Author Topic: The Spirit Shaman Handbook (A Man In Black)  (Read 22516 times)

Offline Libertad

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3618
    • View Profile
    • My Fantasy and Gaming Blog
The Spirit Shaman Handbook (A Man In Black)
« on: January 31, 2013, 08:58:20 PM »

« on: October 19, 2009, 12:29:28 AM »

TOTALLY NOT DONE YET. I got his okay, so I am working on bringing Xeraph's Spirit Shaman guide over, then working on updating/fiddling with it.

Right now, I'm working on a spell list, based on a combination of the Druid Handbook list and Xeraph's concentration spells list. Scroll down to the second post to see it.

For the time being, the old thread with all of its pretty formatting working is
here.

Introduction
The Spirit Shaman is a base class from Complete Divine. If you are looking for a mystical figure with powers that derive from the world of spirits, this is the class for you!
It comes equiped with 20 levels of divine spellcasting, many special abilities that are both offensive and defensive, and loads of mysticism. This Handbook will look into optimizing its strengths and working around its weaknesses.

Thanks to PhoenixInferno for inspiration on the format, to DavidWL for his guide to increasing your spell list and builds, to Yue Ryong for his Epic Spirit Shaman work and Quippish and Ed-Zero for looking through the tons of books for concentration spells.

Also thanks to camirblu for keeping the thread alive!


Table of contents

• Introduction
• Ability Scores
• Class Features
• Spellcasting
• Races
• Feats
• Prestige Classes
• Sample Builds
• Spirit Shaman Resources



Ability Scores

Strength:
A Spirit Shaman can be a formidable combatant against Spirits. And with the Druid spell selection, no short of a mediocre damage dealer by herself. If you want to add to melee power, Strength becomes important, BUT Strength is in no way an ability score you need to have high.

Dexterity:
You only have access to light armor, and alot of your offensive spells rely on Dexterity, so make sure you remember that when you create your Spirit Shaman.

Constitution:
Constitution is an important ability score, no matter what kind of Spirit Shaman you are. Medium HD and poor armor proficiencies will hurt you, if you ignore you Constitution.

Intiligence:
You have 4 skill points per level, what more do you need?

Wisdom:
You must still retain a little Wisdom to be able to cast your spells, and bonus spells derives from Wisdom aswell, so no slacking here. (or dumb it completely, see Dynamic Priest feat below)

Charisma:
When you play a Spirit Shaman it is very important to have a high Charisma, it is the backbone of your abilities and spellcasting. Therefore is this the most important ability score. It is also very easy to qualify for certain prestige classes that boost your Charisma dependency/power aswell, so stock up on Potions of Eagles Splender and Cloaks of Charisma.


Ability Score Destribution:
Heres how I would buy my ability scores.

15 Points (Low-powered Campaign)
Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 12 and Cha 13 (What cruel DM would ever makes this kind of campaign?)

22 Points (Challenging Campaign)
Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12 and Cha 15

28 Points (Tougher Campaign)
Str 8, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14 and Cha 16

32 Points (High-powered Campaign)
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14 and Cha 16

35 Points (You average Optimized Campain)
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14 and Cha 17



Class Features

Spirit Guide:
You Spirit Guide starts out just as flavor to your character and the Alertness feat, but later on it will boost your power significantly.

Wild Empathy:
Because you use Charisma (moslty) for your spellcasting, you will often have the best Wild Empathy in the game. In certain cases it might come in very handy, so don't hesitate to try your luck on wild boars.

Chastise Spirits:
You will come to love this ability, even if it only affects Spirits. Its like a nice 30ft Burst damage spell, although its a Supernatural Ability which doesnt provoke attacks of oppertunity. Since and as your Charisma rises so does the power of your Chastise Spirits ability and your uses per day.
In a Campaign where you will encounter Spirits on a daily basis, it is recommendable to take Ability Focus in this ability (But generally its powerful enough as it is).

Detect Spirits:
Could come in handy at times, finding incorporeal Spirits just became alot easier.

Blessing of the Spirits:
A nice defensive ability that qualifies you for certain prestige classes. Remember to have this active 24/7, you have nothing to lose.

Follow the Guide:
Slippery Mind, basically, well, a lifesaver at times. It sure is one of the quickest ways to get it, not counting Paladin Variants ofcourse.

Ghost Warrior:
Notice how this ability works against ALL incorporeal creatures. For any ghostbuster this ability is just awsome!
6th level is also an ok exit point if you want to become a Warrior Spirit Shaman.

Warding of Spirits:
This ability is almost only useful for fulfilling prestige class requirements.

Spirit Form:
While its pretty cool and handy to have this ability, and at an early level, its just not that uber(TM RT). Notice how this ability sucks if you are a melee Spirit Shaman since you lose all strength mod.

Guide Magic:
Having your Spirit Guide "Concentrate" for you is awsome!!! This is one of the best Spirit Shaman abilities, and a major spellcasting boon. A list of "Concentration" spells can be found in the Spellcasting chapter.

Recall Spirit:
This is one hell of an ability, sure it only works once a week, but its free to use and your raised friend loses nothing.
Save 5.000 gp next time someone in the party dies? Count me in!
Also, 11th level is a good drop off point if you wish to smack a prestige class on your character.

Excorsism:
This ability will proberly almost never come into use, but when it does, it will be great.

Weaken Spirits:
At 16th level you will have lots of Chastise Spirit attempts per day. If you encounter a badass Spirit, I reccomend you start of by Weakening it for as many rounds as possible so the rest of the part can have their way with your Spirit opponent. The next rounds you will be able to blast it with your normal Chastise Spirits, or boost party members or whatever, and when your Weapon Spirit ability runs out, smack em with another one. Rinse, repeat. This ability will come in handy many many times, there are plenty of anoying highlevel monsters and templates that can give you targets for this ability.
This is also a good exit point if you want to try some prestige class levels.

Spirit Journey:
Bah, your Mage has this ability, hell, your Rogue proberly has it aswell. Handy, but nothing to jump about.

Favored of the Spirits:
Do it! 1000 xp is nothing when it saves your life. And it might turn out that saving your life will actually mean the survival of the whole party.

Spirit who Walks:
Remembered to dip? I hope so. Theres not much to gain from this last level.



Exit Point Summery
So, if we look back we can safely say that there are some good exit point levels in the Spirit Shaman. Those levels are:

6th level: Here we have Ghost Warrior, saves go up and so does bab.
7th level: 4th level spells, Warding of the Spirits? Good exit point.
11th level: Recall Spirit. Thumbs up!
16th level: Another highlight in the Spirit Shaman class.
19th level: Favored of the Spirits.
4 years ago  ::  Mar 27, 2006 - 6:04AM
#2
Report Post
Quote
Multi-Quote




Xeraph

Posts: 330
     
     

A Spirit Shaman in the process of retrieving his spells for the day


Spellcasting

Retrieving Spells
A Spirit Shaman has a very unique of casting spells. It has access to all Druid spells, but only a certain amount of them can be retrieved per day. It is therefore a very good idea to make certain "lists" of spells for certain situations. This will optimize your powers, its much like how the Wizard works, just a little bit more "free".

Some ideas could be a "Dungeoncrawl List", "Downtime List", "Wilderness List", "List vs Plants", "Buff List", "Blast List" etc.

The List tactic is good for structuring your spells and focusing your strength. But sometimes a Spirit Shaman will have to fill the role in the group as primary caster. In such cases you will have to mix your Lists.
A good overall spell choice for this is Dispel Magic and Greater Dispel Magic. These spells should go well with all your List spells, except for the Downtime List maybe.

