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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2017

    Default Calling upon the spirits: The summoner-style Shaman(PEACH)

    My first posted homebrew. I have some more, but I'm still working it out. PEACH!

    ----------
    Changelog:
    -You now automatically get Contracted Casting (need to rename it) when you prepare spells.
    -Friend of a Friend replaced with Gossip Gathering due to excessive complexity. Instead of a planar ally knockoff, it's now an information-gathering tool of moderate usefullness. Also you get a new summon at that level so it's probably OK.
    -19th level ability added.
    -Fixed BAB progression
    -Clarified Call Upon Aid; you get two levels of skills each level, spread amongst two groups.
    -HP payment clarified as HP burn.
    -Bonus spells are now in.
    -Allowed spell slots to refill paid hit points.

    1/24:
    Slowed down the progression of Spirit Allies' summons at the same time.
    Added Saving Spirits specialist ability as an "oh, sh*t" button.
    Added Toughness at 10th level.

    1/25:
    Adjusted animated object specialist talent cost and time
    Clarified spell-like nature of several talents.
    ----------

    Shaman
    (art needed)



    There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
    Then are dreamt of in your philosophy

    Some people, rather than beginning their course in magic with their first spell, begin it by sensing the world around them, seeing what is rather than what they want it to be. Captivated by that first glimpse of the world, they train their abilities until they can deal directly with the spirits around them, rather than forcing cooperation through the medium of spells.

    Others have little natural talent or patience, and are forced to make bargains to gather the power they need.

    Adventures: Shamans may adventure in order to see the world, or out of duty to a particular contract, beyond the standard sets of motives. Because they see a second layer of reality beyond the normal one, they often feel obliged to see as much of it as they can, often traveling to important sites. Alternatively, if they made a foolhardy agreement with a spirit, they can often be forced to fulfill it, or lose their authority over spirits.

    Characteristics: Shamans are in many ways the jack of all trades, master of none. By calling upon spirits, they can accomplish almost any task. However, to accomplish these acts, they must grant the spirits a gift of belief or power.

    Alignment: Shamans may exist of all alignments, though they tend towards neutral.

    Religion: Shamans generally follow the spirits, though their degree of worship vs. business relationship can vary.

    Background: Shamans are those with unusual sensitivity to the world around them, who train their abilities until they are finally approached by a member of the spirit realm.

    Races: In general, shamans draw from the more spiritually inclined races. Dwarves, with their focus on the material world, rarely become shamans.

    Other Classes: Shamans get along fairly smoothly with druids and rangers, but tend to rub up against clerics due to their insistence that the gods are just “jumped up spirits with delusions of grandeur”. They get along fine with rogues, fighters, and other martial types. They are willing to work with sorcerers and wizards, though they favor fey bloodline sorcerers above all others.

    Role:
    A shaman is the ultimate jack-of-all trades, perhaps even more so than the bard. They are capable of doing nearly anything, given the time (and money) to call in their contacts in the spirit realm.

    Adaptation: The easiest way to adapt a shaman to a new setting is by creating new spirits and specializations. For example, suppose a player wished to play a shaman in a largely urban setting. The Nature spirits would be largely useless. To replace them, the GM might create a new class of spirits, representing the spirit of free enterprise and urbanism, but also of gutter-smarts and survival in the ghetto- Urban spirits. They would grant similar bonuses to Survival, Knowledge(geography), and Perception in the city, but woud replace Knowledge(nature), Swim, Fly, and Handle Animal with Knowledge(local), Profession, Sense Motive, and Diplomacy, for example. Specializations would likely pull from Urban oracle revelations.

    Another way to change it is to alter its spell list and the domains it has access to; for example, a cleric-like shaman would gain access to its gods domains, and by default, would access the cleric spell list.

    A third way is to alter the default kingdom available to them. To make a demon cultist, replace Astral Beings with Demons for the fey kingdom, and give them access to the cleric spell list, as above.

    GAME RULE INFORMATION
    Shamans have the following game statistics.
    Abilities: Shamans generally need Constitution, to fuel their health for sacrifice, Wisdom, to sense spirits, and Charisma, to compel spirits.
    Alignment: Any
    Hit Die: d8
    Starting Age: As bard.
    Starting Gold: As cleric.

    Class Skills
    The Shamans class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are...
    Craft(Int), Diplomacy(Cha), Handle Animal(Cha), Heal(Wis), Intimidate(Cha), Knowledge(arcana), Knowledge(geography), Knowledge(history), Knowledge(nature), Knowledge(Religion), Perception(Wis), Profession(Wis), Sense Motive(Wis), Spellcraft(Int), Survival(Wis)
    Skill Points per Level: 2 + Int modifier

