Guide Information - The Intent
The guide is intended to be the only way to play the Shaman class found on TDN, as its lore and mechanics are firmly woven together. Speaking of the Shaman itself, it is a notably odd soul among the dedicated spellcasting archetypes, one not quite like Druids and Clerics, but comfortably capable of performing well with even limited effort. Its real novelties come in its actual class features, namely its thematic focus on spirits, and general spellcasting flexibility, making it more dynamic than some of its competition. Such dynamism creates added complexity and some measure of weakness, as it is undeniably a niche base class.
But one might reasonably ask why to ever play a Shaman over its closest relative, the Druid, and the answer is that the Shaman is a spellcaster first and foremost and with the secondary role of taming and dealing with spirits - a term that is both very vague and very specific at times. It relies upon its spellcasting flexibility, yet in the end it still pales in comparison to the Druid in martial power because it lacks both an Animal Companion and Wild Shape, leaving it primarily with spellcasting.
The Shaman is an animist, even totemic, and outright shamanic class in name that views the world as full of various kind of spirits, some good, some bad, and many indifferent. Shamans are tied to nature on a personal level and their experiences are notably introverted; they are the priests of the wild world and much like Clerics, commune more directly with it on a personal level, bargaining for their power. Unlike Clerics, Shamans are not so much religious as they are spiritual; they live their beliefs and do not carry out the same rigorous rituals or practices for the sake of consistency or tradition or fellowship, let alone to appease deities or godly powers. Instead, to quote the Complete Divine section on the matter, "The typical Shaman, like a Druid, pursues a mystic spirituality of transcendent union with nature rather than devoting herself to a divine entity."
As such, if you are looking for a "soul of the wild" type character who focuses on the magic of nature, the Shaman embodies it in totality. Spells and mysticism are their forte and they see it almost everywhere, be they a tribal from the depths of the steamy jungle who exalts the jaguar spirit to the wayward priest alone in the wilderness who learns from every lake and every forest.
Introduction - Animism, Shamanism, and Totemism
Overview
Shamans are an optional class provided with the Complete Divine supplement book, one that takes a role between Cleric and Druid, in part dealing with matters found in both. While described very little, they are defined by what they have access to rather than what they are in themselves. Their archetype is based upon the fundamentals of sages, guides, seers, holy men, and priests as known in "primitive" societies rather than more "civilised" European style fantasy. They consort with the spirits of nature, living and dead, to gain knowledge and power.
Because the name "shaman" is so broad, it is best to understand the Shaman as a class representing any form of animist, totemist, or shamanic practice, who uses meditation, trances, and often altered states of consciousness to reach out into the "other", the "spirit world", and commune for the purposes of divination to healing. There they channel, speak to, do battle with, and align for or against beings of spiritual existence, creating agreements and concessions. For Shamans, the world around them is alive; lakes, hills, mountains, forests, all may have embodiments of some power, many ruled over by a pervasive existence that inhabits them all, though there are many categories of entity from the most mundane to the tremendously grand. Regardless, they consort with a number of them and even have their own personal guide to lead them through the world beyond the flesh.
Whereas some archetypes enslave or manipulate these forces, the living and dead alike, Shamans are considered aspects and adherents to nature; they do not regularly command an earthquake so much as they ask of the earth to tremble and it answers their call. This is largely governed by alignment, but as their design and theme goes, Shamans are agents of nature and not so much manipulators of it. However, as Shamans can be any alignment, this can vary wildly for better or worse.
Continued, in the context of the game, the Shaman sees both worlds at once to an extent, the Material Plane and that of the Astral and Ethereal Planes, and gains their spells through interacting with them and those forces of supernature, of which are almost exclusively up to the PC or the DMs of TDN where applicable. So little is understood or known about the Shaman class in this regard that it becomes potentially worrisome territory, for the exact text described below from the Complete Divine;
"When a Shaman meditates to regain her daily allotment of spells (see below), she sends forth her spirit guide to bargain with the spirits and retrieve knowledge of the specific druid spells she will be able to use that day."
While it affords great, thematic, flavourful roleplaying opportunity between the Shaman, their spirit guide, and the spirits they consort with, it unfortunately is not as clear cut or direct as other classes who simply are granted their powers outright. Realistically, they might only be able to bargain with certain spirits for certain spells and might even fail to convince them! Or, contrarily, the guide knows the way and means to do so without much interference. Both understandings are not foreign to the matters of the underlying themes described above, some souls being troublesome and difficult to work with but others open and freely giving, but be aware, very aware, that a Shaman is more vulnerable in this regard than many others if a Dungeon Master is the sort who does note and care about such details.