Remember that you apply metamagic feats to your retrieved spells before hand and cast them normally! this makes the Spirit Shaman one of the strongest metamagic synergy classes in the game.

Concentration Spells
At 10th level the Spirit Shaman has the ability to let his Spirit Guide concentrate for him when dealing with spells with the "concentration" duration.

Consider taking the skill trick Swift Concentraion and the feat Extraordinary Concentration aswell. Concentrating on 4 spells at one time can be very freaking handy!

Heres a list of spells that you can abuse:
[sblock="Books checked so far"]PHB
Complete Divine
Complete Arcane
Stormwrack
Sandstorm
Frostburn
Tome of Magic
Spell Compendium
Magic of Faerun
Dragon Magic - nothing
Complete Mage - Nothing
Faiths of Eberron - nothing
Magic of Eberron - Nothing
Races of Eberron - nothing
Sharn: City of Towers - nothing
Eberron campaign setting - nothing
Book of Exalted Deeds - nothing
Book of Vile Darkness - nothing
Complete Adventurer - nothing
Complete Warrior - nothing
Draconomicon - nothing
Ghostwalk - nothing
heroes of battle - nothing
heroes of horror - nothing
hordes of the abyss - nothing
libris mortis - nothing
lords of madness - nothing
manual of the planes - nothing
magic of incarnum - nothing
miniatures handbook - nothing
oriental adventures - nothing
players guide to faerun
PHBII - nothing
races of destiny - nothing
races of the dragon - nothing
races of stone - nothing
races of the wild - nothing
Savage Species - Nothing
Lords of Darkness - nothing
Lost Empires of Faerun - nothing
races of faerun - nothing
serpent kingdoms - nothing
unapproachable east - nothing
underdark - nothing
[/sblock]

Players Handbook Spells
Orizons: Detect Magic
1st: Detect Animals and Plants, Detect Snares and Pits
2nd: Animal Trance, Summon Swarm
5th: Fire Wall
9th: Storm of Vengeance (Max 10 rounds)

Complete Divine Spells
5th: Binding Winds
8th: Storm of Elemental Fury (Max 4 rounds though)

Complete Arcane Spells
1st: Animate Wood (Max 1 round per level)
9th: Summon Elemental Monolith (Max 1 round per level)

Frostburn Spells
5th: Wall of Coldfire

Magic of Faerun
0th: Detect Crossroads (Up to 10 minutes per level)
2nd: Share Husk

Players Guide to Faerun
???st: Wall of Sand

Sandstorm Spells
1st: Locate Water (Up tp 10 minutes/level)

Spell Compendium
1st: Animate Fire, Animate Water, Animate Wood, Enrage Animal
2nd: Binding Winds
4th: Summon Elementite Swarm
5th: Wall of Sand
6th: Summon Greater Elemental
8th: Phantom Wolf
9th: Phantom Bear, Summon Elemental Monolith, Tsunami

Tome of Magic
5th: Spurn the Supernatural

Some or all of these spells should be on your "lists" in order to fully optimize your Spirit Shaman after 10th level. Summon Elemental Monolith is said to be very worth your while!!!
And remember, you can concentrate on a spell while you Spirit Guid is, this way you could have two Elemental Monolith running around. I reccomend not using this trick to much, although the Spirit Shaman has many spell slots, they are not unlimited.

Persistent Divine Metamagic Spell List
The right prestige class setups open up for Divine Metamagic for the Spirit Shaman (see the Builds section). A common choice for Divine Metamagic is Persistent ofcourse.
Heres some suggestions on good spell to Persitify:

Complete Divine
5th: Vigor Greater
6th: Vigorous Circle

Other Noteworthy Spells
Since the Spirit Shaman uses the Druid spell list, I reccomend that you check A Man In Black's Revived Reccomenden Spells for Druids before you begin with your Retrieve Lists. Make sure to read the Druid Spell Combos aswell.
Below are some noteworthy spells that they missed in the Druid Handbook:

1st level:
Snakes Swiftness (Spell Compendium)

2nd level:
Splinter Bolt (Link)
4 years ago  ::  Mar 27, 2006 - 6:05AM
#3
Report Post
Quote
Multi-Quote




Xeraph

Posts: 330
     
     

A Spirit Shaman, of a more exotic race, chastising spirits


Races
Obviously the races that are best Spirit Shamans are the ones that boost its prime scores and synergize with its abilities. Heres a list:

+0 Level Adjustment Races

Dwarf, Gold, Dream (Forgotten Realms CS, Races of Stone) LA +0
Gold Dwarf is a good race, it is strong and reliable. But not the great blaster though. Dream Dwarf is both flavor wise and ability wise a great choice for a Spirit Shaman, they can become deadly ghostbusters!

Halfling, Lightfoot, Strongheart, Ghostwise (Players Handbook) LA +0
With their size and bonus to dexterity, halflings make great Spirit Shamans. Also, the Strongheart variant from Forgotten Realms works out fine aswell. And come to think about it the Ghostwise halflings from the same book would be nice aswell.

Feytouched (HERE) LA +0
Great score bonues, great flavor and nice bonues on saves versus mindaffecting effects. I'd take it over many other races.

Human (Players Handbook) LA +0
An extra feat and extra skills saves a character with bad scores, it could also help out on the requirements for prestige classes and weird feat combos.

Illumian (Races of Destiny) LA +0
Obviously, the Krau Illumian is a good choice, bonues caster levels are always good to have. And there is properly more reasons aswell.

The Naenhoon is also a good choice, makes for a great Persistent Divine Metamgic Spirit Shaman. Look below in the builds section.

Killorn (Races of the Wild)
If you wan't to make good use of the MAgic of the Land feat, this race works wonders for your Knowledge (Nature) checks.

Lesser Aasimar (Players Guide to Faerun) LA +0
The easy way of boosting two of your primary scores.

Raptoran (Races of Wild) LA +0
The Raptoran is also a good choice, with its natural flight, you wil be able to bomb you enemies with splinter bolts and flame strikes from a far.

Level Adjustment +1 Races

Aasimar (Monster Manual I) LA +1
If you are able to buy back its LA, then this race is worth your money.

Catfolk (Races of Wild) LA +1
If you can buy back your LA, then Catfolk is a great race. +4 dex and +2 cha? Whats not to like.

Gnome, Chaos (Players Handbook, Races of Stone) LA+1
A normal Gnomes is an ok choice of race, but the Chaos Gnome is far better.
With a boost to 3 of your primary scores, the Chaos Gnome is one hell of a choice. Just make sure to buy back that LA at early levels.

Hobgoblin (Monster Manual I) LA +1
For a more combat oriented Spirit Shaman, this is a good choice. Remember to buy off that LA.

Uldra (Frostburn) LA +1
Good ability boosts, fey race already. These fellas fit both flavor and mechanic wise. Not good for melee combat though.



Feats
For the most part the Spirit Shaman works wonders with most metamagic feats. With your offensive spells you take offensive metamagic feats like Empower Spell, Energy Substitution and Twin Spell. With your buffs you take Twin Spell or Extend for eksample. This is really up to you, and depends on your style of play.
Also, make sure to keep those prestige classes in mind when you pick your feats. Track is a good one here, it opens up for Witch Hunter, which is a great boon!
Heres some other ideas:

Augment Healing (Complete Divine)
The Spirit Shaman can be an effective healer aswell, so its no waste to take this fella.

Dynamic Priest (Legends of the Twins: Dragonlance)
Feeling low on Wisdom? Begin play with this feat and remove the need for Wisdom all together. Yes sir, this feat makes you single score dependent again!

