The dragon shaman class

[Shadowbane13]

Hello, my friends and I have started a new campaign (3.5e) and I am being a human dragon shaman. Only downside is I'm not sure what feats to take. Was wondering if anyone could give some good insight as to what to develop with this character. I know his breath weapon is a big part but still have to wait on that for a while. Is there anything to boost the auras possibly?

[Chronos]

The biggest problem with a dragon shaman is that there's just nothing for them to do. The auras are nice, but those happen automatically. And you have your breath weapon, but you have to wait too long for that to become available, and even then it's probably only usable once or twice per combat. If you want the same feel, but on a better-designed class, you might want to try Dragonfire Adept, instead. You can even take a feat to pick up one of the Dragon Shaman auras, if you want.

[Buufreak]

The biggest problem with a dragon shaman is that there's just nothing for them to do. The auras are nice, but those happen automatically. And you have your breath weapon, but you have to wait too long for that to become available, and even then it's probably only usable once or twice per combat. If you want the same feel, but on a better-designed class, you might want to try Dragonfire Adept, instead. You can even take a feat to pick up one of the Dragon Shaman auras, if you want.

This, really. Played one once, and besides the ability to half heal the party post combat, it was an RP class for me. Did what I could in combat, and somehow bluffed my way through every social encounter. DfA definitely does the mechanics better, though, and wish I knew that prior.

[Grod_The_Giant]

For boosting the aura, your best bet is the Draconic Aura feat from Dragon Magic, which will let you double up on mass-buffing, and eventually Double Draconic Aura (though not until 12th level). Maybe take a few levels of Marshal (Miniatures Handbook) to get a third and fourth aura going. Otherwise... as has been noted, Dragon Shamans aren't a very well-designed class. Your auras are passive and not very strong, your breath weapon isn't very strong and won't get more than one or two uses per fight, between auras and Touch of Vitality you're a decent secondary healer but not a great primary one... and you lack a good offensive punch, short of stacking metabreath feats for a very-limited-use nuke-breath. Power Attack/Leap Attack/Shock Trooper (Complete Adventurer and Complete Warrior) is your best bet for class-independant offense, though you'll be hampered a bit by your medium BAB.

[gorfnab]

Obligatory link: Dragon Shaman Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?214007-3-5-Dragon-Shaman-Handbook)

A level or two of Crusader is a very nice dip for a Dragon Shaman. Metabreath feats are tricky for a Dragon Shaman, the Dragonborn template can help. For feats Dreadful Wrath + Imperious Command + the skill trick Never Outnumbered is a great mix.

[ExLibrisMortis]

If you have a true dragonmark, you can take the Breath of Siberys feat to get +1d6 damage on your breath weapon. If you can talk your DM into allowing a Siberys dragonmark (not much of a chance, it normally requires level 14 to get), it's +2d6. In the same category of unlikely-to-be-allowed: play a multiheaded human, and use one breath weapon per round.

If you have 17 constitution, you can take Recover Breath to reduce the cooldown between breath weapon uses by 1 round.

All of these are better used on a dragonfire adept, because they straight-up have the better breath weapon. A dragonfire adept can use Recover Breath + Clinging Breath, for example, getting extra damage without waiting between uses.

[MisterKaws]

Go blue dragon for sure, at high levels you can cast mass ventriloquism and make everyone simply confused.

[Shadowbane13]

Thank you guys for the helpful insight. Making my gaming experience that much better. That's why I love the dnd community lol

[Waazraath]

I definitely second the dragonborn as race, the breath variant. This has huge advantages:
- you start with a breath weapon on lvl 1; fits the flavor, but more important, you can get breath weapon feats at level 1 and 3
- entangling breath is a great debuff (entangles a foe, -4 dex, -2 to attack, can't run/charge, move at half speed), especially low to mid levels. But even at high levels, it's ok
- metabreath feats can be quite good (like maximize, quicken, clinging breath), but they prolonge the recharge time. But, since you have 2 breath weapons (one from race and 1 from class) you can use at least 2 times / combat a fully charged breathweapon.

Further, the aura's are nice. Healing aura can be very good, depending on the party composition and the availiablity of cheap healing magic. In any case, it prevents your allies from bleeding to death, even if they are brought down to -9.... and it only costs you a swift action. A bonus to initiative is always great. As said, double aura is good at level 12. The class has a decent HD, good armor, so despite the average bab, there are some options to go into melee.

I agree with the folks that it isn't the greatest class in the world, but you can do fun stuff with it. I have one in my current party (lvl 13) and it does its job (combat, healing, buffing, debuffing) good enough to be a valuable asset.

