D&D 5E Shaman Tawk...possibilities for a 5e shaman.

[steeldragons]

So as not to further derail the Mystic thread. heh. Sorry about that. Thought it might be fun to start a separate thread. Keeping what's been said of Shaman in mind in the other thread, I present to you this lil' diddy I threw together.

Bard Archetype


The Shaman (College of the Unseen)
The bard who enters the College of the Unseen is initiated into the mysteries of shamanic practices and rites. Communing and controlling the creatures of the spirit world. Be they nature fey spirits or demonic or angelic beings, revered ancestors or the recent dead, the shaman is the person a community looks to to interact with and make sense of the worlds of unseen creatures often taken for granted by some cultures and dismissed as superstition by many others. Far from the lute-strumming magical minstrel or foppish fencing courtier, the shaman is often the counsel and magical caretaker of a strongly spiritual warrior- or hunter/gatherer-based society, often eschewing urban environments and reveling in combat as much as their warrior brothers and sisters. The traditions, histories and lore of the community, are their domain along with providing services through their shamanic magics as healer, adviser, protector of the land and people from magical/spiritual threats, and sometimes a leader of rite and ritual that might carry a role as sacred/religious leader.


3rd: Bonus Proficiencies
Gain proficiency with Herbalism Kit, and the History, Nature Lore, and Survival skills if not already chosen.


Spirit Sense: You can detect and see, unless completely obscured by cover, the presence of celesitals, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead within 60’.


6th: Spirit Guide: You gain a specific “spirit animal guide” that meets the criteria and has the abilities of a familiar, as per the Find Familiar spell, but takes on no physical form (normally), remaining a spirit creature (celestial, fey or fiend) that the shaman can see, unless dismissed back to the spirit world.


In addition to the normal abilities of a familiar, at all times, the Shaman can use a bonus action to entreat the spirit guide to one of the following commands, 1 + Cha. modifier times before needing a long rest:

• Ghostly Manifestation: Your spirit animal takes on a glowing etherreal form, visible to normal sight, and is able to take the Attack action against one foe within 15’ of you. They attack with whatever normal mode of the creature and add 2d6 psychic damage to their attack.
• Unseen Guidance: Your connection to your spirit guide allows you advantage to a Wisdom or Charisma based skill or ability roll.
• Silent Guardian: You evoke your spirit guide (and other friendly spirits) to act as Spirit Guardians, as the spell.

This feature increases to 2 + Cha. mod. times at 11th and 3 + Cha. mod. times at 16th level.


14th: Commune with Spirits: You have the connection and magical mastery to summon beings and creatures from spiritual planes. The shaman can use this ability to simulate any “Conjure X” spell of 6th level or lower. This includes: Animals, Minor Elementals, Woodland Beings, Elementals or Fey.


Alternately, you can use the spell to conjure an ancient spiritual being who can share secret, hidden or unknown information, as per the Contact Other Plane spell. The shaman may use their Charisma instead of Intelligence to make the DC15 roll to avoid the psychic damage of the spell.


The shaman can not use this feature again without completing a long rest.

 

[ninjayeti]

Interesting idea to make the shaman a bard subclass. It makes sense from the standpoint of a bard having the buff/debuff type spells that you would expect from a shaman. However, I think that from a fluff/lore/flavor standpoint the shaman is a totally different concept than the bard and they should be different classes rather than making one a subclass of the other. IMHO subclasses represent minor variations on a common concept - the "lute strumming magical minstrel" is a totally different concept than the primal, spirit summoning nature lover you describe.

From a mechanical standpoint the bard spell list lacks the Conjure X spells that should be the corner stone of a spirit summoner's abilities as well as some other nature-type spells that would seem appropriate for the shaman as you describe him. I know you have addressed the conjuration issue with the 14th level ability, but in my experience many characters don't hit 14th level (or do so only at the very end of the campaign) so I don't think this is the best solution.

Personally, I would use the bard class as a base and write up the shaman as an entirely new class with a more thematically appropriate spell list. If you are dead set on making the shaman a subclass of an existing class then I would consider using the druid as the base class.

 

[epithet]

I really liked the idea of creating the Shaman as a Spirit Pact Warlock.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Seems like the Druid's spell list would be a closer fit for the Shaman concept than the Bard's, and much closer than the Warlock's (though the Pact concept fits much better than the Druid's implied-group-oriented 'Circle,' more's the pity).

Of course, a full class could focus on the Fetch or Spirit Companion and/or use novel spellcasting mechanics and/or non-spell magical abilities to better-differentiate the class from the many existing casters.

 

[steeldragons]

My initial thought was for it to be a druid subclass, obviously. But, as you point out, the flavor of a "circle" doesn't quite fit...but isn't really any weirder, I suppose than the flavor of it being a "college."

The idea of making it a pact for a warlock is really intriguing, though.

I'm really not convinced it is sufficiently different...from a bard, druid or warlock...to warrant its own class with subclass breakdown. That way lies the road to bloat.

 

[Minigiant]

My initial thought was for it to be a druid subclass, obviously. But, as you point out, the flavor of a "circle" doesn't quite fit...but isn't really any weirder, I suppose than the flavor of it being a "college."

