Spirit Shaman

[Dark Sun Gnome]

Here is my take on the Spirit Shaman. Its very much a work in progress, and I still have a bit of the lore to do.

I merged the Recall Spirits and Exorcism into one feature.

There are a few features from the 3.5 class that I would like to add, but are not sure where. The Blessing of the Spirits, the Warding of the Spirits and the Spirit Journey features I would like to add, but not sure where and if it would unbalance the class.

Please critique and give me pointers, as I would love to offer this to my players in the campaign.

Thanks!

 

[Redthistle]

Overall, I like it.

Some questions:

Wild Empathy: Does the 1/2 proficiency bonus (rounded down) addition to Animal Handling get added to that skill only if the shaman does not have proficiency in it, or even if it's already a proficient skill?

Spirit Form: This feature does not address the issue of how the incorporeal state may hinder how the shaman can affect any creature or object that is not incorporeal. One assumes the usual D&D 5e rules apply, but it might be good to state it clearly.

Guide Magic: This one is just plain sweet. However, since the concentration mechanic is a crucial part of how the game works, you may need to explain how the spirit guide might be attacked or otherwise affected by creatures other than the shaman, and/or establish how long the feature lasts each time it is used and how many uses the shaman has for it per short and/or long rest.

Spirit Mastery: I like this one, too. Minor edit: in the opening sentence, replacing "and" with "or" will parse better. The exorcism option is nicely constructed.

Weaken Spirits: Granting all four of those debilities with this feature seems a bit over-powered. Instead, you might considering listing them as options, and the shaman gets to choose two of them when this feature is used. Also, does this feature have the same 1 minute time limit as Chastise Spirits?

Spirit Who Walks: Seems fine as is.

 

[Dark Sun Gnome]

Thanks for the feedback!

For the wild empathy, Its intended even if the shaman is proficient in Animal Handling checks. Spirit form, I'm thinking of adding that when you turn incorporeal, your weapon gains the ghost touch ability too, meaning you can handle it while in spirit form. But that might be overpowered.

Guide Magic - considering that the spirit guide exists in the mind of the spirit shaman but is distinct, I was thinking that when the shaman takes certain types of damage (psychic, force), then there would be a concentration check. It was intended to be a feature that could be used at will, but perhaps a number of times per day equal to your charisma modifier or per long/short rest would be better.

Spirit Mastery - Done.

Weaken Spirits - Two out of the four, and now stated to last for 1 minute.

I'll have a think about the spirit form.

 

[Dark Sun Gnome]

Okay, tweaked it a bit. Added info on Spirit Form and how you interact with objects when you are in it, tweaked Wild Empathy, Guide Magic (and what effects the Spirit), Spirit Mastery and Weaken Spirits.

 

[JValeur]

I've created a homebrew Shaman that was an archetype to the druid, and was more heavily focused on elementals, since that is what my player wanted. I must say, however, that I like your ideas here better. I think it's a solid theme, and pretty well executed. A few points:

Spirit Guide - while the feature makes sense, I think a choice would be cool. Perhaps go more in depth with feature. Like, pick an owl for expertise with perception, pick a bat to gain 10-feet blindsense, pick a tiger for expertise with athletics, etc. etc. Obviously this requires some work, but it would be cool.

Chastise Spirits - I read this as turn elementals, fey and spectral undead, which is cool.

Wild Empathy - Makes sense, but I don't know if a Shaman would be better at this than a druid?

Spirit Form - this is really strong. Even if you write so it includes ranged weapon attacks (which it needs), it is still really, really strong. This is any spellcasters dream. You either need to get rid of some of the damage resistances, or you need to add more drawbacks - like slower movement speed and damage vulnerabilities (psychic, force, perhaps?).

Ghost Warrior - Regardless of the damage bonus? What does this mean? But the feature has flavour, although it doesn't really mesh with the Spirit Form feature.

Guide Magic - You can already cast spells that doesn't require concentration, while you are concentrating on a spell, so this doesn't do much. Advantage on concentration is also a biggie, but at lvl 10 it could be okay.

Spirit Mastery is strong, very strong. It basically means that no one is dying, in the party, without even a material cost. Maybe there's a way to do something flavorful with a spirit, that doesn't go this far?

Weaken Spirits - in my opinion, move this up a bit, and move something else down. It's a cool feature that you want earlier.

Spirit Who Walks - Perfectly fine.

All in all I think it is very imaginative and flavorful, but has some balance issues. Nice work

 

[Dark Sun Gnome]

Spirit Guide - while the feature makes sense, I think a choice would be cool. Perhaps go more in depth with feature. Like, pick an owl for expertise with perception, pick a bat to gain 10-feet blindsense, pick a tiger for expertise with athletics, etc. etc. Obviously this requires some work, but it would be cool.

Spirit Form - this is really strong. Even if you write so it includes ranged weapon attacks (which it needs), it is still really, really strong. This is any spellcasters dream. You either need to get rid of some of the damage resistances, or you need to add more drawbacks - like slower movement speed and damage vulnerabilities (psychic, force, perhaps?).

Spirit Mastery is strong, very strong. It basically means that no one is dying, in the party, without even a material cost. Maybe there's a way to do something flavorful with a spirit, that doesn't go this far?

Weaken Spirits - in my opinion, move this up a bit, and move something else down. It's a cool feature that you want earlier.

All in all I think it is very imaginative and flavorful, but has some balance issues. Nice work

Thanks, I thought this was a really cool class that needed to be a stand alone for 5e. As for the features, I'm going to come up with a table of about 20 animals that you can choose as your spirit guide that infer bonuses. The one Ive described is the bog standard one for heightened senses, Ill come up with more.

The Spirit Form, Ill add no ranged as well as melee weapon attacks, and I'll remove the lighting and make it a chouce between cold or fire damage resistance.

Weaken Spirits, I think either level 11 or 14 for one ability loss and level 18 for the second.

 

[Dark Sun Gnome]

Okay, Spirit Form now has no ranged as well as no melee attacks, no charisma modifier to the AC, and you have resistance to either fire or cold damage, but not both.

Weaken Spirits now comes into play at level 11.

 

[Dark Sun Gnome]

Rejigged Spirit Mastery (now more rests to take away penalties to throws after a Spirit has been recalled from the dead), will add new Spirit Animal Guides next week.