CLASSifieds: Shaman of Humanity—Druid Archetype (PFRPG) PDF

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Some druids believe that human society has been encroaching on the natural order of the world, a cancer that destroys nature. A shaman of humanity sees things differently... he believes that humans are as much a part of nature as the forest, the sea, or the air. In fact, the shaman of humanity’s belief in the natural order of humanity is so powerful that he can call upon his human heritage to grant bits of humanity to creatures of nature, creating powerful allies to his cause. The shaman of humanity’s personal quest to instill a bit of humanity into the beasts of the world is his main goal when adventuring, and some members of this splinter sect of druids even claim responsibility for the creation of animal-like humanoids such as kitsune, vanara and grippli.

CLASSifieds product line is devoted to bringing you new and exciting classes for your Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Each product includes complete rules for a single class or archetype and an assortment of other rules to bring your characters to life.

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An Endzeitgeist.com review

3/5

This druid archetype clocks in at 9 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 6 pages, so let's take a look!

The shaman of humanity is a druid archetype that is available exclusively to those with human ancestry (including half-breeds). They alter their proficiencies and may actually wear metal armor, but also receive slightly diminished spellcasting. Their empathy only applies to domesticated animals or those under the effects of the anthropomorphic animal effect. Unlike the regular effect, though, the shaman learns to cast this as a spell-like ability that lasts for quite some time on his companion and said companion takes on the proficiencies of the shaman of humanity, which, for multi-class characters, may easily be exploited. While I get the design-intent, just taking on the proficiencies of the shaman of humanity class would have been enough, especially since the animal retains non-limb-based natural attacks such as gore when transformed by this ability - generally, a nice change from the spell. Also nice: Barding and armor and the effects upon transformation are covered (In short: Barding changes, armor donned while anthropomorphic does not), as are suggested lists for summoned weapons for anthropomorphic animals.

The shaman's animal companion gets quite a power-upgrade in the guise of a selection of rather nasty bonus feats - for which the animal needn't fulfill the prerequisites. This caveat makes quite a difference and not one I'm comfortable with in all cases, to be honest.

Summoning anthropomorphic animals via nature's ally is fine with me, though honestly, it could have been worded a bit tighter - as phrased, the ability implies that summoning nature's ally is only freely anthropomorphized when cast spontaneously. Why not provide some small benefit for actually preparing the spell? And yes, that's a nitpick and not something I'll hold against the pdf.

High level shamans of humanity may make anthropomorphic animals permanently anthropomorphic and protect one whole community (!!!) via mass sanctuary. Tying that to the settlement size, imposing a strict limit and requiring a very high level means that I actually really like this one. (And no, the truly vast sprawls can't be protected thus... Still, DMs should take care that not too many of these shamans populate one's world...) The alternate class, alas, lacks a proper capstone.

We do, however, get two feats, one that allows summoned anthromorphs to come with martial weapons and use them, the other rendering their attacks magical.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are okay, I didn't notice significant issues. Layout adheres to Fat Goblin Games' two-column, full color standard and the pdf comes hyperlinked with the good type of hyperlink and has no bookmarks.

Tyler Beck provides an interesting alternate class, all centered around making one spell work - and it succeeds at that. On the other hand, the class feels a bit thin, concept-wise, to me. Is that all there is to humanity, making animals walk upright and shoving weapons in their hands? Don't get me wrong, that's cool and all, but still, I do feel like this class had more potential: Take the community protector aspect, the low level domestic animal tricks and we have areas almost never covered. What about teaching more tricks, and faster to animals? Making domestic creatures stronger? lending some of human adaptability to non-human races? All of this falls somewhat by the wayside, when it needn't have. The companion with the extensive feat-selection proved, in-game, a tad bit too strong in playtesting, at least for my tastes. The ability to ignore all prerequisites for the bonus feats is nasty and their int of 3 means they no longer require tricks to handle. With a slight nerfing of the companion in favor of a more diverse skill-set (community focus sooner, not as powerful, for example...), this class would have rocked hard - as written, it feels a bit niche, one-dimensional and slightly too strong. In the end, this is not a bad choice, but neither did it blow my mind or could be considered sans its flaws. My final verdict will clock in at 3 stars - a solid, perhaps too tightly focused class.

