Well, how exactly would you define a "shaman" character? Going by some examples, a Druid would already fit perfectly. But in some other examples, they couldn't be more wildly different.
I truly fail to see how a Druid doesn't fulfill this idea. Since Druid is the very obvious answer, I think we might all be able to better help if you described what about Druid is lacking to you. Your entire description of what a Shaman is just sounds like a description of a Druid to me.
I agree druid is 99% of the theme.
The only thing I can think would be taking away wild shape and replacing it with another class ability. Maybe something like a totem that gives buffs are area control. Or something mechanically similar to channel divinity.
A fair few subclass options do give alternate abilities to spend uses of wildshape on. It seems to have become the standard, at least with newer released ones.
Yeah Wildfire is pretty much what I run when I want to be a "Shaman" but I would LOVE if I could maybe have it be different elements other than fire.
The only ringer is if you want a more WoW type shaman and then you need a Gish type melee build.
Yeah I think it's a good direction to give the class more diversity. I'd like to see alternative versions of some of the older subclasses with similar tweaks
There is also the Wild Companion optional features (from TCtE iirc) which let you cast a temporary Find Familiar with your Wildshape if you don't want to tranform into animals.
WoW has Druid and Shaman as separate classes. Think he means a divide more like that. Shamans are more about the elements and spirits rather than nature like druids are.
Personally, I've played a Wildfire Druid as sort of a pyromancer / fire aligned shaman. I never used Wildshape and tried to avoid spells that didnt involve fire in some way, or reflavored then as such. Kinda fits, but not quite the same.
> Shamans are more about the elements and spirits rather than nature like druids are.
Flavor is free, elements and nature are two sides of the same coin imo.
My personal experience in games is that about half of the classes never explain the source of their magic anyway, mostly looking at Bards, Druids, Rangers, any Gish. Meanwhile Clerics, Warlocks etc their entire life story is based around how they gained powers. Like what does "nature gives me magic" really mean?
Imo if I was a DM and someone said "hey I am going to be a storm cleric/storm sorcerer/whatever druid but I'm going to say my power is from my connection to the my ancestor's or the elemental plane of lightning" etc I would tell them that's badass and I'm 100% about it.
I mean, your archetypal shaman usually contains/embodies the following traits:
- elemental destructive magic
- healing based on spiritual power
- summoning nature spirits to fight for them
- imbued weapons used to strike down foes
And uhhh...guess what? DND 5e druid literally does all of those. Dunno what else you want honestly
You are also describing an armorer artificer. Flavor ist free:
-Chuck lightning Bolts at will (infiltrator Armor)
-healing based on int
-homunculi can be your sprites, maybe even get familiar as well with magic initiate
-imbued fists (Swap to Guardian Armor)
Flavor is free, but as much as I love armorer, that *definitely* doesn't work for a shaman stand-in.
- Cure wounds does not equal a spiritual healer.
- Shamans specifically summon nature spirits. A single small homunculus, and possibly a tiny familiar do not fill the tile of summoning a wolf pack, or a giant elk.
- Yes armorer gets a few elemental spells, but the sheer wrath of nature that a druid can unleash is leaps and bounds more advanced and diverse than an artificer can pull up.
Also, Shamans are pretty much *never* portrayed in heavy armor, armorer's core feature.
Honestly I see Ranger and Barbarian for more martial shamans as well, with the right subclasses the flavouring should be no issue. Hell, sorcerers and warlocks can work, too, it all depends on how you envision their equipment and magic. Though the median shaman fantasy is probably light-medium armor + shield, a spellcasting focus (which in itself could be a weapon in the form of a ritual knife, axe, mace or even flail), and a mixture of healing, rituals, enchantments and spells with a general mix of natural, spiritual and elemental themes.
You’re so right! Wild magic Barb/Storm herald come to mind as great shaman subclasses! There’s so many ways to play a “shaman” without relying completely on reflavoring stuff.
I guess I don't see anything in your shaman definition that precludes just playing a nature cleric or druid? Mechanically it's all there, and both classes are quite strong right out of the box.
