As I said on
Garn's thread, I'd like to make some suggestions for shaman kits. I'm also including some general quality of life improvements as well, but this post is mainly about kits.
I don't really know how BG's kit system actually works. Ergo some of these may not actually be feasible with the system that has been created.
Kits
Spirit Caller (inspired by the giantitp.com
Spirit Shaman's Handbook's Spirit Companion alternate class feature)
While the spirit guides of most shamans are ethereal beings only able to be seen and heard by the shaman, providing quiet guidance and support, a Spirit Caller has attracted waking guardian spirits (also known as telthor by the Rashemi). These spirits walk with the shaman, protecting her and speaking with a very real voice.
Replaced Abilities:
A Spirit Caller loses access to Spirit Guide (and thus Alertness), Follow the Guide, and Spirit Who Walks.
Gained Abilities:
A Spirit Caller gains a spirit familiar at level 1. At level 5, the Spirit Caller gains Telthor Companion as a free feat. At level 20, the Spirit Caller gains Natural Bond as a free feat. (Alternatively, make Telthor full companion progression so Natural Bond isn't required)
(inspired by Pathfinder's
Possessed Shaman shaman variant)
Possessed Shamans engage in a much more invasive form of shamanism. Instead of simply communing with spirits, a Possessed Shaman invites them to share her body. Though very dangerous, a Possessed Shaman is able to achieve a much greater connection with her spirits than most and can use the spirit's skills in place of her own.
Replaced Abilities:
A Possessed Shaman loses access to Chastise Spirits and Weaken Spirits.
Gained Abilities:
A Possessed Shaman gains the ability to designate two skills as spirit skills, one at level 2 and a second at level 16. A Possessed Shaman gains a bonus to each spirit skill equal to her levels in the Possessed Shaman kit. Spirit skills also use Wisdom in place of whatever attribute the skill normally used. Spirit skills replace your normal ranks in a skill, they do not add to them.
(inspired by the giantitp.com
Spirit Shaman's Handbook's Domain Shaman alternate class feature)
Though all shamans are divine casters, they gain their magic through calling on spirits to act on their behalf rather than praying for divine power to be bestowed directly upon them by a god. The Divine Shaman is different. Though he still communicates with spirits, the Divine Shaman is a servant of his god and seeks to do his god's will on Faerun.
Replaced Abilities:
A Divine Shaman loses access to to Spirit Guide (and thus Alertness), Chastise Spirits, Follow the Guide, Weaken Spirits, and Spirit Who Walks.
Gained Abilities:
A Divine Shaman gains access to one of his deity's domains at level 1. He gains a second domain at level 5. A Divine Shaman also gains Turn Undead progression (or Rebuke Undead, depending on alignment).
(inspired by Spirit Eater and Devour Soul from MotB)
Spirit Binders commune with spirits, as shamans do, but they are far more hostile with them than most. She needs no guide; a Spirit Binder has learned to tap into the spirit world under her own power and directly compel the spirits to aid her. This domineering expression allows her to use her will to strike against the soul of a person or object, instead of just disembodied or ethereal spirits.
Replaced Abilities:
A Spirit Binder loses access to Spirit Guide (and thus Alertness), Blessing of the Spirits, Follow the Guide, Warding of the Spirits, and Favored of the Spirits.
Gained Abilities:
A Spirit Binder uses her Charisma for both spells known and for spell difficulty checks. In addition, her Chastise Spirits and Weaken Spirits abilities may now be used on any target, not just spirits.
(inspired by Pathfinder's
Witch Doctor shaman variant)
All shamans can see the effects that spirits have on the souls of people, but to a Witch Doctor it is his duty to use his knowledge to cure these supernatural maladies. A Witch Doctor cares less about how he might serve (or use) the spirits, and instead on how he might protect the members of his tribe.
Replaced Abilities:
A Witch Doctor loses access to Chastise Spirits and Weaken Spirits.
Gained Abilities:
A Witch Doctor gains Soothe Spirits in place of Chastise Spirits, which functions identically but is now a party heal instead of an attack ability. A Witch Doctor also gains Exorcism in place of Weaken Spirits. Exorcism functions as Dismissal and banishes conjured or summoned creatures.
- Increase the damage of Chastise Spirits in the same manner as most other offensive spells on BG have been increased, to accommodate for the high HP values on NWN2.
- Add a single target variant of Chastise Spirits, that deals extra damage (or even save-or-die) but only against a single target.
- Convert Spirit Form to how it was described in Complete Divine: It should function as an ethereal effect, like Spirit Journey does now.
- Convert Spirit Journey to how it was described in Complete Divine: It should function as a teleport effect, similar to Shadow Walk.
- Add Spirit Tongue as a bonus class language. It can be easily done by just making a renamed duplicate of Druidic, as both are natural, primal languages. Spirit Tongue is described in Oriental Adventures and is a language all spirit creatures speak.
- Allow shamans to select any deity, as shamans have never had any deity restrictions in sourcebooks. It was included in NWN2 only as a byproduct of shamans using the druid spell list and the deity list being hardcoded to the druid spell list (Obsidian's own spirit shaman NPC was Faithless as a significant character trait, so it wasn't intended for shamans to be restricted to the druid deities). Due to the hardcoding, enabling it is likely difficult, though if it's possible to force a change than maybe allow shamans the ability to pick any deity off the deity changer NPC in the Nexus? Either that, or make a rule exception that play-your-sheet does not apply to shaman deities.
- Presuming that a full custom spell list is very difficult, I'd recommend adding a few extra spells to the druid spell list for shamans' benefit. Namely: the rest of the sleep line and charm/dominate monster. Druid spell list already includes Sleep and Hold Monster, so including Deep Slumber, Hiss of Sleep, and Charm and Dominate Monster is not a stretch. These abilities don't jar too much with the druid list, but are very thematically appropriate to shaman. I considered suggesting an enchantment shaman kit that forces spirits into other people to possess and control them, but frankly, it takes much less development time and accomplishes the same effect to just add these spells to the druid spell list.
- If a full custom spell list is doable, then I recommend an expansion as I've detailed here. This expansion is based off of giantitp.com's Spirit Shaman's Handbook's expanded spell list. Another alternative is the Pathfinder shaman spell list, which is similar (obviously, only counting the spells that are actually on BG). Spell list expansion is desired because the druid spell list is so strongly thematically tied to druids and leaves out many spells that a shaman should have.
- Make Lore: Religion a class skill. Every other divine spellcasting base class has it already... even ranger.
