How to: Shaman Abilities

How to: Shaman Abilities

Remember the shaman class from D&D 3.0? No, I'm not talking about the spirit shaman or the dragon shaman, but about the regular shaman from Oriental Adventures. This is actually a very powerful class in terms of versatility, but in my GURPS games it works a bit differently.

    Shamanic Spellcasting

- Use Druidic Magic as the system.

- Remove the Limited Scope, Druidic, -10% limitation. The shaman’s magical scope covers not only the traditional druidic spells, but also spells that deal with spirits (for example, Sense Spirit, Bind Spirit, etc.) This expands the scope enough to justify the removal of the limitation.

- Apply the Pact, -10% limitation to the Sorcerous Empowerment advantage, to spells, but not to advantages granted by Buff spells. This limitation requires you to take a -10-point disadvantage that will represent your reverence of the spirits. This might be a major Vow, Disciplines of Faith, or Code of Honor. Should you transgress, your powers will be instantly revoked, but you can get them back by completing a minor quest.

- When rolling a critical failure on a casting roll, use the Spirit-Oriented Magic Table (GURPS Thaumatology, p. 260).

- Weak Latency (Spirit) perk exists, and spirit spellcasters are able to combine their powers as per Combining Powers (GURPS Powers, pp. 170-172). Spirit spellcasters require a full minute of ritual movements and concentration to link up, but they get to roll against the higher of IQ and Religious Ritual (Spirit) to do so.

- Spirit spells are identified with Religious Ritual (Spirit).

    Animal Companion

    See the druid post.

    Turn/Rebuke Undead

    This can be represented with the Turn Zombie spell that should be part of the spirit "pseudo-college" that is available to the shamans.

    Spirit Sight [14]

    A shaman can see ethereal creatures (including spirits) as easily as he sees material creatures and objects. The shaman can easily distinguish between ethereal creatures and material ones, because ethereal creatures appear translucent and indistinct.

    Statistics: See Invisible (Ethereal; Magical, -10%) [14]. Alternatively, this could be turned into a spell.