DFA Combat suggestions

[Invader]

I'm itching to play a DFA again because I had a lot of fun with the concept the last time I tried. He was a dragon born kobold DFA with a moderate amount of optimization (dragonwrought, maximize breath, heighten breath) and while he was a lot of fun to RP, combat seemed to get stale pretty quick. Every round was basically mist advantageous position, breath weapon, repeat. Occasionally I'd take an AoO with my long spear.

Any suggestions on how to liven up combat a little bit?

[Eldaran]

From my experience that's all they ever do, just spam the breath weapon, usually rotating between two different ones. You could pick one of the few useful active invocations, but it's still likely going to be less effective than just spamming breath all day long.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Sadly, the class really isn't set up to do much more than spit out debuffy breath weapons (Entangling Exhalation, Slow Breath, etc). If you want more than that, it'll be a stretch. Off the top of my head... maybe an Aptitude weapon (or even a gish PrC, if you can get your DM to let you substitute an invocation progression for a caster level progression) + Knowledge Devotion + Draconic Knowledge + Humanoid Shape? Shapeshift into something nice and strong, max out your Knowledge Devotion bonus and go to town? You can grab and the Draconic Toughness invocation for more endurance (it's not a lot of temporary hit points, but you can refill it whenever you want)

[WhamBamSam]

Sadly, the class really isn't set up to do much more than spit out debuffy breath weapons (Entangling Exhalation, Slow Breath, etc). If you want more than that, it'll be a stretch. Off the top of my head... maybe an Aptitude weapon (or even a gish PrC, if you can get your DM to let you substitute an invocation progression for a caster level progression) + Knowledge Devotion + Draconic Knowledge + Humanoid Shape? Shapeshift into something nice and strong, max out your Knowledge Devotion bonus and go to town? You can grab and the Draconic Toughness invocation for more endurance (it's not a lot of temporary hit points, but you can refill it whenever you want)Don't DFAs use the same rules as Warlocks for invocation progression? If so, you'd just need to qualify for the Gish PrC in question, though that might be tricky and/or require dips.

Anyway, Humanoid Shape shenanigans would be my first thought as well for a DFA wanting to branch out a bit from breath blasting. Maybe go Shifter and take a detour into Warshaper for a few levels (Changeling feels a bit too redundant, and shifting is (Su), so it should be retained ability in an Alternate Form/Polymorph derivative and should stack on top of them from what I can tell).

[Invader]

Admittedly he was fairly low level when I played him so he didn't have a ton of options yet but I didn't really see combat changing to much at higher levels.

Is there a RAW way to get warlock invocations?

[darksolitaire]

Admittedly he was fairly low level when I played him so he didn't have a ton of options yet but I didn't really see combat changing to much at higher levels.

Is there a RAW way to get warlock invocations?

There was a feat in some web enchantment which allowed DFA or Warlock to pick invocation from each other's list. The problem was that unlike extra invocation which gets you invocation one level lower then your highest, that feat only gets you invocation two levels lower then your highest.

[Zaq]

Don't DFAs use the same rules as Warlocks for invocation progression? If so, you'd just need to qualify for the Gish PrC in question, though that might be tricky and/or require dips.

Anyway, Humanoid Shape shenanigans would be my first thought as well for a DFA wanting to branch out a bit from breath blasting. Maybe go Shifter and take a detour into Warshaper for a few levels (Changeling feels a bit too redundant, and shifting is (Su), so it should be retained ability in an Alternate Form/Polymorph derivative and should stack on top of them from what I can tell).

The tricky part about PrCing out of DFA is that invocations advance, but breath effects do not. Invocations are great and all, but a DFA without a good selection of breath effects is kind of sad.

[nedz]

I take it you've read the handbook (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1101061) ?

You might get some ideas from it if you haven't.

[Invader]

I take it you've read the handbook (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1101061) ?

You might get some ideas from it if you haven't.

Oh yeah, it's actually really thorough. One of the biggest things that hurts the class is 0 PrC's.

[nedz]

I did try to use DFA to unlock Draconic feats and flight.

Air, Sea and Land build
The concept here was to create a character who could operate in the air or at sea or on land
Flys, breaths water, summons Water Elementals, breaths fire, casts spells.

Human DFA 1 / Cloistered Cleric 4 / Eldritch Disciple 10
Dragon Wings [1], Water Devotion[1], Dragonfire Channeling [3], Improved Dragon Wings [6]
Aquatic Adaptation[1] See the Unseen [7] Walk Unseen[10] Voidsense[12] Terrifying Roar[15]
Human Cleric Air + Water + Knowledge domains

or

Raptorian
Raptoran DFA 1 / Cloistered Cleric 4 / Eldritch Disciple 10
Water Devotion[1], Dragonfire Channeling [3]
Aquatic Adaptation[1] See the Unseen [7] Walk Unseen[10] Voidsense[12] Terrifying Roar[15]
Cleric Air + Sky + Knowledge domains

Basically you are a Cleric who sacrifices a couple of caster levels for five invocations, flight and a limited breath weapon.