Spirit Shaman Necromancer.

[Epsilon Rose]

I've been toying with an odd build idea recently, and I was wondering if it's possible to make a decent Spirit Shaman necromancer at low to mid levels.
He'd only be interested in accruing and maintaining a small handful of reliable undead soldiers (as apposed to a hoard), if that matters. I'd also like to ear mark a feat for undead leadership.

Beyond that, it's pretty much do as you will, without gestalt or dragon mag. Though the fewer and the more standard the sources the better.

Does any one have any thoughts on how this could be pulled off?

[Yuki Akuma]

I don't think there are actually any undead creating/controlling spells on the Druid spell list...

[Analytica]

You can use Contemplative to get domains with suitable spells on them. Presumably these just add the spells to your class spell list. Other ways of getting domains may exist as well.

You can probably take Mother Cyst. Though it may be read as just adding spells for sorcerers/wizards and clerics, that is probably not the intent.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I'm pretty sure the Druid spell list does just the opposite (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) of what you want to get out of it. You would be hard pressed to find even one Necromancy spell on the Druid list that isn't exclusively for combating and destroying the undead.

If you want a character with a nature feel who also deals with the undead, maybe use Archivist (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20051007a&page=3) and pick up whichever Druid spells you'll need in addition to all the Cleric spells you want.

[Maho-Tsukai]

Either that or use Frank and K's homebrew class known as the Corpselight Whisperer. It's a Druid-PrC that gives a Druid access to necromancy spells and undead wildshapes, including a wil-o'-whisp form.

[Analytica]

I can see flavor reasons for wanting to go necromancer with spirit shaman. Notably, it is the only divine spellcasting class in fairly common campaign setting Faerun that does not depend on the good will of a patron deity. Mechanically, it is the only way to combine full list access and spontaneous casting without resorting to strong cheese like Rainbow Servant or Ur-Theurge or difficult cheese like Magelord.

That said, it is difficult.

The Nightbringer Initiate from Faiths of Eberron seems like it could work - it requires spontaneous casting of summon nature's ally which you arguably do have, and it states that it add certain spells to the druid spell list. Since SS uses that, you can get some necromancy this way, though limited to shadow-things.

[Yuki Akuma]

Technically Spirit Shamans do not spontaneously cast Summon Nature's Ally like a Druid. You can, after all, not retrieve it, which would mean suddenly you don't qualify anymore.

Better to take Spontaneous Summoner. Intended for Rangers, but awesome for Spirit Shamans. It basically gives them an extra retrieved spell every level (except for orisons)...

[Epsilon Rose]

That's rather unfortunate.

Actually, I could care less about the druid part of things. I just really liked the in tune with spirits fluff on the class. I was thinking of having him be some one who makes use of dead bodies from a more utilitarian standpoint (they don't sleep, eat, drink, breath, or have personal desires, and unlike golems you don't need to enslave a sentient being to power them) but also payed a modicum of respect to there previous inhabitants by doing things like sacrificing wine to the bodies original owner and having a fairly extensive knowledge of funeral rituals and last rights. I also wasn't planning on having him run around zapping everything with negative energy, so I'm not sure how much a problem not having many necromantic spells would be, but without some way to circumvent it (to bad there's know craft undead feat) the lack of create undead is a problem.
How well would the contemplative for domain work? And might there be a base class that's better suited for this sort of thing: (note, I don't consider vanilla cleric as having the right fluff [to combat oriented and hardy] but feel free to try and convince me otherwise.)

[Cog]

Technically Spirit Shamans do not spontaneously cast Summon Nature's Ally like a Druid. You can, after all, not retrieve it, which would mean suddenly you don't qualify anymore.
Feats don't care about how permanent your qualification is, just whether you do or don't. If you have the summon on your list when you level, you can take the feat. If you neglect to take a summon later on, you lose access to the feat, but as soon as you get a summon again, you meet the prereqs again, and can continue to make use of the feat.

I remember seeing an official source for Spirit Shamans qualifying like this, probably in the FAQ somewhere, for whatever that's worth.

[Yuki Akuma]

That's rather unfortunate.