    Shaman
    Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
    1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Call Upon Aid, Spirit Allies(I), Spirit Contract, The Power of Life. -- -- -- -- -- --
    2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Spellcasting 3 -- -- -- -- --
    3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Specialty 4 -- -- -- -- --
    4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Fey Bargains(Fey World) 4 2 -- -- -- --
    5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Domain 5 3 -- -- -- --
    6th +3 +2 +2 +5 Specialty 5 4 -- -- -- --
    7th +3 +2 +2 +5 5 4 2 -- -- --
    8th +4 +2 +2 +6 Fey Bargains(Contracted Casting) 5 5 3 -- -- --
    9th +4 +3 +3 +6 Specialty, Spirit Allies(II) 6 5 4 -- -- --
    10th +5 +3 +3 +7 Extended Reserves 6 5 4 2 -- --
    11th +5 +3 +3 +7 Domain 6 5 5 3 -- --
    12th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 Specialty 6 5 5 4 -- --
    13th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 6 6 5 4 2 --
    14th +7/+2 +4 +4 +9 Fey Bargains(Friend of a Friend) 6 6 5 5 3 --
    15th +7/+2 +5 +5 +9 Specialty 6 6 6 5 4 --
    16th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 6 6 6 5 4 2
    17th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 Domain 6 6 6 5 5 3
    18th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 Specialty, Spirit Allies(III) 6 6 6 6 5 4
    19th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 Spirit Fusion 6 6 6 6 6 5
    20th +10/+5 +6 +6 +12 Temp capstone 6 6 6 6 6 6


    Class Features
    All of the following are class features of the Shaman

    Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Shamans are proficient with light armor and simple weapons.

    The Power of Life: Many of the Shaman’s class features require him to “pay” hit points. These must always be real hit points, not temporary hit points, and are paid in the form of hit point burn which is recovered during the next sunrise. However, by expending a spell slot or prepared spell as a full-round action, the shaman can regain paid hit points equal to the level of the spell or spell slot.


    Call upon Aid(Su):

    You possess long-standing contracts of alliance with several classes of spirits. This relationship is measured with a numerical rating. At first level, you may select two classes of spirits to begin with a rating of 1. At every level thereafter, you may do either of the following:
    -Select a class of spirit with which you do not possess a relationship. You gain access to that spirit, with a rating of 1. Increase your relationship with a different class of spirit by 1.
    -Increase your relationship with two classes spirit by 1.
    Furthermore, you may call upon these spirits. By spending one hit point, you may ask the spirits to make a skill check with one of their associated skills instead of you. Their bonus on this check is your relationship rating + the higher of your Wisdom and Charisma bonuses + 3. The types of spirits and their associated skills are as follows:
    -Machine Spirits: Skills are Appraise, Search, Knowledge(engineering), Disable Device, Use Magic Device, or any Craft skill.
    -Nature Spirits: Skills are Survival, Knowledge(geography), Knowledge(nature), Swim, Fly, Handle Animal, and Perception. They are treated as having the Track feat, should it matter.
    -Knowledge Spirits: Skills are all Knowledge skills except for Local, Spellcraft, and Linguistics.
    -Spirits of Trickery: Skills are Stealth, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Bluff, Escape Artist, Forgery, and Disguise.
    Furthermore, by paying 1 hit point as a full-round action, you may prepare any druid orison for the next hour.

    Spirit Allies(Su): You are capable of calling allies to your aid. A number of times per day equal to 3+ your Charisma bonus + 1/2 your level, you may call upon one of your contracts (see Spirit Contract). Once summoned, they stay until dismissed, until destroyed, or until the next sunrise. To summon an ally, you must pay a number of hit points or other costs as defined in the contract you made, and take one full-round action, plus one per hit point spent. Each time you summon a particular ally, you summon the same one, which appears at full hit points. Note that the definition of “a” ally is somewhat subjective- a single contract may involve, for example, twenty Dretch demons or a single Balor. You may only maintain a number of summons at one time equal to 1, plus one at 9th and 18th level. Thus, at 18th level, you reach your maximum of 3 summons at once.

    Spirit Contract: At first level, you create your first contracts. By default, this contract is with one single level 1 astral construct which you design, which asks for 1 hp to be summoned, taking two full-round actions.

    Furthermore, at second level and every even level thereafter, you gain another contract from one of the kingdoms you have access to. By default, you have access to the kingdom of Astral Beings when you do this. In addition, by spending an hour in discussion with a willing contractable creature, you may create a contract with them. Sometimes, a contractable creature will consent to create a contract with you even though you do not meet the required level; when this occurs, they will often ask for a special cost above and beyond the normal cost of summoning. They will never do this with a summoner of more than four levels below the minimum to summon them. Each creature may usually only be contracted to a single summoner at once, though exceptions are sometimes made for master-student pairs, or special cases of groups working together to perform a summoning. The feat Long Term Alliances allows you to build a longer-lasting bond, allowing master and summon to grow together, and is sometimes asked as part of a contract.

    Spells: Starting at second level, a shaman casts spells drawn from the druid spell list, except that he cannot cast summon nature’s ally spells (unless he possesses an appropriate domain). He can choose to either prepare spells, in a process taking 10 minutes to prepare any number of spells, or to cast them spontaneously without preparing them. However, if he casts a spell spontaneously, he must pay hp equal to twice its level, reduced by his Charisma bonus. To learn a spell, a shaman must have either a Wisdom or a Charisma score of at least 10+the spell’s level. To prepare and cast a prepared spell, a shaman must have a Wisdom score of at least 10+ the spell’s level. To cast a spell spontaneously, a shaman must have a Charisma score of at least 10+ the spells' level. The difficulty class (DC) for a saving throw is 10 + the spell level/2 + (Wisdom bonus if cast as a prepared spell, Charisma bonus if cast spontaneously).