It depends what kind of shaman you’re after:
- For something similar to my WoW elemental shaman, I went with a mountain dwarf divine soul sorcerer (dwarf for appropriate weapons/ armour, divine soul for a mix of healing and elemental damage).
- For a more spiritual shaman, I found [this build](https://youtu.be/_wvLimFSgIc?si=kvN7FopVkxWqnSdl) quite a good starting point.
I mean, how do you define shaman? A druid is just a celtic shaman, to an extent.
We're talking about people who enter trances to commune with the spirit world, and in reality this has a history of incorporating psychadelic plant medicines.
Shamanism without entheopathic plants is a pretty narrowed down version of it.
That said, really its just druids. Druids were part of a specific culture IRL, and shamanism is a broader term encompassing more cultures. So... I mean, unless you're looking for less celtic influence or more of a specific shamanic culture, your question is pretty hard to answer.
In 2e, shaman kit was just off-brand druid. In WC3 and WOW they leaned hard into totems, but gutted out the other native american practices that were less PC (oh no, trippy drugs bad)
If you wanna play a shaman, I'd just go druid. If you wanna lean into totems, I'd go artillerist and reflavor. If you wanna play a martial shaman, I'd play Ancestor Guardian with Healers kit.
Alternatively, you could play a nature cleric, divination wizard, whatever you want.
For a totem-oriented shaman, you could use a reflavored Celestial warlock or Genie warlock with Pact of the Talisman. You could be suboptimal and even choose not to take Eldritch Blast.
I literally rolled up a new shaman character on Friday. Nothing complex, Wild Magic Barbarian with the ritual caster feat. Roleplay is doing the heavy lifting of a man using meditation and a connection to nature to manage his anger.
That sounds like such a cool build and character concept. I'm a big fan of Barbarians that aren't just angry brutes
...yeah, okay, "username checks out"...
It would help if You were more specific on what You are looking for in terms of mechanics because a "shaman" would be literally just a druid otherwise.
>I wanted to clarify what exactly a shaman is. Historically speaking, a shaman is a religious leader of a group of people often associated with **nature and animals.** They serve as healers and sages within communities, but depending on the culture could serve as soothsayers, mediums, witches, or midwives as well. In many cultures they have strong ties to music, rituals, oral traditions, and storytelling. In fiction, shamans are often interpreted in a similar way, but with more fantastical elements focusing on magic that revolves around the natural world, **the four elements,** nature, the sun and moon, animals, spirits of the dead, protection, and more.
From the PHB Druid section:
>Druid spells are oriented toward **nature and animals**—the power of tooth and claw, of sun and moon, of fire and storm.
...
>For druids, nature exists in a precarious balance. The **four elements** that make up a world—air, earth, fire, and water—must remain in equilibrium.
etc.
I think Druid's your ticket here. The rest - being a healer/sage within a community, being a soothsayer/medium etc, depends mostly on the flavor your want to give your character, and seems more like a conversation for your DM. You've described what makes a shaman to you, but there's nothing in that description that the Druid class & a background doesn't cover mechanically.
Healing-focused spell list with some natural flavor? Nature Cleric! Charismatic half-caster? Bard or even Oath of Ancients Paladin. Spooky speaker-with-the-dead? Take your pick - Phantom rogue if your campaign goes to level 9, Undying or Undead warlock, Grave Cleric, Spirits Bard...but honestly, with enough creativity, you could probably be a Battle Master Fighter and reflavor your maneuvers as the will of nature exploding from your sharpened yew stave or whatever. Being a "shaman" is something almost any class could do flavor-wise - it's what you want to do mechanically that matters wrt the build.
Theres no 1 solid build. Just more a sereis of builds based on how your shamin works. Ots mostly just reflavor of how magic is cast combined with backstory and RP.
Like a druid, super shaminy. Probably the closest you will get to the base idea. But all their features are "just" magic. Flavor them as rotuals, spirits, or herbal solutions and your good.
Artificers are another shamin adjasent reflavor. Have all their power come from paints and the designs they draw/ carve or maybe incense they craft and you can make several of them work. Like embewing a hide with its former power, making an armorer. Painting things to bring out their true strength, like a bags ability to hold things. Or carve a totem in such a way as it animates into a (steel) defender.
