Spirits, are there any?

[Nyeleni]

Just playing a spirit shaman lately and asking myself if there are any spirits in the land. Where I could use all those special features of the class.

Or maybe put some spirits in a dungeon somewhere?

[Rhifox]

Mechanically speaking, there is one spirit in the beginning graveyard (the boss ghost thing), the earth elementals in the Nashkel mines count (and Weaken Spirits is great against them because it turns off their super DR), there's air elementals in the frost giant mountains and fire elementals at the fire giant mountains, and there's the shadows in the spirit troll caves. And the one-of-many style boss in the Fields of the Dead crypt I think counts as a spirit too. Also the water elementals in the sewers.

Other than that, I can't think of any. I can't recall how many incorporeal undead there are in the various undead dungeons, or if they are actually set to count as spirits mechanically on BG.


ICly, they're everywhere! Detect Spirits is the most useful of the SS abilities because it can often open up a lot of opportunities in DM plots.

[Laughingman]

Played a spirit shaman until about level 19. Never found a single spirit to turn. It never was responded to in events. It was never responded to in RP. I RCRed and am glad I did.

[Sun Wukong]

There is a cave two transitions north of Soubar with Spirit Trolls, Air Elementals, and Invisible Stalkers, it is an 'epic' area. The cave entrance is marked on the bottom right corner of the map and you have to climb a mountain to reach it. The place also has the nastiest boss my Barbarian Halfling has ever seen, one that casts Shadow Simulacrum... Which is a death sentence to my barbarian since the shadow copy of many characters gets to use my Epic Rage against me.

Anyhow, as a Spirit Shaman, you are pretty decent as a troll slayer in general. Just get that Acidic Splatter reserve feat, cats a Storm of Vengeance and slowly grind the mob of trolls away. You got high AC, and regenerate.

[Rask]

Played a spirit shaman until about level 19. Never found a single spirit to turn. It never was responded to in events. It was never responded to in RP. I RCRed and am glad I did.

This was also my experience. A severely under powered class whos only saving grace is the cool RP that they should be able to have, but most people just ignore it.

[Sun Wukong]

Played a spirit shaman until about level 19. Never found a single spirit to turn. It never was responded to in events. It was never responded to in RP. I RCRed and am glad I did.

This was also my experience. A severely under powered class whos only saving grace is the cool RP that they should be able to have, but most people just ignore it.

A wisdom based cleric does actually very well. A three level dip into monk makes you a Shapechange monstrocity, and Zen archery is enough to give you high ranged AB.

If you go charisma based for spell DCs, you can make use of Turn Undead to get high spell DCs and AC from Divine Shield. Bloodmagic helps too, as does the Hierophant PRC.

If you go strength based, with build such as: Spirit Shaman 12/Warpriest 4/Hospitaler 10/Hierophant 10, you can have caster level 30 with BAB of 26, along with +1d4 Piercing, +1d8 Fire, and +3d6 Electrical damage on top of whatever weapon you use. You might even just make use of Northlander Hewing as a damage backup in case of resistance or immunities.

And once again, you do not need spell DCs for Storm of Vengeance to be useful.

Now, it is not at the level of an EDM Favored Soul or a Dragon Druid, but Spirit Shaman is a caster and you can make many strong builds out of it. You know, give it another chance.

[metaquad4]

I meant, we could claim the best part of any class is the RP, but the RP can be ignored.
Except for FvS of course...
It's just the nature of how the server is managed, a class does not grant you influence in the RP game.

This is true. Though, that being said, its not necessarily a bad thing. If you RP your part, I've noticed that generally you'll get respect for what you RP. At-least, if I am understanding what you are saying.

I'd consider it (in my experience) the difference between saying "I am a druid" verses acting like a druid and have people acknowledging you as a druid through your acts. The latter is usually far more powerful.

Of course, individual experiences may differ due to various circumstances too.

For a spirit shaman, I can understand that it would be difficult. Even in RP, spirits don't come up too too much (and they can usually be solved using other means besides a shaman, because shaman is such a rare class and likely DMs can't afford to be too exclusive towards it). Granted, they'd come in more if a DM tailored an experience to a shaman who was present. But generally, they just aren't really there. And that does hurt the RP a fair bit well, I'd imagine.

[Rhifox]

For a spirit shaman, I can understand that it would be difficult. Even in RP, spirits don't come up too too much (and they can usually be solved using other means besides a shaman, because shaman is such a rare class and likely DMs can't afford to be too exclusive towards it). Granted, they'd come in more if a DM tailored an experience to a shaman who was present. But generally, they just aren't really there. And that does hurt the RP a fair bit well, I'd imagine.

Spirits come up as much as one wants to let them. Personally I feel I get plenty, sometimes more than I can keep up with. A shaman character should always have their established background spirits, ones that you the player directly roleplay: your spirit guide and the ones that give your spells. One doesn't need a DM for those. Beyond that, it's easy to incorporate spirits in the world without needing a DM. Just like acknowledging the presence of NPCs, or animals, or plants, the spirits are there, a shaman sees them, knows what they are, how they work, and what their purpose is. You don't need a DM to tell you that a fire has a fire spirit in it, and that spirit wants to be fed fuel so it can burn brighter. One can roleplay offerings, help other player characters cleanse their souls of personal traumas through spiritual experiences (I've taken a few on dreamwalks), and so on.

As for DM experiences... this can vary, and sometimes be negative, yes. It really depends heavily on the DM, I've found. There are some DMs who are not great at doing anything spirit related. I've had ones that wouldn't acknowledge spirit stuff, or who essentially tried to treat me as a druid. You have to be really discerning with which DM you try spirit stuff with. Generally I don't bother trying anything spirit related with DMs running one-off public mass events advertised in DM shouts because these events are often pretty linear and combat-oriented, and the DM has to deal with a lot of random players all pushing for his attention. But DMs who really focus on narrative depth and who give the opportunity for a lot of roleplay and interactivity are generally pretty good at providing spirit stuff. You have to figure out which DMs are able and willing to provide spirit opportunities and which ones aren't.

[Nyeleni]

Thank you all for your replies.

My next question: Does having a Telthor companion imply being from Rashemen?

[Rhifox]

Thank you all for your replies.

My next question: Does having a Telthor companion imply being from Rashemen?

Telthors are specifically of Rashemen origin. But the general concept of a spirit guardian, which is what a telthor ultimately is, is not unique to there. So just don't call it a telthor if you are not playing a Rashemen character. Considering actual Rashemen telthors physically cannot leave Rashemen, any such companion that appears here on BG inherently cannot be a Rashemen telthor. I used the feat for awhile on Tarina, who is not from Rashemen. Hers was a guardian spirit that formed related to something local to her backstory, and she didn't know what people were talking about if they called it a telthor.