Hi.
As suggested, I take the discussion here.
My initial post again:
I just bought the issue and only got to read the Shaman class. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems pretty overpowered compared to the Druid.
The Druid gets spellcasting, Nature Bond, and Wild Shape, among others.
The Shaman gets spellcasting, Spirit Bond, Totem Secret, and Wild Shape, among others. It seems to me that a choice between either Wild Shape or Spirit Bond would be the way to go here.
I like the concept of the class, but I wouldn't alow it in my game as it is.
Thoughts?
Without reading the class yet, one of the balance factors could be the spell list itself. Further, based on the oracle / cleric and sorc / wiz split, the spontaneous casters tend to get a lot more class features. It would make sense that the spontaneous druid got more.
Just some preliminary thoughts ; trying to get into Marc's head.
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That's pretty much it in a nut shell, Cheapy.
I looked to the sorcerer and oracle as a starting point for balance. And, while I understand not everything in game design needs perfect symmetry, the lack of a spontaneous counterpart to the druid seemed to be something that needed addressed.
Like the sorcerer and oracle, the shaman only knows a few, specific spells. However, he chooses them from the druid spell list (as opposed to the wizard or cleric spell list, respectively) and does not need to prepare them ahead of time. In order to balance this, the shaman gains a number of new class features (again, similar to the sorcerer and oracle). In fact, balance was something I was VERY keenly aware of during the entire design process.
In playtest, the shaman proved to be quite balanced, had plenty of chances to shine BUT in no way overshadowed other classes and was a blast to play :)
Fabius, I would request that you maybe allow a shaman as written into a game and see how it plays before making a final judgement.
Oh, and Cheapy ... you don't want to get inside my head - it's an odd place ;)
Allowing something like the Revelation ablitiy of the Oracle along with Wild Shape and the Animal Companion equivalent struck me as a bit much. The last two are really powerful abilities, after all (although not as powerful as they were in 3.5).
I might be testing the class myself in the future, although I was looking at your White Necromancer (which I find interesting) first (though creating Undead might not fit an Aereni Necromancer in Eberron).
Contributor
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I need to pick the issue up to speak more confidently about this, but I have a little different perspective. When a class is called the Shaman, I hope it has the traditional abilities accorded to Shamans - broadly speaking - interacting with the spirit world, shapeshifting, and having a totem or initiatory tradition. So I'm inclined to accept the class from a world building perspective a bit more than the druid as a model for a Sorcerer-type spirit-talker. Once I get the mag I can comment on the balance issue. But there you go...
To me it seems that the Druid spell list is already such that only a few spells are actually worth picking, so my first impression of a spontaneuos Druid would be *sweet, looses nothing and gains nice things*...
I need to pick the issue up to speak more confidently about this, but I have a little different perspective. When a class is called the Shaman, I hope it has the traditional abilities accorded to Shamans - broadly speaking - interacting with the spirit world, shapeshifting, and having a totem or initiatory tradition. So I'm inclined to accept the class from a world building perspective a bit more than the druid as a model for a Sorcerer-type spirit-talker. Once I get the mag I can comment on the balance issue. But there you go...
Flavour-wise, I agree somewhat. I'm not a friend of Wild Shape as such (my idea for a decent Druid involves the knowledge features of the 3.5 Archivist class; shapechange can be achieved via spells).
A substitute for Wild Shape in the form of a short term etherealness effect might fit better in this case.
Another option (and maybe the easiest) would a diminished Wild Shape feature, like this: "A jungle druid gains this ability at 6th level, except that her effective druid level for the ability is equal to her druid level – 2."
To me it seems that the Druid spell list is already such that only a few spells are actually worth picking
I agree with this to a certain extent. I didn't get to play at high levels, but for the druid I played, I had only a few slots actually full, and just spent 15 minutes preparing spells as they became needed.
Granted, the ability was really useful, and these guys can't do that.