Quote Originally Posted by AMFV View Post
The issue isn't that it's weak. The issue is that mainly you're there for your aura. So your function is to stand there. You get a metabreath feat... And then your function is to breathe one time at the start of combat and then stand there. It's just not a fun gameplay loop. The auras can be quite powerful. And The Meta breath breath weapon thing is usually impactful for at least a couple turns
Except you aren't looking at the character as a whole. The character gets medium BAB, medium armor and shield proficiency, and two good saves too. While you aren't a character with a lot of skill points, for the most part the skills you do have are useful even when not fully invested in. The combat loop is as simple as it is for any other medium BAB class and you don't see them sitting back doing nothing. Metabreaths can be incredibly powerful. Set up a heightened maximized clinging breath for 10 rounds and watch as enemies try to remove it and fail, wasting full-round actions and falling prone to improve their odds all while simply dying as you wait for their deaths or remove their heads. I'd argue that a fighter, barbarian, paladin, and ranger are even more "boring" in that they are also incredibly one note in how they approach combat. But what they don't have is an area attack that can shape the battle field to their advantage. What exactly would you argue is more fun about a barbarian mechanically? That they get a once per encounter, x per day rage they can use that gives them higher numbers and then just do the same things the dragon shaman can do without their features? Dragon shaman is not that boring mechanically and I think the issue is that the common thing to do is to conflate numbers with fun and call it a day. The dragon shaman is not a flashy class, but it doesn't need to be. It has tactical elements to it that do provide a neat interaction with combat that is different from other classes and you get unlimited uses of dragon's breath.