This may sound incredibly ignorant but I'm truly curious any answers will be appreciated. Is it possible for a shaman to have more than one totem,without having to be a pantheist shaman. For that matter how exactly does a totem "claim" a shaman. I know that in 4th edition there is latent awakening..when a shaman would awaken how does the totem chose him/her both rp and mechanics wise? Why would/wouldn't it be possible to have more than one totem? or perhaps multiple of the same totem?

You cannot have more than one Mentor Spirit advantage at a time, so the answer is no. That said, there's no reason why you couldn't have a dual-aspect Mentor spirit, representing a twin entity. You'd only get one set of benefits, though.

Well that answers one of my many questions Cain. Thanks. However I'd like to know fluff-wise why that is. *whistles for AH* Also Cain I'd like to know why you can't have a shaman with two totems perhaps only getting one set bonus but still rp'ing with the other. Sure there'd be no reason other than having two opposite forces tugging on the same shaman. I suppose It doesn't matter what the other totem is you won't get the bonus for it correct?

You can. That's what I meant when I mentioned a twin-aspect Mentor Spirit. You could write up a yin-yang Mentor spirit, with only one set of bonuses but conflicting RP. The bonuses could be derived from the conflict between the aspects.

For example, someone could worship a Female-aspected totem in the three guises of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. You could worship the three aspects equally, but only have one set of bonuses. RP-wise, this would lead to an intriguing mix.

And even the prospect of progressing from one aspect of the Mentor to another, as the aspects are seen to do in the mythology.

Thanks to you Cain and pbangarth. I still want to know fluff wise..about how totems claim a shaman and such. *lights the AH skylight* This is strictly for rp in an upcoming game. So any input will be beneficial.

I quote Shakespeare:
It's up to your roleplaying. The nature of Mentor Spirits and the bond to their magicians is never made clear so players can have fun with some open fluff. So Yeah

If you need some ideas, research a little bit about initiatory rites of your tradition. Spirit Quests into the astral where you meet your Totem at a common place or it could be a simple pattern that inspires you to do things. You can go and court an appropriate spirit to talk with it's "Higherup". Or the Totem appears in your dreams and tells you "Know what? I like ya. I give you some magical knacks and you deal in my behalf in the physical world, howzit?"

Read "Never Deal with a Dragon" the first book in the "Secrets of Power" trilogy, for one example of a person that wakes up late in life, and how he discover his totem.

Lars

How a Totem comes to a shaman is one of the great mysteries of magic. Many in shamanistic traditions believe the shaman and Mentor Spirit are linked from the shaman's birth, but undergo a ritual at some point in their life where they realize that attachment to their Totem. Some traditions don't agree with that and believe that the magician chooses the Mentor Spirit, striking some sort of spiritual bargain with the Mentor. Others, particularly hermetic traditions, believe the Mentor Spirit is a reflection of the magician's own psyche.

Who is right? All of them, probably!

What they said. SR3 had rules for your actual pantheistic shamans (or idolaters, etc.) but no edition has had any rules or fluff for shamans with two totems...well, no, that's not quite true. There was a Coyote shaman who dreamed of his totem animal getting eaten by ants that became an Ant shaman, went nuts and tried to summon a queen. More of a transition thing.

In real life mysticism and anthropology, you don't generally have people with more than a single totem/patron/etc. that they identify with - or if they do identify with more than one, it's generally because of some shared aspect. Aleister Crowley, for example, identified himself with "the Great Beast" (given his proclivities, this was probably the Horned Man idol rather than the Dark King, but you never know...).