Dragon Shaman: does anyone have any in-game experience playing one?

[jameswilliamogle]

I was just curious what they played out as, in general, as a straight single class character. I've never seen one played, and I know they are considered weak compared to Dragonfire Adepts: I'm not looking for any DFA advice, really, thanks though. Your input is appreciated!

 

[Moon-Lancer]

They can have very awesome ac, they are one of the best healers and supporters to come around in a long time, they have low damage. their breath weapons doesn't do much, but is useful when no one can seem to hit or bypass spell resistance.

 

[Prism]

I'm playing one at the moment but still low level. They are excellent at party support with their ability to boost the entire party in several ways. I usually give the party bonus's to spot, listen and initiative, as soon as combat starts switching to the minor fire shield effect and then later into combat changing again to fast healing (no one bleeds to death pretty much and the party is nearly always on at least half hits). It seems to be working well using a ranged weapon and staying pretty central - i'm playing an elf which helps with that

 

[kigmatzomat]

There is an "all aura class" campaign log posted on here somewhere that you might try to track down.

Short answer is the DS is generally a solid class. The flavor isn't what some people want but the mechanics work out fairly well. They don't have the direct slugging power of a fighter but they do have decent AC & HP. Their auras make them popular, being a steady buff to anyone in range. They kind of play like more melee capable bard.

 

[blargney the second]

It's a fun class. It generally doesn't pay to multiclass out of it. The upside is that it's probably the least feat-hungry class I've ever played, so you can have some fun with feat selection. I made my DS go full-on for dragonmark feats.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Not that I have any direct experience in the matter, but the auto buff aura's can create some pretty effective synergies, even without an 'all aura party'.

If you have a Mage / Sorcerer / Druid who likes to use a lot of summon spells of help, your aura's will improve their summons.

They allow your other casters to not have to spend as many spells on party buffs.

The Healing Aura will let your party recover hp between fights without the Cleric spending a bunch of spells.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Monkey Boy]

In a group I DM we had a dragon shaman. The energy aura's did a lot of damage and really helped at low levels. The enemies pretty much killed themselves. I agree the healing aura is very useful, though superceded in a way by the clerics healing touch power in Complete Champion. The Dragon Shaman tanked and had a very good AC. It didn't look all that powerful on paper but in game was very good. I think its great at low levels but I doubt it will be able to hold its own once it gets past lvl 8 in the power stakes.

 

[LonePaladin]

With our recent game, using the rules from Stormwrack, I discovered a nice side-benefit with my gnomish red-dragon shaman. Whenever part of a ship is exposed to fire, it gets a flat d20 roll to see if it catches on fire, with a +2 if the crew has prepared it for battle (like wetting down the deck). The DC is 10 + spell level for some spells (like fireball), but against a fire-type breath weapon, the DC is the breath's save DC. Which means that my 18 Con-having gnome with his DC 16 fire breath can easily catch a ship on fire.

 

[Nifft]

Which means that my 18 Con-having gnome with his DC 16 fire breath can easily catch a ship on fire.

Wow, nice. That makes Gold Dragon Shamans even more terrifying -- they can surface, set your ship on fire, then go back underwater.

Thanks, -- N

 

[freyar]

I'm DM for one, but we've only had 3 meetings, so I have limited data. But it seems like a versatile class. Also, not to pimp my own stuff too much , but I've made a bunch of alternate totems here. Use at DM's discretion only, since some of these are wonky!