Class deep dive

The Shaman: Spirits, Slows and the Planes of Power

If you played one, you remember the rhythm: slow the mob, buff the tank, sit, cannibalize, repeat. And you remember how often someone asked you for a buff.

“Closer to a tribal witch doctor”

The original EverQuest manual described the shaman as “similar to a Cleric, but closer to a tribal witch doctor,” a class whose primary focus is healing but who “can employ many augmentation and offensive spells as well.” The in-game class description calls shamans priests to the tribal races of Norrath, drawing on the power of the spirits: enhancing allies, and weakening or damaging enemies with disease, poison and cold.

That made the shaman one of the most self-sufficient classes in the game. Project 1999’s class guide sums it up as well-rounded — strong as a soloist or in a group — with the game’s most powerful slows and resistance debuffs, damage-over-time lines in both poison and disease, cold direct-damage nukes, and buffs that could raise every statistic except Wisdom and Intelligence by more than 50 points at higher levels. Shamans were also the only class that could practice Alchemy.

Sources: Project 1999 Wiki: Shaman · EverQuest Wiki (Fandom): Shaman

The slow: why groups wanted you

Slowing a monster cut how often it could swing, which kept tanks alive and healers in mana. Shamans had the strongest slow line in the game. On Project 1999’s classic-era spell list it looks like this:

Sources: Project 1999 Wiki: Shaman

The rest of the toolkit

The downside, as the Project 1999 guide admits, is that shamans “are always getting begged for spells,” and on raids most of your mana went to buffing and debuffing rather than damage. Anyone who has rebuffed a whole raid before a pull knows exactly what that means.

Class titles

Sources: Project 1999 Wiki: Shaman

Who could be a shaman

At launch the shaman races were Barbarians, Ogres and Trolls. The Iksar joined them with The Ruins of Kunark, and the Froglok later on. In 1999 only Barbarian shamans could walk freely into the good-aligned cities; Ogres and Trolls were killed on sight across most of the old world.

The Vah Shir

The Vah Shir arrived with The Shadows of Luclin on December 4, 2001: a tribal, feline race from Norrath’s moon, Luclin, whose home city is Shar Vahl. Their racial abilities are Safe Fall, Sneak and Infravision, and shaman is one of their classes, alongside bard, beastlord, berserker, rogue and warrior. Their lore says the Vah Shir once lived on Odus until a clash with the Erudites sent them to the moon. They pay homage to their king, Raja Kerrath, rather than to a god. For anyone who rolled a Vah Shir shaman, that meant starting life on the moon rather than in Norrath’s old cities.

Sources: EverQuest Wiki (Fandom): Vah Shir · Wikipedia: EverQuest expansions (The Shadows of Luclin) · Project 1999 Wiki: Shaman

The Spear of Fate: the shaman epic

Epic quests were added in September 2000, and the shaman’s was a long road. The quest is framed as walking the “path of the Heyokah,” a series of tests from the spirits:

• Trust — it begins when a lesser spirit appears after you kill one of several specific NPCs, and sends you to a drunk named Bondl Felligan in Freeport.
• Patience — you wait at the bottom of the sea in Erud’s Crossing while drowned NPCs try to talk you into leaving.
• Wisdom — you deal with two quarrelling paragons in the Rathe Mountains and earn the Shield of Falsehood.
• Might — Black Dire in Mistmoore (for the Black Fur Boots, which cast Spirit of Wolf), the City of Mist, High Scale Kirn in The Hole, and finally a Child’s Tear from the Plane of Fear.

The last turn-in goes to a Spirit Sentinel at the bottom of a pond in the Emerald Jungle. The reward is the Spear of Fate, which requires level 46 and carries the Curse of the Spirits effect.

Sources: Project 1999 Wiki: Shaman Epic Quest

The Planes of Power

The Planes of Power launched on October 29, 2002. It raised the level cap from 60 to 65 and added the Plane of Knowledge, a hub with portals across Norrath. Its endgame was the Plane of Time. To get in, you had to defeat the four elemental gods or their avatars. The full journey took 28 flag events, and some encounters needed up to 72 players working at once.

Progression, tier by tier

In 2002 you needed level 46 to enter the basic planes, and you earned access to the harder ones by completing flag events. The rule was later relaxed, so level 55 opened the Plane of Valor and the Plane of Storms, and level 62 opened the Bastion of Thunder. All the planes are reached from the Plane of Tranquility. The EverQuest Wiki groups them in tiers, from Disease, Innovation, Justice and Nightmare at the bottom, through Valor, Storms, Torment and the Crypt of Decay, then Rallos Zek’s fortress, the Halls of Honor, Solusek Ro’s temple and the Bastion of Thunder. Above those sit the four elemental planes, and finally the Plane of Time and Quarm.

Fennin Ro, the Tyrant of Fire

EverQuest’s own lore describes Doomfire, the Burning Lands, as a realm of volcanic mountains, lava geysers and petrified trees that burn forever — “a magnificent forest of obsidian pillars and crimson flames,” ruled by Fennin Ro, the Tyrant of Fire. He is also the father of Solusek Ro. If your home server was Fennin Ro, his plane was one of the last doors between your guild and the Plane of Time.

The Plane of Water, the Reef of Coirnav, is a coral reef ruled by Coirnav, an avatar created by the Triumvirate of Water to embody all three of them.

Sources: Wikipedia: EverQuest expansions — The Planes of Power · EverQuest Wiki (Fandom): Planes of Power Progression · EverQuest.com: The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 18 · EverQuest.com: The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 20

Playing a shaman today

Shamans are still in the game on the live servers, and Daybreak’s time-locked progression servers let you replay the eras in order. The Vah Shir are now available to every player, whether or not they bought Shadows of Luclin. Project 1999 recreates the Classic, Kunark and Velious eras, so it has no Luclin, which means no Vah Shir. A Vah Shir shaman like Jnais means playing on Daybreak’s servers. See Where to Play Today and EverQuest Today.

Sources: EverQuest Wiki (Fandom): Vah Shir · Project 1999 · EverQuest: Progression Servers guide

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Illustrations are original fan art made for this site, not in-game screenshots.