Is a Shaman Game Breaking?

[RandomNigel]

So I found the Shaman class extremely interesting and began creating a character for my new campaign. What I found was that a level 1 Shaman would be able to cast level 5 spells. Is this right? From what I understand Shaman's don't have a spells known list, they are assumed to know all the spells from the Shaman spell list. From a Shaman's spells per day list, the Shaman can prepare 3 different orisons and 1 1st level spell each day at 1st level. With a Wisdom score of 20 his 5 modifier grants him 2 bonus spells of 1st level and 1 bonus spell from 2nd to 5th level. Pathfinder states that to prepare or cast a spell, a shaman must have a Wisdom score of 10 + spell level. Is this all correct? Is there something I'm missing?

[Jiggy]

RandomNigel wrote:

So I found the Shaman class extremely interesting and began creating a character for my new campaign. What I found was that a level 1 Shaman would be able to cast level 5 spells. Is this right? From what I understand Shaman's don't have a spells known list, they are assumed to know all the spells from the Shaman spell list. From a Shaman's spells per day list, the Shaman can prepare 3 different orisons and 1 1st level spell each day at 1st level. With a Wisdom score of 20 his 5 modifier grants him 2 bonus spells of 1st level and 1 bonus spell from 2nd to 5th level. Pathfinder states that to prepare or cast a spell, a shaman must have a Wisdom score of 10 + spell level. Is this all correct? Is there something I'm missing?

For starters, the bonus spells for a high casting stat has nothing to do with the Shaman. It's a universal rule for all spellcasters.

More to the point, the bonus spells granted by a high ability score only apply to spell levels you can already cast. So you get your extra 1st-level spells per day, but you don't get the others until you reach those spell levels.

[Axoren]

RandomNigel wrote:

So I found the Shaman class extremely interesting and began creating a character for my new campaign. What I found was that a level 1 Shaman would be able to cast level 5 spells. Is this right? From what I understand Shaman's don't have a spells known list, they are assumed to know all the spells from the Shaman spell list. From a Shaman's spells per day list, the Shaman can prepare 3 different orisons and 1 1st level spell each day at 1st level. With a Wisdom score of 20 his 5 modifier grants him 2 bonus spells of 1st level and 1 bonus spell from 2nd to 5th level. Pathfinder states that to prepare or cast a spell, a shaman must have a Wisdom score of 10 + spell level. Is this all correct? Is there something I'm missing?

Bonus spells only apply to spell levels that you can normally cast. Shaman is a full caster and will not gain Level 5 spell slots until 9th level Shaman. However, a +5 mod will still give them 2 bonus Level 1 spells per day, and when they level up to 3, it will give them 1 bonus Level 2 once they're able to cast them normally.

Sometimes, you'll see a spell-table listing 0 spells per day, this is for the sake of giving the caster the ability to cast spells of that level if they have bonus spells. (Paladin, example)

[RandomNigel]

okay. the part about preparing and casting spells based on your Wisdom score kind of confused me then. So regardless of my Wisdom score I can't cast 5th level spells until I obtain "slots" to which the "extra slots" can be added.

[TriOmegaZero]

Correct, as shown in the FAQ.