Endzeitgeist out.


A druid with a difference

5/5

The Shaman of Humanity is a new archetype for the druid class that sees humanity as being a part of nature and has some differences from the normal druid to emphasize that. Boy does it have differences!

First one drawback, you get diminished spellcasting. You also don't get to choose between a domain and a companion, you get the animal. And your wild empathy only works on your companion, domesticated animals, or any animal under the effect of anthropomorphic animal. However, you also get better weapon and armor proficiencies and an enhanced companion. It has a higher intelligence and can choose additional bonus feats that are usually off-limits to companions.

The BIG change, however, is simply that you gain the ability to anthropomorphize your companion, making them human-like. This replaces wild shape and several other normal class features, but in exchange you get a companion that can use weapons and do nearly anything a person can (carry supplies, help with certain skills, etc.). The shaman of humanity can cast the spell more often as they rise in level, until they hit 14th level, at which point the companion can use it whenever and however they like and the druid can cast a special permanency on any animal under the effect of an anthropomorphic animal spell.

Also, the druid can alter his normal summoning ability to conjure anthropomorphic versions of normal animals, who arrive packing weapons and ready to obey orders. This is something that makes this archetype VERY different from the more normal druids, maybe too much so for some campaigns. Too, depending on the campaign, once you add in things like Augment Summoning and Superior Summoning and you end up with small armies of beast-folk following the druid around, that may be either too much support (or exactly enough depending on what the game is like).

The shaman of humanity also gets the ability to protect an entire community against attacks by animals, vermin, and magical beasts at 15th level, which is a nice twist on the more usual 'defend nature against the evils of civilization' angle of druids.

The PDF finishes up with two new feats, one that grants better weapons to your summoned anthropomorphs and another that lets them get through certain types of damage reduction. They are both very well suited to the archetype and make me wish you got more feats like these suited to use with new archetypes that expanded on their abilities.

The PDF promises you a new take on the druid and it certainly delivers. Yes this archetype is rather bizarre by some standards but I personally love it. If you want to have an excuse for bringing more beast-folk into a campaign this will work very well. And I like the new feats for use with the archetype. I'll go with five stars.


An RPG Resource Review

4/5

Typically, a Druid is a nature-lover and often comes over as a bit of an eco-warrior environmentalist... "Where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile" - well, the Shaman of Humanity is a bit different. This druidical philosophy holds that humans are just as much a part of nature as everything else, and goes beyond this to try and impart a bit of humanity to other creatures, creating formidable allies.

This archetypeis quite a bit different from a regular druid build, but the differences are spelled out clearly. One interesting feature is the ability to transform an animal companion into a human-like form - this is discussed purely in terms of its combat potential although I can imagine quite a few other uses for such a transformation in day-to-day life. This does not only work on companion animals, it can be applied to summoned ones as well provided the decision to do so is made as the summoning is cast.

The Shaman of Humanity can also become protector to a settlement, guarding them against nature's denizens - a neat reversal of normal druidic activities, protecting nature against enroaching humanoids!

A couple of new feats are provided as well as full progression charts and information to enable development right up to 20th level.

An interesting and thought-provoking concept, and one well-suited to the adventuring life.


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This almost sounds like an archetype that anthropomorphizes animals. I just may have to take a look at this.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Eric Hinkle wrote:
This almost sounds like an archetype that anthropomorphizes animals. I just may have to take a look at this.

That is exactly what it is!

I'll give you a brief rundown on what you'll see in this PDF:

The Shaman of Humanity is a Druid archetype that focuses on spreading the gift of humanity to the beasts of the world. As such, it's limited to humans, half-elves, half-orcs, and other creatures with human heritage (though this is adjustable with GM approval of a decent backstory).

Several of his class abilities focus on using a modified version of the anthropomorphic animal spell to make animals more like humanoids. He can do this for his animal companion, creatures he summons, and at higher levels can even start permanently anthropomorphizing animals he comes across in the wild!

He also gets an ability that can protect a community of humanoids from attacks by outside creatures. There are also a couple feats at the end that can make your anthropomorphized friends more useful in combat.