    Like other spellcasters, a shaman can only cast a certain number of spells of each spell level each day. His spell allotment is given by Table:Shaman. His spells known is given by the below table. The shaman uses the higher of their Wisdom and Charisma to determine bonus spells per day.

    Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third shaman level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a shaman can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the bard “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level bard spell the shaman can cast. A shaman may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

    Spells Known:

    Level 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th
    2 3 - - - - -
    3 3 - - - - -
    4 3 2 - - - -
    5 3 3 - - - -
    6 4 3 - - - -
    7 4 3 2 - - -
    8 4 3 3 - - -
    9 4 4 3 - - -
    10 4 4 3 2 - -
    11 4 4 3 3 - -
    12 4 4 4 3 - -
    13 4 4 4 3 2 -
    14 4 4 4 3 3 -
    15 4 4 4 4 3 -
    16 4 4 4 4 3 2
    17 4 4 4 4 3 3
    18 4 4 4 4 4 3
    19 4 4 4 4 4 3
    20 4 4 4 4 4 3

    Specialist Techniques: Every three levels starting at third, you gain a specialist ability, representing the particular contracts and deals you have negotiated with the spirit world. Specialist abilities are on a separate document here.

    Fey Bargains: As you gain in levels, you begin to cultivate a working relationship with the fey. At fourth level, you gain Fey World. At eighth level, you gain the Contracted Casting power. At fourteenth level, you gain the Friend of a Friend power.
    -Fey World: You gain access to the Fey kingdom when gaining new allies from Spirit Contract.
    -Contracted Casting(Su): When preparing spells, a shaman can choose up to the larger of their Wisdom and Charisma bonus in spells from the druid list. These spells are added to their spells known until they next prepare spells. Casting spells learned in this way costs 1 extra hp per casting, regardless of how it is cast.
    -Gossip Network:: At 14th level, you begin to sort the rumors of the fey court, which cover everything from the anger of spirits of grain causing crop blight, to just how many people the queen slept with. You may make a check to Gather Information about any topic which you desire, making a check with a bonus of your level + the higher of your Charisma and Wisdom bonus to gather news. The DC for this check is 25 by default to sort out desired information, with a -5 penalty to the check for each of the following factors:
    -More than week old news
    -Particularly unspectacular or boring event
    -Highly local information (i.e. if the shaman is not physically within the area impacted by the information)
    -Event occurs regularly
    Information cannot be gathered this way if there is no reasonable way for an ordinary faerie to learn of the information. Wards, fully enclosed rooms, and sufficiently scary people are all able to prevent discovery. Making the check takes 1d3 hours.



    Domains: At fifth level and every six thereafter, select one domain that would be available to druids through their Nature Bond ability, animal or terrain domain, or subdomain thereof. You immediately add the spells from that domain to your spells known, as spells of their level in the domain. If you already knew those spells, you learn it at the lower level of the two lists (domain and druid), and must select a different spell of the higher level of the two lists. For example, suppose there were a spell called Nevermore, which was on the Druid list as a fourth level spell, but on the Raven domain list as a third level spell. A shaman who already knew Nevermore who gains the Raven domain learns Nevermore as a third level spell and may select a new fourth-level spell to learn.

    Extended Reserves: At tenth level, you gain the Toughness feat, gaining 3+your level in hit points.
    Spoiler
    Show
    The Pathfinder version of Toughness, of course.


    Spirit Fusion(Su): At 19th level, you gain the ability to merge spiritually with your summons. As a swift action, you may transfer your consciousness to an adjacent summon. This has the following effects:
    -You perceive the world using the summon's senses instead of your own.
    -You may cast spells and use abilities as though you were the construct; thus, you can cast spells which emanate from the summon, and cast spells with a range of personal on the summon.
    -You can communicate telepathically with the summon from any range.
    Alternatively, you may perform the reverse operation, causing a summon to transfer its powers to you; in most cases, this allows you to command it to use its spell-like abilities through or on you.
    You may withdraw from the summon as a swift action at any time.



    Capstone(temp):
    You gain a single 7th level spell slot per day. You may prepare one of your domain spells in this slot, or may learn one, using Contracted Casting. To cast a spell using this slot requires a minimum of two rounds. However, you may spend up to your level in hit points during casting; each hit point spent increases the caster level of the spell by one; alternatively, three of them can be used together to apply the effects of Enlarge Spell or Extend Spell, six for Empower Spell, or nine for Widen Spell.
    Spoiler
    Show
    I'm not terribly happy with this option.
    Last edited by aimlessPolymath; 2017-01-25 at 09:47 PM.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2017

    Default Re: Calling upon the spirits: The summoner-style Shaman

    The following is the complete list of specialist abilities. Items marked with a star require some of your power, and count against your maximum number of astral constructs.

