Making a shaman like character

[Dankus Memakus]

So, i wanna make kinda a shaman like character and im thinking probably enough ranger levels to get beastmaster for the pet. Then a level in druid (forcefully giving me the metal armor restriction which i want for fun lol) and then some levels in nature cleric maybe? Im open to suggestions so if this sounds stupid please yell your opinions at me. Im trying to avoid homebrew just so u know.

[8wGremlin]

I've played a barbarian vhuman with ritual caster wizard. For find familiar and other rituals. Re fluffed them all to be spirits based.

Took acolyte background to give it more shamanic feel.

I've also played a favoured soul (version 2) but DM allowed me to pick Druid spells instead of cleric.

[Quoxis]

So, i wanna make kinda a shaman like character and im thinking probably enough ranger levels to get beastmaster for the pet. Then a level in druid (forcefully giving me the metal armor restriction which i want for fun lol) and then some levels in nature cleric maybe? Im open to suggestions so if this sounds stupid please yell your opinions at me. Im trying to avoid homebrew just so u know.

First things first: multiclassing a (phb) beastmaster isn't necessarily a good idea, simply because your pet's strength is related to ranger level, and even pure beastmasters struggle here (or so i've heard). If anything you'll want to go ranger and get a dip into cleric or druid, probably not both.

What IS a shaman to you? What do you want it to accomplish? What are his powers and his role?

Is he a religious figure in a barbaric tribe or just a smart guy with knowledge about nature and medicine, a hermit communing with the spirits of dead and living things, or even a guy conjuring ghosts to serve him or fight by his side?

A few ideas:

Fey- or Undying(scag) warlock/barbarian: A tribal warrior who got in contact with a powerful spirit of nature who gave him supernatural powers (depending on pact you can get a magic weapon or a magic pet) and who he can call upon for stuff like striking fear into the hearts of his enemies (frightful presence from feylock) etc. Neat trick: use your highest spell slot for armor of agathys (no concentration!), rage as a bonus action, wade into combat and laugh as the opponent takes ice damage for attacking while barely scratching your armor. Then chop their frozen heads off.

Nature cleric/Ranger (just a few levels): a heavily armored force to be reckoned with, armed with a magic stick himself and ghostly weapons or guardians as well as elemental forces to back it up - this can be a pure wisdom build (heavy armor and shield combined with a wis-based shillellagh), and you can get proficiencies in stuff like nature and survival. If you go ranger 3 you can even get hunter goodies for more weapon damage.

Druid: speaks for itself. Singleclasses are boring and you can read up on that one yourself.

Druid/monk: the wise old man from the woods. Living in a cave surrounded by nothing but nature itself he learned the path to inner peace, blabla, this is another high wis build. Get it as high as possible, take the shillellagh cantrip and smash people with your wisdom, and when they flee pull them back with thorn whip to smack them some more, until they accept your peaceful ways. Bonus points if you get your hands on hex (magic initiate?) for more damage per hit (as you'll hit 3-4 times a turn). And if you really want to bend the rules of both nature and the game to your will, you become a martial arts bear (pixar has the copyright though, so be careful!).

Any of these builds can get a supernatural companion in form of a familiar (magic initiate is your friend), btw.

[Geeknamese]

The Circle of the Shepherd Druid from Unearthed Arcana and call it a day. If you take Variant Human, pick up the Magic Initiate feat and grab some yourself Find Familiar and a couple more useful cantrips. If the familiar is not enough, you can add another pet that you can command with the Animal Handler skill feat from Unearthed Arcana. Allows you to issue commands to a friendly beast with a bonus action. Done and done.

[Chugger]

Right, what is a shaman to you? In reality, shamans go way back and are a feature in almost every ancient human society, all over the world. Shamanism is unified by a belief in visiting other planes of existence and of getting spirits to help you. Many druid spells (conjure animals - you conjure spirits that "become" animals - moon druid shifting into animal form - the spells where you interact with plants could, in your mind, be interacting with spirits that direct the plants - and so on. Find Familiar you must get either by a dip into Wiz or one of two feats (magic init or ritual caster) - see if your animal can be something exotic and peculiar to your shaman, if the "right animal" is not on the list. Barbarian has somewhat of a shaman feel, especially from EQ or maybe WoW, esp. if you go totem and not beserker.

