D&D (2024) How should the Shaman be implemented in 1DnD?

[Shardstone]

Shaman is derived from the Sanskrit word Sramana, which has spread to Tungusic people in North Asia as Saman, and then to Russian where it became Shaman in English. But most peoples view of what a Shaman is doesn't usually apply to people in India or China or Russia as it's being used to describe almost any sort of Animistic practitioner.

As a generic term that's used to describe a lot of different things, but often with a colonist outsider view in describing certain practices, that's not much different from applying the term "Barbarian" to a lot of things.

Calling Shaman offensive is like saying Cleric is offensive IMO.

 

[mellored]

I could see 3 druid subclasses covering the different types of shaman.

First, totem. Uses channel nature to summon a totem. Until broken, it makes a zone that helps alies and harms enemies.

Second is a spirit. When you use wild shape or conjure animals, you can expend channel nature to make them a spirit form. Which gets some bonus.

Third is voodoo. Collect a piece of hair or similar with an unarmed or beast attack, and you can channel nature to make a voodoo doll. Damaging the doll auto-damages the target. (Possibly up to a maximum before the doll is destroyed).

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Yeah it's one of the concepts to me which seems like a druid subclass. But it's also one which I see most often mentioned in "more classes" threads, so I thought I'd cover it.

I think a lot of the attraction of the shaman is the idea of a nature themed caster that has 0% of its power budget spent on wildshape related stuff.

I prefer that the Core Druid does not get Wild Shape for combat (only a Critter Shape at low-level) and that Wild Shape is part of a Circle of the Beasts subclass.

I don't see the need for a Shaman as something different than a Druid. It already doesn't have a recognizable identity, and I can't think of a niche that a new Primal Priest needs to fill, let alone feels like a "Shaman."

 

[Bacon Bits]

It's weird how the name 'shaman' is apparently culturally insensitive, while 'druid' isn't?

I guess it's due to druids not really being around anymore after a combination of romans followed by Christianity caused the loss of the native culture.

No, it's mostly because "Druid" is what the Druids called themselves. Well, except in Celtic or Gaelic.

"Shaman" is a categorical term used by Christian European scholars to describe a wide array of disparate and unrelated religions from across the globe. They're typically the ethnic religions of indigenous tribes. Nobody called themselves a shaman. It was a word first used by others to describe them.

It's insensitive for the same reason the indigenous peoples of North America aren't called "Indians" anymore.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's weird how the name 'shaman' is apparently culturally insensitive, while 'druid' isn't?

Today's druids are people who attempted to recreate an ancient tradition a few decades ago. In contrast, there are cultures that have an unbroken shamanic tradition going back to prehistory. It's a pretty different situation.

That said, it's probably worth treating any religious tradition that brings people comfort and happiness and doesn't hurt anyone else with respect.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

As a generic term that's used to describe a lot of different things, but often with a colonist outsider view in describing certain practices, that's not much different from applying the term "Barbarian" to a lot of things.

Another class name that is probably going away at some point. At the very least, the class and the cultural baggage need to be separated.

You can have a lightly armored, but very tough warrior like Conan or a berserker without also saying those characters are illiterate or are scared of magic (which is an extremely weird thing to have stuck them with, presumably as a surrogate for the racist trope of "savages" being scared of technology).

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

To create the shaman/animist as a class with its own mark or personality is possible, but it would need some time and work, and the feedback

I imagine shaman like a mixture of two previous classes with special game mechanics, the vestige pact binder (3.5 Tome of Magic) and the totemist (Magic of Incarnum). The shaman would summonig a special spirit patron, and this would give a exclusive mini-list of spells, until it was replaced by a new summoning. And the shaman would summon a spirit ally, but the shaman could spend essence points, for a limited time, to unlock special talents of the spirit monter ally, for example effects as metamagic feats, or adding new monster traits, like better natural armor or weapons.

Of course this should be designed for a simple and fast gameplay.

What would be the place for the D&D animist? The summoner. There are players who like to play with monster allies.

* I suggest to add the "Invisible Landscape" as the transitive plane home of the spirits summoned by the shaman/animist.

 

[cbwjm]

I also created a Shaman Domain for the Cleric. I put it up on D&D Beyond and tried to make it public, but kept getting an error message. I think it was because I don't own any of the source books on the website, but I listed spell names in the subclass, or something. That's happened a few times when I try to make a subclass public and it seems to only happen when I list spells.

That's happened to me as well when posting home-brew that links to spells, I think I ended up just listing the spells without linking to them and it worked.

 

[Yaarel]

No, it's mostly because "Druid" is what the Druids called themselves. Well, except in Celtic or Gaelic.

"Shaman" is a categorical term used by Christian European scholars to describe a wide array of disparate and unrelated religions from across the globe. They're typically the ethnic religions of indigenous tribes. Nobody called themselves a shaman. It was a word first used by others to describe them.

It's insensitive for the same reason the indigenous peoples of North America aren't called "Indians" anymore.

This scholarly technical term "shamanism" is a really important word, and there isnt an other word for it. It is difficult to discontinue its use and still communicate clearly.

Maybe it helps to refer to a "shaman" in the scholarly sense as a "shamanic" or a "shamanist". At least there is some signal, that these shamanists are not the same thing as the original shamans.

 

[Yaarel]

For what it is worth, the Bard class is the most accurate class to describe reallife shamanists.

Maybe a Bard subclass can reuse the music abilities for various "pets".

Maybe call the subclass a "Mediator". The idea is, the Mediator is community leader who helps sort out conflicts between the members of the community. Notably, this community includes nature beings as well as Humanoids and other creatures of the community.

When the nature beings are helping the Mediator out, they are simply being neighborly. Like other members of the community, the nature beings appreciate the Mediator sorting out various problems, and are happy to do favors in return.

Charisma, including persuasion and negotiation, is an important aspect of the shamanist concept.