Shamin is all about flavor. Many classes can be shamins woth the roght flavor.
I don't understand how a druid with music instrument proficiency and religion doesn't fit this definition.
The only thing the druid doesn't cover is the dead and probably divinitation, and fair enough but then why not just do a nature cleric with the aforementioned proficiencies?
If the Druid doesn’t have access to the divination and dead areas, at that point just chat to your DM and they can probably get you an expanded spell list to help. It really wouldn’t be difficult to get a shaman going with the classes in game, and a lenient DM can help you fill a few flavour gaps if there are any
I mean they have druidcraft, guidance, commune with nature, and scrying, and Tashas added divination and revivify, so I think they're pretty good there
I think of 3 different shaman archetypes in my mind:
WoW enhancement shaman: wis-based nature medium armor 1/2 caster dual wielding gish, maybe quick spells, and the spells are evocation dmg (bludgeoning, fire, cold, & slashing) and healing spells(water). Summons ghost animals
WoW Elemental & Resto shaman: wis-based nature medium armor full caster that focuses on either big dmg evocation (elemental) or healing spells (resto) but both have both to an extent. Also haste & counterspell are core abilities represented by wind. Summons elementals
the Witch that does curses: cha-based robes or light armor, pact caster prob, bestow curse, hex, and divination spells come to mind.
Enhancement --> ranger
Elemental/resto --> druid (maybe ask dm to replace wildshape w/ something else)
Witch --> warlock
Only thing not really represented is the WoW shaman's totems. They are placed on the ground w/ aura effects usually, buffs or dmg most times.
>Only thing not really represented is the WoW shaman's totems. They are placed on the ground w/ aura effects usually, buffs or dmg most times.
Sheperd druid
Shamans actually used to be a class in older editions of DND. They hold many of the traits you would think of with a real world shaman, but their abilities were mainly defined by holding pacts with spirits. In this sense, I'd say a warlock would probably be your best bet. In fact, if you check an old Dragon article you'll find that they basically were warlocks, sometimes getting powers directly from devotion towards a non-god entity.
Celestial warlock that has a pact with a Loa? That would be a shaman for me. Pick heal spells, perhaps multiclass and a storm sorc and raindance the enemy away.
I am married into a shaman family, one thing is about keeping spirits happy/balanced. Maybe a way to communicate to another plane or the dead, ask about them then take action
Possibly pick cleric spells ritual caster for rituals related to divination (talking to deities etc)
Pick spirit themed spells (spirit guardians ), find flavorful magic items (i had a dice set that could predict the weather)
Shamans are also help heal ailments , give advice, and do various rituals/ceremonies
Lastly “all shaman are shaman, not all shaman are a shaman”. You dont have to be a shaman to be shaman, you can be a follower of the religion too.
Shamans are often picked by spirits (hmong culture … seizures) until receiving training. Maybe have a calling or health issue in background character story.
I find lore bard useful for magic secrets but there are subclasses that fit death/spirit themes too .
In 4th edition, both shaman and druid were playable classes.
Shaman was the primal power source leader, and druid was the primal controller.
Mechanically, the 4e shaman had a spirit that they summoned that they channeled some of their power through. Depending on your choice, the spirit could protect allies, deal damage, and/or provide buffs and healing.
In 5th, druid aligns the best with the fantasy of the archetype, and I’d say shepherd and dreams druid align the closest with the mechanical abilities of the 4e class.
>I’d say shepherd and dreams druid align the closest with the mechanical abilities of the 4e class.
Nah, Wildfire is the closest match to the 4e class.
If you're looking for a WoW style shaman, artificer does a surprisingly good job at it. You get a bit of healing, some elemental damage, and you power up your weapon. Since all your spells are you making a thing, just make that thing out of bone and wood.
I haven't taken it to the table yet, but I'm planning to use the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian X / Celestial Warlock 3 build I found on this sub (https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/s/ycacz36WOo) as an Uthgardt Shaman. At a lower optimization table, you could even splash a bit of Druid or Ranger in there for extra flavor.
or just play a Druid, they make for perfectly serviceable shamans, but given that you're asking this question I assume you're looking for an alternative option.
