Shattered Kingdoms

OMG something overpowerly useless

That sentence really makes no sense.

If its useless, it cannot be overpowered :/

Wow. Is everyone blind to the word "or" in that sentence? I'm not going to challenge the validity of the statement. Nor shall I support it, but I believe he's trying to say that the skill would either end up being mostly useless outside of some of the RP aspects OR it would end up being overpowered, leaving no room for the skill to be well balanced within the game when considering the class's skill set and other skill sets we currently have. Perhaps he means it will end up something along the lines of what we had with the weapons subtypes, where one animal form will be considered the best, and the min-maxing situation that happens with a lot of classes will become exacerbated.

I guess you could say the same thing about religious spells. Or pretty much anything.

My problem is more with the RP angle. Not all shamans are animists, and effectively forcing that on the class seems inappropriate.

I'd be more impressed with a choice of minor elemental spells. I think these work better thematically. A whirlwind could represent a bird's wingbeat, a dance of wind-spirits, or just a prediliction for air nature magic. Let shamans come up with their own stories about how their chosen spell fits in. As a bonus, the same spells can be used for warlocks. Maybe add a death "elemental" spell for shamans more interested in the afterlife than nature.

Thank god for you.

ANIMORPHS!