The Genius Guide to the Shaman (PFRPG) PDF

3.50/5 (based on 4 ratings)

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Super Genius Games is proud to present our first release for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: The Shaman.

The Shaman is a passionate follower of a path that often lies at an oblique angle to the pursuits of other people. While the pursuit of wealth, knowledge, and creature comforts drives most people, the shaman has an insight into a world where the primary ambition is to help others, and in doing so, to progress towards a personal state of heightened spiritual awareness.

This book presents for the first time the Pathfinder RPG version of the Shaman, first introduced by OWC for 3rd edition. Updated and expanded, this book provides rules for creating Shaman characters and interacting, binding, and commanding the spirits that exist everywhere.

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3.50/5 (based on 4 ratings)

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A interesting class with a new type of magic.

3/5

This product has 13 pages. Including Cover and OGL.

The class is a divine caster. d8, 4 skills, medium BaB, light armor/Simple weapons. Most of their powers deal with spirits with a few bonus feats.
Communicate with Spirits - lets a shaman speak to spirits.
See Spirits - lets a shaman see spirits. Can also be used to see if someone/thing is possessed by a spirit.
Spirit Companion - Like the druid animal companion but a spirit instead.
Summon Spirit - The Shaman can summon a spirit to either ask questions or try and control.
Control Spirit - A ability that lets a shaman attempt to take control over a spirit.

there is more powers but they all follow this line, plus a spirit heal. A shaman can bind spirits to themselves and get benefits or spell like abilities. A shaman can control his charisma score in spirit power. (the spirit power is their charisma score) Spirits can mimic spells, the higher level spell the higher the spirits charisma(17 for a level 9 spell)

It is a interesting new take on shamans that fit the myth and lore of them and makes them stand apart from other spell casters since they don't get spells, but supernatural abilities from spirits. My big complaint about the book is it really need a lot more sample spirits, with other none spell like abilities a Shaman can use. I think the heal ability should have been at 1st level. Since it makes it hard to use this a replacement healer class otherwise.

I liked the idea but would have liked it taken further and relied on mimicing existing spells less. So a solid 3 star from me.


4/5


I liked it, but I'm not sure I'd use it

3/5

The good?

Its well thought out, and very evocative in the writing department. It feels very much like a Shaman class should.

The bad?

If you aren't a fan of alternate systems being added to Pathfinder RPG, i.e. a class that does spellcastery things without matching up with the standard way of producing these effects, you probably won't be a fan of this class.

That isn't an indictment of the quality so much as a caveat concerning what kind of content you may want to let into your game.


I like this product

4/5

The Shaman is an excellent product for someone who is looking to add an extra dimension to their game. Loaded with ieas, new skill uses, and a great stand alone class, I would recomend it to just about anyone. I first discovered it when I was working on my own conversion of the Shaman base class in the new edition and as I read through it I realized that my quest was over. This is a product worthy of being in everyone's library.


Dark Archive

Great stuff. I really like it.


David Fryer wrote:
Great stuff. I really like it.

So what's "Shamany" about these guys? I was hesitant to jump onto PDFs with new base classes after some of the others I've seen, but I have to admit, the Dragonrider redeemed my faith in 3rd party base classes, so I'd be interested to hear more about this one.

Super Genius Games

KnightErrantJR wrote:
David Fryer wrote:
Great stuff. I really like it.
So what's "Shamany" about these guys? I was hesitant to jump onto PDFs with new base classes after some of the others I've seen, but I have to admit, the Dragonrider redeemed my faith in 3rd party base classes, so I'd be interested to hear more about this one.

Hey KnightErrantJR,

Unlike most other 3.x shamans this one doesn't rely on spell lists from other classes. It manipulates spirits by summoning and binding them, getting spell-like effects, use of feats for a limited time, and can imbue items with spiritual significance giving them bonuses of various types.

Hyrum.


So, flavor wise, kind of like the spirit shaman, but in practice more "outcome based" than to just use those spirits to gain access to spell slots?