Education (various campaign settings)
There are to many Knowledge skills that the Spirit Shaman hasn't have as class skills. This feat, or simular ones, will help with requirements for prestige classes.

Extra Spell (Complete Arcana)
Mixed with Guide Magic and you can make some deadly combos! See the Spellcasting part of this handbook for more information on concentration spells.
(The Sage has ruled that Extra Spell only adds spells from your spell list. This renders the feat useless for the Spirit Shaman. Many has found this ruling dumb and don't follow it, me included. I suggest you speak with your DM before using Extra Spell in your game.)

Extraordinary Concentration (Complete Adventurer)
Combining Guide Magic, Swift Concentraion (Complete Scoundrel) skill trick and this feat and you can concentrate on 4 Tsunamies. Neet eh?

Inscribe Rune (Players Guide to Faerun)
A simular choice to the Scribe Scroll feat, see below. Also opens up for the Runecaster prestige class.

Magic of the Land (Races of Wild)
For an Utility Shaman or a Healer Shaman this feat can be quite handy. Stabilizing allies with long range spells like entangle can be a life saver!

Scribe Scroll (Players Handbook)
Because the Spirit Shaman has so few spell to chose from per day, Scribe Scroll can be a great boon to your spell casting versality.

Spontainous Healer/Summoner (Complete Divine)
You will always have a small amount of Wisdom, no matter how you build your Spirit Shaman. And with one or both of these feats, you could effectivly add a number of spells to your Retrieve list equal to you Wisdom modifier.

Zen Archery (Complete Warrior)
If Dex is low, Zen is the way to go.



Prestige Classes
Many of these prestige classes requires Knowledge ranks on Spirit Shaman cross class skills, in many casses Education would help out.

Ardent Dilettante (Planar Handbook)
This class has near-full spell progression (-1 level) and is fairly easy to qualify for, though perhaps not all the way through its levels, but not impossible (requirements for the class build as you progress, but start out very simple). It focuses on the sensations and experience of life...

Contemplative (Complete Divine)
If you have the Education feat already, why not dip this class for a bonus Domain? If its worth it to take Education to get a new Domain is arguable.

Divine Disciple (Players Guide to Faerun)
Here you will get som solid abilities aswell as a bonus Domain.

Elemental Archon (Faith and Pantheons)
This has mostly full spell progression, and ties the sham towards a specific element...they even get their own pet mephit! With the elemental-style race suggested above, this could be fun.

Grey Hand Enforcer (FR: Waterdeep, City of Splendors)
For your genuine combat Spirit Shaman this is a great choice. DR/-, SR and a mild smite ability mixed with full bab. Not bad. Might wanna mix with Stormlord, look below.

Hathran (Players Guide to Faerun)
Are you sick an tired of only having access to the spells you have retrieve for the day? Cheer up, because the Hathran gives you access to all spells known with its SpRashemi Spirit Magic ability. Ofcourse, it only works within the bounderies of Rashemen, bit a prober Wind Walk or Tree Stride spell could take your there fast.

Holt Warden (Complete Champion)

Sixam]Very low requirements (3rd level spells and 2 class skills), a reliable package of class abilities (mass heal for free once a day) the Holt Warden is a good PrC for those Shamans who want to push for a druid/shaman mix. The best part is, the 10th level ability (+8 to Bluff/Sense Motive/Intimidate a lone creature for a day) is entirely disposeable, so a Shaman 11/HWarden 9 build is completely feasible.

?Human Paragon (Unearthed Arcana)?Are you human? Then take this prestige class. Why? Because you gain access to all Knowledge skills!!!??Master of Radiance (Libris Mortis)?If you are willing to sacrifice a caster level, this class is much superior to Sacred Excorcist (see below) if you want to get Turn Undead. Turn Undead + Divine Metamagic = Cheeze power!??Moonspeaker (Races of Eberron)?If you should ever find yourself playing a Shifter Spirit Shaman you need to tag Education on your character and enter Moonspeaker! The flavor is great and the class abilities compliment both your race and your Spirit Shaman levels.??Mystic Wanderer (Magic of Faerun)?Charisma bonus to AC and easy requirements? Hook me up! This is also best for dipping IMO.??Prestige Paladin (Unearthed Arcana)?Again, Divine Grace, immunity to fear, Turn Undead and other goodies. Great for some dipping!??Ruathar (Races of the Wild)?One of the easiest ways to get a magic item and near agelessness is through this class. The requirements are easy and flavor is great. Seen from a optimization perspective the sinlge most powerful thing about the Ruathar is its access to the Knowledge (Religion) skill, which lets you qualify for other prestige classes without the need of the Education feat.?But remember, it might hurt you Chastise Spirit ability.??Sacred Exorcist (Complete Divine)?It opens up fro turn undead, and therefor Divine Metamagic, and then up for Persistent Divine Metamagic. Woohoo!??Seeker of the Misty Isle (Complete Divine)?Travel Domain with easy requirements? Sign me up!??Stormlord (Complete Divine)?Has some great flavor and you can imbue your spear with powerful enchantments. Mix with Grey Hand Enforcer isnt a bad choice since they share some of the same requirements.??Walker in the Waste (Samdstorm)?Walker in the Waste not only has a lot of strong abilities in itself, but has great charisma synergy with the Spirit Shaman. It also adds spells and alot of other goodies. If you plan on being a Walker in the Waste, the Spirit Shaman is proberly the best setup for this. See build below.??Witch Hunter (Oriental Adventures)?For the combat Spirit Shaman, this prestige class is great for a 1 to 4 level dip. Notice its Knowledge Requirements, have to think about that from early levels.??Windwalker (Faiths and Pantheons)?Just one hell of a combo. Good reflex and good bab synergyzes great with the Spirit wrote:
Very low requirements (3rd level spells and 2 class skills), a reliable package of class abilities (mass heal for free once a day) the Holt Warden is a good PrC for those Shamans who want to push for a druid/shaman mix. The best part is, the 10th level ability (+8 to Bluff/Sense Motive/Intimidate a lone creature for a day) is entirely disposeable, so a Shaman 11/HWarden 9 build is completely feasible.[/t][/t]?Human Paragon (Unearthed Arcana)?Are you human? Then take this prestige class. Why? Because you gain access to all Knowledge skills!!!??Master of Radiance (Libris Mortis)?If you are willing to sacrifice a caster level, this class is much superior to Sacred Excorcist (see below) if you want to get Turn Undead. Turn Undead + Divine Metamagic = Cheeze power!??Moonspeaker (Races of Eberron)?If you should ever find yourself playing a Shifter Spirit Shaman you need to tag Education on your character and enter Moonspeaker! The flavor is great and the class abilities compliment both your race and your Spirit Shaman levels.??Mystic Wanderer (Magic of Faerun)?Charisma bonus to AC and easy requirements? Hook me up! This is also best for dipping IMO.??Prestige Paladin (Unearthed Arcana)?Again, Divine Grace, immunity to fear, Turn Undead and other goodies. Great for some dipping!??Ruathar (Races of the Wild)?One of the easiest ways to get a magic item and near agelessness is through this class. The requirements are easy and flavor is great. Seen from a optimization perspective the sinlge most powerful thing about the Ruathar is its access to the Knowledge (Religion) skill, which lets you qualify for other prestige classes without the need of the Education feat.?But remember, it might hurt you Chastise Spirit ability.??Sacred Exorcist (Complete Divine)?It opens up fro turn undead, and therefor Divine Metamagic, and then up for Persistent Divine Metamagic. Woohoo!??Seeker of the Misty Isle (Complete Divine)?Travel Domain with easy requirements? Sign me up!??Stormlord (Complete Divine)?Has some great flavor and you can imbue your spear with powerful enchantments. Mix with Grey Hand Enforcer isnt a bad choice since they share some of the same requirements.??Walker in the Waste (Samdstorm)?Walker in the Waste not only has a lot of strong abilities in itself, but has great charisma synergy with the Spirit Shaman. It also adds spells and alot of other goodies. If you plan on being a Walker in the Waste, the Spirit Shaman is proberly the best setup for this. See build below.??Witch Hunter (Oriental Adventures)?For the combat Spirit Shaman, this prestige class is great for a 1 to 4 level dip. Notice its Knowledge Requirements, have to think about that from early levels.??Windwalker (Faiths and Pantheons)?Just one hell of a combo. Good reflex and good bab synergyzes great with the Spirit Shaman!
4 years ago  ::  Mar 27, 2006 - 6:06AM
#4
Report Post
Quote
Multi-Quote




