[RPG] What are the properties of Shaman Spirit

Ok, the answers to this question are basically:

• Normally no.
• Yes, in some circumstances
• There is nothing stopping you from flavoring your companion however you want to.

Let's start with the basics. Under normal circumstances you get one spirit companion. The power is worded in such a way that it only allows you to call your companion if you don't already have it in play.

Requirement: Your spirit companion must not be present.

However, certain powers, for instance the daily utility power Spirit Summons allow you to have multiple spirit companions out during an encounter.

Lastly, you're basically free to flavor your spirit companion however you want to. If you want it to be a Phoenix on one summons and a Thunderbird on another and characterize them differently based on which one appears (or summon different ones based on the circumstances) that would likely be a welcome bit of roleplaying. It wouldn't really have any mechanical effect, but it would certainly be an interesting class feature.

To sum up. Normal rules allow you to only have a single spirit companion at a time, but as with most rules, there are exceptions though it appears that's the only one. If you want to have two spirit companions you'll have to wait until L10 and even then it's restricted to once per day. That said, nothing is stopping you from having both these animals as your spirit companions, provided that only one is out at a time.

Be careful not to confuse the two entities shamans work with: one is a spirit, the other is a living animal representing that spirit in the physical world.

First, no, the spirit animal is not an animal companion. It is a living creature that mostly works like a wizard's familiar:

[The Spirit Animal] ability uses the same rules as the wizard's arcane bond class feature and [the spirit animal] is treated as a familiar, except as noted below.

So it can only fight for you as much as a familiar normally can, using its natural abilities. It doesn't advance like a druid's animal companion, and if it's killed you're hooped for spellcasting for at least a little bit.

Yes, you need to have your spirit animal with you to prepare spells, as it is the conduit to the source of the shaman's spells:

A shaman must commune with her spirit animal each day to prepare her spells.

So, a concrete example might help. If you have a bond with the Spirit of Otters, you would commune with that spirit via a living otter, which is called your spirit animal. If the otter is slain, a new otter would have to be found to serve as a conduit to the Spirit of Otters. The otter can fight for you, but that's risky and otters are not great fighters, nor will the otter ever become a great fighter.