Spirit Shaman Build advice

[UmpteenthDoctor]

Alright I need help with a Spirit Shaman Build.
Spirit Shaman (http://dndtools.eu/classes/spirit-shaman/)

Its off a point buy system of 32
Base is 8 (9-14 for 1)(15-16 for 2)(17-18 for 3)

We can use Races or LA up to ECL 3 but its for the level 5 build.

We can have magical items based off our WBL but to a maximum of +2

[Vaz]

Can't get far wrong with Spirit Shaman 5.

Str 10, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16 is a fairly good array, and Human is brilliant anyway, although the Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1053141) suggests Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14 and Cha 16 (lower Int, Higher Dex; I prefer the skillpoints leeway). Alternatively a gold or dream dwarf (dwarf, +2 con, no Cha penalty)

Feat wise, feel free to choose whatever you really like the look of. My favourites are Incarnum feats; if going Incarnum, Azurin with Bonus Essentia and Shape Soulmeld are awesome. Bind Vestige+Improved Bind Vestige gets you up to 3rd level Vestiges.

[Jeff the Green]

There are a few ways you can go with Spirit Shamans.


You can melee. Without wildshape, obviously, you'll never be as good as a druid, but you still have some decent weapon selection and buffs. In this case you'll want good Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom. Dexterity also if you can't get heavier armor somehow. You can safely dump Charisma as that only affects your DCs (unless you want to dip Sacred Exorcist or similar for Turn Undead and use divine feats). Because of the way retrieving spells works, having an ally meleer to buff along with you is nice

You can buff/debuff/BFC. The druid list actually has a good selection of spells. Buffing works best if you have multiple people in the same roles for the same reason as melee; you want to make each spell you retrieve useful as much as possible. You pick a versatile debuff/BFC spell for your highest levels and some buffs and another debuff or so in the lower ones. Prioritize Charisma (for DCs), Wisdom, and Constitution.

You can blast. While it's hard to reach mailman levels because you won't have the same metamagic mitigation available without DMM and some cheese, but you have a lot of good spells, the ability to swap out if you know something about energy vulnerabilities you'll encounter for the day, and the ability to "forget" lower level blast spells for utility and buff at a much more rapid rate than a sorcerer. Same as b/d/bfc, Charisma, Wisdom, and Constitution. Dexterity's also a factor because you'll probably be making attack rolls. Mostly touch, but you still want to be pretty reliable.

You can summon. You're really good at this, actually, and should have this as a backup option even if you're not specializing. This really only requires Wisdom, so you can invest in the other stats purely at personal preference.


Vaz has the levels and feats about right. If you want DMM (and thus Sacred Exorcist) you'll need to get dismissal or dispel evil. Extra Spell arguably works. I'm sure there are other ways too. I'll add Wild Cohort. While it'll never be as useful as an animal companion, it'll help you make use of all those wonderful animal-only spells on the druid list.

I know the standard recommendation for summoning druids and favored souls is Greenbound Summoning, but I've discovered that they're actually too powerful to really be fun. Instead I'd recommend Spontaneous Summoner, Augment Summoning, and, once you hit 8th level, Summon Elemental. Imbued Summoning can be decent, depending on your reading.

Standard race recommendations are human, azurin (if using soulmelds, as mentioned), strongheart halfling, and Aasimar. For the ones that don't care about Charisma Dwarves are never bad, particularly for meleers that manage to get heavier armor. For Wisdom-based ones the anthropomorphic animals are pretty neat mechanically and flavorfully.

[UmpteenthDoctor]

Alright those sound awesome.

Well I am thinking an Elan since my DM has gone with the fluff and a 1000 year old Elan gets a +3 to Int, Wis, and Cha free of charge.

Also I am gonna take Dynamic Priest which can change my Wis based spell needs to Cha instead turning me from MAD to SAD.

Any idea for a build using that?
I honestly considered maybe Feytouched Template with the buy off?

[nedz]

You can also do the scouting thing. Good Spot and Listen and retrieving the right spells help. Elves are good for this since their class features stack with Alertness, which you get anyway. Track, if you want it, is only a feat plus ranks in survival.

You can also fill the healbot role, with minimal spells retrieved.

Furthermore you can combine several of these roles in one, and change between many of them on day by day basis. OK you're stuck with you're feat choices, but spells are ultimately more important.

[Urpriest]

We can have magical items based off our WBL but to a maximum of +2

What does this mean? Is it just a restriction on weapons and armor? "+2" doesn't mean much for other items, and there are plenty of low level items that give much higher bonuses to things (Cloak of Elvenkind for example).

[UmpteenthDoctor]

He meant the bonus had to be +2 or lower so a +2 Longsword or less.

[Urpriest]

He meant the bonus had to be +2 or lower so a +2 Longsword or less.

I know, what I meant was, is that only a restriction on weapons and armor? Or does your DM thinks it means something when applied to other items? It just seems odd to have a restriction like that that only applies to weapon-users, rather than a gp limit like a normal DM would use.

[UmpteenthDoctor]

We are restricted to Wealth by Level for 5th level.

[Vaz]

You can also do the scouting thing. Good Spot and Listen and retrieving the right spells help. Elves are good for this since their class features stack with Alertness, which you get anyway. Track, if you want it, is only a feat plus ranks in survival.

With Astral Tracking, and Owl's Insight, combined with a dip in Contemplative (Travel domain), you're pushing out a fairly competent Survival check and can track your target extremely well.

With 15 Wis (with Dynamic Priest, however, changing your Wis "requirement", you might not have this), at 9th level, you have around 12 ranks in Survival, probably around +6 Synergy, +2 from high Wis, and with Owl's Insight at a CL of 10, you get +5, so a further +3 from high Wis, you're looking at 23 to Survival checks, or a 2/3 chance in checking to see if you can follow the location of where your target went.

[Urpriest]

We are restricted to Wealth by Level for 5th level.

Again, you've already said that. What aspect of my question is confusing you? All I'm asking is what the phrase "+2 or lower" means when applied to items that aren't weapons or armor.

Anyway, to actually say something productive, Feytouched isn't a template, it's a race. It's got some decent benefits, though you could get more powerful for +1 LA if you really wanted to. Only do it if you can do LA buyoff.

[UmpteenthDoctor]

We are doing buy off and easily have enough EXP at start for a LA 1 buy off.

He didn't say that was all he said so I am not sure. so I guess so long as I can buy it i can have it.