What class for an Orc Shaman?

[lin_fusan]

For an additional academic reference, Carlos Castenada's "The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way to Knowledge" has a passage where a rival shaman possesses the body of his mentor in order to scare/corrupt the author.

The anthropological definition (with a lot of paraphrasing on my part) of a shaman is someone who communes/talks to spirits for knowledge or power, but there is a decidingly amoral tone to the definition.

I agree with the other posters in that you can reflavor the Shaman class, and it will still work. In fact, in the Carlos Castenada book, his mentor warns him that some people become shamans to obtain power, which leads to possession and the giving in to base emotions. However, this means that shamans can be "evil", "corrupted", and selfish, and thus definitely not empathic.

 

[Piratecat]

I could see reflavoring the spirit companion as a bigass ghost warg. That'd be kind of cool --

but I'd also go invoker.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Go with whatever class has the mechanics you want, fluff is whatever you make it. He could be any of a whole number of classes in theory.

I could see a character like that as a bard, a druid, a shaman, invoker, sorcerer, warden, cleric, warlock, or a wizard. Warlord certainly isn't out of the question either. I think the main question would be what sort of role is character playing in the party? Presumably as a leader you'd want probably bard, shaman, cleric, or warlord. Really some type of cleric with maybe a bit of keyword swapping so maybe instead of turning undead he can blast divine immortals or whatever. That would be the simplest. He can be a big bad arsed STR cleric. Throw in a fun DC feat for Gruumsh worship and it seems pretty good.

The shaman is great, IF you want to utilize the SC mechanics as part of his character. Otherwise there's no reason to bother with it. An orcish bard skinned as a "battle chanter" would probably be cool. Warlord could definitely give you a sort of "Battle Adept of Gruumsh" with his powers flavored as divine gifts of inspiration from the god.

 

[WOLead]

I need ideas, folks! I need to know do I have to come up with my own custom class for an Orc Shamen or does anyone have any ideas as to how to cobble together something out of what's in the PHB?

Hmmm...Might not fit the Shaman title, but what about a style of Orc Occultist? Literally go with a cross between a Sorcerer and Cleric. Level 3 build...

Feeblescheme Bhogbigg, level 3
Orc, Cleric|Sorcerer
Sorcerous Power: Sorcerous Power Strength
Hybrid Talent: Soul of the Sorcerer
Soul of the Sorcerer: Soul of the Cosmic Cycle

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 12, Dex 12, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 16.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 10, Dex 12, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 16.


AC: 18 Fort: 16 Reflex: 13 Will: 17
HP: 34 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 8

TRAINED SKILLS
Bluff +9, Athletics +10, Intimidate +9

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +2, Arcana, Diplomacy +4, Dungeoneering +2, Endurance +2, Heal +2, History, Insight +2, Nature +2, Perception +2, Religion, Stealth +2, Streetwise +4, Thievery +2

FEATS
Level 1: Hybrid Talent
Level 2: Armor Proficiency (Leather)

POWERS
Hybrid Cleric at-will 1: Righteous Brand or Recovery Strike
Hybrid Sorcerer at-will 1: Blazing Starfall
Hybrid encounter 1: Explosive Pyre
Hybrid daily 1: Shield of the Gods
Hybrid utility 2: Cure Light Wounds
Hybrid encounter 3: Hammer of the Gods

ITEMS
Battle Staff +1, Stanching Leather Armor +1, Amulet of Physical Resolve +1, Adventurer's Kit

Bhogbigg...Charismatic enough to lead his tribe, lied and threatened his people so they stuck to his way, and could fight decently enough on top of all that. Of course he does have a bit of trouble of actually keeping his tribe alive, what with his reckless decisions to raid and charge fortified cities at his demands. Fortunately, he has a tongue similar to that of a viper when approaching other orcish camps or trying to form a new one himself.

Battlewise? He calls down the stars themselves to smash into his enemies and burn the ground they stand on. He swings his staff, painfully, at anyone who dares approach him and then proceeds to burn them with fire as they stay there. He can also perform "miracles" of healing to convince his tribe of his powers given to him.

As to why no Arcane or Religion skill training? Why does an Orc Shaman want to know about another lesser god? His words are the words of his god, his will is the will of his god. Anyone else who says otherwise is a blasphemer and deserves to die a traitor's death.

