Is it me, or is Shaman the best class in the game?

[PossibleCabbage]

I mean, like a Brawler/Medium Gestalt has all good saves, full BAB, and considerable utility... but probably isn't as good as a CRB wizard.

[Joynt Jezebel]

Mark Seifter wrote:

Some of the utility spells I've needed, a witch couldn't provide (witch is a good choice too though!). And the one witch hex combined with overlap hexes generally give pretty good hex support.

I have not played a shaman but I can well see that being true.

I can't recall anyone else posting about how great it is that hexes don't run out, but I can't be the only person who has noticed. I think this is an under appreciated strength of the witch and shaman classes.

And I suspect witches and shamans are the best choices in a party that only has one caster.

[Cavall]

Ironically in the section you cut out someone was in fact talking about hexes extending casting abilities.

I'd also put Skald up there for one caster only, personally. I ran skull and shackles and all they had was a skald and bard and they were amazing

[ShroudedInLight]

PossibleCabbage wrote:

I mean, like a Brawler/Medium Gestalt has all good saves, full BAB, and considerable utility... but probably isn't as good as a CRB wizard.

Which is why you take a 9th level caster and combine it with another class to fill out their weaknesses. For instance, Druid/Unchained Monk is hilariously deadly. The hard part is finding a class that pairs up in a meaningful way with Wizard. Not because Wizard is hard to match with someone, but because Wizard is so good most other choices only add a small amount of utlity/power. For instance, Magus/Wizard only really gets to Spell Combat with higher leveled Wizard spells. Witch/Wizard or Mesmerist/Wizard gets to use their stare/hexes to debuff the enemy before they cast their traditional spells. Etc

[Joynt Jezebel]

Cavall wrote:

Ironically in the section you cut out someone was in fact talking about hexes extending casting abilities.

Maybe. Here is the full relevant bit.

Mark Seifter wrote:

Some of the utility spells I've needed, a witch couldn't provide (witch is a good choice too though!). And the one witch hex combined with overlap hexes generally give pretty good hex support.

Mark is agreeing with my earlier post. I am not 100% sure when Mark refers to "hex support" in the second sentence he means "hex support taking a load off his characters spells" or "hex support for other party members". And I don't feel like getting into an argument over it.

If Mark is explicitly agreeing with me or no, I still think witches are somewhat under-estimated as a class and the "stamina" hexes give them is much of the source of their power.

[Joynt Jezebel]

ShroudedInLight wrote:

PossibleCabbage wrote:

I mean, like a Brawler/Medium Gestalt has all good saves, full BAB, and considerable utility... but probably isn't as good as a CRB wizard.

Which is why you take a 9th level caster and combine it with another class to fill out their weaknesses. For instance, Druid/Unchained Monk is hilariously deadly. The hard part is finding a class that pairs up in a meaningful way with Wizard. Not because Wizard is hard to match with someone, but because Wizard is so good most other choices only add a small amount of utlity/power. For instance, Magus/Wizard only really gets to Spell Combat with higher leveled Wizard spells. Witch/Wizard or Mesmerist/Wizard gets to use their stare/hexes to debuff the enemy before they cast their traditional spells. Etc

That is all very true at level 15 or something similar.

If you are starting at level 1 then it is really easy to come up with something a wizard needs, most classes will improve their HPs for a start. And more spells or something similar is going to help vastly at low levels.

Anything that makes them more durable if forced into melee is good. Summoner Wizard is great, gives you more HPs and spells and good action economy.

[Stephen Ede]

I played a Gripli Shaman Air Spirit with a 2 level dip into Monk.
We were playing with a house rule no spells above lev 4 (but you still had the spell levels).
I had lots of fun as a Melee Flame Blade Fighter with the best AC in the party due to Monk Wisdom and Air Spirit Air Barrier AC and high Dex.

I was also the spell tool box for the party. It was "give me a day and I'll dial up what you want" between Hexes, a few Cleric spells I had added to my list as favoured class bonus, and Arcane Enlightenment - as a Wandering Hex you rechoose your spells every time you take it, I could provide whatever they needed.
The main problem for the Party was my attitude "I'm a fighter, don't look to me for in battle magical support". :D

By the end of the campaign, thanks to taking a partial template and putting my dump stat into Str, I was down to 3 Str. :-)
He normally only wore a breechclout to avoid encumberance.

[HeHateMe]

I admit I'm not particularly familiar with the Shaman class. Are there any good summoning-focused archetypes/spirits/builds out there?

[Grandlounge]

There are a lot of good shaman builds out there.

Basic melee would be a reach cleric style but gaining the benefits of much better control spells on the list. This can be enhanced with speaker for the dead to get access to revelations. Divine power, summon nature's ally, entangle, enlarge person, bane are a very strong combination.

You can also go hex strike, enforcer, cruel, evil eye soothsayer for crazy debuffing action economy.

Casters work well even without arcane enlightenment. The spell list is narrow but you can find a save or suck against each save, a good control spell, and some good buffs at each level. When mixed with hexes this enough to be a powerful caster. Rarely needing to cast spells means having them wen you really need them while still getting to perform actions every round.

[Jeffrey Swank]

Hmm, this gives me pause...I might actually play one in the next campaign. :P