Do these shamans have any kind of persistent presence for their spirits (like the 4E shaman does)?

Super Genius Games

KnightErrantJR wrote:

So, flavor wise, kind of like the spirit shaman, but in practice more "outcome based" than to just use those spirits to gain access to spell slots?

Do these shamans have any kind of persistent presence for their spirits (like the 4E shaman does)?

Yep, they get a spirit companion similar to the druid animal companion, and they can "hold" a few bound spirits indefinitely and tap into them for effects. If you're familiar with Glorantha and RQ 3, that's where the inspiration originally came from.

Hyrum.


I am growing much closer to checking this out. I always liked the flavor the spirit shaman, but it always kind of got me that it went from "I'm communing with the spirits" to "okay, done with the spirits now, I've got my spells like every other caster."

Super Genius Games

KnightErrantJR wrote:
I am growing much closer to checking this out. I always liked the flavor the spirit shaman, but it always kind of got me that it went from "I'm communing with the spirits" to "okay, done with the spirits now, I've got my spells like every other caster."

For $2 how can you go wrong? :D

Hyrum.


KnightErrantJR wrote:
I am growing much closer to checking this out. I always liked the flavor the spirit shaman, but it always kind of got me that it went from "I'm communing with the spirits" to "okay, done with the spirits now, I've got my spells like every other caster."

I like the class for whatever thats worth. Its easily worth the 2 bucks

Scarab Sages

Sounds like a Binder.
/puts on my wishlist

:]


You guys won, I picked it up, and reviewed it. Its quality work, but I'm not sure I'd use it, just because of the "alternate system" that it introduces and the complexity that adds to a campaign.

Its clearly a labor of love and a quality and professional piece, just not something that I feel is automatically a "must use" supplement.


KnightErrantJR wrote:

You guys won, I picked it up, and reviewed it. Its quality work, but I'm not sure I'd use it, just because of the "alternate system" that it introduces and the complexity that adds to a campaign.

Its clearly a labor of love and a quality and professional piece, just not something that I feel is automatically a "must use" supplement.

It is definately not for the beginner. But it would make a very cool NPC. Throw a player for a loop with an orc shaman or something

Dark Archive

My only real complaint was that the class waits a while to give healing abilities. I would have liked to see them at an earlier level.

Super Genius Games

David Fryer wrote:
My only real complaint was that the class waits a while to give healing abilities. I would have liked to see them at an earlier level.

That's something I'm definitely thinking of changing. Starting it around 2nd level and keeping the progression as is.

Hyrum.


HyrumOWC wrote:
David Fryer wrote:
My only real complaint was that the class waits a while to give healing abilities. I would have liked to see them at an earlier level.

That's something I'm definitely thinking of changing. Starting it around 2nd level and keeping the progression as is.

Hyrum.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. It would allow the class to be a real secondary healer

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I added a review to the product.


I recently bought this product and I really like it. However, I notice there is no mention of starting wealth for the Shaman. How much gold should a shaman start off with, if any?

Super Genius Games

Odraude wrote:
I recently bought this product and I really like it. However, I notice there is no mention of starting wealth for the Shaman. How much gold should a shaman start off with, if any?

Doh! Shamans start play with 2d6 x 10 gp.

Hyrum.
Super Genius Games
"We err on the side of awesome."


HyrumOWC wrote:
Odraude wrote:
I recently bought this product and I really like it. However, I notice there is no mention of starting wealth for the Shaman. How much gold should a shaman start off with, if any?

Doh! Shamans start play with 2d6 x 10 gp.

Hyrum.
Super Genius Games
"We err on the side of awesome."

Glad I could help. Downloaded the updated version now :)

The Exchange

As an FYI, we chose Super Genius Games as our 3rd Party Publisher Star of the Month for July. You can read why here.

Hyrum was kind enough to volunteer four separate products for highlighting/inclusion on d20pfsrd.com and we've got SOME of it up already, including the Shaman, which you can see here.

