The shaman gets 5 fetish (not fetch) spirits just like a standard member of
the tribe.
(A fetish is an item with a spirit inhabiting it. A Fetch is the shaman's
spirit helper/external soul/guide).
> I guess you could describe fetches/integrated spirits that the shaman has
in
> his/her description/list, if you wanted the shaman to have more spirits
are
> the start of the game. Is this right?
Yes.
> Can a starting Animist non-shaman have more spirits than five by stating
> them in his/her description or list?
Yes, just specify them in the description. Specifying them usually (with narrator approval) means that you can "refill" the fetish between episodes for free.
Note that "refilling" a fetish is not necessarily replacing the "used"
spirit with another exactly like it. In Gloranthan reality, the tribesman
goes to his shaman and asks for a new spirit (probably giving appropriate
gifts, etc). The shaman goes to the Spirit World and defeats another spirit,
forcing it into a new fetish (in some traditions the shaman leads the
tribesman into the spirit plane and the tribesman fights the spirit). So the
narrator can:
a) Just give the player hero another spirit of the same type and might
(easiest for players in a bookkeeping way)
b) Give the player hero another spirit of more-or-less the same type,
possibly with a random Might
c) Let the player chose a spirit (within tradition limits) with a standard
Might (12)
d) Let the player roll on a table (which you'd need to create) to determine
the type of spirit, and another table or (or some sort of random roll) to
determine Might
e) Something else entirely...
> Looking at the Grazer character creation in the Yu-Kargazant keyword is it
> correct that only shamans can use spirits from the Yu-kargazant tradition?
> Does this mean that for example warrior cannot have a fetch of Flaming
> Weapon for example?
The Yu Kargzant tradition is the "religion" of male Grazers, La-Ungariant is the "religion" of female grazers. As such, the spirits of the YK tradition are those that all male grazers will have access to for fetishes or integration. Just as there are clear age lines in the Grazer culture, so there are limits on which "family" of spirits you can have - a young Rider only has access to Dastal the Hunter's spirits, frex. As a Grazer ages, he does not have to release his previous age group's spirits, so a Warrior starting character can still have spirits from Dastal's group, if he wishes. Also note that Age groups have restrictions on Integration of spirits - Riders can't do it at all, while warriors and above are allowed to integrate. Shamans are "outside" the Age groups, so even a young shaman may contact any spirit in the YK tradition (as long as he's male...).
> Within the Kolat tradition in Heortling Keywords it doesn't describe
special
> spirits or list example spirit types under the traditional spirits as the
> Grazer examples do. It would be nice if these were present.
Kolating shamans will (probably) be covered in more detail in the Orlanthi book, while the Grazers book will (probably) be a long time coming, plus Kolat is a minor magical sideline of Heortling society, which is why more effort was put into the Grazers than Kolat. If you need special spirits for Kolatings, work with the idea that they deal primarily with weather spirits. So wind, rain, snow, etc. are all good starting places to make up your special spirits. Look at the special spirits provided in the book and make similar specials for yourself.
(not that my "probably" means that I can't foretell the future - if Issaries gets a dynamite Grazer book that is ready to go to press *right now*, all bets are off)
Roderick
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