pintocat's page

So because I can't let something go :) For the purposes of Fluid Magic.

I made a database of all spells, with categorization of class (and what level they get it) as well as spirit, if the spirit gets it.

From my database:
Shaman Spell List has 564 spells
Spirit Spell List has 118 spells

For the purposes of Fluid Magic (allowing Spirit spells to be prepared, not just spontaneously cast)
62 spirit spells are not in the shaman spell list

For purposes of Arcane Enlightenment
Wizard Spell List has 1413 spells not on either Shaman list or Spirit list (Arcane Enlightenment), 993 Wizard spells not on either Shaman list, spirit list, or Cleric list.

For purpose of racial cleric selection choices from human/half-elf/half-orc
Cleric Spell List has 693 spells not on either Shaman list or Spirit list (removing level 9 Cleric spells, since the racial requires the selected spell to be 1 level lower than your caster level). 700 Cleric spells that are not on Shaman list (not accounting for Spirit list), 292 Cleric spells not on Shaman, Spirit, or Wizard lists.

Working in various combinations of Cleric (from human/half-orc/half-elf), and Wizard (from Arcane Enlightenment), a Shaman conceivably has a choice of 2331 spells, out of 2968 total spells in game.

edit: just to throw in hex numbers:
A shaman, between non-major/grand witch hexes, shaman hexes, and spirit hexes, has 107 hex options.

I need some help understanding how a Shaman works. There seems to be a lot of overlap...

So at level 1, you get access to the shaman spell list, using ordinary prepared spell slots. " A shaman can prepare and cast any spell on the shaman spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level". Ok.

Also at level 1, you get to pick a spirit, which includes "She adds the spells granted by that spirit to the list of spells that she can cast using spirit magic."

Spirit Magic is a separate section (and presumably a separate spell list than the main Shaman spell list?), which says "A shaman can spontaneously cast a limited number of spells per day beyond those she prepared ahead of time. She has one spell slot per day of each shaman spell level she can cast, not including orisons. She can choose these spells from the list of spells granted by her spirits"

So you can prepare anything in the normal shaman spell list, and you can spontaneously cast one slot per level of spirit-granted spells.

But the wording seems ambiguous on this, partly because as I look through the spirit-granted spells, for example the Battle spirit, spirit magic spells includes "fog cloud" at 2nd level. This spell also appears in the shaman spell list at the bottom of the page. But battle spirit "enlarge person" is not in the shaman spell list.

Which makes me think that, it means any shaman can cast the spell, but the battle shaman can cast that spell spontaneously too in the spirit magic slots.

But then, there's a hex in the Waves spirit which seems to contradict that: "Fluid Magic (Su): The shaman's magic is not constrained by the reservoirs of magic that hold others back. She is able to prepare her spirit magic spells in her regular spell slots." This makes me think that spirit-granted spells are not in fact part of the base shaman spell list? Or is this saying that all of the normally prepared spell slots of the class become spontaneous?

So I guess to boil this down:
1) Why are some (battle spirit fog cloud) but not all (battle spirit enlarge person) in the main shaman spell list?
2) What qualifies as a spontaneous spell? It seems strange that there are some spells that can be both spontaneous and prepared, and others seem to only be spontaneous through the spirit.
3) What the heck does the Fluid Magic actually do?

Can someone explain all the prepared/spontaneous/shaman list/spirit list/fluid magic stuff to me?

Edit: While I'm at it, the spells from Arcane Enlightenment, do these count as the Spirit granted spell list, or the shaman spell list?

(info from :
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedClassGuide/classes/shaman.html )