Notes on the Character Classes (SB)

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Basically, the character classes and their abilities were described in full in Chapter Two. This section is intended to alert DMs to potential abuses by players, and the occasional DM dirty trick, the abilities of the classes might lend themselves to.
==Tribal Shamans==
The shaman's tribe is very important to the character. DMs should give some thought to its nature, and work the detail out with the character's player. These details may have a great deal of influence on the character during play, particularly if your adventures are set in or around the tribe's lands. What does the tribe expect from the shaman, and what aid does it give? Does the shaman have superiors (or underlings) or is there no hierarchy amongst the tribe's Shamans? The sections at the start of the Chapter on the tribal shaman (Chapter Two) should give you some pointers and ideas. Watch for player characters who violate taboos when it seems convenient. These are the kind of shamans who wake up one morning without any spells.
==The Solitary Shaman==
If an animal contact spell is forcibly terminated before its duration has expired, such as with a dispel magic, the shock can have devastating effects on the shaman. For example, an element of the mind being contacted might stay with the caster. To determine the result of such an interruption, roll 2d6, add up the results and consult the following table:
===Table 9: Disrupted Animal Contact Results===
: 2-3: No adverse affect.
: 4: The caster is catatonic for Id6 turns.
: 5-6: The caster gains one phobia from the target of the view the animal's mind spell, such as a fear of dogs from a cat, a fear of cats from a mouse, and so on.
: 7-8: The caster gains one trait or mannerism from the nearest animal, such as growling when angry, sleeping curled up like a cat, or craving to catch his own food.
: 9-11: Each night the caster dreams of being an animal. The dreams may seem extremely real, and although they are harmless the character may come to believe that he or she is a lycanthrope, turning into a animal form each night.
: 12: Caster trapped inside the target of the view the animal's mind spell. The caster's original body dies. The shaman may still use any powers or magics (verbal and somatic components for spells are now replaced with suitable animal grunts and gestures), though it may prove difficult to get or, carry material components, or to make sacrifice to the spirits. Most skills and proficiencies are now useless; the shaman may speak in animal form, but his or her words sound very odd (guttural, rasping, etc., as appropriate to the animal).
===The Solitary Shaman's Benefits and Disadvantages===
Most of the solitary's Special Benefits and Special Disadvantages are quite straightforward, simply requiring bonuses or penalties to specified checks, or granting extra abilities and insights. Most of the descriptions in the players' section should be clear enough as they stand.
However, the 6th-level disadvantage is one players might "forget" to roleplay. If a shaman's player can be trusted to roleplay the handicap fully, then he or she is best left to do so. Interesting and amusing roleplaying episodes can arise from this. Imagine a thug trying to extort bribes from someone who cannot understand the lout's veiled threats, or a frightened local trying to subtly pass information on to the shaman. If the player cannot be trusted to roleplay this handicap, you might consider reporting most conversations to him rather than actually playing them through. Rather than, "The burly man smiles, revealing crooked and rotting teeth. He starts cleaning his fingernails with his dagger and says, 'I'd hate ta see anything happen to yer health, big boy,'" the DM might say, "The burly human pulls back his lips, revealing the teeth of an old animal, and wishes you good health. He is grooming himself at the same time." This then, forces the player to recreate his character's social ineptitude, because he doesn't know what's going on, either.
The 7th-level and 12th-level benefits also merit a brief word. Characters who gain these abilities have spirits as part of their everyday lives. The DM should no more mention every one's presence than he would mention every tree to a ranger. Explain if spirits are encountered during episodes of obvious interest, such as fights or dungeon crawls, and whenever the player specifically asks, but otherwise make it clear to the player that spirits are just a natural feature of the world. Emotion spirits, ancestors, hearth spirits, and disease spirits are all fairly common, after all, and probably of no immediate interest to the player or character.
===Abuse of Create Spiritknife (2nd-level)===
It might seem that this spell can be abused too easily, as solitaries can use it to mass-produce magical items to sell or to distribute among the other PCs. Firstly, however, consider how irate the spirits would become if a shaman started enslaving them en masse. He will eventually attract the enmity of powerful spirits in the area, and at the very least the spirit that empowers this spell may demand a reasonable explanation from the cavalier shaman. (The patron spirit may be particularly astounded if the shaman gave or sold spiritknives to characters who had lifestyles, beliefs or alignments of which it disapproved.)
Owning a spiritknife might be extremely unwise in and of itself. The spirits accept that a solitary or tribal shaman has a legitimate use for such a weapon, but the last thing that the spirits want is for the irresponsible or criminal to have the power to wound or destroy them. They will likely conspire against anyone whom they considered undeserving of such an item.
==The Spiritualist==
If a player chooses to play a spiritualist, it may be worth considering who the character's master was. From whom did the spiritualist learn his or her skills, and where is this person now? Broadly, DMs have three options here:
* The PC spiritualist has a master who does not care what he or she does, lives many leagues distant, or is dead. This needn't be as dull as it might sound: If the master is dead, the character may have inherited a number of trinkets, fetishes, or other treasures from him or her. A naive player would be delighted that the DM were so generous as to give the character these goodies, but the person or creature that slew the master may now be after the player character, perhaps hunting for one of the items the PC inherited.
* The player character has a master who is close by and expects occasional services from his or her ex-pupil. However, these missions are not without benefit for the player character, who may make a great deal of money or numerous contacts through performing these favors. Eventually the two may part company by mutual agreement, or the player character may have to use force to gain his or her independence.
* The player character has a tyrannical master, who often threatens and cajoles him. Perhaps the player character has sworn before a fetish spirit to obey the elder. As time goes on, however, the player character realizes that the master controls a number of other junior spiritualists, and by banding together they might manage to overwhelm him or her. If the master controlled the others by the use of some magical item, then the player character might even use it to command his or her master's other apprentices.
==Abuse of the Commune with Spirits Ability==
Selfish players whose characters repeatedly use this rituals can be a real pain. Some might use these as opportunities to hog all of the attention in the gaming group, or hope that by pestering the DM they might force him to give them absurd advantages or reveal clues that they can't be bothered to discover legitimately.
DMs who find that a player is abusing this power have several ways to stop the miscreant. The first step might be to have a quiet word with the player and suggest that he or she adopt a less selfish style of play. But if this proves futile, more forceful persuasion might be necessary.
Most crassly, the DM can gloss over characters' attempts, simply saying that the spirits have nothing interesting to say, or can rule that the nearby spirits have no interest in speaking with the shaman. If a shaman repeatedly pesters them without due cause, the spirits might well become irate and simply ignore such invitations.
Finally, the jealous attentions of one specific spirit might render a spiritualist's commune ritual useless: One potent spirit might follow the spiritualist around and appear as soon as the ritual is completed; and refusing to leave, thus blocking any other spirit from appearing and forcing the spiritualist to break off the communion. The spirit should be given a clear reason for doing this, such as attempting to force the spiritualist to perform a certain deed. If the DM does not make the spirit's motives convincing, however, the player is likely to realize that this is just a ploy to disempower the character and may become resentful.