Xeraph

Posts: 330
     
     

A Spirit Shaman blaster can be very dangerous


Sample Builds
Heres is a small compilation of premade builds for your entertainment.

Lilt's Wind Shaman (by Lilt)
Spirit Shaman 11/ Windwalker 9

Persistent Spirit Healer of Pelor
Spirit Shaman 11/ Contemplative 1/ Sacred Exorcist 1/ Prestige Paladin 2/ Radiant Servant of Pelor 5

The NPC Spirit Shaman Experience
Spirit Shaman 20/ Hierophant 1
Some thoughts on spell choices and tactics.

Storm Shaman (By risner)
Spirit Shaman 11/ Stormlord 8/ Contemplative 1

Shaman of Bharrai (By Khazra Reborn)
Spirit Shaman 7/ Human Paragon 3/ Sentinel of Bharrai 10

Spirit Shaman of Eternity (By DavidWL)
Illumian (Naenhoon) Spirit Shamen 5/Hathran 6/Sovereign Speaker 5/Ruathar 1/Sacred Exorcist 1/Contemplative 2

Spirit Shaper (By risner)
Human Spirit Shaman 5 /Beastmaster 1 /Lion Talisid 10 /Master Many Forms 2 /Ruathar 1 /Contemplative 1

Shamanic Abolisher (By Bukowski)
Spirit Shaman 13/Abolisher 5/Beastmaster 1/Mystic Wanderer 1

Shaman of the Waste (By DavidWL)
Spirit Shaman 5/Walker in the Waste 10/Contemplative 1/Sacred Exorcist 1/Prestige Paladin 3

Landforged Shaman (By Arz)
Spirit Shaman 15/ Landforged Walker 5

Spirit Shaman Healbot (By
pmurray@bigpond.com)
Aasimar 1/ Spirit Shaman 18/ Cleric 1

Spirit Shaman Resources
Here you can find varies resources that might help you Spirit Shaman on her/his way to success.

Epic Spirit Shaman
Yue Ryongs great work on making the Spirit Shaman playable through epic levels.

Good ways to dramatically increase the Spirit Shamans spell list
DavidWL's wonderful 3 step program on how to increase the Spirit Shamans spell list.

Thoughts on Nightmare Spinner, Ghostwalk, Oriental Adventures and other stuff.
Camirblu talks indepth about how the Spirit Shaman, with a little houseruling, can benefit from a wide variety of prestige classes and feats to not only make it stronger but also give it alot of flavor. If your DM is up for some tweaking then you should definatly read this article.

Spirit Shaman Spell Research: A flavoured House Rule dish served by
pmurray@bigpond.com
We wanted some colour text for our Spirit Shaman to acquire Spell Compendium spells. This is based on the research rules for wizards, but I halved the cost because I can't imagine druidic spell research as costing as much as renting a lab. I also reduced the time (and made it random), because it's not a matter of inventing something completely new, but of finding someone who already knows it. -
pmurray@bigpond.com
[/size]« Last Edit: October 26, 2009, 03:49:41 AM by A Man In Black »[/t][/color]

Offline Libertad

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3618
    • View Profile
    • My Fantasy and Gaming Blog
Re: The Spirit Shaman Handbook (A Man In Black)
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2013, 08:58:47 PM »

« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2009, 12:29:56 AM »

Reserving a post, just in case.

I'm sticking the spell list, still in progress, here. Always happy to have input, ideas, suggestions, or criticism (however harsh).

0th Level
Your orisons are all random utility spells. Detect Magic, Light, and one of Cure Minor Wounds or Guidance should do the job most days.

Create Water: Never run out of water. Plus, you can make a scrying pool.
Cure Minor Wounds: One point isn't a lot, but this can stabilize a dying ally.
Detect Magic: One of the most powerful and versatile zero-level spells, for any caster.
Guidance: Tell your rogue to ask for "guidance" prior to every trap he attempts to disarms or UMD roll he has to make (outside of combat). That +1 bonus can be critical. This doesn't stack with Inspire Competence or pretty much any skill-boosting magic item, however.
Light: This is just too incredibly handy to have around. Never underestimate the utility of being able to see.

1st Level
At first level, you're going to rely on spells that give you many actions of combat from one cast. If your physical stats are decent or you're playing a core-only game, this means Shillelagh is your best bet. Otherwise, try Magic Stone or Aspect of the WolfSC. At about third or fourth level, you'll want to switch toProduce Flame in this role until you can routinely cast Flaming Sphere or Call Lightning.

Aspect of the WolfSC 16: This is an alternative melee self-buff for early levels, instead of going the wooden club route with Shillelagh.
Magic Stone[/b]: At first and second level, this is better than Produce Flame for spirit shamans who aren't melee-inclined. Before long, however, regular AC will outscale touch AC and Produce Flame will do more damage.
Produce Flame[/b]: Once you've got three or four levels under your belt, this will be the attack spell of choice at this level.
Shillelagh[/b]: It's pronounced "shi-lay-lee." Dramatically increases club/quarterstaff damage (to the point where you'll actually want to wield a club or quarterstaff).

Beyond these staples, you have a couple of effective battlefield control spells in Entangle, Spore FieldCSc and Obscuring Mist. Lesser VigorSC is your healing staple, and while it probably isn't worth an in-combat cast, it is an awful lot of healing out of combat. Cure Light Wounds is the core healing alternative, and while healing isn't a great use of an in-combat action, one does what one must.

Cure Light Wounds[/b]: Your core healing spell. You don't want to cast this unless you have to, but sometimes there's not much choice.
Entangle[/b]: A best-in-class battlefield control spell.
Lessor VigorSC 229: This spell actually outperforms Cure Light Wounds, especially out of combat. Wands of Lesser Vigor are great for healing between fights.
Obscuring Mist[/b]: The next best thing to invisibility, when it comes time to get out of a fight. Cast Mist, walk 5 feet backwards, and run away in a different direction.
Spore FieldCSc 104: A useful battlefield control spell, especially when the GM restricts use of Entangle.

The remainder of the worthwhile first-level spells are all utility spells of varying utility. Some utility spells worth a routine prep are Omen of PerilSC, Wood WoseSC, and Spider HandBoVD (once you have the caster level to make it useful). It may be worth making a separate list of outdoor traveling spells, since some of them are shockingly effective situationally, like Calm Animals and Endure Elements.