    Saving Spirits: As a free or immediate action once per round, you may spend up to your level in hit points. You gain twice that number in temporary hit points, which last for one round.

    Expanded Relationships: You may increase the ratings of the spirits you possess by a total of 5, divided as you like.

    Favor Curried(Ex): You may choose to use only half the rating of a spirit’s relationship when you make a skill check through Call Upon Aid. If you do, you do not have to pay any hit points.

    Domain Specialist: Select one of the domains you already have access to the spell list of through the Domain class feature. You gain the granted powers of that domain as a cleric of your level. Requires level 6.

    Banking Power(Su): You possess a reserve of power, which can hold up to your shaman level * your Wisdom bonus/2 points at once. At any time, you may spend any amount of hit points in order to fill up your reserve by half that amount. At a later date, when you would need to spend hit points, you can instead spend points from your pool.

    Spirit of Magic(Su): When casting a spell, you may spend 1 hp to gain +1 to the caster level of the spell. At level 10, you may spend 2 hp to gain +2 to the caster level of the spell.

    Swift Summons(Su): You require one full-round action less than normal to summon an ally. If it would be reduced below one full-round action, it becomes a standard action. If it would be reduced below a standard action, it becomes a move action.

    Machine Control(Su/Sp): Requires rank 3 in Machine Spirits. You have an enhanced sense for the world around you. You can use the detect magic spell at will, and by paying 3 hp, you can use the object reading or the sensitivity to psychic impressions power as a spell-like ability.

    Speaker For the Dead(Su/Sp): Gain the Spirit Sense feat from 3.5. In addition, by spending 5 hp, you may cast speak with dead at will. If a dead creature you sense through the Spirit Sense feat consents, it can grant you +2 to caster level on your next spell for 1 round before passing on. If this is done, you cannot animate them through Master of Death.

    Master of Death*(Su): Requires Speaker for the Dead, level 12. By spending hp per round equal to 1/4 the HD of the target(min 1), you may temporarily bolster a chosen spirit that you sense through Speaker for the Dead into aliveness, as though they had never died in the first place. You may maintain this as a free action, but to start the effect requires a full-round action. While active, they can’t die from hp damage. Instead, tally the damage they take. Whenever it is greater than their constitution score + your charisma bonus, reduce it by that value and pay a hit point, then make a level check with a DC of 10 + their hit dice to maintain their existence. You can maintain this effect for your charisma bonus in rounds max per target, and when it ends for any reason, they pass on, disappearing. Most shamans with this ability leave a slot open to maintain control of these spirits.

    Tool User(Su)*: Requires rank 6 in Machine Spirits. By spending 30 minutes with a piece of armor or a weapon, you may strike a deal with the spirits infesting a selected weapon or armor, investing it with your power. The weapon is treated as having an enhancement bonus equal to 1/4 your level. This overlaps and does not stack with any existing enhancement bonus. Furthermore, you are treated as being proficient in the weapon, should you choose to use it. By spending a minute using blood taken in combat in which the item was used, you may imbue the item with a special effect. Only one effect can be applied using blood from any given creature.
    Source Weapon Armor
    Blood from an individual Bane vs. that individual. Overcomes that individual’s DR as though it were made of any material or possessed any alignment Defiant vs. that individual
    Blood from a creature with DR overcome by a particular material or alignment Weapon overcomes that form of DR. The armor gains DR 1/-- versus that material, or grants a +1 bonus on saves versus spells with the opposing alignment.
    Blood from a creature with a particular energy affinity or which deals that damage with natural attacks Deals +1d6 of that damage. Only the most effective against any given creature is ever applied; thus, no more than 1d6 damage is added from this effect. The armor grants energy resistance 5 vs that alignment.
    SPECIAL: If you add a stipulation to the deal, in which the owner of the item spends 10 minutes each day caring for and treating the item, the weapon’s enhancement bonus increases by 1; this applies to any enhancement bonus the item already has, if that would improve it further. If they do not, the item ceases to function altogether until they have done so.

    Animal Friend*(Su): Requires rank 6 in Nature Spirits. Instead of animating objects, you may call up animal companions, with an effective druid level of your nature spirit rank-3. It can take up to several hours to arrive, but generally no more than 30 minutes in the wilderness. Do note that while the summoning of the animal companion is supernatural, actually having it around is not. You also gain wild empathy at all times as a druid of your shaman level; this aspect does not count against your maximum number of allies

    Citation(Su): Requires rank 6 in Knowledge Spirits. You can enter a deep meditation, blocking out visual and auditory stimuli and allowing you to search the spirit world for one with the answer to a question you seek. This trance lasts 1d6 rounds, during which time you can only take move actions and must pay 1 hp per round. During this period, you gain a bonus equal to your level on all saves against sonic effects and gaze attacks. When you come out of your trance, you may use Call Upon Aid with any knowledge spirit with a +20 bonus to your effective rating. You may enter your focused trance a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier.

