E6 Spirit Shaman BBEG

[veven]

I have never played a Spirit Shaman but I am using one for a BBEG in an upcoming campaign. He will have two E6 capstone feats to grant him Warding of the Spirits and Spirit Form 1/day.

The story is that he was misled by Tharizdun. He thought he was forwarding the cause of some ancient nature spirit but he was really working to free Tharizdun. He gradually went insane and now knowingly works to free Tharizdun.

Seeing as how I've never played one, do you folks have any advice on how to make one an interesting BBEG?

[Urpriest]

One tactic that's interesting for Spirit Shamans is using the staff-based Druid spells, like Shillelagh and Spikes. While Druids don't use them very often because of Wild Shape, Spirit Shamans can make good use of them.

Spirit Shamans also make pretty good summoners, from what I've heard.

[veven]

One tactic that's interesting for Spirit Shamans is using the staff-based Druid spells, like Shillelagh and Spikes. While Druids don't use them very often because of Wild Shape, Spirit Shamans can make good use of them.

Spirit Shamans also make pretty good summoners, from what I've heard.

Alright, I like it. What would be a good staff like weapon to use? Isn't there some crazy knotted mass of moose antlers and moss in some book...?

Edit: found it. Not that great.

[Urpriest]

Alright, I like it. What would be a good staff like weapon to use? Isn't there some crazy knotted mass of moose antlers and moss in some book...?

Hmm...I'd probably just stick with a Greatclub or Quarterstaff personally. I think what you're talking about was in Masters of the Wild, though I'm not sure, and I don't recall it really being worth it.

[visigani]

Why not warp the spirit shaman into a "Shaman of the Flesh". You can think of some seriously nasty surprises if you do that.


Chastise Flesh, for example... it's mechanically the same as Chastise Spirits... but works on creatures that are flesh based. However, to make it especially nasty because it tears away the living flesh of the victim, cause it to have a secondary effect similar to a prismatic ray, except you roll to determine what horrific malady you may succumb to...

Ability damaged for 1d6 con and 1d6 str, blinded, deafened, nauseated, staggered, or stunned.

First make a reflex save, if they fail their reflex save they have to make a fort save against the secondary effect. This is your opener, but use it sparingly as it's extremely potent.

We are, however, talking about the big bad evil guy here.



Flesh Form: Replaces Spirit form... As an immediate action the Shaman swaps places with another character that fails their will save. However, that character is also subjected to a "polymorph" or alterself spell... whichever is needed... that makes her look like the caster while changing the appearance of the caster to look like the person she just replaced and strikes the character "dumb" so she can't talk and immobilizes her so she can't run. This lasts one round (or three rounds if you REALLY want to be a jerk, but it will almost certainly result in a character death, so be careful).

For this you'll want to make the roll secretly... or roll the d20 in full view but don't tell what it's for, let the characters "act as normal" and only THEN reveal the ruse after the results are known.



And for a really gruesome finale'... "Exorcise the Flesh". This spell effectively pushes the flesh of the character, en mass, back one square. This does not, however, push back their skeletal framework. They collapse in a heap of flesh, are reduced to 0 hp, take 2d6 ability damage to all of their scores, and are paralyzed and will die if they do not receive a healing spell (any healing spell repairs their skeleton to full) within five rounds. Characters that witness this must make a will save or become panicked.


have fun!

[veven]

Hmm...I'd probably just stick with a Greatclub or Quarterstaff personally. I think what you're talking about was in Masters of the Wild, though I'm not sure, and I don't recall it really being worth it.

It was the Sugliin from Forstburn. It's awful haha. It's an exotic weapon that you can only attack once with on a full round action unless you spend ANOTHER feat to be able to use it normally.

[veven]

Another question...how does the Spirit Shaman's casting mechanic interact with the spontaneous casting feats from Complete Divine? (I want Ashbound). Would it replace a spell I retrieved or just use one of my daily slots? If so, this is a pretty awesome feat for a Spirit Shaman since it basically lets them retrieve 1 extra spell of each level (although from the SNA or Cure lists).

[OverdrivePrime]

For my spirit shammies, I always like to take the Spontaneous Summoner feat from Complete divine. It's a great feat for them. If you can get him Spell Focus: Conjuration and augment summoning, he can spam some fairly potent summoned creatures all over the place, and back them up with some pretty nasty conjuration spells.

When I'm DMing, I always house rule that Spirit Shamans and Favored Souls are purely Charisma dependent for casting, but if that's not cool for your game there's the "Charismatic Priest" feat or whatever it's called from Dragonlance.

[Cieyrin]

Another question...how does the Spirit Shaman's casting mechanic interact with the spontaneous casting feats from Complete Divine? (I want Ashbound). Would it replace a spell I retrieved or just use one of my daily slots? If so, this is a pretty awesome feat for a Spirit Shaman since it basically lets them retrieve 1 extra spell of each level (although from the SNA or Cure lists).

The Player's Guide to Eberron specifically calls out that Spirit Shamans can use the Druid feats, like Ashbound, without having to trick their way in via Spontaneous Summoner. It's still nice to have, as you pointed out, for having effectively extra spells known, given the low amount of spells known Spirit Shamans seem to have.

For your pleasure, I have a Spirit Shaman of moderate optimization (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=160846) that could be modified for E6, as he's just 7th level. Take what you wish from it in building your BBEG and happy gaming! :smallbiggrin: