http://brilliantgameologists.com
May 19, 2013, 04:13:23 PM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: These boards are now READ ONLY. We've started over! So don't try posting here. Go here www.minmaxboards.com
 
   Home   Help Search Members Login Register  
Pages: 1
  Print  
Author Topic: [3.5] Dragon Shaman Reboot  (Read 7140 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
VennDygrem
Member
Grape ape
*
Posts: 1689


VennDygrem
Email
« on: February 01, 2009, 03:30:43 PM »

Dragon Shaman




Hit Die: d10

Alignment: Any; however, a Dragon Shaman's alignment tends to be within one step of their totem dragon. Thus, an evil Dragon Shaman is more likely to devote himself to the ferocious might and cunning of the Red Dragon, though all Dragon Shamans hold respect and admiration for the power of all of the true dragons.

Quote
Lvl    BAB             Fort  Ref  Will    Special         
************************************************************
1      +0                +2    +0    +2     Draconic Weapons (Claws), Totem Dragon, Draconic Aura +1
2      +1                +3    +0    +3     Breath Weapon (15-ft cone or 30-ft. line)
3      +2                +3    +1    +3     Natural Armor +1, Draconic Adaptation
4      +3                +4    +1    +4     Draconic Weapons (Bite), Draconic Resolve
5      +3                +4    +1    +4     Dragon Wings (Limited), Draconic Aura +2
6      +4                +5    +2    +5     Touch of Vitality (heal wounds)
7      +5                +5    +2    +5     Natural Armor +2
8      +6/+1           +6    +2    +6     Draconic Weapons (Tail)
9      +6/+1           +6    +3    +6     Energy Immunity, Breath Weapon (30-ft. cone or 60-ft. line)
10     +7/+2           +7    +3    +7     Dragon Wings (Full), Draconic Aura +3
11     +8/+3           +7    +3    +7     Touch of Vitality (remove conditions)
12     +9/+4           +8    +4    +8     Natural Armor +3
13     +9/+4           +8    +4    +8     Draconic Adaptation (share with allies)
14     +10/+5          +9    +4    +9     Frightful Presence
15     +11/+6/+1     +9    +5    +9     Dragon Wings (Improved), Draconic Aura +4
16     +12/+7/+2    +10   +5   +10    Breath Weapon (60-ft. cone or 120-ft. line)
17     +12/+7/+2    +10   +5   +10    Totem Dragon (Skill bonus)
18     +13/+8/+3    +11   +6   +11    Natural Armor +4
19     +14/+9/+4    +11   +6   +11    Dragon Wings (Perfect)
20     +15/+10/+5   +12   +6   +12    Dragon Apotheosis, Draconic Aura +5

Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, x4 at 1st level): Appraise, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Disguise, Gather Information, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nature), Move Silently, Search, Spellcraft, Survival, Swim

Class Features:
(Any not described below but listed in the table above have been left unchanged from the original class)

Totem Dragon:Your dedication to dragonkind leads you to emulate True Dragons in all aspects, physically and mentally. You gain the Dragonblood subtype, Draconic as a bonus language, and must choose a totem dragon from among the true dragons appearing in the Monster Manual (black, blue, brass, bronze, copper, gold, green, red, silver, or white). You gain a +2 bonus to skills designated as class skills for your totem dragon, which improves to a +4 bonus at 17th level.

Draconic Weapons (Ex): At 1st level, you begin showing signs of your connection to the mighty race of Dragons. The muscles in your hands grow stronger, and thick, sharp talons grow at the tips of your fingers, giving you a pair of natural Claw attacks which deal damage according to your size (1d3 damage for a Small-sized creature, 1d4 damage for a Medium-sized creature, and so on).
At 4th level, your teeth grow longer and sharper, giving you a bite attack at 1d6 damage. This natural weapon becomes primary for you, while all others can be made as secondary attacks at a -5 penalty (or -2 if you have the multiattack feat).
At 8th level, you grow a muscular tail which can be used to make a tailslap attack, dealing damage appropriate for your size (1d4 for small, 1d6 for medium, etc.).
At 12th level, your natural weapons improve by one die step, bringing them in line with the damage of true dragons.

