Why doesn't the Draconic Aura feat get more attention?

[RUMBLETiGER]

I've been toying with character builds for fun while in between campaigns. I'm really digging the Draconic Aura feat from Dragon magic p.16. While online is says that this is a heritage feat, out of the book it does not. The only prereq. is character level 3rd.

Add in the Dragontouched feat, with the only prereq. being Charisma of 11, and the bonus scales to +2, +3 & +4 as you level up. While this is nice, there's still quite a bit of utility you can achieve with only the +1 bonus from Draconic Aura by itself.

Draconic Aura- Vigor would allow even a Fighter to have-and-share Fast Healing 1 to allies within 30', up to half their HP. This makes this Fighter a secondary, out-of-combat healer and halves the amount of healing magic whoever is the primary healer needs to do. This stabalizes dying allies on the battlefield. I realize this isn't so practical in Feat-starved builds, but why not for the PC that has a feat to burn?

Draconic Aura- Senses grants an Initiative bonus to everyone within your aura, as well as a bonus to Listen and Spot checks.

Draconic Aura- Swiftness appears to grant you a Climb speed.

Is there a reason I don't hear this Feat and the auras suggested more often?

 

[Sekhmet]

Most builds are very meticulously planned, feat wise, for maximizing effectiveness. There is rarely enough room to spare a feat for a small bonus to a non primary function of a build.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Most builds are very meticulously planned, feat wise, for maximizing effectiveness. There is rarely enough room to spare a feat for a small bonus to a non primary function of a build.

Hm... I'm trying to meticulously build a PC that happens to be mostly good at about everything, and this is where I started to fit this in.

I do agree, most builds I see on the boards focus on specializing in doing one themed thing well. I guess I tend to think more broadly then that.

 

[Sekhmet]

Perhaps.
There are a variety of other methods to acquire a Climb speed which don't require feats (which are a limited resource, of course), and Initiative and counter checks only really become super important at epic levels.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I'd still expect to see Draconic Aura- Vigor in any primary or secondary healer role builds.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

A bonus to what? To understand this feat, you need more than the feat. You need to own (or at least have read) Dragon Magic. That's a fairly obscure splatbook, and apparently it requires you to be part dragon and have Charisma (so, sorceror type stuff), which isn't necessarily everyone's cup of tea.

I suspect bunches of people have seen the feat, but assumed you needed to be a half-dragon and didn't know what the bonus applies to anyway, so they stopped paying attention to it.

I also suspect DMs don't like fast healing on PCs. Even a bucket of wands of cure light wounds costs money. Said feat combo might get banned a lot, assuming the DM in question is aware of the combo.

 

[Ahnehnois]

1. It's a pretty esoteric source. I don't see a ton of talk about any of the Dragon-y late 3.5 books, really.
2. Most people don't like spending feats to improve other party members.
3. Its usefulness is largely dependent on you having a lot of allies who are regularly near you, which is not a given.
4. It requires a modicum of Charisma. People, esp people who post builds on message boards, tend to dump CHA.

***

That being said, I agree that it's not as well-recognized as it should be.

 

[Sekhmet]

[MENTION=6674868]RUMBLETiGER[/MENTION] I may be unaware of a variety of Dragon Auras. I had assumed they were only in Dragon Magic, but it does not have a "Vigor" aura. Where are other auras published?

 

[ImperatorK]

It's a poor man's fast healing, but it's still great. I mean, always at at least half hit points? Sign me in!

@RUMBLETiGER I may be unaware of a variety of Dragon Auras. I had assumed they were only in Dragon Magic, but it does not have a "Vigor" aura. Where are other auras published?

Page 86 of Dragon Magic lists sources of auras. Vigor is from Dragon Shaman, PHBII.

 

[Sekhmet]

[MENTION=6695799]ImperatorK[/MENTION] I had thought that the wording of Draconic Aura suggested that only the auras noted on page 86 of Dragon Magic could be chosen.