Dragon Shamans.

[Joker]

Under the Extraordinary ability of Water Breathing it reads : "You can breathe underwater indefinately and can freely use spells and other abilities underwater (always active)."

Does that include attacks and movement and such?


And while we're on the topic of Dragon Shamans, has anyone found them to be blatantly overpowered or are they fine as they are?

 

[MarkB]

Under the Extraordinary ability of Water Breathing it reads : "You can breathe underwater indefinately and can freely use spells and other abilities underwater (always active)."

Does that include attacks and movement and such?

No, as written, it appears to refer only to spells and special abilities. You'd still need to make Swim checks, and would be hampered in combat unless you had freedom of movement.

And while we're on the topic of Dragon Shamans, has anyone found them to be blatantly overpowered or are they fine as they are?

I've only played one briefly, but he was not particularly overpowered. They're a nice support character, but they don't have the proficiencies to be primary combatants. Generally, their role will be to stand just behind the front line boosting everyone else with their auras, and helping out in combat where they can. As such, I recommend using a longspear, so you can be useful in combat without being in the thick of things.

Their breath weapon is good, especially if you have access to some of the breath weapon feats from Draconomicon and/or Races of the Dragon, but it's not that powerful compared to the spells that magic-users will be throwing around at comparable levels, and the recharge time means you'll only use it once or twice per combat, even assuming you can get a clear shot.

 

[Victim]

I'd expect that other abilities refers to command word items, spell likes, the Dragon Shaman's Su abilities and such.

We've only seen the class on some NPCs, but it hasn't seemed overly strong. If anything, it seems weak.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I would also read this as pertaining to special abilities - not any action.

As far as balance goes - this class is going to be seen in the smae light as the bard and marshall:

If they are played in a group that loves to do everything together they will be the class that doesn't seem to do much on their own but is the one character that the party doesn't want to lose. They make others around them better. If this is the case they shouldn't seem overpowered as much as the people around them should feel a bit more powerful than normal.

If played in a group that does little cooperatively, this class should feel rather underpowered. This class is certainly not for all adventuring parties.

 

[DevoutlyApathetic]

They strike me as rather weak. Compared to a Duskblade I see no reason they couldn't have justified a better BAB and perhaps some more skill points.

While they are certainly a help to the party by being there, they have very little interesting actions to do in combat. Breathe..then perhaps provide flank or some such if you can manage it. Not all that fun in combat and lacks the skills to do anything much out of combat. Eh.

 

[Wik]

God, the Dragon Shaman in our group LOVES the class. He took his first level in fighter so he could get a tower shield and heavy armour proficiency, making his PC an AC monkey. Right now, that "AC Monkey" role is really his primary job in a fight - people try to hit him, while the goliath kills everything in his path.

He gives everyone DR 1/magic in a fight, which really adds up (one less point of damage each time you're hit adds up at low levels) and his ability to heal the group to 50% of their max HP at will really increases the cleric's healing abilities (meaning the group can stay in the fight much longer). Also, he knows that even one round of his healing ability will stabilize people at negative hit points - a real life saver.

He's currently counting down the levels until he gets his breath weapon; very excited about it. I know the whole group loves having the shaman around - he does make the group much, much better, and he's having the time of his life doing it.

I wouldn't say it's overpowered or anything (in comparison to, say, the war mage that the player once ran), but it's definately a great character to play. Seems to work well in the group (I personally think bardic music work in a way similar to the dragon shaman's auras)

 

[Evilhalfling]

it definatly looks underpowered if anything. As others have said he lacks usefull actions in combat, just providing passive benifits. I has one as an NPC in a high level game, and he helped a little, but when a PC bought the farm, the NPC made a lousy substitute. He was a possiblity for a follower, but was paid off instead.

In a very low level game (1st -3rd) the powers would be enormously usefull, and the lack of BAB or effective weapons would be less important.