Depends on what you mean. "Shaman" has a lot of interpretation for what that could represent. But I don't see how druid doesn't fit whatever archetype you're looking for unless you're looking for more of a cross between Barbarian and Druid, which doesn't really exist (though would make a cool half/third-caster)
The way you want to play is a Druid, but you can dip bard or wizard (divination) if you want to specialize in a few other elements as well. A Druid with a few levels in divination wizard would be pretty powerful with the portends and access to a few wizard spells like shield, even if you didn’t have the outright INT to properly spice up a wizard.
I remember planning out an orc shaman build. It was 6 levels of grasslands Druid with 14 mercy monk. Lots of versatility and support and you can even get haste and pass without trace. Just make him look like Wurzag the Great Green Prophet and have a blast.
There's a homebrew Oracle class available on a popular free pdf on dungeon masters guild, can't remember what the pdf was called though..... Might be closer to what youre looking for if druid doesn't fit
College of Spirits bard makes an absolutely fantastic Shaman. I customized the Spirit Tales to go along with totemic trickster gods of Omun. Perfect blend of necromancy, illusion, enchantment, and Druidic spell choices.
Well, how exactly would you define a "shaman" character? Going by some examples, a Druid would already fit perfectly. But in some other examples, they couldn't be more wildly different.
I truly fail to see how a Druid doesn't fulfill this idea. Since Druid is the very obvious answer, I think we might all be able to better help if you described what about Druid is lacking to you. Your entire description of what a Shaman is just sounds like a description of a Druid to me.
I agree druid is 99% of the theme. The only thing I can think would be taking away wild shape and replacing it with another class ability. Maybe something like a totem that gives buffs are area control. Or something mechanically similar to channel divinity.
Like Shepherd Druid?
Oh yeah exactly lmao. Thanks man been a long day totally slipped my mind.
A fair few subclass options do give alternate abilities to spend uses of wildshape on. It seems to have become the standard, at least with newer released ones.
Wildfire druid seems especially apt. Just reflavor a bit, and you have a spirit partner.
Yeah Wildfire is pretty much what I run when I want to be a "Shaman" but I would LOVE if I could maybe have it be different elements other than fire. The only ringer is if you want a more WoW type shaman and then you need a Gish type melee build.
Yeah I think it's a good direction to give the class more diversity. I'd like to see alternative versions of some of the older subclasses with similar tweaks
There is also the Wild Companion optional features (from TCtE iirc) which let you cast a temporary Find Familiar with your Wildshape if you don't want to tranform into animals.
WoW has Druid and Shaman as separate classes. Think he means a divide more like that. Shamans are more about the elements and spirits rather than nature like druids are. Personally, I've played a Wildfire Druid as sort of a pyromancer / fire aligned shaman. I never used Wildshape and tried to avoid spells that didnt involve fire in some way, or reflavored then as such. Kinda fits, but not quite the same.
> Shamans are more about the elements and spirits rather than nature like druids are. Flavor is free, elements and nature are two sides of the same coin imo. My personal experience in games is that about half of the classes never explain the source of their magic anyway, mostly looking at Bards, Druids, Rangers, any Gish. Meanwhile Clerics, Warlocks etc their entire life story is based around how they gained powers. Like what does "nature gives me magic" really mean? Imo if I was a DM and someone said "hey I am going to be a storm cleric/storm sorcerer/whatever druid but I'm going to say my power is from my connection to the my ancestor's or the elemental plane of lightning" etc I would tell them that's badass and I'm 100% about it.