Calm Animals[/b]: It's like a save or lose, except that only dire animals or animals trained to attack or guard even get to save.
CamouflageSC 43: +10 to Hide for 10 min/level, and it works in any environment.
Endure Elements[/b]: A great travelling spell, and especially handy in any game that takes you into harsh environments.
Eyes of the AvoralBoED 99: 10 min/level for a big Spot bonus.
Longstrider[/b]: +10' movement for hour/level.  It's not a big bonus, but you can easily have it all the time.
Omen of PerilSC 149: Poor man's Augury. Quite possibly the most versatile first-level divination in the game, and doesn't even have a costly component or XP cost, like many similar divinations.
Pass Without Trace[/b]: Situationally handy at low levels, and at mid to high levels there's no reason not to have this on the party all the time with its caster level targets and hour/level duration.
Speak With Animals[/b]: Does what it says on the tin, for min/level.
Spider HandBoVD 105: Best. Scouting. Spell. Ever. Send out a nondescript spider to do all the scouting, with only negligible consequences if it dies? Yeah, I'll take that. It's not even an evil spell, and you can hand off control to the spirit guide at higher levels.
Wood WoseSC 242: Unseen Servant for hour/level, only druidic. It just can't handle doorknobs.

2nd Level
At third and fourth level, you're starting to see some bigger spell effects. In particular, you're starting to see some real combat buffs for other party members and single-target blasts worth casting. However, you're also first running into a real shortage of options at any given time, so you'll need to pick a second-level spell that really makes a difference to be worth casting three or four times a day. Here on out, you're going to be focusing on powerful and/or versatile spells at your highest level. Some good choices for your one second-level spell at levels 3-5:

Animalistic PowerPHB2 101: This is tailor-made for a spirit shaman, since nearly everyone can benefit from at least part of this spell at these levels, even if they've bought a stat-boosting item already.
Blinding SpittleSC 32: Blindness with no save, with a ranged touch attack at -4. Why do they keep reprinting this overpowered spell? It levels beautifully; you'll keep coming back to this spell for your entire career, if it's allowed.
Flaming Sphere[/b]: This isn't a very potent blast, and blasting isn't very potent to begin with. However, it is round/level duration, and the move action to direct it to attack a new target leaves your standard action open. It's very efficient, but not quite as dramatic as some of the non-core alternatives.
KelpstrandSC 128: I like to think of this spell as webshooters. If it's not huge or larger, it's pretty much just screwed. Your grapple DC will exceed that of most enemies who aren't grappling specialists or very large and very strong, and even if they are they'll need to spend at least one round bursting each strand of kelp. This spell levels beautifully and is silly broken.
Mass Snake's SwiftnessSC 193: The lower-level, single-target version of this spell isn't anything special, but giving a free attack to all of your party members plus any summons you have nearby is just too fun.
Summon Nature's Ally II[/b]: The first Summon Nature's Ally worth casting. d3 wolves or a crocodile are your best combat choices, but a hippogriff or elemental may have some situational utility.

Spirit shamans can also blast, and while I can't recommend it as a general strategy, they have some decent non-core blast spells in DesiccateSand andSplinterboltSC.

Creeping ColdSC 55: Ah, the old Masters of the Wild staple. Stylish, but not terribly powerful. I only mention it because its overall damage beats the alternatives for a couple of levels (6d6 total, fort save for half), as long as you don't mind the time it takes to work.
DesiccateSand 114: d6/level (max 5d6) on a single target, with a weird damage type that ignores DR and energy resistance. This spell can even cause dehydration (which is fatigue on steroids).
SplinterboltSC 203: It's druidic Scorching Ray. Three 4d6 damage bolts with a 18-20 threat range isn't half bad.


Barkskin: Excellent for use while Wild Shaped, since your AC will often be pretty poor.
Bear's Endurance and Bull's Strength: As useful as it is for everyone. Bear's Endurance will be your main in-combat healing spell for low levels; just keep people alive until you can use Vigor.
Blood SnowFrost: Only prep it during the winter or when in an arctic or otherwise frozen area, but d2 Con drain/round is awesome when you combine it with battlefield control spells or flight effects to make sure your enemies have to stand in it.
Briar WebSC: A handy entangling spell that may also cause damage.
Embrace the WildSC and Listening LorecallSC: These are very nearly the same spell, and both are quite handy. Use Embrace the Wild until you have 12 ranks in Listen, then switch over to Listening Lorecall. BlindsightSC is more potent but is higher level and shorter duration.
Gust of Wind: Very underrated utility spell. Clears fogs, blows away small foes, extinguishes torches, and disperses swarms.
Halo of SandSand: Yet another druid AC buff. This one is deflection, though, so it stacks with Barkskin and armor.
Lesser Restoration: Very handy for healing ability damage.
Luminous ArmorBoED: An AC boost while you're Wild Shaping, plus light and another -4 for enemies to hit you in melee. Stacks with Barkskin, but not Wilding armor. Mind the Str damage, though.
Resist Energy: Fairly handy when you know a certain type of energy damage is in the offing.
Wild InstinctsRoE: +1 to spot and listen just for preparing it. Casting it is kind of useless; a min/level ability to give you Uncanny Dodge is only useful when you know you're going to be surprised.

3rd Level
Alter FortunePHB2: Fantastic spell. Great for emergencies (reroll a save!)
Arctic HazeFrost and HaboobSand 117: Damaging and opaque fog. Useful as battlefield control. TremorSC: can be used similarly, but it doesn't damage and doesn't block line of sight.
Attune FormSC: Immunity to planar effects for caster level/3 characters. A handy spell for planehopping games, and much more useful than the lower-levelAvoid Planar EffectsSC, due to the longer duration.
Bite of the WerewolfSC: Again, a variety of nifty stat buffs and a spare bite attack.
BlindsightSC: 30' Blindsight. Who needs See Invisibility?
Call Lightning: This is a good lead-off for long or unchallenging fights, as it gives you lots of turns of attacks with okay damage. Prep one or two a day and use it as your fallback when your specialty (be it summoning, melee, whatever) isn't the best tactic.
CrumbleSC: Apparently druids get Shatter at third level. It's still handy.
Entanging StaffSC: After the Spell Compendium rewrite of this spell, it's now a way to add an extra entangling effect onto hitting someone with your Shillelagh. The constrict after the grab is extra damage, but you probably don't want to stay grappling with them. This is no longer very useful with club-wielding Legendary Ape cheese, though, as continuing the grapple now requires normal actions.
Evard's Menacing TentaclesPHB2: Assuming you have a good strength bonus from a Wild Shape form, this spell provides some battlefield control, metes out some damage, and gives a climbing bonus to boot.
ForestfoldSC: +10 on Hide and Move Silently checks in a natural environment of your choice.
Giant's WrathSC: An interesting alternative to Call Lightning. At early levels, the lack of a need for an attack roll, the lack of DR issues, and the greater number of uses per cast makes Call Lightning the better choice. At higher levels, though, the high strength of Wild Shape forms, the caster-level based damage bonus, and the lack of SR on Giant's Wrath helps it catch up.
Greater Magic Fang: Handy self-buff and good to share with your Animal Companion.
Heart of WaterCM: The winner in a so-so spell family. The main effect of swimming/gills is handy when you get the spell, and on-demand swift-action Freedom of Movement is perfect for a bad grapple or failed save.
Plant Growth: This is druidic Solid Fog, as long as there's some undergrowth. Alternately, make yourself every farmer's friend.
Poison: Con damage is always handy, and the DC scales upward as you increase in level. A much-overlooked spell.
Primal FormSC: This spell isn't overwhelmingly powerful, but it's a versatile self-buff. Flight and swim speed are easy to get with Wild Shape, but this spell is available before plentiful Wild Shape uses, and you can choose on the fly among a melee buff, a defensive buff, or a source of flight.
Primal InstinctDrM 72: +5 to Survival and initiative(!!!), with a 24-hour duration. Toss on Primal HunterDrM 71 for Uncanny Dodge on top of that. The other Primal spells from that book aren't worth fooling with.
Protection From Energy: A versatile, effective defensive buff. You'll rarely regret prepping it.
Remove Disease: Not something you're going to prep every day, but handy when you need it.
Sleet Storm: Handy battlefield control. Great for covering an escape. Not as good as Arctic Fog or Haboob, though.
SpiderskinSC: Barkskin, plus a save bonus against poison and a Hide bonus. Use it on the party sneak, or when you're fighting monstrous vermin or Yuan-Ti.
SpritjawsSC: I love this spell, and it's one of a druid's few good force spells. Throw this spell out there and it's a combination of Spiritual Weapon andTelekinesis's grapple option. It damages and confounds enemies, doing an especially good job of pinning down spellcasters and incorporeal foes.
Stone Shape: Good for making your own entrance or exit. Great for throwing the GM a loop in a dungeon crawl.
Swift Lion's ChargeMiniHB/Lion's ChargeSC: Pouncing is very handy, but this spell can start to eat up spell slots pretty quickly. A similar, overpowered spell named Lion's Charge is in Savage Species, and, while it isn't swift, it gives the Pounce ability for a duration.
Touch of JubilexBoVD: Evil. A great early save-or-die. Whatever it is, in four turns, it'll be dead. Not something you can safely use repeatedly, though, because of the Corruption cost.
VenomfireSK:
Vigor and Mass Lesser VigorSC: Both can be better than Cure Moderate Wounds at low levels, but only outside of combat. It works when you can't summon Unicorns yet and you don't have that handy wand of Cure Light Wounds. Doesn't work with Extend Spell (see CD FAQ), but Mass Lesser Vigor does work with Persistent Spell.
Wind Wall: Another highly underrated spell, this stops archers, swarms, and foes size Tiny or smaller cold.