I agree that Ranger would be a prob because BM is weak. It would be awesome, but you'd probably struggle to be a relevant party member. There is a guide here in the guide section called "breaking BM" that I highly recommend - it's funny! And it speaks to some of the problems BM Rangers have, too (the "solution" it proposes is a riot ---> http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?376418-Breaking-BM).

[JellyPooga]

Fey Warlock, either Tome Pact to pick up rituals and some Druid cantrips, or Chain Pact for a familiar that's a little more useful, can feel very shaman-y and would probably be my go-to for primary Class. Dipping Nature Cleric or Land Druid for a more spellcaster feel, or Barbarian or Ranger for a more martial feel is perfectly acceptable without sacrificing too much. Eldritch Blast, as good as it is, may not be in-keeping with the theme, but Warlocks (especially with a Druid or Cleric dip) aren't completely reliant on it to feel useful (contrary to popular opinion).

[Dankus Memakus]

Druid/monk: the wise old man from the woods. Living in a cave surrounded by nothing but nature itself he learned the path to inner peace, blabla, this is another high wis build. Get it as high as possible, take the shillellagh cantrip and smash people with your wisdom, and when they flee pull them back with thorn whip to smack them some more, until they accept your peaceful ways. Bonus points if you get your hands on hex (magic initiate?) for more damage per hit (as you'll hit 3-4 times a turn). And if you really want to bend the rules of both nature and the game to your will, you become a martial arts bear (pixar has the copyright though, so be careful!).

Any of these builds can get a supernatural companion in form of a familiar (magic initiate is your friend), btw.

I like this but i really find druid abilities weaker than clerics so would this build still be viable as a nature cleric?

[Easy_Lee]

Ranger / Cleric matches up with a shaman from one of the AL adventures. That shaman had cordon of arrows and spirit guardians.

[GlenSmash!]

Some really good suggestions in this thread already. Here are mine.

Nature Cleric.
Shepherd Druid
Fey Warlock
Primeval Guardian Ranger
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian

[Socratov]

Ehm, what kind of shaman are you going for?

Is it the sage-like person who records history? Well, any wizard can do that.

Is it a leader of the tribe who leads and inspire his tribe to greater heights through story telling governing her people's hearts? Look no further then bard.

Is it the person who is more concerned with the divine and appeasing the spirits? I'd say Cleric fits the bill quite well.

Or is it the person who uses his tribe and nature to create a balance between the two, invoking natural beasts to his aid. Because if it is, you'd bet your behind that you'd do best with Druid.

[Dankus Memakus]

Ehm, what kind of shaman are you going for?

Is it the sage-like person who records history? Well, any wizard can do that.

Is it a leader of the tribe who leads and inspire his tribe to greater heights through story telling governing her people's hearts? Look no further then bard.

Is it the person who is more concerned with the divine and appeasing the spirits? I'd say Cleric fits the bill quite well.

Or is it the person who uses his tribe and nature to create a balance between the two, invoking natural beasts to his aid. Because if it is, you'd bet your behind that you'd do best with Druid.

My main thought is like a wizened old man (most likely and orc for flavor) with a spear and a shield who prays to spirits and has like a little pet like a pig or a dog or something non combat. And he worships the spirits and casts divine spells. I however wanna avoid druids because i want zero shapeshifting.

[jaappleton]

My main thought is like a wizened old man (most likely and orc for flavor) with a spear and a shield who prays to spirits and has like a little pet like a pig or a dog or something non combat. And he worships the spirits and casts divine spells. I however wanna avoid druids because i want zero shapeshifting.

I apologize, I haven't read the whole thread.

If this is for a home game, then here is my suggestion, and I think it works well:

Oath of the Ancients Paladin
HOWEVER!
You take the Tempest Cleric bonus spell list.

So you have the Ancients Paladin abilities, with two attacks, and lots of nature flavor, with storm-based spells.

I think that suits it pretty damn well.

