Shaman spell list

[born_of_fire]

Is it just me or is the shaman spell list incredibly lacklustre? I've played around with the class for a quite a while now and, while I appreciate the value of versatility, I'm having a hard time truly realizing their power. It always seems to boil down to their underwhelming spell selection. What good is it to have a plethora of crap choices?

The character I'm working on is a backup-backup-backup that will be level 10-12 and a 15pt buy goblin for our absolutely brutal Slumbering Tsar campaign. With that in mind, what gems are there at these spells levels in your opinion? Please help me to see what I can't seem to suss out on my own.

I do have a preliminary build if necessary but I'd be happy with just a better appreciation of the shaman spell list in general rather than specific advice on a specific build if possible. Thanks!

[nicholas storm]

You pretty much want to be human or half human to be able to grab cleric spells to your list.

[Gallant Armor]

Go for the FCB that lets you get a cleric spell each level and pick up Arcane Enlightenment through the Lore spirit and you have access to a lot of spells to fill in any weak spots.

[Paradozen]

Here are some of my favorite spells for my Undine Waves Shaman

1st:

Produce Flame
Hydraulic Push
Entangle
Stone Shield
Obscuring Mist
Protection from evil [or other alignment]
Bless
Goodberry

2nd:

Barkskin
Burning Gaze (shared with spirit animal)
False Life
Flame Blade (or Gozreh's Trident I suppose)
Hold Person
Lesser Restoration
Spiritual Weapon (admittedly, I took a feat to improve this)
Warp Wood

3rd:

Bestow Curse
Blindness/Deafness
Call Lightning
Daylight
Magic Vestments
Magic Circle against Evil (or other alignment)
Dispel Magic
Sleet Storm
Stinking Cloud

4th:

Ball Lightning
Spirit-Bound Blade
Poison
Greater False Life
Fear
Slowing Mud
Solid Fog
Spike Stones
Spit Venom

5th:

Animal Growth (if party has animal companion)
Baleful Polymorph
Wall of Fire
Breath of Life
Call Lightning Storm
Major Curse
Flame Strike
Overland Flight
Stoneskin
True Seeing

6th level:

Cone of Cold
Fire Seeds
Flesh to Stone
Wall of Stone
Primal Regression (target enemy casters)
Slay Living

A few disclaimers though, I get more use out of fire spells through a combo of Steam Caster and Crashing Waves, I play with a group that values unoptimized blasting, I tend to conserve spells favoring ones that can be used over a long time period, I haven't actually tried 5th and 6th level spells with my shaman yet (those just seem like the best picks) and I carry a masterwork shield that I use only on days I prep magic vestments and decide to try some touch spells. Also, all of the condition removal spells are awesome, but I don't use them a lot (good saves and good luck mean less permanent effects to remove).

Arcane Enlightenment and a good FCB can definitely help, but I haven't strictly needed them so far (only just hit level 8). Definitely use the former to get more buffs or blasts sometimes, but the shaman list is decent enough (and it can be a fun challenge to use wandering hex elsewhere).

[Paradozen]

Another note, I usually don't use my spirit animal in combat unless I already have False Life (sometimes greater), Barkskin, and Magic Vestments on it. The last one there works only because its small sized and I bought it some custom made clothes. I'd advise the same if your GM ever bothers attacking familiars. Mine does if it becomes a legitimate target (we're fighting predators or a shared burning gaze becomes substantial).

[avr]

Shamans have a bunch of ways to expand their spell list; spirit magic (including wandering spirit), the arcane enlightenment hex (noting that the sorc/wiz list is usually considered the best around), and the favored class benefits mentioned. The basic spell list may not be amazing, but if you stop there you're not taking full advantage.

[Grandlounge]

Not the best spell list but lots to work with. This is not comprehensive. Many of the spells were covered by Paradozen.

Burning Hands - swarms
Cheetah’s Sprint - Jump super high
Chill Touch - undead
Comp Lang
Cure Spells - for wands and scrolls
Dancing Darkness - decent control in the right light
Darting Duplicate - defense is good for casters
Endure Elements - wand
Entangle - right place best control at this level
Frostbite - Huge damage boost right build can be rimed
Heightened Awareness - wand
Monkey Fish
Obscuring Mist - deals with tones of problems
Produce Flame - low level damage
Protect alignment
Remove spells
Shadow Trap - decent control

Level 2

Bone Fist - if there are animal companions around
Calm emotions - it's a peace fireball the suppresses some fun stuff
Delay spells
Fog cloud
Resist Energy
Sickening Entanglement
Vine strike
Summon Swarm

Level 3

Bestow Curse
Blindness/Deafness
Daylight scroll
Fly
Magic Circle
Nauseating trail - great with high move speed familiar
Protection from Energy
Sleet Storm
Stinking Cloud
Windwall
Flesh Puppet Horde

level 3+ summon NA

Level 4

Restoration
Scrying
Sending slowing mud
Spike Stones
Solid fog
Divine Power

Level 5

Break Enchantment
Breath of Life
Charm Person, Mass
Control Winds
Dominate Person
Flame Strike
Hunter’s Blessing
Overland flight
Wall of Thorns!

Level 6

Anti life shell
Awaken
Dispel greater
Fire Seeds
Flesh to Stone
Planar ally
Raise dead

Etc

[Blueskier]

Don't forget that gripplis have a similar FCB, but with druid spells.

I'm playing a shaman right now, and the best offensive options, in my opinion, are the entangle variants, especially burning entanglement, bestow curse,, stinking cloud and divine favor/power if you got the build for it

[Melkiador]

Shaman do have most of the status removal spells, which is what you usually want out of your prepared divine caster.

[doc roc]

IMO... the Shaman list is too good!

The Shaman has more tricks and abilities that any other caster. Having the weakest spell list makes sense. But even with this there are several spells that I dont think it should get.