4th Level
Arc of LightningSC, Blast of SandSand 112, and Flame Strike: The last blast spells worth casting. Flame Strike is a staple and core. Arc of Lightning and Blast of Sand have more-specialized areas of effect (Arc of Lightning is sure to hit two guys and pretty much nobody else, whereas Blast of Sand's 30' cone is Very Large), ignore SR and benefit from Spell Focus (Conjuration). Blast of Sand is probably the most useful due to its large AOE, but it caps out at 10d6 whereas the others cap at 15d6. All of them have situational advantages (and not a one of them is more potent than Boreal Wind), so choose the one best-suited to your game.
Aspect of the WerebeastRoE: Nothing about this Shifter-only self-buff says it only works when you're in a humanoid form, but it is severely limited by its round/level duration. Prep it instead of Bite of the Wereboar anyway, and use Tiger aspect exclusively. Round/level pounce that you can share with your pet is delicious.
Bite of the WereboarSC: Useful stat buffs, a spare bite attack, and one of the better AC buffs around.
Boreal WindFrost: This is a mix of Gust of Wind and an AOE blast. In a fight, the damage is okay but lasts for multiple turns and enemies who don't save have a hard time approaching you, and out of a fight, this has a bunch of interesting utility and RP uses. This is a stylish, versatile, and powerful spell.
Freedom of Movement: Makes you immune to grapples, able to fight underwater, and immune to spells that impede movement. A very handy defensive spell.
Frostfell SlideFrost: The first of the [blank]stride spells. This is probably the most situational, but use it in winter in even a temperate climate and it's almost as good as Teleport.
Giant Vermin: Ridiculously powerful at high levels: at level 20 you can make a 40 HD monster.
Greater Luminous ArmorBoED: As Luminous Armor, only +8 AC instead of +5. Again, mind the Sacrifice cost.
Hibernal HealingFrost: Self-only Heal...as long as you're in a frostfell area, anyway.
Last BreathSC: In Complete Divine, this is druidic Revivify, but with a caster-damaging side effect. In Spell Compendium, this is a no-level-loss Reincarnate that must be cast immediately. Both are useful as an emergency option.
Miasma of EntropySC: This is one of the Spell Compendium stinkers, with issues like having a saving throw in the statblock but no explanation of what that saving throw does in the spell description. However, as written, everyone in the area who isn't wearing metal or magic clothing or armor ends up naked. And, really, isn't that worth a fourth-level spell slot?
MoonboltSC: Anti-undead save-or-die that won't make you feel bad for prepping it on a day where you meet no undead. Note that it can hit two targets if they are within 15' of each other.
Murderous MistSC: AOE save-or-lose, with a gigantic area and targeting reflex? That's worth it.
Passage of the Shifting SandsDrM 70: Druidic Gaseous Form, but with an actual move speed, the ability to blind people, and other bennies.
Scrying: The gold standard in sneaky divinations.
Sheltered VitalitySC: Immunity to ability damage or drain is situational, but very powerful when you need it. Cast this before fighting yuan-ti, giant vermin, undead, or anything else with a nasty ability damage or poison attack. The immunity to fatigue can also be handy for the party barbarian.
Unholy BeastCoR: This is an odd one. It's a lesser, single-target Animal Growth...but with a Dominate Animal effect tossed in. Great for stealing Animal Companions, but still usable as a general-purpose buff.
Vortex of TeethSC: A spell that does force damage, and can tear apart anything that can't get away. This makes a mess of anyone caught in Entangle.
Wall of SaltSand 127: Not quite Wall of Stone, but effective for battlefield control and deterring pursuit.
Wind at BackSC: It lets you double the party's overland speed, lasts 12 hours and can let you speed up multiple beasts of burden, as well.

5th Level
Animal Growth: Multiple animals (your pet and any summons running around) get bigger and get some nice bonuses. One of the best buffs in the game, let alone in core.
Anticold SphereSC: Immunity to cold and great protection from anything with the Cold subtype, with a nice long duration and an area large enough to protect the whole party.
Baleful Polymorph: Turn your opponent into something inoffensive. Toad is a classic form that offers no advantage to your target. This is the core option for transporting Animal Companions in cramped quarters or inappropriate environments Pokemon-style, since, as a permanent spell, it's dispellable. Classy tricks include polymorphing your Roc Animal Companion into a raven for cramped quarters, or polymorphing your T-Rex companion into a frog to go underwater.
Bite of the WeretigerSC: A very high str boost, a variety of other boosts, extra attacks, and free Power Attack.
BlizzardFrost: Instant battle ender. Great for buying some time to parley or obscuring your plans. Huge area of effect.
Call AvalancheFrost While it doesn't cause overwhelming damage (only 8d6), it can bury many opponents in its huge area (size of creatures you can bury scales up as well). It only works outdoors, but it does damage and potential immobilization at long range. For a good trick trick, follow it up with Blood Snow and all the poor buried victims start taking CON drain while trying futilely to escape.
Cloak of the SeaSC: When you're underwater, it's Water Breathing, Freedom of Movement, and Blur, all in one neat little (long-duration!) package. A must-have for any underwater adventures.
Control Winds: Gets you a minimum of hurricane force winds (assuming no wind when you cast it) at caster level 13, which covers a 520ft radius, lasts for over 2 hours, and slaughters medium enemies while stopping anything smaller then gargantuan from doing anything useful. And again as soon as you hit 15 its gets even worse, cause you get tornado winds, which will stop anything and destroy cities and non fortified structures.
Death Ward: Powerful, if conditional, defensive buff.
Owl's InsightSC: A long-duration scaling boost to Wisdom with an unusual bonus type? A must for focused druidic casters, although summoners and wild shapers can give this a pass, since it doesn't do anything but raise spell DCs.
PancaeaSC: A broad-based restoration spell, removing pretty much any condition other than ability damage/drain, disease, or death.
Phantom StagSC: Phantom Steed, only two spell levels higher and with slightly beefier stats. Since druids already have always-on flight at this level from Wild Shape, this is mainly useful for the Etherealness ability it gains at 18th level.
Rejuvenation CoccoonSC: A decent out-of-combat Heal alternative.
Tree Stride: Teleport, but self-only and your GM can arbitrarily limit your use of it, since you need a chain of trees to travel long distances. It's still good.
Wall of Thorns: This is a nice battlefield control/stop pursuers/obstruct sight spell, with nice size and a nice duration.  Not always useful, but sometimes key.  Of course, if you're summoning Greenbound creatures, choose something else.