[Quoxis]

I like this but i really find druid abilities weaker than clerics so would this build still be viable as a nature cleric?

That particular build has two druid cantrips in it, so nature cleric doesn't really do it. Monks can put ranged attacks to good use imo, and shillellagh lets you focus on wis over anything (at least for main attacks).
What do you plan to get out of cleric? You can't use armor if you want the monk features, you are proficient in every weapon you'll ever need, but i've read you dislike wildshapes.
There's always the land druid (who can regain spell slots similar to a wizard on a short rest once per day, has a wider spell list, and rarely uses wildshape at all, just saying), but if you really really really don't like it, cleric is great too.
Nature cleric isn't exactly my taste here, the bonus spell only gives you one of two nice spells (magic initiate is way better here) and armor proficiency you'll never use, so it'll take a while until you get that stuff you want out of it, while the only nice stuff you get are cleric exclusive spells (most of which are for healing or making up for a lack of extra attack for clerics, something you don't have to worry about, that's what martial arts are for) and flavor like animal friendship... You decide.
The divine magic and fortune telling and communicating with spirits is all inside the cleric's spell list anyways, so you could also go nuts and take tempest for some storm based spells and the feature that lets you deal thunder damage to the poor fool who dared attack you, light domain for blasting and fire spells, maybe even life for healing others and yourself (i mean, some free hp while you make a break from tanking, why not?)...

[Quoxis]

I apologize, I haven't read the whole thread.

If this is for a home game, then here is my suggestion, and I think it works well:

Oath of the Ancients Paladin
HOWEVER!
You take the Tempest Cleric bonus spell list.

So you have the Ancients Paladin abilities, with two attacks, and lots of nature flavor, with storm-based spells.

I think that suits it pretty damn well.

Except the little detail you might've overread too:


Im trying to avoid homebrew just so u know.

[jaappleton]

Except the little detail you might've overread too:

Well my idea is homebrew. Yes.

But its also no new material.

Simply a swap. A swap of existing, officially sanctioned material.

And as stated in a topic I made specifically discussing swapping spell lists, it almost never leads to anything OP and often makes for much more thematic characters.

Which is exactly what we're trying to accomplish here, isn't it?

[Dankus Memakus]

Well my idea is homebrew. Yes.

But its also no new material.

Simply a swap. A swap of existing, officially sanctioned material.

And as stated in a topic I made specifically discussing swapping spell lists, it almost never leads to anything OP and often makes for much more thematic characters.

Which is exactly what we're trying to accomplish here, isn't it?
Ill check that out. Swapping spells never occured to me.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'll second "Druid with a dip/feat for Find Familiar." The Beastmaster needs full investment for the pet to be useful in-combat, and if you're not using it for combat...

[Socratov]

My main thought is like a wizened old man (most likely and orc for flavor) with a spear and a shield who prays to spirits and has like a little pet like a pig or a dog or something non combat. And he worships the spirits and casts divine spells. I however wanna avoid druids because i want zero shapeshifting.

Take Cleric.

Take the magic initiate feat for find familliar (either through variant human or at 4th lvl).

Take nature domain to gain all the animals friendly spirits.

Take at spell lvl 2 Guardian spirits.

Enjoy life as your tribe's sagely shaman.

[Dankus Memakus]

Take Cleric.

Take the magic initiate feat for find familliar (either through variant human or at 4th lvl).

Take nature domain to gain all the animals friendly spirits.

Take at spell lvl 2 Guardian spirits.

Enjoy life as your tribe's sagely shaman.

I think this is my plan

[coolAlias]

I however wanna avoid druids because i want zero shapeshifting.
+1 to this. I've been toying with the idea of a Half-Orc Druid shaman type of character, but I'd rather not be a shapeshifter.

I wonder how the druid would look if shapeshifting was gained via the subclass choice rather than as part of the base class?

[xroads]

So, i wanna make kinda a shaman like character and im thinking probably enough ranger levels to get beastmaster for the pet. Then a level in druid (forcefully giving me the metal armor restriction which i want for fun lol) and then some levels in nature cleric maybe? Im open to suggestions so if this sounds stupid please yell your opinions at me. Im trying to avoid homebrew just so u know.