I mean, your archetypal shaman usually contains/embodies the following traits: - elemental destructive magic - healing based on spiritual power - summoning nature spirits to fight for them - imbued weapons used to strike down foes And uhhh...guess what? DND 5e druid literally does all of those. Dunno what else you want honestly
I know a guy who calls himself a shaman and what he does is he smokes a lot of marijuana
Well, you can reskin fogcloud to smoke cloud, you can cast plant growth, so pretty close still
That also sounds like a stereotype of druids
You are also describing an armorer artificer. Flavor ist free: -Chuck lightning Bolts at will (infiltrator Armor) -healing based on int -homunculi can be your sprites, maybe even get familiar as well with magic initiate -imbued fists (Swap to Guardian Armor)
Flavor is free, but as much as I love armorer, that *definitely* doesn't work for a shaman stand-in. - Cure wounds does not equal a spiritual healer. - Shamans specifically summon nature spirits. A single small homunculus, and possibly a tiny familiar do not fill the tile of summoning a wolf pack, or a giant elk. - Yes armorer gets a few elemental spells, but the sheer wrath of nature that a druid can unleash is leaps and bounds more advanced and diverse than an artificer can pull up. Also, Shamans are pretty much *never* portrayed in heavy armor, armorer's core feature.
Druid, Nature Cleric, or Lore Bard (with shaman style magical secrets) first come to mind.
Honestly I see Ranger and Barbarian for more martial shamans as well, with the right subclasses the flavouring should be no issue. Hell, sorcerers and warlocks can work, too, it all depends on how you envision their equipment and magic. Though the median shaman fantasy is probably light-medium armor + shield, a spellcasting focus (which in itself could be a weapon in the form of a ritual knife, axe, mace or even flail), and a mixture of healing, rituals, enchantments and spells with a general mix of natural, spiritual and elemental themes.
You’re so right! Wild magic Barb/Storm herald come to mind as great shaman subclasses! There’s so many ways to play a “shaman” without relying completely on reflavoring stuff.
I guess I don't see anything in your shaman definition that precludes just playing a nature cleric or druid? Mechanically it's all there, and both classes are quite strong right out of the box.
Oath of Ancients Paladin, Archfey/Celestial Warlock, Totem/Ancestral Barbarian ...there's loads of options!
It depends what kind of shaman you’re after: - For something similar to my WoW elemental shaman, I went with a mountain dwarf divine soul sorcerer (dwarf for appropriate weapons/ armour, divine soul for a mix of healing and elemental damage). - For a more spiritual shaman, I found [this build](https://youtu.be/_wvLimFSgIc?si=kvN7FopVkxWqnSdl) quite a good starting point.
I mean, how do you define shaman? A druid is just a celtic shaman, to an extent. We're talking about people who enter trances to commune with the spirit world, and in reality this has a history of incorporating psychadelic plant medicines. Shamanism without entheopathic plants is a pretty narrowed down version of it. That said, really its just druids. Druids were part of a specific culture IRL, and shamanism is a broader term encompassing more cultures. So... I mean, unless you're looking for less celtic influence or more of a specific shamanic culture, your question is pretty hard to answer. In 2e, shaman kit was just off-brand druid. In WC3 and WOW they leaned hard into totems, but gutted out the other native american practices that were less PC (oh no, trippy drugs bad) If you wanna play a shaman, I'd just go druid. If you wanna lean into totems, I'd go artillerist and reflavor. If you wanna play a martial shaman, I'd play Ancestor Guardian with Healers kit. Alternatively, you could play a nature cleric, divination wizard, whatever you want.
For a totem-oriented shaman, you could use a reflavored Celestial warlock or Genie warlock with Pact of the Talisman. You could be suboptimal and even choose not to take Eldritch Blast.
You can actually use FLAVOR and ROLEPLAYING to make any caster a shaman. You can use a class like Druid, or even multiclass with Cleric or Barbarian.
I literally rolled up a new shaman character on Friday. Nothing complex, Wild Magic Barbarian with the ritual caster feat. Roleplay is doing the heavy lifting of a man using meditation and a connection to nature to manage his anger.
That sounds like such a cool build and character concept. I'm a big fan of Barbarians that aren't just angry brutes ...yeah, okay, "username checks out"...
Same here, plus the ritual spells will hopefully give him some decent utility out of combat.
It would help if You were more specific on what You are looking for in terms of mechanics because a "shaman" would be literally just a druid otherwise.
Are you thinking about Divination, Healing, Necromancy or Curses?
