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ocato
2008-11-12, 01:20 PM
I've been reading some books and doing a little light research on Marshals and Dragon Shamans and I'm a bit put off. It seems to me that both classes lack a fair bit of potency on their own and-- worse yet, don't seem to multiclass well because of the severe lack of items or feats that boost the power of their auras. It seems to me that the only real use for one of these classes is in gestalt, and even there you're looking at Marshal as the superior choice (due to its ability to learn any draconic/dragon shaman aura in place of a major aura as out-lined in Dragon Magic).

Now, the best ways to amp auras up seem to be a few items. The Rearguard Cape (MiC) grants +2 to a major aura for 10 rounds so long as you're outnumbered. Seems a bit dodgy. Another item gives +1 for 5 rounds (I think it's part of the same set as Badge of Valor).

So, where are the feats? Apparently WotC has more or less abandoned these classes, as they don't really get the extended attention that others have. I mean, sure, there are a few small additions in dragon magic, but overall, there aren't a lot of options that I found.

So where are the feats? Would I have to homebrew some things? It wouldn't be hard, 2 or 3 feats tops and this is a pretty devastating combination. Something like "Song of the Soldier" that would allow you to stack Bard and Marshal levels for the purpose of inspire courage and the bonus to major auras. Maybe throw something in along the lines of "Any effect that improves a Bard's Inspire Courage Song also affects any Major Aura (or auras) activated" with some clean-up text so that, say, Inspirational Boost or badge of valor improve the aura but only as long as the bard's Inspire Courage is active. Whereas Song of the Heart would grant a flat +1 and a Vest of Legends would improve your effective level by 5 for determining both Inspire Courage and your Major Auras. Then take the Double Draconic Auras feat, cross out draconic, and bam, new feat. You can have 2 major auras active, requires L12. Of course, you'd probably want a feat that gives you X more auras since otherwise either your spells would suck or you auras known would be awful.

But before I do that, what are the best ways to buff Auras? The less complicated, the better.

Project_Mayhem
2008-11-12, 01:23 PM
yeah, feats that work like Silent Hunter or whatever sound like the easiest way.

BRC
2008-11-12, 01:29 PM
I've been reading some books and doing a little light research on Marshals and Dragon Shamans and I'm a bit put off. It seems to me that both classes lack a fair bit of potency on their own
There you have it. DnD is a game intended to be played as a group, while a Marshal on their own sucks, they arn't supposed to be on their own. They are supposed to help their teamates, you can't look at a marshal and say "That is a bad class" unless you consider it's role within a group. The Aura that gives a bonus to saves. It dosn't seem by much, but that could be the difference between your Batman wizard with a spellbook full of kickass, and a charred pile of soon-to-be dragon droppings.

ocato
2008-11-12, 01:31 PM
I think I may have misworded that. I meant the class seemed weak as a standalone class. It struck me that it's abilities weren't enough and that to make the best of them, you would want to somehow combine it with another class.

RagnaroksChosen
2008-11-12, 02:27 PM
Never played a marshel but

Dragon shamans rock... they definetly arn't week some where between a ranger/rogue and a wizard (non batman)...

You should read the dragon shaman guide.