Unique spirit shaman traits or build choices?

[CyberThread]

So many druidish prc's suffer or are never considered , because of the animal companion, or wild shaping or just incomplete casting progression. What prc's would you consider with the spirit shaman, that you would never consider for a druid?

[NoACWarrior]

If there were some PrC which utilized multiple concentration spells then the 10th level ability of the spirit shaman would be so helpful - double the fun for concentration based effects.

[Jeff the Green]

Spirit shaman's in that caster class sweet spot where it's worth going for all 20 levels (unlike wizard or cleric), but taking a prestige class isn't going to hurt you (unlike druid).


Spirit Shaman 10/Bard 2/Fochluchan lyrist 8 (using shenanigans to get Evasion) is fun because you can combine Guide Magic with sonorous hum to concentrate on three spells at a time.
I almost always take Wild Cohort with a spirit shaman because the druid list contains so many animal-only buffs, so an adaptation of Silverwood Arcanist is nice.
They make good "gishes" too. I'm fond of a shamadin build, usually Spirit Shaman 10/Contemplative* 1/Prestige Paladin 2 (3 if tyrrany)/Shiba Protector 1/Whatever 6, dumping Charisma and taking Serenity. You still get 9s, and you get Wisdom to spells, attack (twice with smite), damage, and saves.
They unfortunately have a hard time using DMM, usually needing to dip cleric, dread necromancer, or death delver but if they can get it it's very nice. You can combine that with bone knight for another good "gish" build.
They can make good walkers in the waste. While they can't get in at 4th like an atheist cleric or 2nd like a generic caster, they can enter at the intended 6th. You'll primarily be a caster and minionmancer since you lose BAB and will likely be fragile until you become undead, but that's probably more optimized than a gish build anyway. And unlike cleric and druid, you'll have Charisma as a casting stat, which helps once you become a dry lich.
They can take Spontaneous Summoning, making them almost as good at summoning as a druid (and better at spamming it if they retrieve it).


Another thing that factors in is how domains work. The rules in CD (which spirit shaman is from!) aren't terribly clear. You don't prepare, and you're only sort of spontaneous. I lean toward needing to retrieve them like any other spell, but if they're automatically retrieved you want domains early and often, as well as an item of substitute domain. Start with divine oracle, then sovereign speaker and contemplative.

*Contemplative is to get the Good domain so you can cast protection from evil. If you can find a way to cast it earlier, that'd be better. One possibility is combining Divine Oracle with an item of substitute domain, though that's a bit iffy.

[Darrin]

Holt Warden (Complete Champion) is one of the few druid-friendly PrCs, and should work even better for Spirit Shamans since you're not worrying about advancing wildshape or your animal companion. Gives you rebuke/command plants.

Seeker of the Misty Isle (Complete Divine) adds the Travel domain (maybe swap it for the Devotion?). Elf-only though.

Earth Dreamer (Races of Stone) could be useful. Earthglide woot!

Hmm. Rimefire Witch (Frostburn)? Have to worship Hleid, but if druids can do that, so can you.

Windwalker (Faiths & Pantheons) is several flavors of awesomesauce: 10/10 casting, full BAB, 100' fly speed as a capstone.

[Zaq]

Yeah, Holt Warden and Contemplative are two dips that are almost always worth making if your GM makes domains not totally idiotic on a Spirit Shaman. It's been a couple years since I played mine, but I think what my GM and I agreed upon is that if you get a domain somehow, you don't have to retrieve that spell in the morning, but you can only cast it once per day, and it still takes a slot of the normal level. I think. As noted above, the CDiv rules are unclear at best. (The other logical reading is that domains simply add spells to your list, but to actually cast them, you have to retrieve them like any other. The crazy reading is that they're always prepped, which makes them very, very powerful indeed.)

If you're a raptoran, Skypledged is totally awesome for a Spirit Shaman. Like, bonkers awesome. It's like MotAO for divine characters, only arguably better, since you don't have to do shenanigans with "unprepared spell slots" and suchlike. The qualifications are a bit suspect (arguably, you have to retrieve SNA4 every day to maintain qualification), and you do lose access to spells with any of the [Earth], [Fire], or [Water] tags, but it still gives you flexibility like crazy. (Full Cleric list access? Yes please!)