This was a sort of wacky idea that I had, and I think it turned out pretty well, though it's still a little bit wacky :) I like the idea that a splinter cell of Druids might be responsible for the more "furry" humanoids in the world, like Tengu, Kitsune and Catfolk. I hope that you all enjoy this entry in the CLASSifieds series!

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

I just wanted to thank Megan Robertson for her excellent review of the Shaman of Humanity! I hope to see more great reviews of it in the next few weeks!


I posted my own review for this one. One thing I'll add is that I wish there was a spell or other way to enhance the intelligence of animals under an anthropomorphic animal spell, though there's nothing stopping anyone from houseruling that you can cast awaken on them to raise their IQ's a bit.

I also love the potential for in-setting problems they raise. I can see some of these guys working with both the clergy of Abadar ("Kindling the lamp of reason within the minds of beasts.") and of Lamashtu ("New twisted children for Our Mother of Monsters!"). For that matter, how will more normal druids react to this other than 'badly'?

The protecting a community aspect could also work well with a campaign that uses the kingdom-building rules; not only can the shaman magically shield her community, she can summon beast-men to defend it!

I have got to use one of these guys in a game sometime, somehow.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Eric Hinkle wrote:

I posted my own review for this one. One thing I'll add is that I wish there was a spell or other way to enhance the intelligence of animals under an anthropomorphic animal spell, though there's nothing stopping anyone from houseruling that you can cast awaken on them to raise their IQ's a bit.

I also love the potential for in-setting problems they raise. I can see some of these guys working with both the clergy of Abadar ("Kindling the lamp of reason within the minds of beasts.") and of Lamashtu ("New twisted children for Our Mother of Monsters!"). For that matter, how will more normal druids react to this other than 'badly'?

The protecting a community aspect could also work well with a campaign that uses the kingdom-building rules; not only can the shaman magically shield her community, she can summon beast-men to defend it!

I have got to use one of these guys in a game sometime, somehow.

Thanks for the great review, Eric!

I agree that the best way to allow for smarter anthropomorphic beasts is to use Awaken... and actually I'm pretty sure you can do so even on the anthropomorphized animals, since the anthropomorhic animal spell doesn't change the creature's type... it's still an animal!

Obviously I would love to attack the in-Golarion aspects of the game, but sadly I can't do so in 3pp products. I might try to come up with a supplement to post on www.pathfindercommunity.net that talks about how druids of this type might work out in Golarion. :)


aaaaannnddd into the cart this goes.


cartmanbeck wrote:

Thanks for the great review, Eric!

I agree that the best way to allow for smarter anthropomorphic beasts is to use Awaken... and actually I'm pretty sure you can do so even on the anthropomorphized animals, since the anthropomorhic animal spell doesn't change the creature's type... it's still an animal!

Obviously I would love to attack the in-Golarion aspects of the game, but sadly I can't do so in 3pp products. I might try to come up with a supplement to post on www.pathfindercommunity.net that talks about how druids of this type might work out in Golarion. :)

Thanks for the kind words and for the link you listed. I never even heard of that site before, maybe I'll check it out.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

Eric Hinkle wrote:
cartmanbeck wrote:

Thanks for the great review, Eric!

I agree that the best way to allow for smarter anthropomorphic beasts is to use Awaken... and actually I'm pretty sure you can do so even on the anthropomorphized animals, since the anthropomorhic animal spell doesn't change the creature's type... it's still an animal!

Obviously I would love to attack the in-Golarion aspects of the game, but sadly I can't do so in 3pp products. I might try to come up with a supplement to post on www.pathfindercommunity.net that talks about how druids of this type might work out in Golarion. :)

Thanks for the kind words and for the link you listed. I never even heard of that site before, maybe I'll check it out.

pathfindercommunity.net is a sister site to d20pfsrd.com that we had to create to hold community use information when d20pfsrd.com started selling 3pp products. :)


Reviewed first on Endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here and on OBS and d20pfsrd.com's shop.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

As always, Endzeitgeist has given a thoughtful and well-written review of my supplement. Thanks so much!

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