Atlantean Trilogy Archive
A painted shaman in a wolf-head pelt raises a staff beside a bonfire as spirit wolf and eagle forms rise in the starry smoke.

Shaman

Profession, single-classed

A practitioner of Low Magic, the oldest and most primitive spirit and sympathetic magic, feared and respected as a wizard-priest among its people. Shamans see into the spirit realm, bind spirit helpers and gain a power animal.

From the book

Shamans practice Low Magic, a field rooted in the earliest and crudest spirit and sympathetic magic. Among their own peoples they are both feared and honored, usually acting as wizard-priests.

Though deemed the most primitive casters, they have unique powers. At will, with full concentration, a shaman can perceive spirit, astral or ethereal presences nearby, though while doing so the material world fades to shadows. Shamans can also deliberately let certain spirit beings dwell inside their bodies as spirit helpers, freeing them one at a time to perform a service or strike an enemy, after which the spirit may leave; minor spirits are assumed to be numerous, but powerful ones should be recorded.

Spirits above 15th level cannot be bound. Most important of all is the totem or power animal, the spirit of a departed animal that serves as guardian and familiar, rises in level with the shaman and serves for life.

Skills by level

  1. Level 1
  2. Level 3
  3. Level 5
  4. Level 7
  5. Level 9
  6. Level 10
  7. Level 11
    • Rods, Staves, and Wands
  8. Level 12

At a glance

Minimum attributes
INT 12, WILL 15, PER 14
Alignment
Any
Combat training
Untrained
Hit points per level
1 H.P. per point of CON, plus 2 H.P. at first level; then +2 H.P. and any CON bonus per level gained; after 12th level, +1 H.P. per level with no CON bonus (optional rule, page 48)
Special abilities
See Into Spirit Realm: see spirit, astral or ethereal presences at will within 20 ft, with total concentration; while in use the material plane appears only as shadowy spectres (the two cannot be seen at once); Spirit Binding: lets spirit beings reside in the shaman's body as spirit helpers, each releasable to perform one service or attack an enemy (one at a time, one per day per level, range 20 ft; a released spirit is free to leave); d20 on the SPIRIT BINDING TABLE (appendix); no spirit above 15th level; Power Animal: the shaman's totem, the spirit of a departed animal serving as guardian and familiar, which rises in level with the shaman and serves for life (see the Low Magic spell Locate Power Animal); +1 saves vs Perception, plus 1 more per every 3 levels of ability gained
Fields of magic
Low Magic
Restrictions
Cannot bind spirit beings of greater than 15th level; Cannot see the spirit realm and the material plane at the same time
Open to races
Humans, Aesir, Dwarves, Nethermen

Level 9 prints 'Runes Stalking' on one line; these are two skills.