Talk to me about the spirit shaman

[SteveC]

Hey everyone,
I'm building a character for a new campaign that's going to start at 8th level, and uses any non world-specific WotC materials. I decided I wanted to play a character type that I never have before (which is kind of difficult at this point because of how long I've been playing). I sent the GM a list of character classes from the complete books, and he said that a spirit shaman might make a good choice. So, here I am on EnWorld asking for all of you in the know to enlighten me on this class.

What do you think? Waste of time, overpowered, somewhere in between? If you have a build that seemed to work for you, why not share!

At this point I am likely to just play a human, although in looking at the class the Aasimar sounds like a good fix with the dependance on Wis and Cha...

What do you think?

--Steve

 

[Corsair]

Well I haven't played the Shaman yet, but let me warn you: NEVER lose a caster level if you're playing a primary caster. You'd rather get your spells a level earlier than have a measely +1 DC.

 

[Shin Okada]

I agree with Corsair. Caster level is far more important than slightly better ability scores. Also, for survival, having higher HD (and hp) is better than those minor resistances Aasimar has.

If your campaign will have enough down time and treasures (especially in form of money), having some Item Creation feasts could be good I guess. Take Scribe Scroll at least. While you can change your spell repertoire every day, you know only small number of spells each day. You would better have scrolls which are situational, or which you don't cast many times/day.

 

[Evilhalfling]

one of my players has a 5th spirit shaman/1st Barb/1st Ranger - he is hardly a optimized caster.
He does a lot of battlefield controls, protections or lesser vigors then wades into meele.
he does have scribe scroll, and it sees a fair amount of use. I would provide more details, but he hasn't played in a while.

 

[ForceUser]

I have a 4th-level spirit shaman IMC, and so far he seems fine, though 4th level is hardly class-defining. Chastise spirits is a cool ability. My sense is that the class plays a decent counterpoint to the druid--fewer spells known, more spells per day. The spirit shaman's special powers don't seem to come close to equalling those of the druid, however. Ask me again when the PC makes 10th level.

 

[SteveC]

Well I haven't played the Shaman yet, but let me warn you: NEVER lose a caster level if you're playing a primary caster. You'd rather get your spells a level earlier than have a measely +1 DC.

Good point. I've spoken with the GM, and we're going to use the "reducing ECL levels" rule from UA, so I will only start 3000 XP behind the rest of the group.

It looks like Scribe Scroll is the most important suggestion so far, which looks like something I'll take...either that or craft wand.

--Steve

 

[Urbanmech]

I'm playing the 4th lv Spirit Shaman in ForceUsers game. I think the spirit shaman is pretty good, but you have to pick your daily spells very carefully so you don't end up useless in certain encounters. For example one day I picked Heat Metal as my one second level spell. We ended up fighting foes in leather armor and wielding wooden hafted weapons, not the best pick for the day. On the plus side you can almost fill in for a cleric since you have more raw healing capacity, though you don't get cure moderate wounds till 5th lv. Time will tell, at least the class doesn't get stuck agonizing over each spell picked since you can switch each morning.

 

[SelcSilverhand]

I would get Spontaneous Healer from CD. That way you don't have to spend a spell retrieved on healing spells. You can only use it a number of times per day equal to your wis mod but it should be enough in a pinch.

If you can, see if your DM will let you include Summoned creatures to the list of things you can Chastise. YMMV, but my DM never uses fey and rarely incorporeal undead or elementals.

Scribe Scroll is a must unless every encounter can wait a day while you tailor your spell list...

There are a lot of great spells in the Complete Divine you should look at for your spells retrieved. Beget Bogun is a tease though, I got excited when I saw it was a first level spell =P


I'm playing one in a PbP game here on ENWorld that I'm going to focus mainly on healing. I took Spontaneous Healer and Augmented Healing at 1st level. At 3rd I'll be getting Sudden Maximize to pump up a heal when I need to get someone back in a fight.

I'm looking forward to getting a spirit shaman up to the higher levels. Summon Elemental Monolith, assign your guide to concentrate for you, and continue casting other spells!


It's a fun character if your DM throws in an encounter every now and then where you can use your abilities, but that's true for any class.