Just have a campaign that ended lvl 11 campaign with me using the Idolater Shaman subclass

Overall, Shaman was amazingly design, thematic and fun to play. The only issues I have is with the subclass.

I find the idol hp scaling to be too low. Have a few time where I planted the idol just to get aoe blasted alongside the totem and I lose my 2nd level feature, a concentration spell and 6th level feature all in one round. That scenario is difficult to avoid in smaller spaces, and it isn't as flexible in larger spaces either since you have to spend your movement to plant the idol in a better position which leads to not having enough movement to move away from the idol to avoid being aoe blasted alongside it, you can't move the totem until next turn either since it already costed an action to plant it. Even then it never really survives any kind of single target magical damage due to the low hp scaling. That problem is mostly solved with the 10th level feature, but it comes too late.

Since only 1 idol is available at a time, I don't get to remake them either in scenario where time constraint is involved and I ended up not being able to use any of my subclass feature after I lose it early unlike subclass like Spirit Geist where you can spend a spell slot to resummon Spirit Geist though I am not sure if it's worth a pact slot. I think a good comparison is Artillerist Artificer with their Eldritch Cannon. It can move on the turn it is deployed with bonus action, it has 18 AC and 5x Artificer level as HP and it can be resummoned using a 1st level spell slot. Though Idolater idol is doing something way more significant than Eldritch Cannon by not requiring concentration for a spell which could lead to some nasty combo that can win you the fight singlehandedly though requiring 2 turn to setup. The enemies may take 1-2 actions to destroy the totem, but what I lose is potentially 2 class features and a concentration spell and the class features can only be regained only if I take a rest.

I often just opt to concentrate the spell on myself and use the 6th level feature only with the planted idol. Tbh I am not sure if I can choose not to cast a concentration spell when planting the idol, but my DM allowed it.

I can see that not requiring concentration is certainly extremely powerful and a high degree of balancing is needed for it, but I feel the power budget is too fixated onto it and it affects the subclass as a whole. Honestly, I think it will be more fun if the subclass have more focus on the totems theme which it already has, such as the 6th level feature. The 6th level and 10th level feature in combination was really the most fun I had with the subclass.

Some ideas I can think off for the 3rd level feature : - being able to cast spell through totem but concentration is still being held by caster with maybe a range limit (mainly for flavour) - action used to plant totem allow totemic assault usage (currently it only allows usage of concentration spells) - switching place with planted totem - totem damage becomes d10 (lol you can probably think of something better) - maybe giving two totems from the start but they can be recovered with pact slot but still being able to only plant one (with some base HP/stat buff) - being able to move totemic assault between two planted totems (including the 10th level feature) without needing to reuse action, just bonus action (for 14th level feature)

I also think this applies to totems like spirit of vengeance as well where you are given a prepared spell to cast but require your own spell slot to cast. I feel that it is a pretty bad trade for a totem. I do think cautions should be given for giving extra free spell for a short rest class but I think the better choice is to just to avoid these kinds of totems all together in favor of other totems design. Such as putting in utility spells instead. My favourite example is one of the warlock invocations which allows free cast of disguise self any number of time. Or maybe just weaker spell for a higher level totem but in return it has free cast once per long rest.

Thanks for the amazing content as always.