Danceofmasks
First Post
It's a superior weapon, and defensive says you have to be proficient.
Although ..
Enchant the parrying dagger as a Mage's Weapon, and you'll get proficiency as a property.
Shaman AC too low?
- Thread starter vhailor
- Start date
It's a superior weapon, and defensive says you have to be proficient.
Although ..
Enchant the parrying dagger as a Mage's Weapon, and you'll get proficiency as a property.
If you're insistent about having your Shaman in melee combat, I'd consider his weapon options:
simple melee, longspear.
Consider that last one-- it's a military melee weapon, with reach. I consider that to be a strong hint on the class designers that a Shaman is supposed to stand behind a defender (or at least his spirit creature) and go stabby stabby from five feet away.
Think about it-- You have a character class with a do-it-yourself-insta wall between you and an enemy, with the ability to strike but not necessarily get struck back.
Who needs armor when you can shift one square back, then use a minor action to summon up that wall again?
simple melee, longspear.
Consider that last one-- it's a military melee weapon, with reach. I consider that to be a strong hint on the class designers that a Shaman is supposed to stand behind a defender (or at least his spirit creature) and go stabby stabby from five feet away.
Think about it-- You have a character class with a do-it-yourself-insta wall between you and an enemy, with the ability to strike but not necessarily get struck back.
Who needs armor when you can shift one square back, then use a minor action to summon up that wall again?
Doctor Proctor
First Post
If you're insistent about having your Shaman in melee combat, I'd consider his weapon options:
simple melee, longspear.
Consider that last one-- it's a military melee weapon, with reach. I consider that to be a strong hint on the class designers that a Shaman is supposed to stand behind a defender (or at least his spirit creature) and go stabby stabby from five feet away.
Think about it-- You have a character class with a do-it-yourself-insta wall between you and an enemy, with the ability to strike but not necessarily get struck back.
Who needs armor when you can shift one square back, then use a minor action to summon up that wall again?
One problem there. They still haven't explained how to hold your Totem and the Longspear at the same time...WTF? I suppose you might just need to take Quickdraw and use a free action to move to hold the spear in off-hand, and then Quickdraw to draw and use your Totem, then a minor to put it back, plus another free action to wield the spear properly again. Seems like a pain in the butt to me... (Seriously, they need the equivalent of a pact dagger, but for Longspears)
Now, the good news is that Longspears are both spears and polearms, which means you could pick up something like Polearm gamble...although I'm not sure how easy that's going to be to meet the pre-reqs. However, it's at least an option for you.
Edit: Realized that the Spirits can make an OA through the Spirit Fangs and Spirit Shield powers. This still doesn't fix all the issues with simultaneously wielding your Longspear and your Totem though...
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Danceofmasks
First Post
Well, Spirit's Fangs is effectively an OA ..
But yeah .. I'm struggling to make that longspear work.
But yeah .. I'm struggling to make that longspear work.
Doctor Proctor
First Post
Whoops! You are correct about that. I was thinking of actual OA's, which it can't make, but there are the two Spirit powers (Spirit Fangs and Spirit Shield) that do effectively function as an OA. So yeah, I guess you might be able to effectively use it as a Shield if you go the Stalker route. However, Spirit Shield isn't going to be a real effective deterrant to enemies coming afte you, as it's only going to do WIS mod damage on a hit. But Spirit Fangs might be an effective deterrant...
Well, there's one thing in the PHB2 that can help with that. If you read p. 119, "Implements" last line:
"...Without an implement, you can still use these powers."
So that solves your problem right there. And if your party came across a magic implement *and* a magic long spear, I seriously doubt you'd get both. At that point, you choose whether or not you want to be the melee toting Stabby Stabby Shaman, or the smarter one that stands between a target and some sort of meatshield.
Honestly, I don't think the shaman was made for the former. I think of him/her as a healer/controller. Give the magic long spear to the tank, have *him* stand an additional five feet away from your target, with the spirit companion adjacent protecting your flank. You are not made for hand to hand fighting-- why do you insist on killing yourself?
Oh, man! For some reason I assumed the totem was like a holy symbol, in that it didn't occupy a slot. But then I looked it up, and yeah... it's pretty much a primal rod. That sucks that you need to actually wield it... and it also makes me wonder why they'd give longspear proficiency (and only and specifically longspear proficiency) to a class who uses implement powers, and implement powers only. That's... bizarre.
webrunner
First Post
Same page, under "Spirit"
"If a spirit power includes Spirit in it's range, you determine line of sight and line of effect from your spirit companion's space, which is the power's origin square"
jgsugden
Legend
You can walk around with a longspear in one hand, but you need to switch it to two hands to make it useful as a weapon. Drawing or sheathing an object is a minor action.
When my shaman walks around, he'll have a longspear in one hand and his totem in the other. When the battle begins, he'll focus on the totem as an implement, but that spear will be in hand - just in case. If someone sneaks up on him, he'll have to use it (or his rod) as an improvised weapon for OAs, but when he is ready to move into melee, he can stow the totem as a minor and go at it with the spear. If you're going into melee, you're probably not trying to use totem powers at the same time, so you're probably ok in that situation.
When my shaman walks around, he'll have a longspear in one hand and his totem in the other. When the battle begins, he'll focus on the totem as an implement, but that spear will be in hand - just in case. If someone sneaks up on him, he'll have to use it (or his rod) as an improvised weapon for OAs, but when he is ready to move into melee, he can stow the totem as a minor and go at it with the spear. If you're going into melee, you're probably not trying to use totem powers at the same time, so you're probably ok in that situation.