    Mischief Makers*(Su): Requires rank 6 in Spirits of Trickery. By spending one minute and 1 hp per desired creature, you may create up to half your level in assorted atomie and gremlins. They collectively only take up one summon slot.


    Call Forth Animating Spirits*(Su): Requires rank 12 in Machine Spirits. By paying 1 hp and taking two full-round actions, you can animate a chosen object of up to Tiny size. It remains animated until the next sunrise. As you gain levels, you may animate larger and more powerful objects, based on this table. You may dismiss an object as a free action.

    Level required Maximum Size Cost
    1 Tiny 1 hp
    4 Small 2 hp
    7 Medium 3 hp
    10 Large 4 hp
    13 Huge 6 hp
    16 Gargantuan 8 hp
    19 Colossal 10 hp

    Master of the Wild: Requires rank 12 with Nature spirits. By spending 6 hit points, you may use wild shape, as a druid of your level. You retain access to Call upon Aid while it is active, but cannot cast spells (Even with the Natural Spell feat).

    Hearsay(Su): Requires rank 12 with Knowledge Spirits. Knowledge Spirits now apply to checks made to gather information, and Sense Motive checks made to determine whether someone is lying. Furthermore, by spending 1 hp, you may make a Gather Information check instantaneously, absorbing knowledge from the beings around you. Furthermore, when using Call on Aid to use Sense Motive, you can even detect whether or not someone was fed false information; you make a normal Sense Motive check opposed by the Bluff check of the source of false information, and if you succeed, you know it was false. If you fail, you think it was true, and if the information was true, you also think it was true, regardless of your roll. However, you take a -4 penalty to your check per degree of separation between the origin and your source; if someone gave someone else a false message to bring to you, you would take a -4 penalty. Also, when you do research in a library, you may spend 1 hp to minimize the roll for research time. If you combine this last usage with Citation, you may instead maximise the roll to add a +10 bonus to the rating of the library, as well as to your roll. Thus, at a DC 25 library, you would ordinarily take 1d6 days to do the research, but spending 1 hp would reduce the time to only a day as you find the exact books you need quickly. Using Citation would require 6 days, but would give you the benefits of a DC 35 check, and a +10 bonus to your roll for research, as you search through the interlinked network of book spirits for the answer you desire.

    Hidden Existence(Su): Requires rank 12 with Trickery Spirits. As a standard action, you may become ethereal by paying 1 hp. You must spend 1 hp per round you remain ethereal, with this effect ending when you cease to pay or when you end it as a free action. Unlike most effects, you are not actually on the ethereal plane, instead dispersing your existence into the spirits around you. You are treated as though you were ethereal, but operate on a plane different from the ethereal plane others can access. Unlike normal, force effects and dimensional anchor/lock do not affect you in this state or prevent you from joining or exiting it, but you immediately rematerialize if caught in an antimagic field.
    Last edited by aimlessPolymath; 2017-01-25 at 09:46 PM.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2017

    Default Re: Calling upon the spirits: The summoner-style Shaman

    The system of "summoning kingdoms" is intended to codify and simplify Summon Monster spells. Ideally, you would build a list of 2-3 monsters per level, after templates, to cover the summon list. This lets you customize characters. Also mentioned are "group contracts"- instead of calling a single monster, you can call a larger number of weaker ones. This pads out higher levels, and is intended to represent the use of Summon Monster spells to call multiple creatures.


    You must spend a number of hit points equal to the level of a creature to summon it.

    Improving creatures:

    There are a number of ways in which creatures can be more powerful than the norm. In general, specific creatures may be improved in a number of ways.

    If a superior creature has levels in an NPC class, you may convert them into equal number of similar PC levels; this conversion increases their minimum level requirement by 2. If a creature would not be easily upgraded in this way but possesses class levels, you may instead grant them levels in any class they already possess, increasing their minimum level requirement by 2 for every level gained in this way. If a creature still cannot be upgraded in this way, it gains HD, increasing their minimum level requirement by twice the CR increase noted in the Adding Hit Dice section of the Monster Manual. Alternatively in this case, you can apply any number of CR increasing simple templates, increasing the minimum level requirement by twice the CR increase. You may not apply simple class templates in this way.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Roughly speaking: You can summon a CR X creature at level 2X-1. It costs X hit points to summon it. Each fey can get NPC levels, increasing their CR by one for each level, or with an extra CR+1 surcharge, supersize those levels to a PC class.


    Fey:
    This kingdom is composed of those spirits who are strong enough to possess bodies of their own. Though they do not need the gifted power to build bodies, they do ask for it in order to build their own strength.

    This kingdom is composed of numerous leveled beings. For the purpose of advancement, treat them as though they had 0 levels in a single NPC class, as noted in their entry.

    Many fey have persistent curse-like abilities or effects; these effects disappear 24 hours after the faeries was last summoned.

    In addition, creatures from the Beast kingdom can be contracted with, gaining the Fey template and increasing their summon level by its CR increase in the process.

