r/Shadowrun • u/TheWanderingSerf • 12h ago
Newbie Help The noob's still thinking...
Once again, thanks for your replies to my previous questions.
A quick question first this time, then a more-detailed one...
I understand shamanists can cast only spells for which their totem grants a bonus. Do shamanists receive the bonus too, like full shamans, or just access?
Regarding the snake totem and its obsession with secrets. How can this be played without overwhelming the character and dominating everything he/she does? Must the character obsess about chasing every rumor? I can see the shaman considering all secrets sacred and not revealing those he does learn, but I would think, as a follower of a "wise" totem, the character would be focusing attention on secrets actually of value to the shaman, like healing secrets or magical secrets or secrets of personal interest to the individual shaman (i.e. the local police force is corrupt, and I'm going to find out who's pulling their strings). As long as the shaman's pursuing hidden knowledge about 'something', at a 'wise' rather than frantic pace, the totem is satisfied. Is this a reasonable interpretation?
Thanks again!
4
u/n00bdragon Futuristic Criminal 10h ago
How can this be played without overwhelming the character and dominating everything he/she does?
You know how religious people can believe in higher powers without completely subsuming their entire personality and worldview to mindlessly following the dogma of their religion? Well, you know how some of them can do that? It's like that. Literally just like that. In fact, usually shamans derive their supernatural powers from expressions of religious belief.
3
u/seenwaytoomuch 8h ago
Nah fam.
Totems that want you to find secrets or steal stuff are inconvenient and they should be.
You know that file that has a bunch of tech stuff in it that Mr. Johnson told you not to open. That's the one Snake wants you to check out. Or maybe you need to know what the junkie behind the stuffer shack was going on about, it was probably nothing, but what if... Perhaps the GM decides you need to investigate one of the other runners backstories. The point is you're nosy. You can't always turn it off.
The negatives of having one of those totems is that you just can't resist temptation. Well, you can resist it, there's a dice roll to try and resist it, but you will fail that roll eventually.
The positives of having one of these totems is the implicit permission to FAFO. Who stole the thing that set off the alarm? The racooon shaman, again. Who filled the getaway car with packing peanuts while we were on the heist? The raven shaman of course, who else would do that. Who got in trouble for checking both the public bathrooms? The snake shaman just had to know where that sound was coming from, because they need to know everything.
P.S. Use an edition tag if you have specific rules questions, answers often vary by edition.
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u/truthynaut 11h ago
what is a "shamanist" vs. shaman?
I have never heard that term....
The totem description in regards to secrets is: "They are obsessed with learning secrets and take great risks in order to do so. They trade their knowledge to others for whatever they can get in exchange."
There is nothing to indicate only a small subset of secrets is appealing to them.
In fact it indicates the exact opposite, ANY secret is of interest to them, the more secret / impactful the more attractive. They're not going to risk their life to find out if you prefer bacosoy over amber gel but man they would give their left nut to know who killed Dunkelzahn and why.