Skip to content

RPG with Shaman/druid classes

DragonKingDragonKing Member Posts: 1,977
I've recently had the urge to want to play some games with shaman and druid style classes over my usual mage and wizards. Do any members have any game recommendationa?


Note:
The class/job has to in some way specifically deal with the general idea shamans usually get viewed, dealing with spirits or spiritual based magic and I'll even accept elemental magic.

Druids... Kinda obviously.


Thanks a bunch,

Comments

  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    Nobody is gonna want to hear this, but World of Warcraft has my absolute favorite interations of both Druids and Shamans.
    BelgarathMTH
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    While not exactly an RPG, I heartly recommend checking out Mulaka. That shamanic acion adventure game does animism a nice service. Moon Hunters could also quell your thirst for an RPG with playable Shaman/Druid characters. And to some extend Please The Gods
    as well. Maybe it's also interesting for you to keep an watchful eye out for the upcoming Adore, given its creature summoning theme.

    There's also Witanlore: Dreamtime if you fancy playable humanoid bears. Be warned though that the studio suspended all works last summer... dooming this Early Access game to most likely be forever in an incomplete state. Still, it's only €0.79 if you want to buy it anyway.

    As for general RPG's which have the Shaman class: there's always Grim Dawn.
    Grond0BelgarathMTH
  • DragonKingDragonKing Member Posts: 1,977
    @Kamigoroshi
    I'm loving the look of that please the gods and moon hunters... even that mulaka looks nice from a design perspective.

    @jjstraka34
    Yea I know wow gas them but I'm not really looking for subscription MMOs right now.
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    I think the recent Shadowrun games have druids. Specifically dealing with spirits and fetishes.
  • DragonKingDragonKing Member Posts: 1,977
    @ThacoBell
    With the acception of Hong kong, I've already played those, thanks.
    ThacoBell
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    edited February 2020
    @DragonKing , I think an important element that is missing from your summary of "druid/shaman" is the idea of "the Balance, the Harmony".

    Anyhoo, more on topic, I'd recommend Might and Magic Heroes 6 for this, but only if you play the tutorial campaign and then go straight to the Stronghold campaign.

    There are also "druid-balance-harmony" inspired ideas in the other campaigns. Necromancers just want to protect their minds from being controlled the way all bodies can be controlled via magic, and bring their loved ones back. Humans want to serve "the Light" but are hopelessly lost in their own hubris and warlike nature. Nagas and other aquatic realm species just want to be left alone and be free of interference from other factions. Everybody wants to fight the demons, who are otherworldy, Lovecraftian invaders who want to transform "the Harmony" into a demon-friendly Hellscape, but the non-demon factions are far too often caught up in their own inter-faction squabbles to address the real threat.

    Arundel in Icewind Dale has some interesting ideas about "the Balance", which can be made more prevalent if you play a druid or ranger as "main character" and construct the rest of the party around that idea.

    Maybe I'm being Captain Obvious to say it, but the shaman and totemic druid classes in BG, well, duh, as long as you do a bit of head canon about the rest of the "irrelevant" story elements about it.

    Playing a druid in Neverwinter Nights 2 can lend itself to this fantasy, especially since Elanee is also a druid, and the main story centers around a corruption in "the Balance" and in druid magic from almost the beginning. You also get a cool animal companion if you play druid or ranger. You can do that in Neverwinter Nights 1 as well, but the story doesn't really have anything to do with "the Harmony".

    Diablo 2 has a "druid" class that can summon crows and/or wolves, as well as a lot of elemental-based attack magic.

    Grim Dawn has a variety of "druid" and/or "shaman" builds. You can summon a thorn based treant like creature, or that and crows, and/or air elementals, and build various elemental damage types into your weapon and skills.

    Both Kotor 1 and Kotor 2 have the well-known "Jedi Knight" and Star Wars versions of "the Balance" throughout the games.

    Might and Magic 6 and 7 let you play a druid that is basically a cleric-mage. They are four-person party games where you create the other three party members as you like. You can even be a party of four druids if you like.

    The cipher class in Pillars of Eternity seems very close to what you want. Also, the entire setting deals with the power of spirits or "souls", the way those have been corrupted by the villain of the piece in PoE 1, and the phoniness of the so-called "gods", especially in PoE 2. PoE also has a great animal companion for rangers, and a great polymorph self ability for druids.

    If I really, really want to indulge my inner druid, both NWN games are my go-to games, because of the animal companion and the whole "Druid-zilla" trope of 3rd edition making me feel really powerful in my druid fantasy. Few games that I know can compare.

    EDIT: Oh, yes, if you like Greek, Egyptian, Asian, and Celtic mythology, Titan Quest has a "Nature" mastery that has a well-known "pet master" build including wolves, especially the wolves, and also a nymph summons. From a choice of other secondary masteries you can get a "Core Dweller", basically an earth elemental, and a few others. One of the most popular is the "Lich", but that doesn't go with the druid fantasy, unless you want to subvert it into a necromancer fantasy. The "Lich" is part of the "Spirit" mastery, which has quite a few skills you might find interesting for your fantasy, including a "Chill Aura" that looks like a big cloud of ghostly spirits encircling your character as you play.

    EDIT 2: The shadow warrior from Sacred 2 might suit your fancy, as he has an "Astral Warrior" build that includes an aura of spirit warriors that fight for him, and even a skill in that specialty that will allow him to kind of "spirit walk" around the game invulnerably and invisibly as the spirit warriors and a special spirit fortification he can summon and drop at will that fires ballista bolts in all directions fight for him. That particular infamous shadow warrior build basically breaks the game, as once you get it maxed, you can just drop the spirit warriors and the spirit fortification at will and let them fight and play the game for you.
  • WarChiefZekeWarChiefZeke Member Posts: 2,651
    If you haven't played the two Dark Sun games, they're worth checking out. I almost always use druids there myself, and with the elemental sphere system two druids with separate spheres will play differently. Personally I use a Water Druid/Psionic as an insta-death dealer, while a Fire Druid has alot more damage spells and goes good with mage. Not a whole lot in terms of PC roleplaying options as a druid, but you meet alot of them and Dark Sun druids bridge the gap between druid-shaman as it is. A good intro to the setting.


    The City of Heroes MMO, when it was around, had a cool variety of nature based power sets great for a druid character. Anything from animal summoning to support to damage sets, though you couldn't take em all at once.
Sign In or Register to comment.