Just thought I’d mention that the shaman’s spirit companion is a conjuration, and the conjuration rules at the back of PH2 (page 220) mention that conjurations aren’t affected by the environment, “the conjuration does not need to be supported by a solid surface, so it can float in the air.”

I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the book. It was a blast to work on.

Very true about the Shaman, but the damage actually done by such an attack is minor (about half of the damage taken by the spirit). It is also not subject to crits, bonus damage, etc. And even the bad guy’s big super power still only does 5+1/2 level damage. And even then, only if it exceeds your spirit companion’s damage threshold.

So, yes, the Shaman will be taking damage, if the DM wants to make him take damage, but it is far, far less than any melee character will be.

Unless the DM is specifically targetting him.
.-= Graham´s last blog ..CriticalAnkleBites and ChattyDM pretend to be journalists =-.

(It took my DM a few sessions to realize that he could smash the Shaman who hid in the backrow by pulverizing his Spirits. Not so much an issue, since Intelligence is an AC boosting stat but still, it’s lower than the team’s Paladin.)
So yeah, the Shaman CAN be a ranged class, just like the Druid CAN be a ranged class, depending on their power selection. But it’s a weird hybrid on the ranged/melee front, I guess it what I’m saying.

I don’t know if I would agree that the Shaman sacrifices a lot to have Hide Expertise pay off. Much like the Con-Based Barbarian, the other half of the PHB2 Shamans are Con-Shamans, after all. Then again, I’m a sucker who’s characters often have a higher secondary attribute than their primary. See my love for weirdo builds above as a slight explanation.
-Jared

This also means that a Str/Con Barbarian, or Wis/Con Druid, etc, doesn’t need to pump a third stat (not much, but still) to have a decent AC. My opinion thus far is that it’s a minor balancing mechanism to counteract the MAD of some of the primal classes.
.-= Graham´s last blog ..CriticalAnkleBites and ChattyDM pretend to be journalists =-.

True, but remember that the Shaman is a ranged class. They don’t need AC quite as much as melee combatants.
.-= Graham´s last blog ..CriticalAnkleBites and ChattyDM pretend to be journalists =-.

I’m sorry that I can’t really speak to how the new hide armor feat will effect AC balance between classes, but I will say that I trust the designers of 4E so far that this won’t be an unbalancing thing. I think it’s an interesting decision to make Primal classes better with Hide armor, creating a sort of theme with hide armor / animals / natural characters, but I think one of the issues here could be that hide armor is the best type of light armor so many classes (mostly non-primal) strive to wear it and this seemingly gives primal classes an unfair advantage with it. I’ll probably take a look at all of the classes that can wear hide, what their Con needs to be, and how this all balances out.

You won’t find any disagreements about field testing from the D&D designers. When we interviewed Andy Collins at Gencon:

ANDY: I think we learn about our own design all the time. Fourth Edition went through nearly three years or design and development, but the day it left the building, by the next morning it had been played by more people than played it throughout the entire three years. And that’s going to lead to observations that, maybe, we hadn’t made.

.-= Graham´s last blog ..CriticalAnkleBites and ChattyDM pretend to be journalists =-.

It is interesting to see how things get balanced after the fact with 4th edition. New feats, class features, powers, and equipment all come together to subtly tweak AC & Attack bonuses in the higher tiers. I will say this though: Playing Dungeon Delve at Epic shows me that stuff that looks unbalanced isn’t really that crazy, depending on the circumstances. And hell, it makes me wonder how many of the people complaining actually regularly play at that level…from the DDM Skirmish crowd I can tell you that field experience trumps forum speculation most days of the week.

It really doesn’t help anyone that actually needs better AC, which bugs me. I like a lot of the rest of the book, though.

Are the fixes for Swarm Druid (they’re Wis/Con, right?) and Bear Shaman AC?

Storm Warden is the second build that lets you use your Con for AC and when you use your second wind you slide enemies marked by you and they become slowed. I think that’s a bit more dynamic use of their mark, but more so I think they made heavy use of the marks in the new powers presented (especially those for the Storm Warden build). Gale Strike is a level 1 encounter attack that does your Con. modifier to each enemy marked by you if it hits.

The Swarm Druid has a very interesting mechanic, when you’re in beast form and not wearing heavy armor you reduce the damage from melee and ranged attacks by your Con. modifier (close and area attacks still do full damage). In addition a large percentage of the new druid powers are swarm / insect themed and the Primal Swarm encounter powers all have cool abilities that let you shift through enemy spaces or move around more freely. It definitely falls firmly into the realm of “weird builds”, and the paragon paths are even cooler – Luminescent Swarm & Whirling Samara.

Oh and because I’m a huge Druid fan: What’s the mechanical benefit of the Swarm Druid? I’m a sucker for weird builds.
-Jared