    Fey which only advance by class levels can be summoned, possessing a level in any NPC class equal to their summon level. The following fey fit this category:
    Gathlain

    Summon Level Type Cost
    1 Biloko:Warrior, Brownie:Expert, Killmousis:Expert, Mite:Warrior, Mockingfey:Expert 1 hp
    2 Buckawn:Warrior, Faun:Warrior or Expert, Forgotten One:Expert, Fyr:Warrior, Gremlin(Any kind):Expert, Grig:Expert, Mite(Pestie):Warrior or Expert, Nixie:Expert, Skin Stealer:Expert 2 hp
    3 Baccae(50% chance of being enraged on summon):Aristocrat, Dryad(Summon from a tree only):Adept, Domovoi(Summon in a house only):Expert, Huldra:Expert, Leprechaun:Expert, Oakman(Summon from a tree only);Warrior, Spriggan:Warrior, Spring-Heeled Jack:Warrior 3 hp
    4 Boggart:Warrior, Fossegrim:Expert, Frosty Chiseler: Expert or Warrior, Harvest Haunt, Dvorovoi(Summon in a house only):Expert, Ovinnik(Summon in a house only), Kelpie:N/A, Korred:Expert, Morgodea:Aristocrat, Quickling:Warrior, Satyr:Expert or Warrior, Thin Man:Warrior, Twigjack:Expert 4 hp
    5 Asrai (summon from a pool or river only):Aristocrat, Darkling:Warrior, Grimstalker:Expert or Warrior, Irritating Horde(Any 6 gremlins, same group every time), Kikimora:Expert, Pech:Expert, Spindler:Expert, Sprite Swarm(N/A) 5 hp
    6 Bagiennik:Expert, Baorhan Sith(death curse negated):Aristocrat, Grig Swarm(N/A), Redcap:Warrior, Growing Pains(Spriggan x3), Stroke Lad:Warrior, Swan Maiden(Female summoner only) 6 hp
    7 Blodeuwedd:Adept, Gray Nisp:Warrior, Lampad:Druid(Extends existing spellcasting, extra level prefigured in), Nymph:Adept, Sangoi:Warrior, Advanced Chaneque(7 HD)(x3):Adept 7 hp
    8 Cold Rider:Warrior, Encantado:Expert, Faerie Seer:Adept, Lurker in Light, Oceanid:Expert (summon from the ocean only), Shadow Collector: Warrior, Svartalfar:Warrior, Expert, or Adept 8 hp
    9 Battle Imp:Warrior, Bogeyman:Expert, Ijiraq:Adept, Lemkin:Expert, Mimi(x3, each has 9 HD):Adept, Nucklavee:Warrior, Tombstone Faerie:Expert 9 hp
    10 Candlestone Courtier:Aristocrat, Nereid(From a pool of water only):Adept or Aristocrat, Immature Norn:Adept or Aristocrat, Woodwose:Warrior(higher level druid woodwoses are nobility and cannot be summoned) 10 hp

    Astral Beings:
    This kingdom is composed of the spirits of the world, inactive. When summoned by paying the cost, a summoner energizes a spirit far beyond normal levels, allowing it to form a body which conceptually represents the spirit. This form is an Astral Construct, with an amount of power available determined by how much power is put in. As such, a single contract with an Astral Being allows the summoner to summon a construct of any level at or above the base contract level. However, the special abilities given to the construct are always those given to the base construct, unless it has grown in some special fashion (such as through Spirit Growth).

    This kingdom is incredibly diverse, with any possible combination of special abilities available. The contracts available are as follows:

    Type Cost Required level
    Level 1 Construct 1 hp 1
    Level 2 Construct 2 hp 3
    Level 3 Construct 3 hp 5
    Level 4 Construct 4 hp 7
    Level 5 Construct 5 hp 9
    Level 6 Construct 6 hp 11
    Level 7 Construct 7 hp 13
    Level 8 Construct 8 hp 15
    Level 9 Construct 9 hp 17
    This kingdom does not allow summoners to summon beings above the required level.
    Constructs created in this way have an Intelligence score of 3 by default, enough to understand simple orders.

    AN: Unfortunately, I couldn't post links, but every fey mentioned is on the d20PFSRD.
    Last edited by aimlessPolymath; 2017-01-10 at 01:05 AM.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: Calling upon the spirits: The summoner-style Shaman

    Feats:

    Generalist Shaman[General]
    You have expanded your relationship with the spirit world in general.
    Prerequisites: Level 3 shaman
    Benefit: You gain an additional shaman specialty which does not require a minimum relationship with a class of spirit.
    Special: You may take this feat more than once. Every time you do so, it requires you to have 6 more levels in shaman.