The idea of making it a pact for a warlock is really intriguing, though.

I'm really not convinced it is sufficiently different...from a bard, druid or warlock...to warrant its own class with subclass breakdown. That way lies the road to bloat.

I see it more as a druid subclass actually. The MM (p346) uses druid for tribal shamans. A Clycle of Spirits fits a "circle of life" theme where shamanistic druid don't meet in person but send there spirits to other circle members and their friends even after death.

"You knew my father?"
"Correction. I know your father."
"I hate to tell you this but he died a long time ago."
"NOPE! WRONG AGAIN!. He's alive and I'll show him to you. You follow o' Rafiki. He knows the way. Come on."

In addition to wildshaping normally, a druid of the circle of spirit could just summon a spirit version of the beast.


CALL SPIRIT COMPANION
When you choose this circle at level 2nd, you can call a spirit companion as a bonus action to anywhere within 10 feet of you. Calling a spirit expends one use of Wild Shape and you cannot use Wild Shape to transform while your companion is called.
You spirit companion can only take the forms you can transform into and has the same statistics as a beast you choose. You and your spirit companion can communicate via gestures and Druidic and it will follow your orders to the best of your ability. Your spirit companion remains for a number of hours equal to half your druid level (rounded down) at which point it disappears. If you fall unconscious or die, the spirit companion disappears and it also disappears if you dismiss it as a bonus action.
A spirit companion functions almost exactly like the beast it is based. A spirit companion doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep. Your spirit companion can pass through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain but takes 1d10 force damage if it end its turn inside an object or person other than you..

 

[steeldragons]

In addition to wildshaping normally, a druid of the circle of spirit could just summon a spirit version of the beast.
CALL SPIRIT COMPANION

And here is where we often find a parting in the road.

I had this exact thought to do as a druid circle...but in my case, it was "in lieu of", not "in addition to." That is, they would not get wildshaping at all, instead using that ability resource as summoning their spirit beast helper(s)...which, in implementation, is very similar to your idea.

[strike through]EDIT: The problem here becomes, druid's are getting wildshape at 2nd level and not picking their circle until 3rd...so that presents an issue.[/strike through]

EDIT EDIT: Just double checked and no it doesn't. Wildshape and Circle are both 2nd level. Ignore the above. So this could totally work instead.

 

[Minigiant]

And here is where we often find a parting in the road.

I had this exact thought to do as a druid circle...but in my case, it was "in lieu of", not "in addition to." That is, they would not get wildshaping at all, instead using that ability resource as summoning their spirit beast helper(s)...which, in implementation, is very similar to your idea.

[strike through]EDIT: The problem here becomes, druid's are getting wildshape at 2nd level and not picking their circle until 3rd...so that presents an issue.[/strike through]

EDIT EDIT: Just double checked and no it doesn't. Wildshape and Circle are both 2nd level. Ignore the above. So this could totally work instead.

I kept Wild Shape because I was thinking the druid shaman would get a higher level feature to unlock transforming with the spirit companion. Then at a higher level, they could fuse or something. Like the druid summons a wolf, wild shapes into a wolf, then they fuse into a glowing spirit wolf.

 

[steeldragons]

Actually, after giving the druid subclasses a once over...literally, nothing has to change of what I wrote for the bard.

Only a few changes: the proficiencies and spell list, change the 3rd level features to 2nd level and come up with something new to replace the Bonus Proficiencies (that're really a Bard and Rogue thing) and come with the Druid anyway.

And the druid gets 2 features at 2nd, something at 6th, 10th and 14th.

I'm thinking the easiest (and most flavorful) looking thing would be to move Spirit Guide to pair with Spirit Sense. Come up with a new 6th level ability.

And either break up Commune with Spirits into 2 separate features, so you could do the conjuring at 10th and Contact Other Plane at 14th...or vice versa. OR, move it to 10th level, as is, and come up with something new for 14th level OR just leave it where it is and come up with something new/different for a 10th level feature.

 

[steeldragons]

So...as a druid subclass, this is what I did...shapeshifting [I loathe the term "wildshape"] remains untouched, since it is a very shamanic thing to do.

2nd: Spirit Sense: as above.

Spirit Guide: as above, swapping Cha. for Wisdom mod's where applicable.

6th: Spirit Summoning: You can use a spell slot to summon beings and creatures from spiritual planes. The shaman can use this ability to simulate any “Conjure X” spell of 4th level or lower. This includes: Animals, Minor Elementals, Woodland Beings.

10th: Commune with Spirits: You conjure an ancient spirit or spiritual entity who can share secret, hidden or unknown information, as per the Contact Other Plane spell. The shaman may use their Wisdom instead of Intelligence to make the DC15 roll to avoid the psychic damage of the spell.

The shaman can not use this feature again without completing a long rest.

14th: Improved Summoning: You can now use a spell slot, as per the Spirit Summoning ability, to simulate any “Conjure X” spell of 6th level or lower. This adds Elementals up to CR 5 or Fey up to CR 6.