6th Level
Antilife Shell: Exceedingly powerful defensive spell. Anything living without SR just can't touch you.
Bite of the WerebearSC: Bite of the Weretiger only moreso. You'll probably be fine simply prepping Bite of the Weretiger instead; this spell offers relatively small benefits over that spell.
Chasing PerfectionPHB2: Handy as a self-buff, since it's hard to use magic items in Wild Shape. Won't be terribly useful to the rest of the party at level 13, though.
DrownSC: Save or dying (0 hp). Handy for capturing enemies alive. Not death magic, but obviously doesn't work on non-living creatures, water-breathers, or creatures with no lungs. This has replaced the repeatedly-nerfed MiasmaSC.
Energy ImmunitySC: Powerful, of a bit situational, defensive buff. Has a long enough duration to have it on all the time.
Enveloping CocoonSC: A reflex-based save-or-lose, force-based to boot. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on anyone who can cast Dimension Door (or any similar non-somatic escape spell), and it merely slows down anyone who has a natural weapon or a light weapon in hand. On top of that, unless you just want to trap them for caster level/rounds, you'll need to follow it up with another spell (like Baleful Polymorph).
Find the Path: Never, ever, EVER be lost.
Fires of PuritySC: A hefty melee damage buff, plus Flame Shield lite. Note that, while this spell is three levels higher than Venomfire and only adds one point per caster level instead of d6, it's still a good spell. That's how silly Venomfire is.
Greater Dispel Magic: Unlike mages and clerics, druids very rarely lose caster levels, so this is often a worthwhile spell to prep.
Liveoak: Handy if you need a Treant to guard your camp or home. The casting time and casting limitations limit its general usefulness, though.
MummifySand 118: Save or die. Plus, it's not death magic.
Spellstaff: One extra spell slot, of whatever level you can cast. Clerics with Miracle have no reason not to duplicate this very handy spell.
StormwalkSC: The best of the various druidic teleports. It's strictly worse than the usual sorc/wiz Teleport, but unlike all of the other druidic teleport spells it works on the whole party and doesn't require pre-planning or a tree/pool/snowdrift/whatever.
Superior ResistanceSC: +6 on all saves, all day. Its utility is obvious. (Spell Compendium upped the level, but also the duration. It's still worth it, unlike the pounding Major Resistance took.)
Valiant SteedBoED: Calls a Unicorn or Pegasus that serves you for an entire year.

7th Level
CloudwalkersSC: 10 min./level flight for the entire group. This is getting into the "If you can't fly you can't play" levels, but it is handy for anyone who hasn't gotten their wings yet.
Constricting ChainsBoED: Whatever it is, it's entangled and can't move. No save, no SR. Unless it has at least a +20 Escape Artist mod or a 34 Strength, it's staying stuck unless it wears down the chains with attacks (and half of that damage is in turn redirected to the chained target). Mind the Sacrifice cost, though (which doesn't take effect until the spell ends).
Cry of YsgardBoED: Calls 2d4 defenders of Ysgard that serve for a year.
Death By ThornsBoVD: The Corruption cost is very painful, but this will take the target out of the fight, no matter what. Obviously an evil spell.
Heal: Its uses are obvious.
Master EarthSC: Quite nice as it allows teleportation, a rarity for druids, unerringly to any location touching the earth. As it doesn't have the teleportation descriptor, it can thwart problems such as Forbiddance, Dimensional Anchor/Lock, etc.
Rain of RosesBoED: Continuing Wisdom damage over an area, to evil creatures only. Great if you can limit the target's mobility, as the Wis damage doesn't allow a save.
True Seeing: Magic bullet for illusions, invisibility, and shapechanging.
Word of BalanceSC: Somewhat unreliable because of the odd alignment restrictions, but very powerful when it works.


8th Level
CocoonSC: Lets your Cleric buddy cast true resurrection 2 levels earlier, or if you don't have friends lets you reincarnate with no level loss a week later; it has an XP cost, but it's negligible at best at this level.
FrostfellFrost: Caster level/20' cubes freeze, and anyone in this area rolls a Fort save or turns to ice (and still takes caster/d6 frostburn damage if they save). Think of it as shapable super druid Wail of the Banshee, with an extra heaping helping of awesome.
Leonal's RoarBoED: Druidic Holy Word, plus some sonic damage. Sweet.
Red TideSC: Save, and you're prone and have a -2 to pretty much everything. Don't save, and you're limited to move actions and poisoned with a nasty strength-damage poison. Save-and-you-suck-anyway is always a good choice, and this is a huge 30' radius burst.
StormrageSC: Flight, the ability to throw respectable lightning bolts, and immunity to projectile ranged attacks and wind effects of all kinds. This is more of a spirit shaman or cleric spell due to the flight, but the immunities are helpful.
Word of Recall: A quick escape spell, and one of the very few teleportation spells available to druids.

9th Level
Nature's AvatarSC: Very, very powerful animal buff, and now a swift spell. Cast it on your Animal Companion, and go to town.
Shapechange: Broken spell, but you already know that. Ridiculously powerful, even if you don't abuse the ChronotyrynFF or Choker or Efreeti or ZodarFFor...well. You get the idea.
Summon Elemental MonolithSC: The elemental monoliths are ridiculously powerful, especially given the very high save DCs of the whirlwind and vortex abilities of air and water monoliths. Unlike previous Concentration-duration summons, these are worthwhile even if you can't cheat on the concentration requirement. (And no, Swift Concentration from Complete Scoundrel doesn't work.) Obviously, this is a spirit shaman's ultimate spell.
TsunamiSC: The fight is over. This spell will end anyone smaller than Gargantuan who can't immediately get out of the way of the 40-ft-high wave. The spell component is rather expensive, however.
UndermasterSC: Awesome power indeed. This gives you a whole variety of great spell-likes, some of which aren't even on the druid list.
[/size]« Last Edit: November 06, 2009, 02:31:39 AM by A Man In Black »[/t][/color]

Offline Libertad

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3618
    • View Profile
    • My Fantasy and Gaming Blog
Re: The Spirit Shaman Handbook (A Man In Black)
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2013, 08:59:20 PM »

« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2009, 12:30:10 AM »

Likewise.

Sample Builds
Heres is a small compilation of premade builds for your entertainment.


Quote from: lilt
Lilt's Wind Shaman
Making builds using spirit shaman is more complex. The extra abilities aren't really dip-able. Well, I suppose they are, but how far do you go? 4 levels give you immunity to charms/compulsions, 6 levels make all of your weapons and armor ghost-touch, 9 levels let you turn incorporeal sometimes, 10 levels let you use your spirit guide to concentrate on something, 11 levels if you want the extremely useful ability of un-killing an ally, and 19 levels if you want the extremely useful ability to contingently heal yourself when you would otherwise be healed.

