Shaman advice


Advice


Hey trying to make a caster shaman planning to use the life and lore spirit. I want to use Arcane enlightenment but the question is how would you build the stats with 20 point buy (Currently str 12 dex 14 con 12 int 12 Wis 17 and cha 12) I plan to shuffling it around so curious which way to go. Also with arcane enlightenment which spells would you go for (thinking haste for one)Also is Benefit of wisdom worth it?


I would completely dump your STR to 7 to boost your WIS and try to hit that all important 18 with a +2 racial bonus. I you are planning on being caster, that STR won't really be of much help to you can be covered for very early on. I recommend that you make Life you main spirit, so that you pick up Arcane Enlightenment off your Wandering Hex at 6th level (or Spirit Talker at 7th, pencil that feat in) so that you can swap which Wizard/Sorcerer spells you want to grab each day. Benefit of Wisdom is worth it, though it's best as a Wandering Hex, so that you can use it when it comes up. I recommend you grab the Fetish Hex at level 4 so that you will be able to craft the Headband of Mental Superiority that you will need.

Grand Lodge

What levels are you expecting to play most? I found myself wishing I had gone Heavens, with Life as my Wandering Spirit, and Arcane Enlightenment from Spirit Talker. The Greater Spirit (at 8th) for Life sucks, and neither Spirit ability for Lore seemed cool.

I'd agree with dropping Str. I'd probably drop dex to 12 as well. You'll want more Cha, since you're building your character for Arcane Enlightenment and Channeling. Wis 18 (16+2) is definitely worth it, as your hex DCs are all based off Wis.


So with the Spirit talker I wouldn't have to take lore to get the Arcane enlightenment?? The Gm is stressing weight limit so bit worried about gear (plan to use a shield and chain shirt+ normal gear and I'm already at med weight limit) Anyways if I dont need lore what would be a good spirit for a caster?


Talked to the gm before about moving life to wandering at level 4 (but playing with life as the main until then for the channel) I guess I could move stuff to str 8 dex 12 con 12 int 13 (so up to level 3 spells) wis 18 and cha 14. Currently took extra channel and extra hex and have chant and misfortune. At level 3 planned to take another extra hex (probably healing) then at level 4 I'll go for fetish hex then level 5 another extra hex for either evil eye or slumber Level 7 is now spirit talker :)


ekibus wrote:
Talked to the gm before about moving life to wandering at level 4 (but playing with life as the main until then for the channel) I guess I could move stuff to str 8 dex 12 con 12 int 13 (so up to level 3 spells) wis 18 and cha 14. Currently took extra channel and extra hex and have chant and misfortune. At level 3 planned to take another extra hex (probably healing) then at level 4 I'll go for fetish hex then level 5 another extra hex for either evil eye or slumber Level 7 is now spirit talker :)

Shaman spells rely on Wisdom, not Intelligence (Edit: If you must have fireball etc via arcane enlightenment, set it to 12 and increase to 13 at level 4, I find enough offensive options for my shaman via other means.). You don't need the int for anything beyond skill points really, I'd drop it to either 12 or 10.

Str 7
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 16+2 Racial
Cha 16

If you're doing the healing thing:

Take the Witch Doctor Archetype with Life as your primary spirit.

At level 4, you get:
1+charisma/day Channel pool at your shaman level.
3+charisma/day Channel pool at your shaman level-3.

Take Quick Channel and Selective Channel early so you can heal and use a standard action (or another channel) in one round. Use the level-3 pool for your quick channels primarily.

Focus your daily spell selection on the damaging and summoning spells on your list. Here's your daily area healing output from channels alone:

Note: I am assuming all the witch doctor pool channels are used with quick channel.

Level 1: 4d6
Level 3: 8d6
Level 4: 12d6
Level 5: 16d6
Level 6: 20d6
Level 7: 24d6...

Without including headbands, the channeling phylactery item, etc.

If you're already taking feats early for channeling, you don't want the life spirit to be your wandering spirit--you'd have to keep it to make use of the feats, which would reduce your flexibility.

Grand Lodge

Ark, they need Int for Arcane Enlightenment. 13 should be a good place to start, if you think +2Wis->+2 Wis/+2Cha->+2 I/W/C headband is a likely progression.

I'll second Witch Doctor if you want to be channel-focused.


I must admit to the viewpoint that the wiz list flat out beats the shaman list.

Getting in on that good stuff is important enough that I'd sacrifice Con down to 10 to get int 12, and then increase it with a belt as you level up. That said, I think Arksangiel stat spread is good, except change up con or dex 12 for int 12.


Markov Spiked Chain wrote:

Ark, they need Int for Arcane Enlightenment. 13 should be a good place to start, if you think +2Wis->+2 Wis/+2Cha->+2 I/W/C headband is a likely progression.

I'll second Witch Doctor if you want to be channel-focused.

You can also just wandering hex it and use a headband to get the int you want.


Sure, but normally you'd like to get at your higher-level spells.

12 puts you in a good place, since you won't have to worry about boosting a stat that isn't your main one untill level 5 at the earliest. Come level 6 you can realistically afford to drop the requisite gp into int.

Grand Lodge

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*Any* real 9-level caster list, and most 6-level caster lists, beats out the raw Shaman list. :( Basic spells that almost everyone has like Summons, Ant Haul, Channel the Gift, Foo(Communal) and key spells for them to do their job (Remove Disease) are missing.

Without arcane enlightenment and the FCBs, the shaman spell list is extremely marginal. :(

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