[Troacctid]

Since Dragon Shaman is such a horribly underpowered class, the best thing to do is to get out of it ASAP. I recommend you audible into a strong standalone prestige class, probably either Chameleon or Ur-Priest. That means taking Able Learner or Iron Will + Spell Focus (Evil), respectively.

If possible, ditch Dragon Shaman entirely and go Dragonfire Adept, with Entangling Exhalation and Obtain Familiar. (Pick a bat as your familiar; the blindsense is as good as blindsight when all you have to do is aim an AoE effect.)

[Chronos]

Actually, at low levels, the auras can be quite powerful. I played a game once starting at 1st where one of the players was a dragon shaman who literally never used any aura except the energy one ("But I can only have one up at a time! And it costs an action to switch!"), but that aura ended up doing more damage than any other single member of the party.

(what that player should have done was to keep the senses aura up most of the time, for purpose of surprise and initiative, then switch to energy at the start of combat for the damage, then switch to vigor after combat for the healing, but that particular player pretty much always just phoned it in)

[Shadowbane13]

I saw apparently that you can drop auras and pick up invocations as a dragon shaman. Is this a possibility and how does one go about doing such a thing?

[DrMotives]

I saw apparently that you can drop auras and pick up invocations as a dragon shaman. Is this a possibility and how does one go about doing such a thing?

It's an alternative class feature presented in Dragon Magic. You can only do it once, at level 5. So that's minus 1 aura for 1 least DFA invocation ever, career total.

[Grod_The_Giant]

It's an alternative class feature presented in Dragon Magic. You can only do it once, at level 5. So that's minus 1 aura for 1 least DFA invocation ever, career total.
Still absolutely worth it and do it in a heartbeat if you can.

[Shadowbane13]

Where does it state that it only can be once and for a lesser? My DM is wondering. (Doesn't want me cheating)

[DrMotives]

Where does it state that it only can be once and for a lesser? My DM is wondering. (Doesn't want me cheating)

Not a lesser, a least invocation. Right there in the ACF description, Dragon Magic page 14.

[Shadowbane13]

Ok cool thanks. Can't gain any higher invocations though huh. And can only do this once?

[Sian]

It should through, be a large hint that one of its best features is an ACF that trades with another class, which fluff-wise is the same basic thing. While DFA might not always be what you'd be looking for in a character, its extremely rarely that it ain't flat out better than Dragon Shaman for what you want to do

[ExLibrisMortis]

Ok cool thanks. Can't gain any higher invocations though huh. And can only do this once?
Well... you technically get a caster level for your invocations (level - 4), so you might be able to enter a class that grants extra invocations known. I can't particularly find one, but... talk to your DM?

[Red Fel]

Ok cool thanks. Can't gain any higher invocations though huh. And can only do this once?

Yep. The ACF can only be taken at the level specified, and provides only the benefit specified. So that's a one-time exchange of one aura for one lesser invocation, full stop. And because you will never use all of the auras the class gives to you, it's basically mandatory. The Dragon Shaman handbook (linked above) recommends either Endure Elements (for your party, when you're spraying breath weapon) or Beguiling Influence (if you decide to play party face).

[turbo164]

It should through, be a large hint that one of its best features is an ACF that trades with another class, which fluff-wise is the same basic thing. While DFA might not always be what you'd be looking for in a character, its extremely rarely that it ain't flat out better than Dragon Shaman for what you want to do

Well to be fair, plenty of classes wouldn't mind trading "extra" things. A Dragon Shaman can get by with Senses for precombat, Vigor for postcombat, and the other 2 auras for combat; having a 5th that you can switch to is useful, but not super important. Similarly, a high-tier caster who already has tons of spells could safely trade one 3rd level slot for a Fighter feat or Warlock Invocation or something, even if it's "weaker" just because you probably won't have the opportunity to use *every* spell in *every* fight (unless you have hundreds of Nightsticks or something); and martial classes would happily trade 97% of their weapon proficiencies for *anything* they could use at the same time as their main weapon proficiency, etc.

Dragon Shamans definitely aren't high tier, but they're useful in various ways. Shadowbane, do you know what the rest of your group looks like? Are they going to be Monkey Grip Monks or Codzillas?

[Shadowbane13]

My group is just a Druid a ranger and a swashbuckler/rogue. (Druid is heals) so I'm mostly the meat shield at this point. We got a small party. But the DM adjusts accordingly. Which is nice