Shattered Kingdoms

I feel that enough votes have been counted in my other thread on voodoo that the will of the pbase is clear. As of right now, only 3 out of 24 voters expressed a desire to see voodoo remain in its current form. 18 out of 24 voters want to see voodoo removed entirely or nerfed, and 14 of those 18 would like to see some compensatory buff, with another 3 voters abstaining. We have established that the vast majority of the pbase wants voodoo gone or severely nerfed, and among those SKers, the vast majority would like to see shamans buffed in some way to compensate. This thread is the next step. If, however, at some point in the future, the results of that poll changes drastically, I will not push further for a change in voodoo.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss what could replace voodoo if it were removed from the shaman spellset, or in what way shamans could be buffed if voodoo were removed/severely nerfed. Some things to keep in mind when posting are:
1) If you do not think voodoo should be removed from the shaman spellset or nerfed, you are welcome to make your argument in my other thread about voodoo: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20993
2) If you think voodoo should be removed from the shaman spellset or severely nerfed, but that shamans should not receive anything in return, you are welcome to make your argument in my other thread about voodoo: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20993
3) If you think voodoo should be nerfed instead of removed, that is fine. State what you think shamans should receive in that case.
4) Even if you do not think voodoo should be removed from the shaman spellset or nerfed, you can offer your opinion on the various ideas proposed in this thread, or even offer ideas yourself. However, this thread is not a place to argue that voodoo should remain as it is.
5) Ideas need not come in the forum of entirely new skills or spells. Proposed buffs could be more traditional, like tweaking another one of their already existing spells.

ALL POSTS IN THIS THREAD SHOULD OPERATE UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT VOODOO IS GOING TO BE REMOVED OR SEVERELY WIMPED, AND THAT SHAMANS WILL RECEIVE SOMETHING IN EXCHANGE FOR THIS LOSS. IMAGINE THAT THE IMMs HAVE STATED THIS, AND THEN ASKED US WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE REPLACE VOODOO. ANY DISCUSSION NOT OPERATING UNDER THIS ASSUMPTION SHOULD BE MADE IN MY OTHER THREAD ON VOODOO: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20993

After this thread, I will take the ideas that seem most popular and create a poll. Run-off elections might be required. No poll for this thread, though. This is just a place to come forward with ideas and a place to discuss those ideas.

Terrus voodoo change idea sounded pretty good. Sticking a pin in a voodoo doll mangling a limb. Could be random extremity, with damage equal to 1 harm, and a fortitude save.

A scry spell to replace voodoo would also be nice.

And why do warlocks get track and shamans don't? Wouldn't shamans know how to track being so close to barbarians?

I really like the idea of having it be something that requires a doll. Not certain how I feel about mangling limbs. I'll have to think about it. But the general idea of it being something that requires a doll is very appealing to me.

where's the thread where i get to comment about how many rules you make about your threads?

A version of scry, some possible names include Spirit Seek, Soul Search, Spiritual Glimpse, Clairvoyant Gaze, Far Sight.

This scry will not work the same as the scrying throne, it would simply give the general location of your target. Whether it be the wilderness of Ayamao, Unclaimed wilderness, Exile, Menegroth, Plane of Fire, etc.

Naturally there would need to be drawbacks for such a powerful ability. Perhaps a high mana cost, or a cooldown of sorts on specific targets, or both. I've also been toying with the fact of having it penetrate even warded areas and no-magic zones if the shaman is in the possession of the target's spirit doll. It would certainly be a good countermeasure against hoarders that spend most of their time hiding in no-magic zones, if it were allowed to penetrate such.

A possible alternative if shaman scry isn't acceptable would be to modify voodoo in a manner similar to what Torrus suggested, either by mangling limbs or placing random maledictions.

Edit: I realized that some people might not know what the scrying throne did - it would allow you to look into a room as if you were in it. Highly overpowered.

Incarnate

The shaman's connection to the spirit world allows for a powerful boon in the form of the direct aid of the spirits. A cross between seance and resurrection, a shaman can incarnate a spirit into a tangible avatar with some new, spiritual abilities in addition to those it had during its normal life. Incarnating is draining on a shaman, and requires constant concentration. In addition to this, such a powerful bond with one spirit affects the degree to which other spirits will assist the shaman. Because of the nature of the spell, even the spirits of ancestors too weak for life can be brought back to the realm of the living, if only for the duration of the spell.




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Incarnate works just like seance, but instead of the typical ghost body, a corporeal, avatar body is created. It would gain some small buffs to make it viable for combat without requiring extensive re-equipment, perhaps supernatural hide or the construct type, a decent natural attack based on the alignment of the avatar, and stat buffs sufficient to reverse what aging had done to physical stats in the case of age death targets.

Just making sure I understand your proposal, grep. Incarnate would let age-deathed characters come back to life and participate in the game while the shaman was holding this spell? That idea is infinitely cooler than the current voodoo.

That's the idea. Voodoo is a game changer. There's nothing else like it in the game at all, and is hands down the most prominent example of what makes shamans a unique class rather than a multiclassed priest/necro. I think it is important to preserve the fact that shamans can do something no one else can that breaks the conventional laws of what people expect to be able to do with their characters. Plus it gives players a reason to hold on to age-death characters, promoting generation-crossing RP, and in doing so, kills two very delicious birds with one stone.

There would definitely need to be a good deal of balance, and the Pantheon would need to decide whether they wanted to make it less attractive to incarnate a dead character versus an age death character, but I believe even these problems represent less problems than fixing voodoo would require.

I wouldn't expect balancing this to be an issue, since it requires another PC anyways. I am a fan of this idea.

1) I'd like to see something that highlights the relationship that shamans and barbarians are supposed to have, while also providing a higher success rate toward maledictions.
The short of it is that the spell would negate the resistance and lower the saves of a target character, but only toward the shaman. One / one-and-a-half round cast lag; medium concentration; weaker of fortitude / willpower save.

2) I also wouldn't mind seeing some spell-based version of taunt for shamans that forced a player to focus on them and receive spirit aura damage.

3) Also, remove the exp cost of raise dead -- if you can get to a body, you ought to be able to raise it without penalty.


Although I like grep's idea, at least in theory, quite a bit.