JellyPooga
2007-04-15, 09:17 AM
Hey-di-ho everyone!
I was contemplating the Spirit Shaman class from Complete Divine the other day and realised that htere weren't really any good PrC's for them (nothing that advanced Chastise Spirit for a start). So, I got to thinking about it and when I was reading through Races of the Wild, I saw Arcane Heirophant. Now, I've always liked the idea of the Arcane Heirophants Companion Familiar and it struck me that a similar concept could be used for the Spirit Shaman.
I had a concept for a Spirit Shaman PrC. I just needed some rules. Not being the most amazing homebrewer in the world, I thought I'd come here and ask for some help. Here's my ideas so far...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaman Summoner
The Shaman Summoner has focused his energies on the interaction of animals and the spirit world. Using his specialised knowledge of this area, he learns to imbue his personal spiritual guide into his animal companion and gains the ability to summon the spirits themselves to aid him. (needs more obviously, but I'm a bit crap at prose)
Spirit Shaman 4 / Druid 1 = Quickest Entry
Spirit Shaman 4 / Ranger 4 = More Combat Oriented
Beastmaster also an entry possibility
Requirements
Skills: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Knowledge (The Planes) 4 ranks, Handle Animal 4 ranks
Feats: Augment Summoning, Natural Bond
Spellcasting: Able to spontaneously cast 2nd level Divine spells
Special: Animal Companion class feature and Blessing of the Spirits spell-like ability
Class Features
HD: d8
Skill Points: 4+Int mod
Class Skills: As Spirit Shaman
Spirit Companion (Ex): Spirit Guide bonded to Animal Companion (Form of Spirit Guide does not have to match animal)
Blessing of the Spirits works on Animal Companion as well.
Spirit Companion is still an Animal Companion (Shaman Summoner lvls stack with Druid for abilities).
Spirit Guide able to act through Spirit Companion: 1/day/level, Animal Companion gains improved mental capabilities*
Follow the Guide [1st level] and Guide Magic [6th level] - As Spirit Shaman abilities.
Ghost Animal: Treats Natural Weapons as Ghost Touch and can use Normal AC vs. Incorporeal Touch Attacks [2nd level]
Spirit Form: Spirit Companion able to become Incorporeal X/day (like Spirit Shaman feature) [4th level, 1/day. 6th lvl, 2/day. 8th lvl 3/day.)
Channel Animal: As Arcane Hierophant ability, except only through Spirit Companion
Spiritual Ascension: 10th level, Spirit Companion becomes a chimerical Incorporeal creature with features of both Animal Companion and Spirit Guide, able to manifest X/day. Improved mental capabilities now permanent.
*Spirit Guide has independent Int, Wis, Cha, Skills and abilities which supercede animals’ when using this ability. Increases with level. Immediate action to activate possession. (e.g. Spirit Guide gets Improved Evasion earlier than Animal Companion would, Int/Wis/Cha that scales with level, high Knowledge skills – allowing assist bonus’ to Shaman, able to speak with Shaman, etc….see familiar abilities for comparison)
Add half Shaman Summoner levels to Spirit Shaman levels for determining damage caused and the DC of Chastise Spirits
Shaman Summoner stacks with Spirit Shaman/Druid/Ranger levels to determine Wild Empathy modifier.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Spellcasting progression is a given, but I wasn't sure on how much. I'm thinking full bar two levels (maybe 1st and 7th), but like I say, I'm not sure. Certainly not dual casting (I did consider an Ultimate Magus style of dual casting between Druid and Spirit Shaman, but rejected that idea).
2) Summoner - as the name suggests, I wanted some kind of summoning feature that summons spirit animals. I was thinking something along the lines of the Summon Undead ability that the Master of Shrouds (from Libris Mortis)gets, except obviously it summons spirit animals. The problem I had was three-fold a)How many uses per day? b)What template to apply to animals to make them spirit creatures? and c)How to scale the ability with level?
a)If I keep it true to the Master of Shrouds PrC, it's 3+Cha mod. I'm happy with that myself. Does anyone see a problem with that thouh?
b)Ghost Brute is a fairly obvious choice, though Umbral wouldn't be far off either. Any other suggestions?
c)This is the tricky part IMO. There are many animals and some make better spirits than others. One option is to say that all Spirit Animals have the same stats, regardless of what form they take. This option would mean that the only scaling would be the number of Spirit Animals summoned with each use (e.g. 1 at 1st level, 2 at 4th, 4 at 6th, 6 at 8th and 8 at 10th maybe). Another option would be to say that each use of the ability summons X HD of Spirit Animals. Obviously, the higher the level, the more HD can be summoned. Thoughts anyone?
3)Finally, I wanted something for the Shaman him/herself. Considering the fact that the Spirit Guide is supposed to be a sort of personification of the Shaman in the Spirit World and that the Spirit Guide is bound to the Animal Companion, I didn't think it would be to far-fetched to assume that the Shaman would start taking on some of the qualities of his/her Animal Companion.
To this end I thought that perhaps at 2 levels (3rd and 7th maybe), the Shaman Summoner could gain one of his/her Spirit Companions' Special Qualities or Racial Bonus' (Low-Light vision, Eagles Spot bonus, etc.).
This is problematical given the range of animals available and the Qualities they have. One solution would be to limit the available Special Qualities to a given list (which doesn't include the more powerful ones). I don't really have another solution besides scrapping this feature.
