| KaiBlob1 |
This is a project I've been working on on-and-off for months now, and I'm glad to have a somewhat-complete version I can release to the public. This is my original Shaman class, focusing on elementalism, totem carving, and connection to your ancestors. It is not a conversion of the 1e shaman class, which I only learned existed midway through creating this.
Please give me feedback, as well as any ideas you may have for further additions and improvements. This is by no means a finished product, and any critique or comments I get here are extremely valuable. I hope to play a shaman whenever I get to be a player again, hopefully for the magambya adventure path.
| shroudb |
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you give the single highest spell DCs and spell attack rolls (2 higher than even a specialist wizard and etc) alongside Msater weapon proficiency.
initial thoughts:
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scrap the +to DCs and spell attacks.
AND
limit weapon proficiency to Expert.
the class, in heart, is a full spellcaster with powerful support benefits, free focus powers, immunities, and extremely good alternate actions through unique familiar options.
It doesn't need to ALSO be a good martial and the best offensive spellcaster.
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Ancestral Favor:
1 action at will "true strike" for every single roll in the game without a cooldown or restriction? That's stronger than a lot of level 20 feats.
I'd put a "once per day" limitation.
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sigils:
i like the flavor, and from what i can tell they are 1-2/day abilities, although ex powerful at that.
there are a few things that simply do not make sense on some of them though like "light spells not negating shadow totem" that flies directly opposite on the spirit of the rules of how counteracting works. A light spell of higher level should negate a low level totem imo, and etc.
also, negative effects should have saving throws on them, or else you have stuff like being able to practically lock down even boss encoutners without saves with stuff like slow+sickeneed+automatic damage+etc
| voideternal |
I found totems / sigils to be quite confusing.
When you place a totem, which square is it in? The shaman's square, or an adjacent square?
Do totems take up space?
How hard is it to destroy a totem? What is its HP / Hardness / AC / Saves?
After you place a totem, can you pull it out and re-use it? What's the action cost to do so, if you can?
Is it obvious to your enemies that a totem is granting effects? (Sigil of Stone gives A LOT of AC)
What sigils do you have access to? Do all Shamans know all sigils automatically? Can an Air Shaman use Sigil of Stone?
The individual sigils' power levels seem kind of all over the place ranging from too good (stone, greater snail) to too bad (most ultimate sigils) and some are also confusing (If a creature strides through the AoE of a totem with the Winds sigil, what's their final distance travelled?)
| KaiBlob1 |
scrap the +to DCs and spell attacks.
You're probably right, on considering it more, that its a bit too powerful, but i want to keep the flavor, so I've changed it from +2 to a +1.
AND
limit weapon proficiency to Expert.
Yeah this is a good point. Class is already pretty strong, doesn't need the master proficiency, although I'll leave the crit specs.
Ancestral Favor:
1 action at will "true strike" for every single roll in the game without a cooldown or restriction? That's stronger than a lot of level 20 feats.I'd put a "once per day" limitation.
Another good point, although it is worse than you say because you have to use it before rolling so you don't know if it will even be helpful or not. I put a thrice-a-day restriction on it, and I think that makes it fair enough.
sigils:
i like the flavor, and from what i can tell they are 1-2/day abilities, although ex powerful at that.
there are a few things that simply do not make sense on some of them though like "light spells not negating shadow totem" that flies directly opposite on the spirit of the rules of how counteracting works. A light spell of higher level should negate a low level totem imo, and etc.
I looked over the sigil of shadows and changed some of the wording so it should be more clear. That was originally the intention for how it should work but when I looked at it I realized it was written unclearly. IF you have any other examples of things that don't work well please let me know.
also, negative effects should have saving throws on them, or else you have stuff like being able to practically lock down even boss encounters without saves with stuff like slow+sickeneed+automatic damage+etc
This is a very good point. I will go through everything later to make sure most things have saving throws have saving throws on them.
Thank you for looking at it and for your feedback.
| KaiBlob1 |
I found totems / sigils to be quite confusing.
When you place a totem, which square is it in? The shaman's square, or an adjacent square?
Do totems take up space?
How hard is it to destroy a totem? What is its HP / Hardness / AC / Saves?
After you place a totem, can you pull it out and re-use it? What's the action cost to do so, if you can?
These are good points, that I guess I had answered in my head but never wrote down in the actual document. I've added information in the Totemism class feature answering all of these questions.
Is it obvious to your enemies that a totem is granting effects? (Sigil of Stone gives A LOT of AC)
I would assume that enemies could probably roll a recall knowledge check (Crafting) to figure out what was going on with the totem.
What sigils do you have access to? Do all Shamans know all sigils automatically? Can an Air Shaman use Sigil of Stone?
As of right now all shamans have access to all sigils, although I suppose I might change that in the future.
The individual sigils' power levels seem kind of all over the place ranging from too good (stone, greater snail) to too bad (most ultimate sigils) and some are also confusing (If a creature strides through the AoE of a totem with the Winds sigil, what's their final distance travelled?)
This is a larger issue that stems from my varying levels of understanding of balance throughout making this, and I'll have to go through each thing and try to balance it a little bit. That'll take more time than I have right now though, so it'll have to wait until later.
Thank you for looking over my thing, and giving me some feedback. its very much appreciated. If you have anything else to say about it please don't hesitate to let me know.