Personally I think that 11 levels are pretty-much optimal. Who wouldn't want soemone around who can bring you back from the dead without loss of level around? That leaves you with little room to optimise in, however.

Perhaps consider:
Human Spirit Shaman 11/Wind Walker 9
BAB 17, Nice other abilities but the feat requirements are ugly with no fighter or ranger levels to soak them up. Other PrCs to consider mixing in there are Divine Disciple and Seeker of the Misty Isle. Wind Walker is in Faiths and Pantheons.

Spirit Shaman is definately interesting as it gains spells at the faster Cleric/Wizard rate whilst being able to spontaneously cast.

Quote from: Xeraph
Persistent Spirit Healer of Pelor
Spirit Shaman 11/ Contemplative 1/ Sacred Exorcist 1/ Prestige Paladin 2/ Radiant Servant of Pelor 5

1: Spirit Shaman 1 Education
2: Spirit Shaman 2
3: Spirit Shaman 3 Mounted Combat
4: Spirit Shaman 4
5: Spirit Shaman 5
6: Spirit Shaman 6 Extend Spell
7: Spirit Shaman 7
8: Spirit Shaman 8
9: Spirit Shaman 9 Persistent Spell
10: Spirit Shaman 10
11: Spirit Shaman 11 Recall Spirit
12: Contemplative 1 Extra Spell (Dispel Evil), Bonus Domain (Sun)
13: Sacred Exorcist 1 Turn Undead
14: Prestige Paladin 1
15: Prestige Paladin 2 Extra Turning, Divine Grace
16: Radiant Servant of Pelor 1 Superduper Turning Abilities
17: Radiant Servant of Pelor 2
18: Radiant Servant of Pelor 3 Divine Metamagic (Persistent)
19: Radiant Servant of Pelor 4
20: Radiant Servant of Pelor 5

Bab +13
Caster level 19
Lots of Turn Undead, Divine Grace, Divine Metamagic Cheese aswell as Guide Magic. Also many less uber abilities like Divine Grace, Special Mount, Divine Health, Recall Spirit etc. etc.

Here is a variant pointed out by DavidWL that doesn't require Education feat:
Spirit Shamen 11/Ruathar 2/contemplative 1/Sacred Exorcist 1/Prestige Paladin 2/Radiant Servant 3
Ohhh how we love the Ruathar Knowledge (Religion) access.

Quote from: Lilt
Sent a 21st level Spirit Shaman 20/Hierophant 1 as my party as part of a CR25 encounter in an evil epic one-off. Domain from contemplative was Inquisition, Hierophant ability was Divine Reach.

He was a member of a 4-person team sent to delay the party, which also consisted of a Half-Dragon Half-Ogre Mineral Warrior FB, an arcane hierophant polymorphed into a black ethergaunt, and a Teflammar Shadowlord. The battle took place atop the highest mountain in Faerun (which I decided was in the mountains of the vilhon reach) I think he probably fared best until he was 'killed' for the third time (contingent heal, favoured of the spirits, then death), taken below 100HP, then PWKed. Yes, I know that protection against death magic is possible but they were fairly poor, needing to spend all of their money on AC and stat boosters so they had OK ACs and OK save DCs. They also only had NPC money, meaning about 30% of what a PC of the equivalent level would have. The spells I found the most use (some are specific to this type of encounter) were:

3rd:
Dispel Magic
Rings of Freedom of Movement only have a caster level of 7, meaning this did come in handy.

5th:
Rejuvenation Cocoon
Best done whilst airborne and carried somehow. Without a full attack, opponents aren't going to be able to deal the nessecary 210 points of damage easily (without crits or sneak-attack).

6th:
Greater Dispelling
Not used to dispell the spells of my enemies, but to suppress magic items. This was really useful for getting rid of rings of evasion, rings of freedom of movement, robes of eyes, and other things which made other special attacks ineffective.

7th:
Heal
Never hurts to have it, unless you're fighting undead in which case it hurts them. Sadly my player who was gonna play a Necromancer/Yathrinshee changed to some other arcaneine combo at the last minute, but the spell was still my most useful 7th level one.

8th:
Frostfell
Perhaps too awesome... Sadly all of the PCs had ridiculous saves, so they weren't changed into ice, but 20d6 ice damage never hurt anyone.

9th:
Summon Elemental Monolith
Air worked fairly well, although in retrospect I shoudl have gone with earth. My three castings of this spell probably used-up more of the enemy resources (banishments, miracles to emulate banishments, ETC) than any other castings of spells.

If there's one thing I learnt from that combat then it's that suppressing magic items is easy and often a better course of action than attacking as long as there are other characters around able to take advantage of the situation. Quickened Suppress Magic (MoI) is a good use of a 6th level sorc/wiz slot too.

Another thing that I learnt is that Spirit Shamans are powerful as DM pawns. they have the ability to cast a large number of very damaging spells a number of times and can alter or maintain their strategies how they see fit.
Storm Shaman (By risner)
Spirit Shaman 11/ Stormlord 8/ Contemplative 1

Shaman of Bharrai (By Khazra Reborn)
Spirit Shaman 7/ Human Paragon 3/ Sentinel of Bharrai 10

Spirit Shaman of Eternity (By DavidWL)
Illumian (Naenhoon) Spirit Shamen 5/Hathran 6/Sovereign Speaker 5/Ruathar 1/Sacred Exorcist 1/Contemplative 2

Spirit Shaper (By risner)
Human Spirit Shaman 5 /Beastmaster 1 /Lion Talisid 10 /Master Many Forms 2 /Ruathar 1 /Contemplative 1

Shamanic Abolisher (By Bukowski)
Spirit Shaman 13/Abolisher 5/Beastmaster 1/Mystic Wanderer 1

Shaman of the Waste (By DavidWL)
Spirit Shaman 5/Walker in the Waste 10/Contemplative 1/Sacred Exorcist 1/Prestige Paladin 3

Landforged Shaman (By Arz)
Spirit Shaman 15/ Landforged Walker 5

Spirit Shaman Healbot (By
pmurray@bigpond.com)
Aasimar 1/ Spirit Shaman 18/ Cleric 1

Spirit Shaman Resources
Here you can find varies resources that might help you Spirit Shaman on her/his way to success.

Epic Spirit Shaman
Yue Ryongs great work on making the Spirit Shaman playable through epic levels.

Good ways to dramatically increase the Spirit Shamans spell list
DavidWL's wonderful 3 step program on how to increase the Spirit Shamans spell list.

Thoughts on Nightmare Spinner, Ghostwalk, Oriental Adventures and other stuff.
Camirblu talks indepth about how the Spirit Shaman, with a little houseruling, can benefit from a wide variety of prestige classes and feats to not only make it stronger but also give it alot of flavor. If your DM is up for some tweaking then you should definatly read this article.

Spirit Shaman Spell Research: A flavoured House Rule dish served by
pmurray@bigpond.com
We wanted some colour text for our Spirit Shaman to acquire Spell Compendium spells. This is based on the research rules for wizards, but I halved the cost because I can't imagine druidic spell research as costing as much as renting a lab. I also reduced the time (and made it random), because it's not a matter of inventing something completely new, but of finding someone who already knows it. -
pmurray@bigpond.com
[/size]« Last Edit: October 19, 2009, 01:49:30 AM by A Man In Black »[/t][/color]