Because spirit shamans deserve some love, too. [PrC, PEACH]

[Kellus]

The Spirit Supplicant

Not all spirit shamans are content to simply study the nature of spirits. The spirit supplicant harnesses the power of the wild to augment his own spirit guide, which he then sends in search of greater power from the Spirits Beyond. Although he forgoes some of his more traditional magic, the spirit supplicant gains the ability to pursue a wider variety of magic than that available to the traditional shaman.

Requirements: To become a spirit supplicant, you must fulfill all of the following requirements

Skills: Handle Animal 8 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 8 ranks
Special: Animal companion and spirit guide class features
Spellcasting: Able to retrieve and cast 2nd level spells.

Table: The Spirit Supplicant
{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |

Spellcasting

1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Spirit companion, spiritual successor|

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Spirit quest (1st)|

–

3rd|+2|+3|+1|+3|Spirit quest (2nd)|

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

4th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Spirit quest (3rd)|

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

5th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Spirit quest (4th)|

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

6th|+4|+5|+2|+5|Spirit quest (5th)|

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

7th|+5|+5|+2|+5|Spirit quest (6th)|

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

8th|+6|+6|+2|+6|Spirit quest (7th)|

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

9th|+6|+6|+3|+6|Spirit quest (8th)|

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

10th|+7|+7|+3|+7|Spirit quest (9th), true spirit guide|

–

[/table]

All of the following are class features of the spirit supplicant.

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: A spirit supplicant gains no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

Spellcasting: When a new spirit supplicant level is gained (except for 2nd and 10th), the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in whatever divine spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that he adds the level of spirit supplicant to the level of whatever other divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.

If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class before he became a spirit supplicant, he must decide to which class he adds each level of spirit supplicant for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Spirit Companion (Su): Your spirit guide and your animal companion become one being, your spirit companion. Your spirit supplicant levels count as druid levels to determine your effective druid level for your animal companion. In addition, if you possess ranger levels, they are now treated as full druid levels instead of 1/2 druid levels for this purpose. This effect applies to any ranger levels you may choose to gain in the future, as well.

This melding has special ramifications for your spirit companion. It gains the Augmented subtype, as well as an Intelligence score of 10 + 1/2 your class level. Your spirit companion gains damage reduction/cold iron equal to your class level. You may communicate with your spirit companion through any language you speak, but no one else can understand it.

Spiritual Successor (Su): Your spirit supplicant levels stack with your spirit shaman levels to determine when you gain the Follow the Guide and Guide Magic class features of the spirit shaman.

Spirit Quest (Su): Your spirit companion is stronger than normal spirit guides, and you may perform a special spirit quest in order to retrieve more powerful spells through it. Once per day, you may attempt to access a spell that is on the cleric spell list but not on the druid spell list. This quest is made while your spirit companion retrieves spells for you as normal. You must have salves and special ingredients for the ritual on hand worth at least 100 gp per spell level of the spell you wish to access.

As part of the ritual, you make a special supplication check. This roll is equal to 1d20 + 1/2 your effective druid level + your Charisma modifier. You must succeed on a DC equal to 20 + the spell level. If this check succeeds, you may from now on retrieve that spell on a daily basis as if it were on your class spell list. If it fails, the ingredients are wasted, and you may never again try to access this particular spell.

At 2nd level you may only attempt to gain access to 1st level cleric spells. At every class level thereafter, you may attempt to access a higher spell level. You may only attempt to access a spell if you can retrieve and cast spells of that level. If you are unable to retrieve or cast a spell of the level granted by this class feature, you still gain this ability but may not make use of it for that spell level until you can retrieve and cast spells of that level.

True Spirit Guide (Su): At 10th level, your spirit companion gains the Incorporeal subtype, and all the traits associated with it. You may interact with your spirit companion normally, as if it were fully corporeal.

[Violet Octopus]

Yay, spirit shaman content :D

So is this a prestige class for druids who dip into spirit shaman, or vice versa?

Spirit Quest seems to only benefit spirit shaman spellcasting, but is dependent on druid level. A spirit shaman 3/druid 2/spirit supplicant 2 with 20 charisma has to roll 14 or higher on their supplication check or burn 100 gp and forever bar themselves from learning a particular 1st level spell. Also, if that character continued with spirit supplicant it stops getting immediate benefit at 7th level (besides better checks).

Mechanics questions aside, now that the animal companion is also your spirit guide, what happens when you regain spells? Does it disappear for an hour, or revert to a normal animal? Or something else?

[Kellus]

Yay, spirit shaman content :D

So is this a prestige class for druids who dip into spirit shaman, or vice versa?

Spirit Quest seems to only benefit spirit shaman spellcasting, but is dependent on druid level. A spirit shaman 3/druid 2/spirit supplicant 2 with 20 charisma has to roll 14 or higher on their supplication check or burn 100 gp and forever bar themselves from learning a particular 1st level spell. Also, if that character continued with spirit supplicant it stops getting immediate benefit at 7th level (besides better checks).

Mechanics questions aside, now that the animal companion is also your spirit guide, what happens when you regain spells? Does it disappear for an hour, or revert to a normal animal? Or something else?

Thanks for the comment.

It's intended for spirit shamans who dip into druid or (more rarely) ranger. It's not dependent on druid level, it's dependent on effective druid level, which this class stacks with just like normally raner levels stack as 1/2 effective druid levels for the purposes of animal companions.

I suppose the spirit companion would disappear just like your spirit guide normally does when you retrieve spells.

If you're worried about no immediate benefits at high levels, you can always put off taking that level until you can cast spells of that spell level.

[Violet Octopus]

I guess you can just alternate levels of shaman and supplicant, so the Spirit Quest levels coincide with your new spell access anyway, but that stunts the supplication check.

I understand that the class stacks with druid levels, but even then the check is still hard to make. If I took this class to get access to cool (not necessarily broken, just cool) cleric spells, I'd be too wary to try to quest for even a 1st level spell for fear of losing it forever.

Maybe if spirit shaman levels also stacked? Although that encourages a 2 level dip in druid and this to get an awesome pet. Maybe the check should just have a lower DC? 15+spell level? Or perhaps make it so you can try again next character level.

btw, any chance of a spirit shaman PrC that communes with the ghosts of dinosaurs? :P

[Fizban]

Very nice idea, though losing 3 casting levels makes me cringe. I think it'd be fair to retry for a spell when you gain a level, same as the wizard.