Continued, as a personal recommendation I stand by the belief that the Shaman's guide is fully capable of navigating the perils of the spirit world and acting on behalf of the Shaman to ensure success as there are no outlined rules for failure or consequence, as noted above, only those implied by the word choice of "bargain". There are no stated rules basis for any other understanding and as such, mechanically speaking, there exists no specific chance for failure that a Shaman should fret over, though you are welcome to RP out consequences and failures of bargains and pacts.
Animism
A Shaman who delves lightly into animism is of the belief that spirits inhabit many aspects of nature, such as a dead marshland, an enduring mountain, or a thriving lake. A majestic spring could exist that a Shaman can't connect with because it lacks an elemental or the elemental is tainted. This means that there could be any number of tainted or lost elementals in the world that need to be healed or replaced. The average, ordinary practitioner of animism finds no spirits beyond these extensions of nature (apart from the spirits of the dead), believing that spirits only manifest and come into existence in the Material Plane when they have a domain of some sort to claim.
Extreme forms of animism however do exist, in which a Shaman believes that all things, inanimate objects (swords, stones, villages, art, etc.) and nature alike, possess spirits. These particular individuals are always delusional and crazy to some extent as they are simply wrong, their onset of insanity most often spurred on by events of The Longest Year through corrupted spirits or personal mental trauma, yet the likelihood of eventually finding an actual spirit to bargain and deal with lends them a semblance of credence in many societies. Both spectrums of animism see the world around them as living and breathing, alive even if the beings inhabiting them are dead, and that the loss of life and transition into death is simply another side of the same coin; that the worlds of the physical and metaphysical overlap with no hard and fast lines dividing them.
So pervasive is this understanding that animism Shamans might not readily understand the perceptions of life and death by others, let alone anyone who does not see them as part of some greater operative cycle, similar or identical to the Druidic wheel of life, death, and rebirth. Rather what matters more to this manner of Shaman is what the spirit's intent is. Is it a giver of great boons and worthy of fear and respect? Is it a mundane, unassuming, simple thing that can be easily befriended or encouraged to act? Is it a malevolent or perhaps corrupted entity which cannot be persuaded, moved, or changed and must be chastised or cast out?
Whether on the ordinary or extreme side of animism, a Shaman with a special emphasis on animism would reasonably favour spells with the Air, Earth, Fire, and Water descriptors, as well as magic that affects animals or plants.
Shamanism
It is said of the practice of shamanism that it is a technique of "religious ecstasy", one steeped in walking between worlds, dimensions, planes, and entering into the politics of supernatural affairs to stabilize the mundane, material world. For a Shaman who focuses upon the shamanic element, they are the diplomats and "goers between" of the physical and metaphysical existences, often to persuade and represent the mortal, living world and convey the messages of the spirits back to the people they watch over. Many ills or failings are viewed as a terrible imbalance caused by one over the other and that a great order must be established between them, that balance is maintained.
For many deeply shamanic practices, the requirement of a spirit journey, often to the brink of death, is expected or even normal. It arises from a need to bond with and understand the realm of the spirit rather than that of the material and that to be a healer of their people, they too must know illness - even if it is mortal, supernatural illness. This process is often a crisis of some sort the Shaman has faced, often at the behest or guidance of their mentor or for others, at the command of a powerful spirit who tells them what must be done in order for them to come to fruition in their power.
Unlike other incarnations of Shaman, a shamanic soul is more a diplomat and representative to their people. A heavy emphasis on the Diplomacy skill and Charisma would not be out of character for them, neither would attempts to find alternatives to outright conflict. However, that is not to say if roused such a Shaman would lack great power, rather that they just prefer to be a mediator, which can prove difficult with the Druid's spell list. Good aligned spells might be more common than expected, too, especially where the idea of appeals to peace are concerned.
Totemism
Whereas other Shamans are likely to arise from animism or traditionally shamanic practices, some learn their ways through adherence to totems. These totem need not always be a physical object or fixture, at times they are spirits that are symbolised by such things, but the majority are broad symbols of sacred ideals or figures of power. In some ways totems can be understood as shrines which grant access to the divine and spiritual, while in other ways they are merely the spirit guide itself who manifests in various metaphorical signposts to lead the Shaman along.
