Renaming Fantasy Shamans/Shamanism (+)

[Umbran]

So "shaman" isn't to be used for indigenous people of another continent because of ethnolinguistics, but re-titling a collective word by use of Greek and Latin terms is okay...?

Mod Note:
This is a "+" (meaning "positive") thread. That notation means it is for input or discussion from folks who are on-board with the basic premise. If you aren't, this thread isn't for you, and we ask that you not argue against it, to shut down the discussion. You are free to disagree with this premise, but if you want to state that, you should do it in a separate discussion. Thanks.

Our long-term play group member and close friend is res-born and as full-blooded as such people are, and his word-choice has always been "medicine man/woman" for specific individuals and (gasp! eek!) shamanism for the collective healer experience. But cutesy re-naming that is deemed appropriate by folks not of the culture nor belief-system is quite an internet past time.

Your group clearly should use the language your friend prefers.

But, a thing to remember is that under-represented communities are not monoliths with only one opinion. Your friend has preferred language, but we have seen others request other terminology.

 

[Tonguez]

Mod Note:
This is a "+" (meaning "positive") thread. That notation means it is for input or discussion from folks who are on-board with the basic premise. .

I wasn’t aware that + threads were a thing, so thank you for the information
Certainly something worth noting for future +

 

[TheSword]

Sybil
Seer
Acolyte
Adept
Hedge Witch
Incanter
Auger
Soothsayer
Haruspex

I think my favorite in the list is Seer, Adept and Hedge Witch. Both suggest secret knowledge of things most folks can’t see, which is the essence of a shaman.

 

[Argyle King]

But what are some terms that can be used to refer to the act of contacting and negotiating with spirits, calling upon them to aid you or others, driving out evil spirits, healing spiritual ailments, and the people who specialize in these practices?

Anyone got any good latin or greek words that have a good ring to them? What would the greek -mancy terminology be?

•Medium
•Geistermancer (if you don't mind German influence)
•Onimancer (...Japanese...)
•Augur (though, this would imply reading omens)
•Spiritologist (In a world where spirits are real and tangible forces to understand, dealing with them could be viewed as a valid science.)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Sybil
Seer
Acolyte
Adept
Hedge Witch
Incanter
Auger
Soothsayer
Haruspex

I think my favorite in the list is Seer, Adept and Hedge Witch. Both suggest secret knowledge of things most folks can’t see, which is the essence of a shaman.

Seer has weight, for sure.

Hedge Witch is actually really close to the title of a story i'm working on set in the world of my game, the protagonist is a "petty dabbler" in magic, a decent but out of practice athlete, and the only thing special about him is circumstance, and a high learning intelligence, ie ability to learn new skills fairly quickly. Nothing remotely superhuman, but good. He was introduced to the hidden world (in game terms this is his Catalyst, which is what caused him to become Wise to the supernatural) by way of a demon trying to kill him, and he did some research, sketched out a binding spell, and managed to just barely get it done and survive. Now he is trying to catch up, learn everything he needs to know, and help people along the way, including his best friend who he recently learned is actually a dryad from another world. He is a Hedge Mage, because he has a knack for magic but very little training, and often puts more ritual and such into his workings than are actually needed, and finds overly complex solutions that any trained practitioner would know how to do very simply.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

•Medium
•Geistermancer (if you don't mind German influence)
•Onimancer (...Japanese...)
•Augur (though, this would imply reading omens)
•Spiritologist (In a world where spirits are real and tangible forces to understand, dealing with them could be viewed as a valid science.)

Those are interesting, for sure. Augur is a fun variant of See or Oracle.

 

[Dire Bare]

Eh, it's a + page. Personally, I can't think of any game where any type of magic using character was referred to as a shaman other than World of Warcraft. I know D&D has used the term for NPCs, though maybe at some point they had a PC class called a Shaman, but I don't think I've played any other game with a shaman class or character type in it.

Personally, I prefer that a game doesn't invent whole cloth an interesting or cutesy name that either I or my players will have trouble remembering. But there are plenty of other words one might use in place of shaman. Shadowrun has magicians and adepts, and there's old classics including sorcerer, wizard, seer, and enchanter.

I take it back about the whole cloth thing. Sort of. If this new and interesting word is tied into the setting I don't mind so much. It worked for Dune. But if the author is just inventing a new word for the sake of inventing a new word I find it annoying. Like reading a fantasy novel where they start adding unnecessary apostrophes and vowels to character's names just to make it seem more fantastic I guess.

D&D has never started with shaman as a core class (well, maybe in 4E) . . . but almost every edition did get a full 20-level shaman class at some point, sometimes multiple different versions. I look at the shaman the same way I look at the psion . . . it's popular enough to show up each edition, but the designers haven't figured it out yet, to push it to being a PHB Day 1 class.