On to combat style, this "Orc Shaman" doesn't care about who and where. His Soul of the Cosmic Cycle always starts off in the Phase of the Sun, think Mayans and Sacrifices to Kukulcan. Any enemy who is adjacent to the Orc on the start of the Orc's turn, takes Str Fire and Radiant damage. Radiant Starfall fits this as well, with its Burst 1 Zone where if an enemy leaves it, they take Str fire damage. Melee? Strength as a main score allows the Orc to make full use of his staff in a melee attack, where Battlestaff+1 has the nice benefit of a crit range of 19-20 when used in a Weapon Power. Whether you would want to use Righteous Brand to give allies an attack bonus to melee powers, or allow them to get some health back, is up to the player himself. Righteous Brand has a nice benefit of grabbing "Power of Skill" feat to make it a melee basic attack for charging or OAs. Basic Defenses are nice, though Reflex suffers, which has the benefit of AC being boosted when the Orc gets bloodied and switches from the Phase of the Sun to Phase of the Moon.

If one wants to, he can put away the staff for a holy symbol for the Sorcerer powers, train and grab an executioner's axe for "Waaagh!"

If the Cleric part of the Hybrid doesn't feel right, go with Hybrid Warlord instead if the powers there seem to fit more. Just be warned, you will be stuck using either a Staff or a one-handed weapon for Warlord powers.

 

[Nifft]

Okay, it sounds like you want a Strength-based Cleric. This is fine. Strength-based Clerics are awesome.

Put a few points in Charisma. Start with a 16 in Strength (before racial mods), and a 14 in Dexterity & Wisdom. Fight with a spear (or consider taking a feat to use a Greatspear or Glaive). Wear Hide armor; pump your Strength and Dexterity every chance.

Choose to be trained in Nature. Take a lot of Nature-based rituals.

Take Recovery Strike and Righteous Brand; reflavor them if you want. Don't take many powers that deal Radiant damage.

Cheers, -- N

 

[ST]

Good point about Strength Cleric, that does seem to be the best fit if you want to wade in swinging.

I think any table would allow you to describe that character's radiant attacks as "Fire, yeah it deals radiant damage, but it looks and feels like fire". The flavor fits well, and I think it's reasonable to take the "special FX" of a given god into account when describing what power use looks like.

 

[Sgt_Shock]

My current DM dislikes the idea of Always-Chaotic-Evil races, and has transformed them into decent, but different, people. Sort of like the Warcraft Universe, where the Orcs and Goblins aren't foaming neanderthals bent on constant destruction of everything around them. As the DM, you have the power to change what Orcs are like in your world.

Either that, or tell him its a monster race and you'd much rather prefer him play a core race like Half-Orc for this campaign.

Lastly, I leave you with this:

"Psychopathy
Some psychopaths are able to detect the emotions of others with such a theory of mind and can mimic caring and friendship in a convincing manner, often in an effort to exploit others. However, while some psychopaths can detect what others are feeling, they do not experience any reciprocal emotion or sympathy. However, some research indicates that components of neural circuits involved in empathy may also be dysfunctional in psychopathy. Empathy certainly does not guarantee benevolence."

 

[DracoSuave]

My current DM dislikes the idea of Always-Chaotic-Evil races, and has transformed them into decent, but different, people. Sort of like the Warcraft Universe, where the Orcs and Goblins aren't foaming neanderthals bent on constant destruction of everything around them. As the DM, you have the power to change what Orcs are like in your world.

Indeed. Look at Eberron.

 

[Rechan]

Also the Shaman class struck me as African and Celtic (given cultures in both have animist leanings where everything has a spirit).

But really. It seems to me that the problem isn't even the Shaman's fluff.

The OP is hung up on the class name. Just because the Shaman class is called "Shaman" does not mean that you have to play that class if you want your character to be a primitive spellcaster.

I could easily take a Warlock and Multi-class it into Bard and call it a Shaman if I wanted to.

But, as others have said, if you like the MECHANICS of the Shaman but the fluff is your problem, change the fluff. I've seen people use Kalasthar shamans described as "pulling the target's deepest fears out of their mind and attacking them with their nightmare" to using the Shaman as a Necromancer, with a bound ghost. The Spirit Companion could be a shard of the Shaman's own soul.