Such totemic souls follow guardian spirits, some of whom are the protectors of peoples, places, nations, lineages and many others, while others are far more esoteric and specific to the point that they never reveal themselves. Many choose their followers purposefully and with the expressed purpose of advocating their own ideals and goals, similar to a deity. For a Shaman, being cast into the world as a ward of a powerful spirit and doer of their deeds could be anything from a liberating to terrifying in experience depending on their patron and how that guide manifests to them.
Shamans of this archetype are very likely to choose more narrow, specific options for their path that represent a theme and ideal than others. They might practice personal taboos about what magic they will cast or limit themselves to only certain spells and styles of combat to appease their totemic spirit guide but obviously vary greatly from one to another; a Shaman who is guided by the elk spirit might choose magic that focuses on mobility, Charisma, and enchantment, while one who follows the wolf might be a conjurer that only calls upon canines and sports a knack for imparting beneficial spells to allies.
Races - People of Spirit
There are a great number of races that can perform well as a Shaman, with the largest determining factor among them being the specific type of Shaman they play well to. It should be obvious that a race which provides a bonus to Wisdom rather than Charisma more heavily favours a Shaman who relies on their spellcasting and the difficulty of saving throws for their magic, while one that grants a bonus to Charisma boosts the rest of the Shaman's kit. No matter the exact choice, some races are superior in certain aspects to others in the context of the Shaman.
It needs be noted that there is no intent for this guide to be all inclusive with regards to race and it will be biased most in favour of those races both optimal and flavourful. Any regular, familiar optimizer can easily springboard well beyond these suggestions and choose a selected, groomed race for the Shaman that provides the exact qualities they wish and with the absolute best set of ability scores; most aspiring readers are not such people and are only looking for guidance or suggestion.
Conventional Races
The conventional races are those that are common fare in the Lands of Intrigue, your Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, among others and are not too obscure. At most appearing in a specific country or kingdom, but being otherwise conventional and welcome to most civilisation. They are iconic and typical of the genre and should raise minimal issue with most settlements and people, being only derivatives of typical races at absolute most.
Wild Elves
The Wild Elves, perhaps of any other elf subrace, have the most reason to become Shamans for they live in the most primal of allegiances to nature and are for most intents and purposes, animals among elvenkind, wearing furs, skins, and plant material while living in tribes. They are born hunters and gatherers who seek to be one with their wild origin and have eschewed the frailty and weakness of other elves. They are a common enough race as PCs, in terms of core material to the game as well as in the context of the Lands of Intrigue (as the Suldusk tribe exists in our setting), and are thus one of the best elven candidates and mentioned solely for that reason alongside their flavour and theme. If one must be an Elf and a Shaman, there are no better choices.
Wood Elves
Wood Elves are the second best choice for a Shaman as they have a long standing history of being one with the natural world. Though they tend to favour peace in comparison to Wild Elves and are generally on average more amicable to outsiders, they are still devout, proper guardians and tenders of nature. Additionally, in the context of TDN's setting, a tribe of Wood Elves (The Elmanesse) lives in the Wealdath, and thus they're likely to be PCs. Overall, Wood Elves are an excellent choice for the Shaman.
Half Orc
A people of grit, it is little surprise a Shaman might arise among their people to guide and direct them, born of the mysteries of the forest or the desert and its many hallucinations and trickery. Being able to see beyond just the physical might be the difference between life and death for a tribe and no other Half Orc line has anywhere near the same potential for this. As with the other more traditional races, the Half Orc has every reason to be a Shaman and ally to nature and its spirits, but mechanically they make for such poor choices the sole reason to do so is for flavour.
Strongheart Halfling
Between being smallfolk and gaining a plethora of benefits from this, in addition to some added ones native to Halflings, they make for exceptional Shamans, particularly in that they are of a warrior bent and are swift to defend their homeland against threats others of their kind would rather flee.
Human
There is very, very little the Human does poorly in terms of class. Their added skill point can easily offset low Intelligence and the bonus feat allows them earlier, if not just smoother, access into various prestige classes or feat combinations. It should go without saying too that many Human societies are still "primitive" in some regard and consort with magic on a less pantheistic or deific scale, making consorting with spirits and nature quite regular fare among their tribes. If all else fails, the default Shaman is most likely a human.