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

[MoogleEmpMog]

I've never played or GMed one, but I've seen them in play. They seem solid and supportive, sort of a dragon-y flavored bard, but they seem to have a better range of options than bards.

My take is that they'd be good in a large party (which is the context I've seen them in; bards were also very good, incidentally), terrible on their own, and a bit below average in a 'typical' 4 person party.

 

[Winding Road]

I've played a 4th level silver DS for a couple of sessions. Honestly, I find it a little limited. The auras are useful, but as far as active participation in battle goes, it's not much. It's basically breath weapon, twiddle my thumbs for 1d4 rounds, then breath weapon again. And I say this as someone who likes playing support-based classes (bards and marshals are among my favorite base classes.) It may be useful for the group to have one, but it's not much fun to play.

 

[blargney the second]

It's basically breath weapon, twiddle my thumbs for 1d4 rounds, then breath weapon again. And I say this as someone who likes playing support-based classes (bards and marshals are among my favorite base classes.) It may be useful for the group to have one, but it's not much fun to play.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I've found myself actually trying out some other support maneuvers to help my buddies. I'd use my move action to provoke an AoO deliberately to free up my allies to do risky things, get around to flanking positions, aid another to give them an attack boost, start a grapple just to tick off the DM, etc.

I found it pretty fun, to be honest. I'd find more and more creative ways to help out the good guys.

 

[Darklone]

The dragon shaman is pretty much like the 3.0 bard build with large shield and breastplate and good con. A good second line fighter with high AC who boosts the party. Breath weapon is nice if you take Metabreath feats.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

I played a couple of 'em...

First one was a DS Kobold, and I used Races of the Dragon and the RotD web enhancement to basically make the kobold a mini dragon.

It was a bit on the fragile side, but not a huge surprise considering it was a kobold. Still managed to be useful. Th DM said playing a kobold was fine (it was an Eberron game), and then proceed to punish me for having the character every game session.

So I retired the character, and made a warforged DS instead.

People don't seem to get that it's a _support_ class, and it really does mean "support". People seem to approach it as a Fighter that can do some buffing, and it's really a Buffing type that can do some fighting. Trying to run it as an alternate frontline is just not going to work, unless you multiclass a bit with Fighter. My opinion of course.

The warforged DS had some fighter levels since I expected to be a backup fighter to the primary fighter in the group. It worked out well. The warforged had a 19 Con and the Adamantine Body so it had decent DCs for it's special abilities, and the DR was nice too. Pick the auras that were appropriate for the situation, and away we went. As a side benefit, the healing aura helped keep the warforged repaired as well, it just took twice as long on the warforge as it did for everyone else (since the healing magic was 1/2 as effective).

If I were to play in a game that allowed me to play the DS, I'd do it again in a hearbeat. Some levels here and there of Fighter just to zero in on some feats to focus and augment the combat abilities, and the majority of levels as a DS. There's a variety of auras that are useful both in and out of combat, with a bit of jiggering you can get a character that's dragon blooded in some fashion which means access to dragon aura/breath weapon feats, and best of all (in my opinion) there's minimal book keeping. "I'm using [whatever] aura." No muss or fuss with tokens shifted around, stances, spells per day, spell/power points, whatever. Buffing/Support for players that don't like to micromanage.

The totems are kinda lame though. Just about every !@#$% DS ability is "water breathing". Pretty underwhelming. A bit more variety would have made it a lot more fun I think.

They make a great "poor man's healer", and can even remove conditions at higher levels. If the groups doesn't have a cleric, or you're wanting to restrict clerics/healing in the game, it's a pretty good alternative. The DS healing only takes a character up to half hit points, so after that it's either potions, rest, or a real cleric. And of course the DS healing aura can be clicked on to stabilize a character that's bleeding to death, allowing the DM to avoid (or reduce) the chance of an outright character kill without having to really fudge things.

Even if the group does have a cleric, it takes a lot of pressure off the cleric, and allows the cleric to be something more than a mobile healing station. The DS can fix _everyone_ all the way up to half, and then the cleric can do specific healing from there.

It also kinda means that the group can go for a longer period of time before having to rest.

If you're looking for a "powerhouse" kind of character (instead of a support type), you should probably skip on the DS. I see Dragon Disciples offered up as a better alternative.

It's not a class for everyone, but I have some serious love for it.

 

[pawsplay]

I would probably always take one or two levels in another class. If you add barbarian or fighter, you add a nice weapon selection and better armor. If you add rogue, you can get Use Magic Device and maybe evasion. One level of cleric with the Magic domain add a whole world of magic item use. I just can't imagine being "spear guy who breathes fire and inspires healing" all the time.

 

[Thurbane]

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!

There's a good reason the look weaker the Dragonfire Adepts...that's because someone over at WotC thought "Dragon Shamans are kewl, Warlocks are kewl, let's roll them together into one class, balance be damned!"

On a serious level though, I've found that one or two levels of Barbarian, Ranger or Paladin mix very well with a Dragon Shaman.

 

[Wik]

At low levels, the healing aura will save your party a hundred times over. We went through all of the final dungeon in STAP'S "There is no honour" without having to rest once, simply because of that aura, coupled with the Damage Reduction aura.

In another group I was in, our Dragon Shaman used the Senses arua, and that was cool too, since it meant we were more likely to act first in a fight - and since I was a buffer mage, that meant I could get a buff off before the tank entered the fight.

 

[Thurbane]

Like Marshals and Bards, Dragon Shamans are one of those classes that work better in large parties. The more people who are getting a benefit from your aura, the more everyone will be glad to have you along.

I've found that playing a Bard (not a great comparison, but still) in a smallish party can be a bit of a drag. You only get to boost 1 or 2 other party members, and when it comes down to you it often end up in the middle of combat, with no great combat prowess to contribute. :\

Dont forget about the "big three" feats any Dragon Shaman should probably have:

Ability Focus (Breath Weapon) (MMI, p.303)
Dilate Aura (FCII, p.83)
Double Draconic Aura (Dragon Magic, p.16)

 

[Graybeard]

I played one with a large group in the Savage Tide adventure path. It was a lot of fun. I think it is a well balanced class. The auras are useful at all levels and can be switched as needed. The energy shield one is a favorite of mine. Your enemy hits you and takes damage as well.

As another poster mentioned, it is a class that is good at helping the rest of the party and can do moderate damage itself. I've found the breath weapon to be very handy when you are grappled.