Spirit Shaman and Deity

[Danka]

Hi! I'm new here and to the game... I wonder if Spirit Shaman requires a deity, and if so, must it be a nature deity.

Thank you very much for the help.

[Young Werther]

Yes and yes. I believe the deities listed in character creation for a level 1 SS will show all the available options. I suggest Auril she's great and you can practice blood magic openly.

[Tsidkenu]

I can't remember if Forgotten Realms requires Spirit Shamans to have a (nature) deity as they can technically negotiate directly with various spirits for their spells. I would assume most shamans to be relatively polytheistic, perhaps venerating one deity slightly more than others.

If Rhifox is still floating around, that's probably one of the best players to ask about this particular subject, or shoot a PM Rhifox's way.

Check out Tarina Mazir's bio for some ideas, too. It's worth a browse if you're considering a Spirit Shaman.

[Danka]

Alright! Thanks for your replies. I am also asking because I want to make an Underdark Drow Spirit Shaman. And it is hard to stence on a fitting deity.

[cosmic ray]

As far as I know, there is no material specific to the Forgotten Realms that deals with the spirit shaman. Complete Divine is a generic D&D book and therefore assumes Greyhawk as the setting. The lore of this class may be, in fact, incompatible with Forgotten Realms lore, since all divine magic can only be granted by the gods there, yet the shaman is supposed to get her magic from spirits.

[Danka]

Does Auril and The Queen of Air and Darkness are considered the same here?

[Rhifox]

Spirit shamans do not require a patron deity. In Mask of the Betrayer for NWN2, the spirit shaman companion, Gann, is faithless. While NWN2 the game limits shamans to druid deities, this is a byproduct of the game's programming that dictates deity choices by spell list (and since shamans have the druid spell list, the code forces them to pick from druid deities).

However, all divine magic in Forgotten Realms must come from a deity ultimately. The way I have handled this is to depict spirits as essentially divine aspects of a particular deity. Every fire spirit is ultimately comprised of the essence of Kossuth, a spirit of compassion is a thing of Ilmater, ghosts an aspect of Myrkul or a god of something they were strongly associated with in life, and so on. In this way a shaman still fulfills the requirement that his powers come from a deity, he just does it through intermediaries (and for many gods instead of just one). I've given all of my spirits a patron deity to signify that they are an aspect of that god.

Now, the problem of course is that the bad game programming restricts you on choices (due to coding issues, as mentioned above). For my part I tried to incorporate this limitation into my story where I could, but I didn't take it super strictly. DMs have never said whether or not they will force a shaman to only have a patron from among the in-game choices, so it's a gamble whether you want to risk it and claim a patron that is not on your character sheet.


With regard to Auril and the Queen of Air and Darkness, no idea. A DM will probably have to answer that one.


For a drow spirit shaman? I'm afraid I know very little of drow, so I cannot make a suggestion here. Your character would most likely follow a drow deity (Eilistraee, Ghaunadar, Kiaransalee, Lolth, Selvetarm, Vhaeraun) or be faithless. But the game of course limits your options mechanically, so up to you whether you'd want to try and risk picking one the game does not allow or just using one of the nature gods. The elemental gods are the easiest to fit in to your character regardless of culture if you want to pick a nature deity that isn't a drow god, as the four classical elements are pretty universal, though they have pretty small churches.


I hope that helps!

[Rhifox]

As far as I know, there is no material specific to the Forgotten Realms that deals with the spirit shaman. Complete Divine is a generic D&D book and therefore assumes Greyhawk as the setting. The lore of this class may be, in fact, incompatible with Forgotten Realms lore, since all divine magic can only be granted by the gods there, yet the shaman is supposed to get her magic from spirits.

They are not incompatible, Wizards of the Coast has an old page specifically talking about Spirit Shamans and similar classes in FR. They mainly come from Rashemen and Osse, and occasionally from Kara-Tur. The article does not speak about the divine-magic-needs-deity issue, but the class does exist within FR lore. My thoughts on the deity issue are, as described in the above post, essentially that spirits are aspects of the portfolios of the various gods and thus function as intermediaries for that god's power.

[Danka]

This is very helpful and gives alot of insight. Thank you very much!