Shaman are currently under development. And seeing as how it's my first attempt at a class or even making actions I'm leaving the class restricted for now. But it's been unlocked for people to see it and give advice.
-Nick-
I was going for a hybrid of several classes, with abilities of several different classes but not the power of the separate classes. Shaman can heal but not in melee radius nor as powerfully as the disciple. They can fight with melee but not as powerfully as the melee classes and certainly the casting ability will be dwarfed by the abilities of the true caster classes.
As far as a distinctive ability that no other class can do will be a challenge. This is why I have not deemed the class developed. They need a certain draw. Something that makes players want to sacrifice the other melee, healing, and caster classes for this hybrid. As far as them being too powerful then we can tweak the abilities to do less damage for the cost. Much like how you wanted to Nerf the druid's shape change ability to 2/3 or even up to half of the druids level.
I'm sure we'll come up with something. Besides this may be a second season class. Thanks for your input. And I'm looking forward to more.
maybe allow shaman to have a kind of aura ability...they could only have one active at a time and it would either do something bad to enemies or do something good to party members. idk
"she looked into your eyes / and saw what lay beneath / don't try to save yourself the circle is complete."
I like the idea. It's reminiscent of paladins in World of Warcraft (incidentally, that's another class we're considering for inclusion). My only question is how the effect of the aura is communicated. If it's up and, I assume, continuously active, how do people know when and how it affects them? If the shaman would have to announce it every time, does it make more sense as a discrete effect, like the various disciple blessings?
By all means, continue to refine the idea. If you can find a way to make it work in a LARP, I think it's worth exploring.
I'd say it's looking good. Remember to give some thought to the other classes as you develop this one. It's fine for a class to be better than other classes at something, so long as they're not better in every way. For instance, I see that shaman's have both melee attacks and packet-delivered elemental attacks. Do you believe this makes them better than, say, the warrior, who only has melee attacks?
A fine balancing factor here might be in the shaman's performance requirements. If they're a melee/caster hybrid who can inherently do more than another class, maybe they have to use verbals.
Possibly more important than balance, of course, is distinction. What is it this class can do that no other class can? Warriors can taunt, savages can self-buff with rage, rogues can conceal themselves, warlocks can drain, etc. Come up with some ability or combination of abilities that makes shamans stand out. If you have to create a new component to do so, just let me know and we can iron out the specifics.
Remember, when you have a hard time choosing between the shaman and other classes, you're probably on the right track.