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WotC is bringing Shamans into D&D.  I like Shamans in M:tG (see picture, love this guy), so I’m hoping for the ability to play a big fatty in round four without paying its mana cost.  Let’s see if they deliver…

That’s right, I still haven’t edited that CSS file.  Sue me.

It looks to me as though WotC re-packaged the leftover bits of the old druid (animal companion, healing) and gave it a new label.  Nothing wrong with that.  This spirit companion feature is the focal point of the Shaman, so we’ll talk about that first.  It works a lot like the Ranger’s animal companion (from Martial Power); powers featuring the spirit keyword are actually performed by your spirit companion and you can move your spirit companion in the same way that a Ranger moves his animal companion.  It obstructs the movement of enemies, but not allies (as a player would).  It can be targetted by attacks, but it has no HP and takes no damage.  If an attack targetting the spirit companion deals damage greater-than or equal-to 10+1/2 your level the spirit companion disappears and you take damage equal to 5+1/2 your level.

This is alright, I suppose.  It is an incorporeal… thing, after all.  It’s not actually alive in the sense that a player character is alive, but it can be disturbed or disrupted or dispelled or what-have-you.  It’s good that the player takes some damage when this occurs, too, so that Shamans don’t turn into untargetable players that battle by proxy.

With the basics of the spirit companion out of the way, we’ll look at the first class feature: Companion Spirit.  This is the option-feature, so it covers a lot.  Your two options here are Protector Spirit or Stalker Spirit. Each choice determines one of your at-will attack powers as well as bestowing a “spirit boon” and one of two at-will reactionary powers.  The Protector Spirit and Stalker Spirit are described as being like a spirit-bear and spirit-panther, respectively, but (as with everything else in 4E) you can re-fluff it into being a lion or wolf or a walrus or whatever.  (note to self: annoy fellow players with a spirit-walrus shaman)

The stalker’s boon gives allies adjacent to your spirit companion a bonus to damage rolls against bloodied targets equal to your INT modifier.  Kill things faster, that’s always good.  The Spirit’s Fangs reactionary power is basically an Opportunity Attack for your spirit companion that does 1d10+WIS damage.  your granted at-will attack power is Stalker’s Strike, which deals 1d10+WIS damage and allows your spirit companion flank for one turn (apparently it can’t flank by default, which would be retardedly good).

The protector’s boon grants additional healing equal to your CON modifier to allies adjacent to your spirit companion whenever they use a second wind or receive some other form of healing from you.  The Spirit’s Shield reactionary power is also like an OA, but it only deals damage equal to your WIS mod while allowing a nearby ally to recover HP euqal to your CON mod (actually, double your CON mod, due to the spirit boon).  Your granted at-will attack power is Protector’s Strike, and it deals 1d8+WIS damage while granting a nearby ally temporary HP equal to your CON modifier.

Let’s talk about the healing!  Leaders in 4E have all been capable of some form of healing/inspiration/encouragement/pep-talk/abstract crap so far, and the Shaman is no exception.  As a Shaman, you get the Healing Spirit encounter power (it can be used twice per encounter, once per round), wherein a target of your choice can spend a healing surge. If the target does, then an ally (other than the target) adjacent to your spirit companion recovers Xd6 HP (where X is euqal to your level divided by 5, rounded up).  All-in-all, one of the least-impressive healing mechanics of 4E so far, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It certainly isn’t overpowered.

The final Shaman feature is the Speak with Spirits encounter power.  It just gives you a bonus equal to your WIS modifier on your next skill check. Sure, I’d buy that for a dollar.

Looking at the features alone, I can’t find anything to really complain about (or get excited about).  The shaman is just a well-designed leader class, really.  No ridiculous features that grant AC where none should be granted, no single-stat fightizards and nothing objectionable at all.  Let’s take a look at some of these powers (maybe I can rage by the end of the day).

All attack powers use the WIS modifier for the attack roll and the damage roll.  There doesn’t seem to be much here in the way of bonus damage or ridiculous amounts of damage dice, so I can forgive the singular-stat goodness a bit.  Damage-output for the shaman is very lacking, actually.

This is a good thing though, because all of the shaman’s powers focus on aiding the party in some way.  One daily power is a close blast 5 that deals 1d10+WIS cold damage to each enemy in the burst while allowing all of your allies to make a saving throw at +5.  Another encounter power deals 1d6+WIS damage to one target and grants damage resistance 5 to you and any allies adjacent to your companion.  There’s really nothing here for anyone to complain about — just decent Leader powers with a hint of Controller thrown in for good measure and a focus on proper positioning of your spirit companion.  Speaking of which, I’d recommend taking the 1d10+WIS at-will attack power that allows you to teleport your spirit companion to a square adjacent to the target.  Just a heads-up.

So… yeah, still no rage.  Good job there, WotC.  The Shaman is a character class for the true team-player.