| LightLunas |
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In the process of changing my campaign from 3.5 to Pathfinder, I made this Pathfinder version of the Dragon Shaman, using the opportunity to fix some of the problems I had with this class and thought I'd post it here for some opinions and others who are interested in this class in Pathfinder. In the conversion, I put more emphasis on the "Dragon" part than the "Shaman" part, the class is now less a natural shaman that happens to have a dragon as a totem, and more what the 3.5 flavour was talking about, a class for those that worship dragons, their strengths and aspects and wish to have some of that power themselves. I'll explain some of the decisions below.
Dragon Shaman
Hit Die: D10 BAB: Medium Fort Save: Good Ref Save: Bad Will Save: Good
Class Skills (2+Int Modifier per level): Climb, Craft, Fly, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Perception
Lv1: Draconic Aura+1, Totem Dragon
Lv2: Skill Focus
Lv3: Draconic Adaptation
Lv4: Breath Weapon (2d6), Draconic Resolve, Aura+2
Lv5: Natural Armor+1
Lv6: Breath Weapon (3d6)
Lv7: Skill Focus, Draconic Ability
Lv8: Breath Weapon (4d6), Aura+3
Lv9: Energy Immunity
Lv10: Breath Weapon (5d6), Natural Armor+2, Totem Transformation I (1/day)
Lv11: Enhanced Auras
Lv12: Breath Weapon (6d6), Aura+4, Totem Transformation I (2/day)
Lv13: Totem Transformation II (2/day), Share Draconic Adaptation
Lv14: Breath Weapon (7d6), Skill Focus, Totem Transformation II (3/day)
Lv15: Natural Armor+3
Lv16: Breath Weapon (8d6), Aura+5, Totem Transformation II (4/day)
Lv17: Totem Transformation III (4/day)
Lv18: Breath Weapon (9d6), Totem Transformation III (5/day)
Lv19: Draconic Ability
Lv20: Breath Weapon (10d6), Aura+6, Totem Transformation III (at will)
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Dragon shamans are proficient with simple weapons, with light and medium armor, and with shields (except tower shields).
Bonus Languages: A dragon shaman’s bonus language options include Draconic.
Draconic Aura (Su): You can channel the mighty powers of dragonkind to project an aura that grants you and nearby allies a special benefit.
Projecting an aura is a swift action, and you can only project one draconic aura at a time. An aura remains in effect until you use a free action to dismiss it or you activate another aura in its place. You can have a draconic aura active continually; thus, an aura can be in effect at the start of an encounter even before you take your first turn.
Unless otherwise noted, your draconic aura affects all allies within 30 feet (including yourself) with line of effect to you. Your aura is dismissed if you become unconscious or are slain, but otherwise it remains in effect even if you are incapable of acting.
The bonus granted by your aura begins at +1 and increases to +2 at 4th level, +3 at 8th level, +4 at 12th level, +5 at 16th level, and +6 at 20th level. As a 1st-level dragon shaman, you know how to project three auras chosen from the list below. At every oddnumbered level after that, you learn one additional draconic aura of your choice, until all seven auras are known at 9th level. Each time you activate a draconic aura, you can choose from any of the auras that you know.
Enhanced Aura: At 11th level, you can enhance your current aura for a number of rounds equal to the aura bonus plus your Charisma modifier as a move action to gain an additional effect. You can use this ability a number of times equal to half your class level per day. When you switch your aura, the enhancement stops.
Energy Shield: Any creature striking you or your ally with a natural attack or a nonreach melee weapon is dealt 2 points of energy damage for each point of your aura bonus. The energy type is that of your totem dragon’s damage-dealing breath weapon (see below).
Enhanced: At the beginning of your turn, all enemies within 5 feet of an ally take the aura bonus as energy damage.
Power: Bonus on melee damage rolls equal to your aura bonus.
Enhanced: Instead of the normal effect, give your allies an enhancement bonus to their strength of 2 times the aura bonus.