    Skillful Allies[General]
    Your spirit allies have taught you some useful tricks.
    Prerequisites: Rank 5 with a group of spirits
    Benefit: You gain a special ability based on one group of spirits with which you have at least a Rank 5 relationship. The benefit depends on the spirit group:
    Machine: As a full-round action, you may assess the functioning of an adjacent object, determining what impedes its functioning -a Disable Device check, mechanical error, or damage- and learn the best way to repair it, gaining a +2 bonus to checks made to fix the problem. For every 5 additional ranks beyond 5 you have with Machine spirits, increase this bonus by 2.
    Nature: As a move action, you may sense the primary motivation of an animal within 30 ft- generally, this is food, protection, loyalty, fear, etc, though you also detect magical influence. You gain a +2 bonus to checks made to influence the animal. For every 5 additional ranks beyond 5 you have with Nature spirits, increase this bonus by 1.
    Trickery: You gain trapfinding. For every 5 additional ranks beyond 5 you have with Larceny spirits, you gain a +1 bonus on Search checks to find traps, and trap sense +1.
    Knowledge: You gain the Lore ability, with an effective level in loremaster equal to your rank with Knowledge spirits.
    Special: You may take this more once, each time gaining the benefit for a different group of spirits.


    Terrain Mastery[General]
    You love the beach! Or the forest! Or the desolate wasteland!
    Prerequisites: Must have the appropriate terrain domain, possess a given favored terrain, or have selected it for your shaman “Domain” class feature.
    Benefit: You gain +1 to caster level, saving throws, and the DC of your abilities and spells while within that terrain.

    Attuned Vision[General]
    You see beyond the veil.
    Prerequisites: At least 3 ranks in Perception, Call Upon Aid
    Benefit: You may use the see invisibility spell for a number of minutes per day equal to your ranks in Perception. At five ranks, you may do so continuously. At ten ranks, you gain the continuous effect of deathwatch.

    Best Bud[General]
    Best. Friends. Forever.
    Prerequisites: Shaman level 8, Long Term Alliance with the selected contract.
    Benefit: Select one contract you possess. That contract can now be maintained without requiring a slot, continuously. If the contracted creature is killed, it reappears at sunrise, or immediately by spending a use of Spirit Allies. This feat can only be taken once.

    Long-Term Alliance[General]
    You’re in it together for the long haul.
    Prerequisites: Shaman level 3
    Benefit: Select one contract you possess. When you gain this feat, as well as at every odd level thereafter, you may alter it, making any of the following changes:
    -Replace creatures in the contract with thematically similar creatures of a higher Summon level.
    -Improve creatures, as detailed in the Shaman Contracts
    This can be repeated as much as you like during this process, as long as the end result does not have a minimum summon level of higher than you have available.
    When you select a group contract in this way, all creatures involved gain power in this way, and all identical creatures within the contract must improve in the same way- however, the increase in each of their individual level requirement cannot exceed the change in the minimum level requirement of the contract as a whole.
    This increases the hit point requirement by one each time you do so.
    Special: You cannot possess more copies of this feat than your normal, unmodified Wisdom bonus. If you end or otherwise lose a contract which this feat refers to, you lose the feat, and may select a new one to replace it at your next level-up.

    Familiar Ally[General]
    You’re going to be friends for a long, long time.
    Prerequisites: Shaman level 6, Long-Term Alliance with the desired contract.
    Benefit: Select one contract you possess. All creatures within that contract are now simultaneously your familiar. The following special notes apply to the abilities granted by the Familiar ability:
    -You gain the Alertness feat whenever any creature from the contract is within 5 feet.
    -Skill ranks are not shared.
    -They do not gain the Natural Armor bonus, nor do they gain the minimum hit point total. Instead, they gain your level * your Charisma bonus in extra hit points, divided evenly along all creatures in the contract.
    -You may share spells with any of them.
    -Only one familiar can be designated at once to deliver a touch spell.
    -The Scry on Familiar ability can target any of your familiars, but still can only be used once per day.
    -Can gain familar archetypes, except for Figment, Emissary (except at DM’s discretion), School Familar, Mascot, or Valet. Also, all creatures within a contract have the same archetype.
    In addition, these familiars represent an extra store of power- you may have them pay hit point costs in your stead, up to your caster level in hit points per day.
    Furthermore, you gain a +1 bonus to caster level when casting spells of a particular domain, school, subschool, or descriptor associated with the familiar while the contract is active, depending on the specific contract. This replaces the normal familiar bonus.
    Special: At the DM’s discretion, you also gain access to a specific summoning kingdom related to the contract when picking for Spirit Contract during level-ups.



  5. - Top - End - #5
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Jan 2017

    Default Re: Calling upon the spirits: The summoner-style Shaman(PEACH)

    Bumping, since it's almost been two weeks. No comments?

    Some commentary:
    My intent here was to replace the upper echelons of T1 druid power with distinct, similarly powerful class features and abilities which could be individually nerfed and adjusted. In particular, the Fey Bargains chain of abilities is intended to contain most of the strongest and most versatile abilities- expanding the spell list, giving access to summons with their own casting options, and bypassing the normal summon limit.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    nonsi's Avatar

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    Default Re: Calling upon the spirits: The summoner-style Shaman(PEACH)

    .
    Observations:
    - BAB progression error starting at level 15.
    - Call Upon Aid: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I assume you meant “At every level thereafter, you may do one of the following: . . .”
    - Regarding HP payment: you should note that the toll is HP burn (i.e. recoverable only via rest, not spells), otherwise the toll becomes rather insignificant very quickly.
    - Level 19 is quite dead. Your Shaman could have 4 known 6th level spells at level 19 w/o any negative consequences.
    - Spirit Contract: spending an hour each time a new is tedious. What are the other party members supposed to do during that time?
    - Contracted Casting: what are the available spells?

