Talk:Path of the Dragon Shaman (5e Subclass)
I feel that the abilities need to be tied more closely to the barbarians Rages, much as the other two archetypes are already. As existed only the basic elemental damage addition and the breath weapon function with the rage mechanic, with the resists and wings running outside of it and the spells bypassing it completely. Comparatively, at least two core attributes of the existing two classes tie heavily into the rage mechanic.
Lay On Hands doesn't seem to fit, at least to me eyes. I'm not sure how a raging dragon barbarian can manifest healing on others at such an early level (especially considering the standard 5e MM dragons cannot). Perhaps altering this to an absorption of damage = self healing for their draconic resistance type? Maybe something similar to the EE spell Absorb Elements, reducing damage (or healing) whilst gaining a power-up on physical strikes for the elemental type? Something can really apply to the concept of the archetype as a brawling dragon shaman/barbarian.
With the spells gained for the lvl 10 Draconic Attunement, have you considered for simplicity just granting Chromatic Orb (damage type) to each, as some of these really double up on what the breath weapons give (with gold/red, the burning hands is more effective than their breath weapon), and the witch bolt for bronze/blue is relatively detrimental to the combat aspect of the class (takes an action to maintain the effect). Additionally on this, with the uses/rage you can actually get more uses from the breath weapon ability -before- you hit lvl 20, than if you do due to the conversion to the use = con mod. At 19th level, you can use it 6 times (once per rage), if you have a con of 16 (+3 mod), when you reach 20th lvl you drop from a max of 6 uses to a max of 3 uses. It seems an odd thing to penalize over, though keeping it separate from the unlimited rages is obviously necessary. Perhaps listing it as: "You can use this ability a number of times equal to the amount of rages you have (maximum 7) per rest" for example?
As an alternate on the spellcasting, perhaps granting a spell select table similar to a divine domain, with chosen spells to simulate different aspects of a dragon and its abilities (maybe even one table per damage type)? You could give the exemption to use during a rage for these, and give the class a casting progression similar to the Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster at 1/4th standard, along with a very limited range of spells chosen from the Druids spell list for a more shamanistic feeling.
On the whole, I feel the Dragon part, but not a lot of the Shaman.
--Kahz (talk) 09:54, 17 August 2015 (MDT)
Not a bad adaptation of the Dragon Shaman, but I thought the Lay on Hands power was a little extreme for a barbarian to have. I would remove it and give them an ability like Second Wind, like the fighter, and also increase the breath weapon damage a bit. Burst damage like that needs to be high, or why bother? Especially when youre a barbarian lol. The cantrips and spells were a nice touch. Also there should be some bonus or something like for if the Dragon Shaman in question is a Dragonborn. At least it seems like it lol
I think it's unbalanced[edit]
While the cantrips are not game breaking in themselves. the fact that the can be cast while rageing is a little much.And lay on hands is too broken. a barbarian and a healer whelp why don't you add a defence buff to the healed ally's for a topper to completely break it. barbarians aren't medics replace this with the monks self healing ability from the way of the open palm and its a little more balanced. the rest of the class is fine nothing too game breaking but to make a tank with a rocket launcher and a healing ray that can fly yep thats broken.