Taboos for a Shaman

[pitdude243]

Well boys, I'm starting up a campaign that my group and I have taken a break from. I play a Shaman with a dumped Charisma (it's 8) and I realized playing his as a nice, kind, and handsome (even though you don't need to be handsome to be a nice guy) guy probably isn't the realest interpretation. I'm looking for some really cool/unique shamanic taboos that he could use. He is a healer shaman and enjoys utilizing water spirits. Even though this may not help much, it's in 4th edition.

Thank you so much for the help :smallsmile:

[Sith_Happens]

The classics:


Touching dead humanoids.*
Wearing clothes of a specific color.
Eating any kind of meat.
Eating certain kinds of meat.

Eating any kind of animal-derived food.

Eating certain non-meat but animal-derived foods.

Cutting his hair.

Touching anyone of the opposite sex.

Being alone with anyone of the opposite sex.

Entering a graveyard.*

Consuming alcohol.

Leaving certain parts of his body exposed.

Wearing shoes in places he considers sacred.

* Rather than a prohibition, this often consists of the requirement to perform some sort of ritual washing as soon as possible after performing the act.

A bit more out there:


Stepping on cracks.

Eating certain non-meat foods (e.g.- wheat, citrus fruits).

Drinking certain non-alcoholic beverages.

Wearing certain kinds of shoes.

Will get you weird looks:


Eating some weirdly specific non-meat food (e.g.- raisins, asparagus).

Skipping steps (of stairs).

Anything from one of the other two categories, but narrowed to some weirdly specific subset.

[Slipperychicken]

Eating creatures which haven't been killed mercifully and in a highly-specific ritualistic manner.

Eating or drinking anything, including potions, which hasn't been blessed by a shaman (he's authorized to bless it too, but there's a whole page-long litany about it, thanking all the spirits and gods involved). The shaman can bless entire meals at once this way, but must know precisely what is contained because each type of food is governed by different spirits who must all be credited for their contribution to the meal. Exceptions only exist for a healing potion administered while bleeding out, or when speaking is impossible (and even then a prayer for forgiveness must be spoken immediately once doing so is possible). This has no mechanical effect, takes a few minutes (although an especially complex meal can take a longer), and is done mostly to placate the spirits. One practical joke commonly pulled on shamans of his tradition is to serve them dishes containing dozens of ingredients from separate categories to make them say an extremely tedious and drawn-out prayer.

Dumping waste products into water (this may have to do with his relationship with water spirits), or using water wastefully.

Denying medical care to anyone who asks for it. Except evil-aligned outsiders, because they are the incarnation of evil itself and never deserve mercy.

Resting his feet/shoes upon holy objects and buildings, including certain kinds of trees and stones. It's disrespectful to put one of the "dirtiest" parts of your body on something so revered and "clean". For this reason, many such places in his tradition (as well as many others) will designate a place to deposit footwear before entering.

[GungHo]

A bit more out there:


Wearing certain kinds of shoes.

Will get you weird looks:


Anything from one of the other two categories, but narrowed to some weirdly specific subset.


Yes, beware the Shaman Who Wears Prada.

[Gildedragon]

A supreme reverence of the planetouched, feytouched, spiritfolk as they are spirit-blooded (becomes a blubbering mess of "i am not worthy" or becomes extremely formal in his dealings with such folk)

drinking of wine is taboo as it is spoiled food (but regularly does harder things, because, well trance)

very precise methods of dress or undress

part of his meal must be consacrated to particular entities before eating (might be as little as a pinch of food and sip of the drink

cannot speak lies


...I would recommend looking through RL examples of taboos, from ethnographies to wikipedia, to things-people-do-around-important-sports-games

[MrNobody]

Avoid "ill omen" numbers (pick few of them). For example (selected numbers 4-7-11):
-never eat animals with 4 legs
-never sit at a table where, counting you, there'll be 4-7-11 people.
-if you have to choose between 4 numbered door, number 4 is out of discussion.
-never be the 4th,7th or 11th man to enter a room, or in a row.
-if you are going up the stairs, jump the 4th, 7th and 11th steps.
-when sharing the treasure, ask for a fraction of it that is different from 1/4, 1/7 and 1/11.
-if a spell requires you to fire 4 rays, fire only 3 of them, or find a way for firing 5.

This kind of taboo is complex and gives you the opportunity to develop more taboos within a single rule.

[Gildedragon]

Avoid "ill omen" numbers (pick few of them). For example (selected numbers 4-7-11):
-never eat animals with 4 legs
-never sit at a table where, counting you, there'll be 4-7-11 people.
-if you have to choose between 4 numbered door, number 4 is out of discussion.
-never be the 4th,7th or 11th man to enter a room, or in a row.
-if you going up the stairs, jump the 4th, 7th and 11th steps.
-when sharing the treasure, ask for a fraction of it that is different from 1/4, 1/7 and 1/11.
-if a spell requires you to fire 4 rays, fire only 3 of them, or find a way for firing 5.

This kind of taboo is complex and gives you the opportunity to develop more taboos within a single rule.

Hah! ask the DM if that roll on the D20 can be treated as the Fail number for you, and the 1 means roll again or something...

[MrNobody]

Hah! ask the DM if that roll on the D20 can be treated as the Fail number for you, and the 1 means roll again or something...

Plot twist: the chosen number is 20!:smallbiggrin:

[Studoku]

He's forbidden from bathing. The water spirits don't like it.