 'we never stop' party be? Dragon Shaman and Warlock, definitely. Maybe Rogue and Berserker Strength Barbarian?

marjan
2007-03-07, 11:08 PM
The problem is mostly that the wizard is primary healer (through arcane disciple) and the other two party members are TWF Ranger and TWF Fighter/Scout going for dervish so the main problem is what feats would make him useful. There is no Cleric to buff him and since wizard is the only caster in the group (that would be me, Dragon Shaman is my friend) I believe that I won't be able to do much buffing. The healing is going to come pretty handy esspecialy his remove conditions but that's the only use I see of him.


But I see no reason why you couldn't have multiple different auras up and running, as long as they don't apply to the same thing.

I think I was unclear with my question about this. What I wanted to know is if you are Dragon Shaman 10 (Aura Bonus +3)/Dragon Lord 1(Aura Bonus +1), would you get one aura with bonus of +4 or two auras (one with bonus +1 and the other with bonus +3) or maybe the levels would simply stack for determining aura bonus? In the description of Dragon Lord, if my memory serves me, there is nothing about this.

Meat Shield
2007-03-07, 11:21 PM
The section that describes the new auras in the book (towards the back, don't have it in front of me) states that you can only have one draconic aura up at a time, so RAW, a dragon shaman/dragon lord cannot have an aura active for each class at the same time. I can't remember what it said about stacking.

All that being said, I would allow seperate auras from seperate classes to be active at the same time. I would also allow stacking as you describe so that an aura of vigor +1 and an aura of vigor +3 active at the same time would give fast healing 4

its_all_ogre
2007-03-08, 05:25 AM
multiclass paladin/dragon shaman and you're set.
don't advance paladin after level 5, get charging smite variant. or get the other paladin variant with auras.

Person_Man
2007-03-08, 10:44 AM
You could also just ask the DM to houserule that at some Dragon Shaman level the Aura of Vigor works all the way up to full health, instead of just half health. Fast Healing 1 is too slow to be very helpful in combat, but it would keep everyone healed after combat. If you're willing to stay in a weak class like Dragon Shaman and be the party heal-bitch, your DM might be happy to improve the aura so that you don't have to blow a bunch of money on potions and wands. Otherwise, I would suggest just playing a dragon flavored Cleric.

Wagadodo
2007-03-09, 10:08 AM
I have a Dragom Shaman in my group at level 14 right now. Though he did roll really good for his hit points, his Aura's are very useful. You would be surprised how many times that +3 to inititave helped save the party by allowing them to go first. His Aura that lets him put his allies to give back damage to his enemies with each hit he takes is not bad either. Damagae reduction free. Free healing up to half your hitpoints is to be used outside of battle as a quicker heal rate.

Being able to confer your special ability to other allies... It is almost a bard like in versality of bonuses, and better hit points. It seems to be a fun class for him to play, but again it is up to play style. My player has a Vicious spear that he uses because he has a extremely high hit points.

*Shrugs* Not a primary healer, but still not a bad one. And my player designed his as ranged support too. He has archery feats galore, so that he can survey the field and apply the right aura as needed.

I_Got_This_Name
2007-03-09, 06:45 PM
What would the ultimate 'we never stop' party be? Dragon Shaman and Warlock, definitely. Maybe Rogue and Berserker Strength Barbarian?

Dragon Shaman and Crusader to split healing duties, maybe a Warlock for minor magic, and I'd round it out with a Swordsage. A Dread Necromancer dip on one character (Shaman or Warlock) is also good, since it allows everyone who has Tomb-Tainted Soul to heal up to full after every battle.

Quirinus_Obsidian
2007-03-10, 03:11 AM
I've been doing pretty well with my Dragon Shaman. I went Fighter2 / DS 20 / Constitution Evolved 5 (from Monte' Cook's Transcendence); and wielding Crimson Ruination (Greatsword of Legacy item).

He is a bit highly powered, but that's the campaign we run. I am going to get him into a low level campaign and basically build him the same way. I looked to feats that augmented the DS's abilities; like "Double Draconic Aura", "Raptor School", "Quicken Breath", and "Maximize Breath". It is a really good class; if you Role Play or Roll Play.

Sturmjaeger
2007-03-10, 08:30 PM
The Draconomicon feats for improving your breath weapon would be the way I'd go. Unlimited use ranged attack you can use every 1d4 rounds? Awesome.

Clinging Breath does more damage a round later.

Enlarge Breath improves your range by 50%.

Heighten Breath improves the save DC against your targets.

Quicken Breath lets use use it as a free action.

Recover Breath shortens the time between uses.

Most of the metabreath feats require a high Con score, though.