Your natural weapons improve as magic weapons at a rate equaling 1/4 your total Dragon Shaman levels (+1 at level 4, +2 at level 8, etc.).

Breath Weapon (Su): You have gained the most feared weapon in the Dragon's arsenal, its breath weapon, usable as a standard action. Each time you use your breath weapon, you can choose whether it takes the form of a 15-foot cone or a 30-foot line. Your breath weapon deals a number of dice worth of damage equal to your class level. The length of effect also increases with level, expanding to a 30-foot cone or 60-foot line at 9th level, and to a 60-foot cone or 120-foot line at 16th level. Enemies may attempt to halve the damage from this breath weapon by making a successful Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 your class level + your Con modifier). Just like a true dragon, once you breathe you must wait 1d4 rounds before you can use your breath weapon again.

Your breath weapon's damage type relates to your totem dragon by default (see the table on page 13 of Player's Handbook II). You may temporarily change this energy to that of a different totem as a move action, lasting for one minute or until you change it again, after which time your breath weapon reverts to the default.

Natural Armor (Ex): Your skin toughens and grows faint scales, which grow thicker and more pronounced over time. Your Natural Armor bonus improves by one step each at levels 3, 7, 12, and 18. If you do not have a natural armor bonus, treat it as 0 and improve from there.

Dragon Wings (Ex): At 5th level, you grow the wings of a Dragon, gaining a flyspeed equal to your base land speed (average maneuverability). Your wings aid your jumps, giving you a +10 racial bonus on Jump checks.
You can’t fly while carrying a medium or heavy load or while fatigued or exhausted. You can safely fly for a number of consecutive rounds equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1 round). You can exert yourself to fly for up to twice as long, but you then become fatigued at the end of the flight. You are likewise fatigued after spending a total of more than 10 minutes per day flying.
When you reach 10th level, you have enough stamina and prowess to fly for longer periods. You can fly at your base landspeed +10 (good maneuverability), and flying requires no more exertion than walking or running.
When you reach 15th level, your flight improves again, allowing you to fly at a speed equal to twice your base landspeed, and while carrying a medium or heavy load (including heavy armor).
Upon reaching 19th level, flying is as natural to you as walking. Your maneuverability while flying improves to perfect.

Your wings allow you to make a dive attack. A dive attack works like a charge, but you must fly a minimum of 30 feet and descend at least 10 feet. You can make a dive attack only when wielding a piercing weapon; if the attack hits, it deals double damage.
You can use the run action while flying, provided you fly in a straight line.

Frightful Presence (Ex): Starting at 14th level, your draconic form alone is enough to strike terror into the hearts of the weak. Whenever you attack or charge (including a dive), all opponents with fewer levels or HD than your Dragon Shaman levels that are within 30 feet are subject to this effect. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your Dragon Shaman class levels + your Cha modifier) remains immune to your frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failure, affected creatures become shaken for a number of rounds equal to 1d6 + your Cha modifier (minimum 1 round). If the creature has 4 or fewer HD, it instead is panicked for the same amount of time. This ability does not stack on subsequent rounds, but affected creatures are subject to a new Will save after you attack or charge them following the end of this effect. This ability can't affect creatures with an Intelligence of 3 or lower, nor does it have any effect on dragons.

Dragon Apotheosis: Upon reaching 20th level, your transformation into the powerful creatures you are devoted to is complete. You lose the Dragonblood subtype and your creature type changes to Dragon; for all intents and purposes, you are considered a True Dragon. In addition, your size increases by one category (to a maximum of Huge), thereby altering your ability scores and increasing your natural armor, damage, etc.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2009, 02:02:51 AM by VennDygrem » Logged

VennDygrem
Member
Grape ape
*
Posts: 1689


VennDygrem
Email
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2009, 03:30:56 PM »

So, why the Dragon Shaman?

Well, I've played a couple, and I really enjoy the class. However, over the past couple years, I've read
people complaining that it's essentially a second string class, not great at any one thing in particular, etc. The consensus seemed
to be that the class was a little weak, overall, unless heavily optimized, and almost ever build dipped a level in Barbarian to get
martial weapons, more HP, and a couple class features, meaning that few people considered taking the class to completion.

