Spiritual Magic
In the last Pathfinder game I ran, we had a shaman in the party. Though the character was cool and quite successful, it came to my attention that the shaman spell list was somewhat underwhelming. To remedy the situation, I was inspired to create this article, which provides five new spells for the shaman. The goal of each of these new spells was to create something uniquely for the shaman, and so most interact specifically with the shaman’s class features. With any luck, this batch of spells will make playing your next shaman a more rewarding experience.
AWAKEN SPIRIT
School transmutation; Level shaman 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V
Range personal
Target you
Duration 1 round/level
You call out to the spirits you channel in order to awaken them to the fullness of your imagination. This has a number of effects. For the purposes of determining the potency of the spirit abilities granted by your spirit or wandering spirit, you treat your level as though it were 4 levels higher than it actually is. This affects both the saving throw DC of certain sprit abilities, as well as the power level of abilities which are dependent on your level, but does not allow you to use abilities an additional number of times per day. Further, you gain access to all the hexes granted by your spirit and wandering spirit. Finally, whenever you cast a spell that is on the list for the spirit magic spells granted by your spirit or wandering spirit, your caster level as 4 higher than it really is, the saving throw DC, if any, is increased by +1. This spell is somewhat exhausting, and at the conclusion of this spell, you become fatigued for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds it affected you.
COMMUNE WITH SPIRITS
School divination; Level shaman 6
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range personal
Target you
Duration 1 hour/level
Your natural attunement to powerful spirits allows you to communicate with the local spirits that inhabit the world around you. At any point during the spell, you may ask the local spirits a question pertaining to events that occurred no more than 1 day per caster level ago, and within a 1-mile radius area of your current location. Local spirits then furnish you with a 1-sentence answer to your question. In the case of questions that could not be answered with a single sentence, the spirits provide a cryptic clue or omen which might lead you to the answers you seek. Additionally, you can end this spell at any time in order to change your wandering spirit to another wandering spirit.
HEXBOLT
School evocation [electricity]; Level shaman 4, witch 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range long (400 ft. +40 ft./level)
Target up to 1 creature per level, no 2 of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will partial, see text; Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
You unleash a bolt of crackling black and white lightning from your fingers, snaking forth through the accursed. You may only target characters currently affected by at least one hex with this spell. Each target suffers an amount of electricity damage equal to 4d6 + 4d6 for each hex they are currently affected by. Additionally, the duration of any hex a target was affected with is increased by 1d4 rounds. A successful Will save halves this damage and negates the extended duration effect.
ONENESS
School transmutation; Level cleric 9, shaman 8, witch 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range personal
Target you
Duration 1 round/level
You attain perfect oneness with a powerful spirit, channeling it fully into yourself. You gain a +4 enhancement bonus to each of your ability scores. Additionally, choose a single shaman spirit. You gain the manifestation of that spirit. If you are a shaman and you choose your own spirit in this way, you can also cast any spell from the spirit’s spirit magic without expending a spell slot. If you are a shaman and you choose your spirit and you already had accesses to the manifestation of that spirit, then the enhancement bonus to each of your ability scores is increased to +8.
TRAVELING SPIRIT
School transmutation; Level shaman 4
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range close
Target one creature
Duration 1 minute/level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
You project a spirit you have formed a bond with away from yourself and into another character, temporarily granting her the sprit’s power. When you cast this spell, you may choose to project your spirit or a wandering spirit from yourself into another character. When you do, the target takes on the appearance of a shaman that formed a bond with that spirit. The character also gains the ability to use any of the spirit abilities of the spirit which you could use, but may only use each ability once during the duration of the spell, unless the ability can be used at will, or if the ability is persistent. If the target has the ability to use hexes, she may also use any hex that the spirit offers which you have learned.