Presence: Bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks equal to your aura bonus
Enhanced: Gain Frightful Presence 30ft, DC is 10+half your class level+your Charisma modifier, and the effect duration is a number of d6 equal to your aura bonus.
Resistance: Resistance to your totem dragon’s energy type equal to 5 × your aura bonus.
Enhanced: Spell Resistance 5+Class level.
Senses: Bonus on Perception checks, as well as on Initiative checks, equal to your aura bonus.
Enhanced: Blindsense 30ft.
Toughness: DR 1/magic for each point of your aura bonus (up to 6/magic at 20th level).
Enhanced: Bonus on all saves equal to your aura bonus.
Vigor: Fast healing 1 for each point of your aura bonus, but only affects characters at or below one-half their full normal hit points.
Enhanced: Ignore the following conditions: Exhausted, Fatigued, Nauseated, Sickened. If an ally has ability damage, they can treat that ability score a number of points higher equal to your aura bonus, up to their original score, unless that ability score is at 0 due to the ability damage.
Totem Dragon: You must choose a totem dragon from among the true dragons appearing in the Bestiary (black, blue, brass, bronze, copper, gold, green, red, silver, or white). You must choose a dragon whose alignment is within one step of yours. You gain additional class skills and a particular sort of breath weapon based on the dragon you select as your totem.
Draconic Adaptation: At 3rd level, you gain an ability based on your totem dragon. An extraordinary ability is always active, a spell-like ability can be activated at will. Spell-like abilities have a caster level equal to your class level and their DC is 10 + spell level + Charisma modifier. At 13th level, you can choose as a swift action to share the effect of your draconic adaptation with any or all allies within 30 feet. In the case of spell-like abilities, you must make this decision when you activate the ability. The benefit lasts until you spend a free action to rescind it or (if the effect has a limited duration) the effect ends, whichever comes first.
Draconic Ability: At 19th level, you gain another ability based on your totem dragon. This ability works like Draconic Adaptation, except you can't share the effect.
Black—Handle Animal, Stealth, Swim. Line of acid.
Draconic Adaptation: Water Breathing (Ex): You can breathe underwater indefinitely and can freely use spells and other abilities underwater.
Draconic Ability: Darkness (Sp)
Blue—Bluff, Stealth, Survival. Line of electricity.
Draconic Adaptation: Sound Imitation (Ex): You can mimic any voice or sound you have heard by making a successful Bluff check against a listener’s Sense Motive check.
Draconic Ability: Ventriloquism (Sp)
Brass—Bluff, Diplomacy, Sense Motive. Line of fire.
Draconic Adaptation: Endure Elements (Sp)
Draconic Ability: Speak with Animals (Sp)
Bronze—Disguise, Diplomacy, Swim. Line of electricity.
Draconic Adaptation: Water Breathing (Ex): You can breathe underwater indefinitely and can freely use spells and other abilities underwater.
Draconic Ability: Fog Cloud (Sp)
Copper—Acrobatics, Bluff, Stealth. Line of acid.
Draconic Adaptation: Climb Stone (Ex): You can climb on stone surfaces as though using the Spider Climb spell.
Draconic Ability: Grease (Sp)
Gold—Disguise, Heal, Sense Motive. Cone of fire.
Draconic Adaptation: Detect Evil (Sp)
Draconic Ability: Bless (Sp)
Green—Bluff, Stealth, Survival. Cone of acid.
Draconic Adaptation: Woodland Stride (Ex): You can move through any sort of foliage at full speed without taking damage or suffering impairment. Areas of foliage that have been magically manipulated affect you normally.
Draconic Ability: Entangle (Sp)
Red—Appraise, Bluff, Sense Motive. Cone of fire.
Draconic Adaptation: Smoke Vision (Ex): You can see perfectly in smoky conditions.