If the only reason you're dipping into druid is for the armor restriction, then I'd just drop druid entirely. You can always say that your cleric's religous sect prohibits metal armor.

[Quoxis]

+1 to this. I've been toying with the idea of a Half-Orc Druid shaman type of character, but I'd rather not be a shapeshifter.

I wonder how the druid would look if shapeshifting was gained via the subclass choice rather than as part of the base class?

Then people would complain that land druid is unneeded and underpowered like other subclasses... >glares at elements monk<

[jaappleton]

Then people would complain that land druid is unneeded and underpowered like other subclasses... >glares at elements monk<

It's strange.

I actually really like the Druid spell list, their armor (I use 'bone armor' to still use better Medium Armor), Natural Recovery, and I really love the flavor and theme of their bonus Land Spells.

But Wild Shape kinda kills it for me. I don't want that. I don't. I don't enjoy it, I don't want anything to do with it. I'm hoping for some sort of Variant Druid, but I doubt it'll ever happen.

Thankfully my DM would allow me to swap the Druid List with the Cleric List, and take a Land domain as the bonus Cleric spells. Though that's quite a gift, it's not the same for all the others out there that are unhappy with the Druid's Wild Shape.

[lunaticfringe]

It's strange.

I actually really like the Druid spell list, their armor (I use 'bone armor' to still use better Medium Armor), Natural Recovery, and I really love the flavor and theme of their bonus Land Spells.

But Wild Shape kinda kills it for me. I don't want that. I don't. I don't enjoy it, I don't want anything to do with it. I'm hoping for some sort of Variant Druid, but I doubt it'll ever happen.

Thankfully my DM would allow me to swap the Druid List with the Cleric List, and take a Land domain as the bonus Cleric spells. Though that's quite a gift, it's not the same for all the others out there that are unhappy with the Druid's Wild Shape.

Yup, I keep waiting for a Variant option but it's unlikely. I can usually find some reasons to wildshape though.

I found a Treespeaker Wizard (can pick Druid spells) that I really like. Needs a few tweaks to its Archetype feature progression because it feels clunky to me, but I like the Concept.

I'm also working on a 'Fey Soul' Favored Soul Sorcerer rip off in my free time. Cuz Meta Magic. I'm never gonna get to run it though, so it's mostly just a wishful thinking thing. I play in 2 games sporadically. One with Timid Baby DM, the other Only My SO gets to use Non Official and it's Broken. Not that I'm complaining, still have a ton of fun.

[Quoxis]

It's strange.

I actually really like the Druid spell list, their armor (I use 'bone armor' to still use better Medium Armor), Natural Recovery, and I really love the flavor and theme of their bonus Land Spells.

But Wild Shape kinda kills it for me. I don't want that. I don't. I don't enjoy it, I don't want anything to do with it. I'm hoping for some sort of Variant Druid, but I doubt it'll ever happen.

Thankfully my DM would allow me to swap the Druid List with the Cleric List, and take a Land domain as the bonus Cleric spells. Though that's quite a gift, it's not the same for all the others out there that are unhappy with the Druid's Wild Shape.

Just because you have a class feature you don't have to use it.
I've seen builds for armored monks, i've seen barbarian spellcaster multiclasses, all of that restrics some of the (core) features. The druid isn't necessarily a wild shape user with spells (ok, the moon druid usually works like that), it's a full caster with a feature that lets it turn into animals. Look at it like a free but weaker polymorph. I even think a combat use of wildshape wasn't intended for land druids, at least not as their go-to tactic.
I'm playing a druid warlock (i know it's weird, shuddup :P) and in the 4 sessions i've used him i've wildshaped two times at all, both times as an NPC distraction out of combat. Works well as pure utility, and the spells make sure i don't need it in combat.

[lunaticfringe]

I've done a Half Elf Druidlock, not weird at all. Druids have a ton of Concentration spells but are kind of lacking in things to do while concentrating outside of Moon Wildshape. Warlock Dip gets a Land Druid EB, I took the Push upgrade and knocked mooks into Spikes and other Hippie Crafted Death Traps. Or yanked them into them with Thorn Whip.