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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nail" data-source="post: 2009857" data-attributes="member: 224">A review of The Shaman's Handbookby Steve Kenson, Green Ronin PublishingISBN: 0-9714380-1-3MSRP: $16.95Soft-cover, perfect bound, 80 pgs, TOC, indexOverviewI got this book because I was incorporating "spirit magic" into my home-brew.  I've now had the book for several months, and I've read it and picked it apart many times for my own use.  (Even so, this isn't a play-test review.)  The book does a good job presenting a d20 rule set for Shamans, a way to integrate the Spirit World into your own campaign, and a description of spirit-based monsters.  For my own campaign, I ended up using only a little from this book.  Still, I'm glad I've got it in my "library".Although I'm not going to explicitly compare The Shamah's Handbook to Mongoose Publishing's <a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=Nail&product=sh76" target="_blank">Encyclopedia Divine: Shamans</a>, I do have both books, which colors my reviews of both, as I see which does what best.The Shaman ClassThe class is a good one.  It's a nature-oriented, barbaric spell caster, who relies on spirits to grant him his spells.  A shaman's spell selection is limited to those domains his spirits possess, plus many extras....and here's the first problem: Unlike the sorcerer, the "limited spell selection" of the shaman is really quite large.  For example, by 5th level, the shaman knows 9-0th/ 6-1st/ 4-2nd/ 3-3rd.  Any sorcerer would kill for a spells known list like that.  This might by balanced by the "number of spells per day", which is no higher than the cleric.  As I haven't play tested it, I'm not sure.  (By 20th level, a shaman's spells known is: 15/10/10/9/9/9/8/8/8/8 !!!)  The book claims quite a long list of play testers.There are two other large problems, as I see them, with the Shaman class as presented. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">  First, a shaman may call a "spirit familiar" at 4th level.  This is a problem conceptually (shouldn't a shaman have a bonded spirit, perhaps a spirit guide or guardian, when he begins play?), and with balance (that spirit familiar is incorporeal; can you say, "ignore 50% of attacks, plus a scout that flies through walls"?).  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Second, there are four new skills, included as class skills: Dreaming (Wis/trained only), Knowledge (Spirit World) (Int), Spirit Empathy (Cha/trained only/Shaman only), and Trance (Wis/Trained only).  I'm not a fan of new skills, especially when they can easily be included in other skills.  I'd bet that Spirit Empathy could easily be subsumed into Diplomacy,  the Knowledge skill should be part of Knowledge: Planes, and Trance should be a "new use for an old skill": Concentration.  The fourth new skill, Dreaming, however, is a good idea and can stand on it's own (.....okay, I'll admit it, it was already in my home-brew, stolen from the excellent book: Manual of the Planes, by WotC).</li> </ul>Even with these flaws, the class is usable, after tweaking.  The totem and taboo ideas seem spot-on for me, as I design my own spirit-priest class.  The PrCs seem okay, and combined with the interesting new feats and spells, make for fertile ground for an imagination to play in.Including the Spirit World into your CampaignGood stuff here.  The author slips the spirit world into the ethereal plane (mostly), which should make including this in an established game world (relatively) trouble-free.  The standard D&D Planescape (The Great Wheel) is followed.  .....And I can't forget to mention the neat Real World info slipped in throughout the book.  I may not mention flavor text often, but in this book, it bears the scrutiny well.I know I'm not writing many words for this section; you should take that to mean I like it.  I've used this section of the book often as I include Shamans into my own cosmography.Spirit-template MonstersDecent stuff, if not outstanding.  I was especially interested in how this book treated diseases and curses: rather than as a simple "something to be cured/removed", these dire forces are protrayed as spirits, which the shaman can defeat in spirit world combat.  If the evil spirit is defeated, the sickness is cured, or the curse is lifted.  Good flavor and elegant mechanics, all in one!  Who could ask for anything more?  :^)******************************************Conclusion<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Production: 5 - Excellent.  No wasted space, legible, and with an Index! Art:  3 - Average.  Some of the mood peices were too "water-color-y blurry"....and some peices seems irrelevant. Game Mechanics: 4 - Good.  I'm not sure the Shaman class is balanced, and I dislike a whole packet of new skills.  Still, things can be tweaked easily enough, and overall the mechanics are well explained and thought through.  I expect good mechanics from Green Ronin. "Cool" Factor: 4 - Good.  Background material and how the spirit world can be put into the "Great Wheel" standard comography is excellent.  The shaman class itself lacks a little zing, though, as does the monsters section at the end.</li> </ul>Overall: 4 - Good.  For a relatively easy addition of a shaman into your game world, this is the book to buy.</blockquote>

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