I'm having trouble finding what abilities Shamans lose in exchange for their archetype.
I know that the totemic summon switches for 1,000 faces and that the bonus feats replace venom immunity.
...but....that's not enough....They get a whole bunch of cool stuff, and sooner than the basic druid for two abilities that don't even matter until level 9? Am I missing something here? That seems strange that you can just get extra stuff for free up until level 9, and then it's a heck of a deal. explanations?
Not all archetypes are created equal, and not every ability needs to replace something.
Each shaman type gets something different. Most of them are worse off power wise.
Your are delayed entry with regards to what animals you can choose for 2 level expect for your specific totem.
With a regular druid you can get everything right then. Getting one animal ahead of time is not worth the loss of every other animal for two levels. No one animal is that good.
As far as the feats they are not that great if you intend to pair them up with the totem. If you could be a lion and get the grapple feats that would be good synergy. I would take a regular druid any day.
Yeah, for what you actually trade I would not say that the shaman archetypes are any more powerful than a standard druid.