What am I supposed to do with Shamen?

[Chazar]

I'd agree that he looks like a sensible researcher: 3,6 Gold Upkeep per turn for 4 RP does make some sense indeed...

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
So what do YOU use him for? (Especially tips on early- mid game appreciated here)?

Researchers - assuming a magic scale

Site searchers - Arcane probing, Haruspex with a Mace

Curse - the bane of most SCs

Behemoth enhancers - etherealize them first, can also cast Luck on them, and keep them healthy with Healing Light

Communion - using shamen as both slaves and masters, gives access to many useful level 3+ astral and nature spells (see LIZARDS GONE WILD in Alex's thread)

Protection vs hostile rituals like Mind Hunt or scrying spells

Forging - many useful items available at astral-1 & nature 1-2 (again, the Mace)

Cheap enough to be worth risking even if the opposition can field better (but more expensive) mind duellists - eg, vs Mystics, out of 36 tries you win 10, draw 5 , and lose 21. Weighted results: (15 * 180 - 26 * 110) / 36 = 4.44 gold - that's your expected relative loss to Arco in mage value, so it's insignificant enough to take the risk. Don't forget to use Light of the Northern Stars in these situations though.

That's all I can think of just now, but I'm sure I'm missing lots of other things shamen are good for.

[Anglachel]

They make great pets.

[Kel]

They aren't as good for C'tis as they are for non-nature nations (when you find indie shamans).

Their sacred attribute makes them somewhat mediocre researchers.

They do shine in two areas.
One is they can commune and make relief/mass protection squads. Of course, I like Miasma the best so that's using 440 gold instead of a 220 gold marshmaster

The other is that they can arcane probe for astral sites and then make some handy 1S items, like AMA and luck ammy (in addition to the arcane probing)

For C'tis, they aren't great but they aren't useless, imo, kind of run of the mill. For nations that can't get access to relief/mass protection, they are highly useful.

- Kel

[ June 20, 2004, 16:45: Message edited by: Kel ]

[Blitz]

They may not seem like much, but believe me I wasn't happy to see him replaced by a FD mage in the new desert tombs. Most of these have been mentioned, but here's my list.

1) mind deul
2) healing light
3) with banner of the northern star and power of the spheres can cast the very good S3 combat spells. (especially nice with miasma and it's water gem income... clams for everybody!)
4) Arcane Probing, Harspex w/ thistle mace
5) can forge luck pendant, antimagic amulet
6) a really nice communion slave
7) C'tis' cheapest researcher

[Endoperez]

Astral is NICE. Even one point. Starshine Skullcap or Crystal coin is enough to let you start making Skullcaps en masse, and you already get Nature-2 mages to get Thistle maces...

I view Couatl as a quaranteed way to give you access to Astral-2 Shamans if everything else fails. It is expensive, but you don't really need more than one or maybe two Couatls: one equipped with Starshine Skullcap and Moonvine Bracelet (it was +Astral, not +Nature, wasn't it?) is very nice Astral 5 if you are after that, and the same equipment with some Nature boosters given to one of your Shamans or Astral Sauromancers/ Marshmasters lets them to forge more Moonvine bracelets. Aand after THAT you have access S3 mages able to cast Acashic Record without need for more Couatls.

Shamans are not something to build a strategy for, but I think C'tis does better with them than without.

[tinkthank]

Thanks!

- Moonvine bracelets give +nature, not +astral

- I cant forge any +astral items with a shaman, however, so that means I need to cast Coatl (expensive, and also level 7 conjuration! ouch, definately not early-mid game for me), or put some astral on my pretender.

I'm a huge fan of starshine skullcaps; I also love astral nations (my favorite is Tien Chi, not really an "astral nation", but as S&A I get astral 2 before too long).
Banner of the Northern Star is of course great -- but I'll be damned if I can get a shaman to make one.