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Antonok · 08-22-2011, 09:34 PM

Chapter 2: Aspects

Aspects are what the spirits a shaman channels are called. These aspects allow the shaman to take on features of different types of creatures. They come in many forms, some are physical, some are mental, and some take the form of special abilities the aspected creature may have. As such, aspects are put into three catagories:

Passive:Passive aspects take the form of small granted bonuses or abilities, such as the Scent ability or boosts to ability or skill checks. These are always active after the character channels the aspect, or until they release the aspect. The bonuses given by the aspects do not stack, and only the higher bonus applies.

Trait:Traits are the physical manifestations of the aspects. These might come in the form of a character’s fingernails or teeth growing into claws or fangs granting them attacks, or their skin hardening granting them damage reduction, or even the character sprouting small leaves over their body giving them the ability to heal a small amount of health over time. Traits are on-command manifestations that are always available while the aspect is channeled. A shaman may only channel one trait of a creature type at a time. Invoking a trait aspect is a free action that can only be done on your turn. Example: Azurin has an animal aspect bound that grants her the ability to grow fangs. Until she needs it, the aspect remains dormant and no changes are present. When she gets into combat, on her turn she may invoke the aspect to grow fangs granting her a bite attack. When she wishes, she can put the aspect back into its dormant stage and revert back to normal.

Utility: Utility aspects are the type of aspects that grant special abilities or attacks such as rage or a spell-like ability. These come in a wide variety depending on the creature type granting it. Activating a utility aspect consumes the energy that binds the aspect to the character, using the attack, but ending the channel. Example: Azurin channels an aspect that grants her a Scorching Ray spell-like ability and later, gets into a battle with a bugbear. She draws on the might of the channeled aspect to use the spell-like ability. After her attack, the channel ends is she is free to channel another aspect when she has the chance.

Channeling an Aspect:
To channel an aspect, the shaman must first make an Empathy skill check (see Chapter 3: Skills and Feats for further details) against the DC listed in the individual aspects description. If she succeeds on the check, she successfully starts channeling the aspect and it is available until she uses it (in the case of utility type aspects), or stops the channel (in the case of trait and passive aspects).
If the shaman fails the check, she fails to channel the spirit, but can attempt to channel it again immediately. This has real consequence outside of battle, but it represents the difficulty of trying to channel an aspect in battle.
Channeling an aspect is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. You may attempt to channel an aspect defensively, increasing the DC by 4, but not provoking an attack.

Saving Throw DCs:
If an aspect grants a saving throw, the DC is 10 + shaman level + relevant ability modifier as seen below:
Avatar of Nature: Charisma
The Apostle: Wisdom
The Possessed: Constitution

Shaman Level:
A shaman is the word used to describe the type of ‘casting’ this book details. As such, a characters shaman level is equal to how many levels they possess in a class contained within. Example: A 6th level Avatarof Nature has a shaman level of 6, while a wizard2/the possessed 4, would only have a shaman level of 4.

Ability Type:
Channeling an aspect is a supernatural ability, and therefore is subject to anything that affects abilities of this type.

Aspect List: Or whats done so far (makes the Avatar of Nature class playtestable anyhow)

Beast

Spoiler

Fey

Spoiler

Plant

Spoiler

*Still have ALOT more to come.