So there we go. I hope someone can help me out with this. Thanks
I was contemplating the Spirit Shaman class from Complete Divine the other day and realised that htere weren't really any good PrC's for them (nothing that advanced Chastise Spirit for a start). So, I got to thinking about it and when I was reading through Races of the Wild, I saw Arcane Heirophant. Now, I've always liked the idea of the Arcane Heirophants Companion Familiar and it struck me that a similar concept could be used for the Spirit Shaman.
I had a concept for a Spirit Shaman PrC. I just needed some rules. Not being the most amazing homebrewer in the world, I thought I'd come here and ask for some help. Here's my ideas so far...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaman Summoner
The Shaman Summoner has focused his energies on the interaction of animals and the spirit world. Using his specialised knowledge of this area, he learns to imbue his personal spiritual guide into his animal companion and gains the ability to summon the spirits themselves to aid him. (needs more obviously, but I'm a bit crap at prose)
Spirit Shaman 4 / Druid 1 = Quickest Entry
Spirit Shaman 4 / Ranger 4 = More Combat Oriented
Beastmaster also an entry possibility
Requirements
Skills: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Knowledge (The Planes) 4 ranks, Handle Animal 4 ranks
Feats: Augment Summoning, Natural Bond
Spellcasting: Able to spontaneously cast 2nd level Divine spells
Special: Animal Companion class feature and Blessing of the Spirits spell-like ability
Class Features
HD: d8
Skill Points: 4+Int mod
Class Skills: As Spirit Shaman
Spirit Companion (Ex): Spirit Guide bonded to Animal Companion (Form of Spirit Guide does not have to match animal)
Blessing of the Spirits works on Animal Companion as well.
Spirit Companion is still an Animal Companion (Shaman Summoner lvls stack with Druid for abilities).
Spirit Guide able to act through Spirit Companion: 1/day/level, Animal Companion gains improved mental capabilities*
Follow the Guide [1st level] and Guide Magic [6th level] - As Spirit Shaman abilities.
Ghost Animal: Treats Natural Weapons as Ghost Touch and can use Normal AC vs. Incorporeal Touch Attacks [2nd level]
Spirit Form: Spirit Companion able to become Incorporeal X/day (like Spirit Shaman feature) [4th level, 1/day. 6th lvl, 2/day. 8th lvl 3/day.)
Channel Animal: As Arcane Hierophant ability, except only through Spirit Companion
Spiritual Ascension: 10th level, Spirit Companion becomes a chimerical Incorporeal creature with features of both Animal Companion and Spirit Guide, able to manifest X/day. Improved mental capabilities now permanent.
*Spirit Guide has independent Int, Wis, Cha, Skills and abilities which supercede animals’ when using this ability. Increases with level. Immediate action to activate possession. (e.g. Spirit Guide gets Improved Evasion earlier than Animal Companion would, Int/Wis/Cha that scales with level, high Knowledge skills – allowing assist bonus’ to Shaman, able to speak with Shaman, etc….see familiar abilities for comparison)
Add half Shaman Summoner levels to Spirit Shaman levels for determining damage caused and the DC of Chastise Spirits
Shaman Summoner stacks with Spirit Shaman/Druid/Ranger levels to determine Wild Empathy modifier.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Spellcasting progression is a given, but I wasn't sure on how much. I'm thinking full bar two levels (maybe 1st and 7th), but like I say, I'm not sure. Certainly not dual casting (I did consider an Ultimate Magus style of dual casting between Druid and Spirit Shaman, but rejected that idea).
2) Summoner - as the name suggests, I wanted some kind of summoning feature that summons spirit animals. I was thinking something along the lines of the Summon Undead ability that the Master of Shrouds (from Libris Mortis)gets, except obviously it summons spirit animals. The problem I had was three-fold a)How many uses per day? b)What template to apply to animals to make them spirit creatures? and c)How to scale the ability with level?
a)If I keep it true to the Master of Shrouds PrC, it's 3+Cha mod. I'm happy with that myself. Does anyone see a problem with that thouh?
b)Ghost Brute is a fairly obvious choice, though Umbral wouldn't be far off either. Any other suggestions?
c)This is the tricky part IMO. There are many animals and some make better spirits than others. One option is to say that all Spirit Animals have the same stats, regardless of what form they take. This option would mean that the only scaling would be the number of Spirit Animals summoned with each use (e.g. 1 at 1st level, 2 at 4th, 4 at 6th, 6 at 8th and 8 at 10th maybe). Another option would be to say that each use of the ability summons X HD of Spirit Animals. Obviously, the higher the level, the more HD can be summoned. Thoughts anyone?
3)Finally, I wanted something for the Shaman him/herself. Considering the fact that the Spirit Guide is supposed to be a sort of personification of the Shaman in the Spirit World and that the Spirit Guide is bound to the Animal Companion, I didn't think it would be to far-fetched to assume that the Shaman would start taking on some of the qualities of his/her Animal Companion.
To this end I thought that perhaps at 2 levels (3rd and 7th maybe), the Shaman Summoner could gain one of his/her Spirit Companions' Special Qualities or Racial Bonus' (Low-Light vision, Eagles Spot bonus, etc.).
This is problematical given the range of animals available and the Qualities they have. One solution would be to limit the available Special Qualities to a given list (which doesn't include the more powerful ones). I don't really have another solution besides scrapping this feature.
So there we go. I hope someone can help me out with this. Thanks