|
What are they? There are three kinds of spirits, ancestral spirits, animal totem spirits and nature spirits. Ancestral spirits are the spirits of deceased people (humans brutes,...) In contradiction to what the name suggests, any deceased person can become a spirit ally, not just your ancestors. Ancestral spirits have a special gift, a reflection of who they were in their life, this gift is represented by the domain they can grant to a shaman. (cfr. Shaman). Ancestral spirits are very versatile and, on top of that, pretty smart (the DM assigns them a WIS and INT score). Animal spirits are somewhat different. These spirits usually never lived at all. They are some sort of spiritual embodiment of a certain animal, a totem. Animal spirits are a lot less intelligent and flexible than ancestral spirits, but they do give a limited amount of control and knowledge over the creature they represent. They also grant the power to summon a spirit ally, a physical manifestation of the spirit or a similar creature. Because animal spirits have a lot less personality, they are a lot easier to deal with and to please than ancestral spirits. Nature spirits are the spirits of places and the spirits of the elements. The size of the area is dependent on the magnitude of the spirit. Some examples: Minor: an enchanting waterfall, a lone old tree, a field next to a farm, a rock formation; Major: the waves of a certain shore, a mountaintop, a river, Oasis; Greater: an entire mountain formation (the Snakecoil Mountains), the Rock Desert, the Badlands; Because nature spirits are limited to a certain place, they are the least flexible of all, but in return, these spirits are very powerful. They can influence the entire environment that they represent. They 'are' that environment, that place. Elemental spirits are of course an exception to this. Earth and air spirits can be found anywhere, fire spirits can be found where there is fire. Elemental spirits are in a way a lot like ancestral spirits, because they are also assigned individually to a certain shaman. They also have a certain strength (HD, size, etc.) depending on their magnitude. Where do they come from? Ancestral spirits come from the astral plane, a parallel world that has a vague resemblance to this one. It is a cold place and every time a spirit manifests in this world, it brings a bit of this cold with it. (like a person entering a warm house during winter) Therefore, the temperature always drops a little when spirits are near. The one who benefits most from this is the paladin. Through his spirit, a paladin has a permanent link to the spirit world and harnesses its cold. A paladin can stand temperatures as high as 60°C (140°F) and not feel uncomfortable, he will always be cool.(This brings certain advantages like being able to wear full plate mail in a desert.) Animal spirits are a culmination of all animals they represent. As mentioned earlier: "They are some sort of spiritual embodiment of a certain animal, a totem." As totems they have existed as long as the animals they represent existed (unlike ancestral spirits, who only exist when they are, sort of speak, "no longer alive.") This is the popular theory that most shamans accept. The truth is that this is true, but that something else is also true. Several shamans can have the same animal spirit and they can summon him at the same time. If there were only one totem, this wouldn't be possible... Unless there are several avatars of the same animal spirit. On top of that these spirits don't live in the spirit world, the astral plane, but they do have to manifest to come this world. There doesn't yet exist a single answer, but maybe that will come in due time. Nature spirits have always been, they're timeless, born at the same time as this world. They are the only spirits that 'live' in this world, they don't need to manifest, they are ever-present, as a part of the world. Like animal spirits, nature spirits exist as long as the thing they represent exists. What else? Shadows are rare spiritual remains of pre-war sorcerers whose life collapsed under the disappearance of magic. They lack a true form because part of their original form was their innate magical nature. They are now nothing more than whispering evil shadows that try to plant seeds of evil in unwary victims. A shaman, especially an evil one, can have Shadows as allies instead of a normal ancestral spirit, although the opposite can happen as well: a shadow can seek out a spiritually strong shaman and then bind itself to him. This shadow then counts as a spirit for the shaman, whether he likes it or not. Minor shadows are like the normal undead shadows (3HD), major shadows have 6HD and greater shadows have 9HD. Furthermore, all shadows created by the shadow's strength drain ability, are also under the command of the Shaman. This way, the shaman can virtually have a vast army of shadows at his bidding. Having all these shadows still doesn't grant the shaman much in terms of spiritual power. Shadows are pitiful spirits, driven insane by their broken existence. Only major and greater shadows can domain spells. These domains are limited to the following: chaos, darkness, death, and evil. Learn more about spirits here: the graw the paladin the shaman |