Draconic Aura Overall Usefulness

[carrdrivesyou]

So the draconic aura feat grants a +1 aura unless you have the dragonblood subtype, which gets you +1 to +4 over 20 levels. That being said, many of the auras are basically useless (toughness and resistance, mainly), but some are useful. Vigor is always helpful because free healing out of combat is always nice.

My question is regarding the skill boosting auras like Insight and Senses. Just how useful is +1 to +4 over 20 levels? Is it even really noticeable? Especially compared to Fast Healing 1 to 4...

[Metastachydium]

(If memory serves, the feat cannot grant you the Vigor aura by RAW; the description references a different list in Dragon Magic, specifically.)

[Doctor Despair]

(If memory serves, the feat cannot grant you the Vigor aura by RAW; the description references a different list in Dragon Magic, specifically.)

It says "see page 86 [of Dragon Magic]." It does not say the feat must come from page 86 Dragon Magic; page 86 of Dragon Magic doesn't even HAVE any draconic auras. It's just the place in the book defining what a draconic aura is. You see the page to see what draconic auras are -- not to see the fixed list it must be selected from. Vigor is a valid choice.

[eBarbarossa]

A broad Knowledge boost for the whole group can be very nice. And +4 Initiative on top of a possible Improved Initiative is even better.

[Vaern]

It says "see page 86 [of Dragon Magic]." It does not say the feat must come from page 86 Dragon Magic; page 86 of Dragon Magic doesn't even HAVE any draconic auras. It's just the place in the book defining what a draconic aura is. You see the page to see what draconic auras are -- not to see the fixed list it must be selected from. Vigor is a valid choice.
I'll have to check later but, IIRC, page 86 begins a section on auras which goes on to list a number of options on the next page.
The section also says that a dragon shaman may choose an aura from the Dragon Magic list in place of one normally offered by their class feature; however, it does not say that someone who takes the feat may choose an aura from the dragon shaman class feature list rather than one presented in Dragon Magic.

[Troacctid]

The vigor aura is the strongest. The senses aura is pretty darn good, though—going first is nice. The power aura is strictly better than Spell Penetration if your bonus is at least +2; and similarly, the stamina aura may be strictly better than Great Fortitude, and the presence aura may be strictly better than Persuasive. And there are definitely builds that can get a lot of use out of the energy aura.

The power of the feat goes up significantly, though, once you can give it to an animal companion, cohort, familiar, special mount, or other tag-along NPC. An urban druid with a vermin companion, for example, can pick and choose feats for all of the vermin's HD, which essentially gives them access to draconic auras for free without having to spend a feat slot of their own. Regular druids can also pick feats for their animal companions when they gain new HD, as can paladins for their warhorses.


I'll have to check later but, IIRC, page 86 begins a section on auras which goes on to list a number of options on the next page.
The section also says that a dragon shaman may choose an aura from the Dragon Magic list in place of one normally offered by their class feature; however, it does not say that someone who takes the feat may choose an aura from the dragon shaman class feature list rather than one presented in Dragon Magic.
No, Doctor Despair is correct here. The feat simply instructs you to choose any draconic aura. Both the auras presented in DrM and the ones presented in PH2 are draconic auras and are valid choices. (If another book had printed new draconic auras, those would be valid choices as well.)

Marshals and true dragons are limited to the draconic auras presented in chapter 3. You might be getting those rules mixed up with these.

[Gorthawar]

The power aura that give a bonus to melee damage does a fair amount of work in the game I dm. +2 damage to all the attacks of the wildshape ranger (2 unarmed +5 natural) who has the aura herself alone is already neat but it also adds to the 4 attacks of the twf daring outlaw, the 5 attacks of the tiger animal companion and anything the druid summons. Never mind the wizard casting haste on the party.

[Khedrac]

Senses is a boost to initiative for the whole party - and a small boost to initiative can make a big difference over time as the party go first more often and can take down more opponents before they get a chance to act.

[holbita]

(If memory serves, the feat cannot grant you the Vigor aura by RAW; the description references a different list in Dragon Magic, specifically.)

So if we are completely technical, both readings are possible by RAW. Having said that... if you start checking the rest of the options of the book it becomes pretty clear only the ones presented in the book should be allowed to be chosen by the feat, as it literally makes no sense that the Dragon Lord PRC, the Marshall base class and Dragons explicitly can only learn from the ones in this book and that the Dragon Shaman doesn't consider this as an extension of the list but something that they learn instead of one from their class list.

So with all taken into account the only reason why we are saying that the feat can take from the list of the Dragon Shaman is that both are called "Draconic Auras" and that there never was a clarification between the ones presented in the book and the ones from Dragon Shaman for the feat description (it just points to page 86 where draconic auras are explained), but... come on, it's clear how it's supposed to work.

Now that this has been clarified let's talk about the feat itself.

If you are dragonblood and have feats to spare you have decent options to take in the list that will benefit the whole group, or if they are specialized and you can take the elements aura in a group based around energy damage then it goes from decent to great.

If you are not a dragonblood character then they quickly become quite bad options for your character... but not for your pets, turning those 1HD creatures that are following you around into bonuses just from being there? great option.

PS: Another example of RAW reading that clearly it's not supposed to mean that but because it doesn't clarify it can be take in a broader way is the feat "Tormtor School". Clearly it means you don't get the penalty for using a javelin in melee... but since it just says penalty... then... Power Attack gives you a penalty, right? so I can use Power Attack whithout suffering the penalty... right?