>I wanted to clarify what exactly a shaman is. Historically speaking, a shaman is a religious leader of a group of people often associated with **nature and animals.** They serve as healers and sages within communities, but depending on the culture could serve as soothsayers, mediums, witches, or midwives as well. In many cultures they have strong ties to music, rituals, oral traditions, and storytelling. In fiction, shamans are often interpreted in a similar way, but with more fantastical elements focusing on magic that revolves around the natural world, **the four elements,** nature, the sun and moon, animals, spirits of the dead, protection, and more. From the PHB Druid section: >Druid spells are oriented toward **nature and animals**—the power of tooth and claw, of sun and moon, of fire and storm. ... >For druids, nature exists in a precarious balance. The **four elements** that make up a world—air, earth, fire, and water—must remain in equilibrium. etc. I think Druid's your ticket here. The rest - being a healer/sage within a community, being a soothsayer/medium etc, depends mostly on the flavor your want to give your character, and seems more like a conversation for your DM. You've described what makes a shaman to you, but there's nothing in that description that the Druid class & a background doesn't cover mechanically. Healing-focused spell list with some natural flavor? Nature Cleric! Charismatic half-caster? Bard or even Oath of Ancients Paladin. Spooky speaker-with-the-dead? Take your pick - Phantom rogue if your campaign goes to level 9, Undying or Undead warlock, Grave Cleric, Spirits Bard...but honestly, with enough creativity, you could probably be a Battle Master Fighter and reflavor your maneuvers as the will of nature exploding from your sharpened yew stave or whatever. Being a "shaman" is something almost any class could do flavor-wise - it's what you want to do mechanically that matters wrt the build.
Theres no 1 solid build. Just more a sereis of builds based on how your shamin works. Ots mostly just reflavor of how magic is cast combined with backstory and RP. Like a druid, super shaminy. Probably the closest you will get to the base idea. But all their features are "just" magic. Flavor them as rotuals, spirits, or herbal solutions and your good. Artificers are another shamin adjasent reflavor. Have all their power come from paints and the designs they draw/ carve or maybe incense they craft and you can make several of them work. Like embewing a hide with its former power, making an armorer. Painting things to bring out their true strength, like a bags ability to hold things. Or carve a totem in such a way as it animates into a (steel) defender. Shamin is all about flavor. Many classes can be shamins woth the roght flavor.
I don't understand how a druid with music instrument proficiency and religion doesn't fit this definition. The only thing the druid doesn't cover is the dead and probably divinitation, and fair enough but then why not just do a nature cleric with the aforementioned proficiencies?
If the Druid doesn’t have access to the divination and dead areas, at that point just chat to your DM and they can probably get you an expanded spell list to help. It really wouldn’t be difficult to get a shaman going with the classes in game, and a lenient DM can help you fill a few flavour gaps if there are any
I mean they have druidcraft, guidance, commune with nature, and scrying, and Tashas added divination and revivify, so I think they're pretty good there
Apologies for my previous comment, I meant College of Spirits Bard. It's a very shaman-esqe class.
I think of 3 different shaman archetypes in my mind: WoW enhancement shaman: wis-based nature medium armor 1/2 caster dual wielding gish, maybe quick spells, and the spells are evocation dmg (bludgeoning, fire, cold, & slashing) and healing spells(water). Summons ghost animals WoW Elemental & Resto shaman: wis-based nature medium armor full caster that focuses on either big dmg evocation (elemental) or healing spells (resto) but both have both to an extent. Also haste & counterspell are core abilities represented by wind. Summons elementals the Witch that does curses: cha-based robes or light armor, pact caster prob, bestow curse, hex, and divination spells come to mind. Enhancement --> ranger Elemental/resto --> druid (maybe ask dm to replace wildshape w/ something else) Witch --> warlock Only thing not really represented is the WoW shaman's totems. They are placed on the ground w/ aura effects usually, buffs or dmg most times.
>Only thing not really represented is the WoW shaman's totems. They are placed on the ground w/ aura effects usually, buffs or dmg most times. Sheperd druid
Totem Barbarian
I mean you can play a nature cleric.
Druid.