Draconic Ability: Pyrotechnics (Sp)
Silver—Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Disguise. Cone of cold.
Draconic Adaptation: Fog Vision (Ex): You can see perfectly in fog and clouds.
Draconic Ability: Fog Cloud (Sp)
White—Stealth, Survival, Swim. Cone of cold.
Draconic Adaptation: Icewalking (Ex): You can climb on ice as though using the Spider Climb spell. You can move across icy surfaces without penalty and don't need to make an acrobatics check to run or charge on ice.
Draconic Ability: Gust of Wind (Sp)
Skill Focus: At 2nd level, you gain Skill Focus as a bonus feat. You must apply the feat to one of the three class skills granted by your chosen totem dragon. For example, a blue
dragon shaman can select Skill Focus (Bluff), Skill Focus (Hide), or Skill Focus (Spellcraft).
At 7th level, and again at 14th level, you gain Skill Focus in another of the class skills granted by your chosen totem dragon. If you already have Skill Focus in all three of the skills associated with your totem dragon, you gain Skill Focus in any other dragon shaman class skill.
Breath Weapon (Su): At 4th level, you gain a breath weapon corresponding to your totem dragon. Regardless of the area one affects or the type of energy damage it deals, all breath weapons deal 2d6 points of damage, plus an extra 1d6 points of damage for every two additional class levels (3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 8th level, and so forth). A successful Reflex save halves the damage dealt; the save DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 your dragon shaman 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.
Cone-shaped breath weapons extend out to 15 feet at 4th level, increasing to 30 feet at 12th level and to 60 feet at 20th level. Line-shaped breath weapons are 30 feet long at
4th level, increasing to 60 feet at 12th level and to 120 feet at 20th level.
Draconic Resolve (Ex): At 4th level, you gain immunity to paralysis and sleep effects. You also become immune to the frightful presence of dragons.
Natural Armor (Ex): At 5th level, your skin thickens, developing faint scales. Your natural armor bonus improves by 1. At 10th level, this improvement increases to +2 and at 15th level to +3.
Energy Immunity (Ex): At 9th level, you gain immunity to the energy type of the breath weapon you gained at 4th level.
Totem Transformation (Su): At 10th level, you can transform into your totem dragon. You can transform once per day for a number of minutes equal to your class level. This ability functions like Form of the Dragon I except for the following differences: The natural armor stacks with that gained from your class feature and you keep your own breath weapon in all aspects instead of gaining the one from the spell.
At 12th level and every 2 levels after, you can use this ability once more per day, until you can use it at will at 20th level. At 13th level, this ability functions like Form of the Dragon II instead, and at 17th level like Form of the Dragon III.
So, as explained above, to make it more about the dragon part than the shaman part, I removed Touch of Vitality and the Commune to add the Totem Transformation and the Enhanced Auras that give some of the iconic dragon abilities (and changed Knowledge (Nature) to Arcana). I also decided to keep both the medium BAB and the D10, I think a good BAB wouldn't fit the Dragon Shaman that much, as I don't imagine the class as one with a lot of battle/weapon training (they don't even use martial weapons after all), but I still kept the D10 to represent a bit of draconic resilience.
In the process of updating the class skills from the totem dragon for Pathfinder skills, I also switched some of them around, usually in favour of skills that dragon version actually has as class skills.
I also changed some draconic adaptations when introducing the draconic ability, partly to emphasize the split on the adaptations being passive and the abilities being active, and partly because there was just too much Water Breathing.
Btw, since I saw a different interpretation of the Dragon Shaman that went along the lines of "I didn't know dragons were so altruistic" for why the auras don't make sense, I just wanted to say that my interpretation is that the auras are about the strong presence dragons always exert, and how they can strongly influence other people (that's also why I really wanted to include Frightful Presence somewhere).
| DungeonmasterCal |
Looks pretty good. Before he quit gaming, my son was playing a Dragon Shaman in our old 3.5 game.