Arianna wrote:Spirit Shamans are basically a subclass of druids hence the nature catagories ....
Such would not be followers of Selune or become monks as the two classes are mutually exclusive I would think . .
I wholly agree with the latter, but can't see the reasoning behind calling Spirit Shamans pseudo-Druids. Sure, they share their spell list, but that seems to me a meta-consideration to keep the game manageable. And thus SSes get stuck with spells that boost Animal Companions - which they don't have. Or lose out on Charisma boosts, which would have improved their spellcasting as well as their interaction with spirits.
Spirit Shamans are
not Druids. They're nothing like Druids. They don't have the oath of Druids, the animal buddy of Druids or the Druid circles. I mean... Shamans deal with the undead, how much more undruidish can you get?
The Spirit Shaman is the team player of the natural world. They work with spirits great and small, the incorporeal spark of life within all things. From pacts and oaths, the shaman gains the camaraderie and power of these beings, allowing them to etch their will within the worlds of the living and the dead. As such, they are divine casters of a different bent than clerics and druids. While the cleric's powers come through faith and the druid's comes through communion, the shaman is more pragmatic, gaining their powers from whatever is nearby.
By bargaining with living spirits, the spirit shaman gains power over the natural world and mighty divine magic
This quote seems to agree with my position. Spirit Shamans are "natural" due to their primitive origins. They do not get their spells from Gods. Not directly and not through Nature.
Of course, in the forgotten Realms
all Divine magic must come from the Gods. But for Rangers we dropped any godly prerequisites - spellcasting Rangers of Bane or Gond are allowed (and canonically kosher).
If we feel the need to limit the Spirit Shaman gods, for whatever reason, shouldn't they be limited then to
spirit deities, rather than nature ones?