If you think about it, what does the PHB2 Dragon Shaman get at high level? Commune with Dragon Spirit? I don't know many people who
really care for it. A little more breath weapon damage? It wasn't really powerful enough to pursue as a class feature on its own.
Wings? My Wizard buddy had could fly at level 5, and my Raptoran friend had wings from the beginning. Too little, too late.

So, I decided to give the Dragon Shaman a little boost.
He gets his Breath Weapon earlier, though it uses the same number of dice of
damage over the course of the class. However, I decided to boost the damage die a couple steps over the DS's career, bringing it into
line with more powerful dragons (Dragon breath weapons range from d4's to d10's, normally). So, even though a level 20 Dragon Shaman
still only has 10 dice of breath weapon damage, the average goes up from about 35 damage up to about 55. The alternative was giving
the DS more dice worth of d6's, but my way has slightly more connection to a character who is continually trying to become more like
the most powerful dragons, and does slightly more damage (10d10 vs. 15d6; 100 max damage vs. 90, etc.)

People also generally chose Dragonfire Adept over the Dragon Shaman, particularly given their increased versatility. So, I built some
in, bringing over the DfA's ability to choose on the fly between blast shape, and allowing the Dragon Shaman to change the energy
type temporarily. He needs to use up a move action, but he can still change the energy and breathe in the same round.

Next, the issue of combat.
The Dragon Shaman was always a melee combatant, and I didn't want to change that. People usually dipped
into another class to get martial weapon proficiency. Rather than just give it to them, making them just another version of a fighter
or barbarian, I decided that given the class's flavor of transforming gradually to be more like a Dragon, it should gradually gain a
Dragon's natural weapons. The DS can still use simple weapons, but their claws, bite, and tail grant them more attacks in a full-
round attack and increase in strength over time. They even get treated as magic weapons to overcome damage reduction and, if the
player so chooses, their natural attacks can be enchanted further through the usual means.

Wings came way too late into the game. As I mentioned, a wizard or sorcerer can get the fly spell by level 5/6, Dragonborn and
Raptorans can get gradually improving wings early on, and Draconic Flight is a lesser invocation for the DfA, meaning they can get it
by level 6. So, level 5/6 is the sweet spot, with improved flight coming in at level 10/11. So instead of the DS just getting full
wings at level 19 (and given the usual 1-level dip, essentially being the capstone ability), I decided to spread it out earlier.

That left me without a capstone ability. I didn't want to take the original route of just saying you get the last bit of aura
bonus and more damage with your breath weapon. There had to be a compelling reason to get all 20 levels of the class. So, given the
gradual transformation into a dragon, I decided to finish it up. Getting the Dragon type on its own isn't really worth it by that
level, though. Why bother getting to level 20 when you could, theoretically, just be a Dragonwrought Kobold? So I beefed it up,
increasing size and thus making the Dragon Shaman a Dragon to be feared.

Initially I also had a class feature called Dragon Arcana, which would give the DS one or a few Draconic Invocations over its career,
but decided that there still had to be enough reason to still play a DfA, and that I was starting to overload the class with
abilities as it was.

I didn't want the class to be completely different, so I left in the Auras (which pretty much defined the DS before), and Touch of
Vitality, along with several other features.

I'm still not sure if it's done though, which is why I'm posting here. The later levels, until level 20, are pretty light on
features, though I don't see that as too much of an issue. You still get more powerful, with bonuses and features and damage still
accruing. I'm not sure. I think it looks like a class I'd definitely want to play. Big Grin
« Last Edit: February 01, 2009, 03:37:01 PM by VennDygrem » Logged

VennDygrem
Member
Grape ape
*
Posts: 1689


VennDygrem
Email
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2009, 02:16:56 PM »

Changelog:

//02/02/09: Changed breath weapon number of dice to = class level.

//03/14/09: Added Knowledge (Arcana) as a class skill, as per errata for the standard Dragon Shaman.

//03/16/09: Removed damage die size increases for breath weapon.

//03/22/09: Added Skill bonus at level 17, and Perfect flight at level 19.

Pending Changes:
Dragon Apotheosis still needs to be tweaked.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2009, 02:06:31 AM by VennDygrem » Logged

Pages: 1
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.11 | SMF © 2006-2008, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!