My chaos gnome brass dragon shaman just hit 3rd level, which means he can choose a new aura. Which one should I pick? I already have Power (+1 to damage), Resistance (fire resistance 5), and Vigor (fast healing 1 if below half hit points).
I can't decide between Shield (fireshield effect 2 fire) or Armor (DR 1/magic).
Presence and Senses I can wait until levels 7 and 9 to get.
The party is made up of:
catfolk ranger/swashbuckler archer
homebrewed raven-folk warlock (usual player)
aasimar paladin (usual player)
tiefling rogue/wizard (occasional player)
dragonwrought kobold battle sorcerer tank (occasional player)
Usually it's just 3 or 4 PCs.
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I'd have gone with senses as one of mine, it gives the entire party a bonus to spot, listen, and initiative checks. But if you value in-battle, rather than battle-prep, then I'd go with the fire shield. You have vigor, and can heal after the battle to half HP, why not make the enemy pay every time they hit you?
You can't go wrong with the fire shield feedback effect. Last campaign had a dragon shaman and making the foe with every melee attack adds up quickly. His was elec which probably fewer creatures have resistance vs than fire, but yours should still be very impressive at low and mid levels.
The problem with the shield aura is that the enemy has to actually hit. I played one in the last campaign I was a player for and it was insane doing massive damage from feedback from myself and the tank, until the DM read a little further and for the shield to damage, the enemy needs to hit. I don't think I used it at all after that until I took the twin aura feat (the earliest level is 12).
I would go with Senses. It was my default aura for the bonus to initiative. You might also consider that you have no auras that are useful outside of combat right now and this one is a great pick for a constant effect.
I have to admit I would go with the Senses aura, too. I have an irrational aversion to abilities that only work when someone's punching me in the face.
My chaos gnome brass dragon shaman just hit 3rd level, which means he can choose a new aura. Which one should I pick? I already have Power (+1 to damage), Resistance (fire resistance 5), and Vigor (fast healing 1 if below half hit points).
Shield usually works best when you has a decent amount of melee characters. Then the damge output is good and the damage taken is more evenly distributed. Based on what I see of your group it looks like you and the Paladin are the two frontliner and maybe a rogue/wizard. That's maybe four point of fire damage per round while the two d10 character are probably taking 4x that. Not much of a trade off. Don't get me wrong the Dragon Shaman in our group has it and it works out fairly well but our group typically has three to four people in melee and high Con stats so they can take a lot of damage. My personal preferance is that Senses and Vigor are a must for any Dragon Shaman. The armor is great at low levels and start to dwindle in use in the mid to high levels. The two Dragon Shamans I have seen in play have never taken power. Resistance can be nice depending on your element type (fire being the best). If you have acces to Dragon Magic then there are a couple more in there. I believe there is one that gives bonus to knowledge and spellcraft checks (I think) which with your group make-up might not be a bad one either but once again probably better in the 7th - 9th level range. I guess I would vote Senses.
Thanks!
I might go with Senses now.
The Power has actually been useful. That 1 extra point of damage has been enough a couple times to drop a foe.
I would second senses. But energy shield is great too, the damage increases with the aura bonus.
In one game, we had a dragon shaman and a druid that worked together summoning animals and then using them to be hit by the enemy forcing them to take fire damage. The druid even used the summoned beasties to deliberately provoked AoOs to do this; attack then step 10 feet back. They did this while invisible.
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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I ran a bronze dragon shaman, and selected Vigor, Senses, and Shield.
It is correct that shield works only if the enemy lands a melee attack, but MAN! did my DM hate that character. He'd get all happy that a monster hit for damage, only to be brought down a notch with my reply, "and it takes 1 Acid."
It got ugly when I started saying, "and takes 2 Acid".
The Armor option is likely to get less useful within the next few levels: I agree that Senses may be your best bet; I don't know many dragon shamans that wait until 7 or 9 for that.