We've got several more things from SGG to post over the next few days and I just want to thank Hyrum for both supporting the OGL and offering up the content he did for inclusion on d20pfsrd.com. I hope those that like "The Genius Guide to Loot 4 Less: Volume 1—Armor and Weapons", "The Genius Guide to the Shaman", "The Genius Guide to the Witch Hunter", and "The Genius Guide to Ice Magic", will support Super Genius Games by purchasing lots of stuff from them. They make great stuff!

Super Genius Games

d20pfsrd.com wrote:

As an FYI, we chose Super Genius Games as our 3rd Party Publisher Star of the Month for July. You can read why here.

Hyrum was kind enough to volunteer four separate products for highlighting/inclusion on d20pfsrd.com and we've got SOME of it up already, including the Shaman, which you can see here.

We've got several more things from SGG to post over the next few days and I just want to thank Hyrum for both supporting the OGL and offering up the content he did for inclusion on d20pfsrd.com. I hope those that like "The Genius Guide to Loot 4 Less: Volume 1—Armor and Weapons", "The Genius Guide to the Shaman", "The Genius Guide to the Witch Hunter", and "The Genius Guide to Ice Magic", will support Super Genius Games by purchasing lots of stuff from them. They make great stuff!

Thanks!

:D

Hyrum.
Super Genius Games
"We err on the side of awesome."

Liberty's Edge

HyrumOWC wrote:
d20pfsrd.com wrote:
As an FYI, we chose Super Genius Games as our 3rd Party Publisher Star of the Month for July...... support Super Genius Games by purchasing lots of stuff from them. They make great stuff!

Thanks!

:D

Hyrum.
Super Genius Games
"We err on the side of awesome."

Congrats for being so darn swell! :)


Just bought the guide, and I really like it.

I'm switching to Pathfinder and I was searching for a way to introduce the Shaman class, but since I played mostly at AD&D (with the Player's Options manuals) rather than D&D 3.0-3.5 I had a hard time thinking at how to convert Player's Option: Spells & Magic Shaman into Pathfinder.
The class depicted in this guide is very close to that idea of a shaman and it therefor introduces a whole new way to look at magical abilities.

It's well worth the price, however I found a few issues that may need some fixing. Or it could just be me, being new to Pathfinder and all!

First of all I found some of the text repetitive or redundant, while they failed to provide a clear insight about the class abilities. For a new system to provide spell effects, it's not very detailed, it seems more of an indication than a real set of rules for, let's say, spiritual magic.

Secondly, the guide repeatedly states that "living spirits can not be controlled", even in the description of the Control Spirit ability itself. But then, looking at level progress it clearly states that at 16th level a shaman gets Control Living Spirits. There is however no description whatsoever of how it works leaving me confused about how is a shaman supposed to control a living spirit thetered to a living body (is this some kind of "mind control"?). When it comes to the last section and the description of the various types of spirits, it says again "there is little to be done with Living Spirits".

Even if the landscape format is quite weird, at least for me, and the text is not so useful at times, I think it just needs a bit of work of adaptation from the GM. It's probably not a class for a beginner as MerrikCale already said, but it's certainly a good idea and for its price it's a good product.


Hi Paddosan,

I wrote the book awhile back and don't have the file in front of me right now since I'm at work. When I get home tonight I'll come back and answer your questions. Thanks for liking the book though!

Hyrum.


Has any thought been given to a revision/update of this class? With the Pact Magic Unbound book out, there might be an opportunity to make the class mesh with the binding/spirit system in that book. Currently, the class feels a bit cumbersome with so much of the background mechanics being put as part of the class write-up.


In addition to my previous question, I'm curious if there has been any supporting products published for this class.

Super Genius Games

There haven't been any supporting products, although I've got notes jotted down for a Bullet Point.

And yeah, it's about time for a Shaman Revised. :) Don't know when that will happen though exactly.


How did you guys get Anry Nemo to do artwork for your cover? He hasn't been producing art since 2004 I believe. Also, the cover art you are using is a picture that Anry drew back in 1999 and the shaman has normal white skin instead of blue.

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