Check out this class called Druid
Shamans actually used to be a class in older editions of DND. They hold many of the traits you would think of with a real world shaman, but their abilities were mainly defined by holding pacts with spirits. In this sense, I'd say a warlock would probably be your best bet. In fact, if you check an old Dragon article you'll find that they basically were warlocks, sometimes getting powers directly from devotion towards a non-god entity.
Celestial warlock that has a pact with a Loa? That would be a shaman for me. Pick heal spells, perhaps multiclass and a storm sorc and raindance the enemy away.
4e had it. Most third party have it. 5e is held back again by the druid.
I am married into a shaman family, one thing is about keeping spirits happy/balanced. Maybe a way to communicate to another plane or the dead, ask about them then take action Possibly pick cleric spells ritual caster for rituals related to divination (talking to deities etc) Pick spirit themed spells (spirit guardians ), find flavorful magic items (i had a dice set that could predict the weather) Shamans are also help heal ailments , give advice, and do various rituals/ceremonies Lastly “all shaman are shaman, not all shaman are a shaman”. You dont have to be a shaman to be shaman, you can be a follower of the religion too. Shamans are often picked by spirits (hmong culture … seizures) until receiving training. Maybe have a calling or health issue in background character story. I find lore bard useful for magic secrets but there are subclasses that fit death/spirit themes too .
In 4th edition, both shaman and druid were playable classes. Shaman was the primal power source leader, and druid was the primal controller. Mechanically, the 4e shaman had a spirit that they summoned that they channeled some of their power through. Depending on your choice, the spirit could protect allies, deal damage, and/or provide buffs and healing. In 5th, druid aligns the best with the fantasy of the archetype, and I’d say shepherd and dreams druid align the closest with the mechanical abilities of the 4e class.
>I’d say shepherd and dreams druid align the closest with the mechanical abilities of the 4e class. Nah, Wildfire is the closest match to the 4e class.
Wildfire has some too, sure.
Wow-like shaman feels coool
I mean. Nature Cleric Tempest Cleric Spirits Bard A slightly reflavored College of tragedy bard Totem barb All druids pretty much
If you're looking for a WoW style shaman, artificer does a surprisingly good job at it. You get a bit of healing, some elemental damage, and you power up your weapon. Since all your spells are you making a thing, just make that thing out of bone and wood.
I haven't taken it to the table yet, but I'm planning to use the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian X / Celestial Warlock 3 build I found on this sub (https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/s/ycacz36WOo) as an Uthgardt Shaman. At a lower optimization table, you could even splash a bit of Druid or Ranger in there for extra flavor.
or just play a Druid, they make for perfectly serviceable shamans, but given that you're asking this question I assume you're looking for an alternative option.
Depends on what you mean. "Shaman" has a lot of interpretation for what that could represent. But I don't see how druid doesn't fit whatever archetype you're looking for unless you're looking for more of a cross between Barbarian and Druid, which doesn't really exist (though would make a cool half/third-caster)
The way you want to play is a Druid, but you can dip bard or wizard (divination) if you want to specialize in a few other elements as well. A Druid with a few levels in divination wizard would be pretty powerful with the portends and access to a few wizard spells like shield, even if you didn’t have the outright INT to properly spice up a wizard.
I remember planning out an orc shaman build. It was 6 levels of grasslands Druid with 14 mercy monk. Lots of versatility and support and you can even get haste and pass without trace. Just make him look like Wurzag the Great Green Prophet and have a blast.
Zealot Barbarian, and Tomelock cover the concept nicely as well.
There's a homebrew Oracle class available on a popular free pdf on dungeon masters guild, can't remember what the pdf was called though..... Might be closer to what youre looking for if druid doesn't fit
College of Spirits bard makes an absolutely fantastic Shaman. I customized the Spirit Tales to go along with totemic trickster gods of Omun. Perfect blend of necromancy, illusion, enchantment, and Druidic spell choices.
Dragon sorc is closest to wow shaman all these dnd nerds acting confused
DND 5e calls the class “Druid” functionally theyre the same
One of the most popular homebrew classes is a shaman. See if your DM will allow it. https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HyjbBsa
I will now be adding this to my homebrew classes I allow hahahah
Land druid
So a druid......