    Likes:
    - Prep./Spont. duality – original and provides a nice flexibility of choice.
    - A wide range of gametime options.

    Dislikes:
    - No bonus spells = discrimination. Why should wizards and CoDZilla have them but the Shaman doesn’t?
    - The mechanics of payment/negotiation is tedious. The game has enough stuff it requires you to track as it is.
    - Having to pay for almost everything with HP leaves a character quite squishy.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Jan 2017

    Default Re: Calling upon the spirits: The summoner-style Shaman(PEACH)

    Quote Originally Posted by nonsi View Post
    .
    Observations:
    - BAB progression error starting at level 15.
    - Call Upon Aid: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I assume you meant “At every level thereafter, you may do one of the following: . . .”
    - Regarding HP payment: you should note that the toll is HP burn (i.e. recoverable only via rest, not spells), otherwise the toll becomes rather insignificant very quickly.
    - Level 19 is quite dead. Your Shaman could have 4 known 6th level spells at level 19 w/o any negative consequences.
    - Spirit Contract: spending an hour each time a new is tedious. What are the other party members supposed to do during that time?
    - Contracted Casting: what are the available spells?

    Likes:
    - Prep./Spont. duality – original and provides a nice flexibility of choice.
    - A wide range of gametime options.

    Dislikes:
    - No bonus spells = discrimination. Why should wizards and CoDZilla have them but the Shaman doesn’t?
    - The mechanics of payment/negotiation is tedious. The game has enough stuff it requires you to track as it is.
    - Having to pay for almost everything with HP leaves a character quite squishy.
    Thanks for the advice. I've cleaned up most of the problem areas, as noted in the changelog.
    Re: payment and negotiating: I assumed you're referring to the old Friend of a Friend feature. Upon looking it over, I agree that the mechanics are unnecessarily complicated. I've replaced it with a temporary information-gathering feature.
    Re: squishiness: This is mostly intentional, although I may have gone too far- I wanted to experiment with spending hit points as a resource (and given them the d8 hit die to live through it). I've added a note to The Power of Life allowing you to regain paid hit points by spending spell slots as an out-of-combat option.

    Back of the envelope calculations to estimate squishiness:
    Using the iconic Barbarian from Pathfinder as an example for stat investment (both the shaman and the barbarian require two stats to function as a class, for which Con is secondary), we're looking at:
    -14 Con at level 1. 10 hp, easily enough to summon multiple times a day and have room for dessert.
    -14 Con at level 7. ~46 hit points, which is enough to summon both your level 3-4 summons at once(6 hp between them- note that you get new summons at even numbered levels) a few times per day. Call upon Aid is practically insignificant at this point, and hit point costs for casting only matter if a) you are casting spontaneously (so Wis casters don't worry) and b) your Charisma bonus is less than twice the level of the spell, i.e. 2 or 3 hp for your third level spells, maybe 1 hp for your second level spells.
    -18 Con at level 12. ~72 hit points. You have 3 summons at once, of level ~6 (depending on whether you grabbed Long Term Alliance). This costs 18 hit points. While it's getting more expensive, you can still summon them all 2 times per day or so safely. This is probably a sign that things are too expensive, especially since the costs of spells has gone up to 8-Cha bonus.
    Extrapolating to level 18, you now have ~20 Con, and around 162 hit points. It costs you 36 hit points to summon your entire pack of level 9 creatures. Again, more than twice per day is unsafe, and spells have become more expensive (although, at this point, probably negligible for low level spells).

    While I think the overall hit point costs per ability aren't too much (~1/2 your level in hit points per summon of your highest level), the issue that I see causing the most trouble, now that Contracted Casting and Friend of a Friend no longer make you pay through the nose, is that at higher levels, you are paying for 4x as many summons. I see the costs for spontaneous spellcasting as much less onerous in comparison. I'm considering:
    -Some form of Toughness-like class feature to bump up hit points later on
    -Reducing the number of summons you can command at once or slowing its progression (probably displacing the Fey Bargains class features)
    -Giving bulk discounts for summoning multiple summons at once
    -Connecting the process of summoning to that of casting spells, giving the shaman similar cost-mitigation options (i.e. Charisma bonus in cost reduction or ritual casting to eliminate the cost entirely)

    Advice?
    Last edited by aimlessPolymath; 2017-01-24 at 03:38 PM.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    nonsi's Avatar

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    Apr 2010

    Default Re: Calling upon the spirits: The summoner-style Shaman(PEACH)

    Quote Originally Posted by aimlessPolymath View Post
    -Giving bulk discounts for summoning multiple summons at once
    Careful not to make going NOVA too easy.


    You could give it Improved Toughness as a bonus feat at 10th level.

    [EDIT]: I like the capstone. It's reasonable after 4 consecutive levels w/ access to 6th level spells.
    Last edited by nonsi; 2017-01-24 at 06:26 PM.

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