Actually, I could care less

*couldn't.

[Benly]

If what you want is the shamanic fluff, you could see about using the original Oriental Adventures shaman - it's a more conventional prepared caster with its own list, although it has the "spirit sight" and related abilities that the spirit shaman inherited. Most importantly for this purpose, it gets two domains off a unique list of shaman domains, one of which (Grave) has Animate Dead, Create Undead, and Create Greater Undead.

[Urpriest]

You can use Contemplative to get domains with suitable spells on them. Presumably these just add the spells to your class spell list. Other ways of getting domains may exist as well.


Hmm...not sure if this works, or how this works. If you viewed Spirit Shamans as a prepared class, then they would only get one domain spell per level per day. If they are a spontaneous class, they have to learn the spells. I assume your logic is that they are effectively a spontaneous class that learns new spells every day, so the domain just becomes new spells they can retrieve? That seems like a reasonable way to do it, but I don't think there's a definite answer really.

[Analytica]

Hmm...not sure if this works, or how this works. If you viewed Spirit Shamans as a prepared class, then they would only get one domain spell per level per day. If they are a spontaneous class, they have to learn the spells. I assume your logic is that they are effectively a spontaneous class that learns new spells every day, so the domain just becomes new spells they can retrieve? That seems like a reasonable way to do it, but I don't think there's a definite answer really.

It's a shame really, that while Complete Divine both describes the SS and rules for extra domains, it doesn't state this explicitly. But yes, I can't really read them as prepared (as they do not lose spells retrieved when they cast them, like a Vancian prepared caster).

[Epsilon Rose]

Since I'm not planning on creating an army of undead, do you think it would be feasible to simply use a wand until I can pick up contemplative?

[Urpriest]

Since I'm not planning on creating an army of undead, do you think it would be feasible to simply use a wand until I can pick up contemplative?

Pretty sure you can't use a wand unless it's on your list. Unless you mean with UMD?

[Yuki Akuma]

Pretty sure you can't use a wand unless it's on your list. Unless you mean with UMD?

"Pretty sure"? That's explicitly how wands work.

[Epsilon Rose]

Is there a convenient way to get umd that would fit the character?

[Yuki Akuma]

Cross class skill ranks?

You're a Spirit Shaman, your Charisma isn't terrible. Wand activation is DC 20. That's not that high.

[Analytica]

You can dip something with UMD (human paragon is worth it in many cases), or take a feat like Flexible Mind which gives additional class skills.

[Diarmuid]

If it's simply the fluff you're worried about, there's no reason you couldnt make a cleric "of an ethos" and play him as you're describing the SS. You would need to be somewhat self-limiting to keep the flavor appropriate, but you'd have all the tools you're looking for available to you.

Mechanics do not define fluff.

[Yuki Akuma]

If it's simply the fluff you're worried about, there's no reason you couldnt make a cleric "of an ethos" and play him as you're describing the SS. You would need to be somewhat self-limiting to keep the flavor appropriate, but you'd have all the tools you're looking for available to you.

Mechanics do not define fluff.

You can't do that in Forgotten Realms. All divine spellcasters get their powers from some greater (or at least otherworldly) being.

Spirit Shamans are special in that they get theirs from several.

[Diarmuid]

I guess I missed the part where he said he was in a FR game.

[Yuki Akuma]

I guess I missed the part where he said he was in a FR game.

He didn't actually - that was someone else. Just, y'know, throwing that out there.

Sometimes there is a fluff reason you can't play a "Cleric of a Cause".

[Coidzor]

He didn't actually - that was someone else. Just, y'know, throwing that out there.

Sometimes there is a fluff reason you can't play a "Cleric of a Cause".

Sometimes, but one shouldn't assume everyone is playing in FR without them saying something to suggest this first.

[Epsilon Rose]

Actually, I'm not playing in FR.
I've just never been overly fond of clerics.

[Analytica]

One other thing: Walker in the Waste from Sandstorm. Gives you the ability to make salt mummies, and makes you a dry lich at tenth level. However, you also becomes surrounded by a moving wasteland zone of heat and despair, and water harms you.