Blood & Battle

In anticipation of the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day on April 17th, I am releasing parts of the variant rules system I am working on. Here I present the Shaman Class for humanoid characters. Let me know what you think!

Blood & Battle

1^st Edition - Basic

by Rob Griffin

Variant rules for running a Humanoid Campaign compatible with the Swords & Wizardry game.

Swords & Wizardry, S&W, and Mythmere Games are trademarks of Matthew J. Finch. Blood & Battle is not affiliated with Matthew J. Finch, Mythmere Games™, or Frog God Games.

Shaman

Prime Attribute: Wis 13+ (+5 exp bonus)

Hit Dice: d6

Armor/Shield Permitted: Leather & ringmail, shield

Weapons Permitted: Any crude melee

Race: All

Shamans are divine spell casters who gain their powers through worship of racial deities. Shamans of all humanoid races are respected and feared by other humanoids, regardless of racial or tribal preferences, and are often used as emissaries between tribes.

Shaman Class Abilities

Calm Restless Spirits: A Shaman can calm undead creatures and spirits, causing them to ignore the Shaman and his allies. Undead and spirits are calmed as per the Cleric Turn Undead table in S&W. Undead who are guarding treasure or specific areas will attack the Shaman if threatened, or if the items in their possession are threatened.

Ancestral Link: Each Shaman has a spiritual and psychic link with the long line of Shamanic ancestors from his tribe. This link is established in mystical and esoteric rituals while undergoing Shamanic training, and stays with a Shaman all of his life. Ancestral Link provides the Shaman with a pool of knowledge and lore spanning generations. This knowledge is received in the form of hunches, gut feelings, and sparks of intuition. It usually comes unbidden to the Shaman at moments of indecision or high stress. It can also be called upon by periods of concentration and meditation of a minimum of 1d4 turns. Received knowledge comes in a wide variety such as: direction to nearest water source, location of ancient burial grounds, weaknesses or strengths of particular foes, ability to comprehend (momentarily) ancient runes, answers to riddles, and any such other knowledge as the Referee allows. When trying to ascertain particular information of a specific nature, the player must elaborate to the Referee why such knowledge would be a part of his ancestral memory. The Referee can rule on what, if any, knowledge (rumors, for example) may be available to the player. Ancestral knowledge can be incorrect or misleading, or even misinterpreted at times.

Divine Spell Casting: Shaman must spend 8 hours per day resting and praying to their gods to regain their spells. Shaman spells tend toward divination and pain / damage dealing. They do have access to protection and healing spells however. Shamans can use scrolls which contain spells normally available to them, assuming they can read the language of the scroll.

Magic Items: Shamans can use magic weapons & armor that would be available to them in non magic forms, and other items as useable by Clerics in S&W.