While druids seek to preserver the balances of nature an all that bloody stuff.. Creators seek to usher in a new era of nature.
Creators come in three types right now.
Undead, Animal, Mechanical.
An Undead Creator is basically a necromancer. Cept instead of creating mindless undead to serve under him, he creates monstrous creatures that can only really be described as true living dead.
Basically they are creatures who often have a partial zombified and partially skeletal bodies that act similar to their normal counterparts. A living dead squirrle for example wouldn't really crave human flesh, nor would it sit around moaning all day or really even decay for that matter.
This is one I need to work on more..
The Animal Creator is the one who is responsible for things like platapui Vizzerdrixes and owlbears. They have the ability to rip apart animals and replace parts of them with other animals. (This isn't just animals mind you. This also includes humanoids and magical beasts.)
The Mechanical Creator creates things like living golems. They seek to create a world filled with metallic creatures. (Think Mirriodon from MTG.)
Each of the creators slowly beings developing traits from their respected focus. So an animal creator might end up repalcing his legs with those similar to a deer. A mechanical might have metal embedded into his skin, and undead creator might have a skeletal hand..
I like this concept. Do you have any details or class abilities worked out yet? I think this class's wild shape could have potential for coolness (Death Shape,anyone?)
Well the dead creator would be prof with the normal armors afforded to a druid. Their limitation on armor pretty much is that it has to be crafted from dead creatures. (wood armor doesn't count.)
So they could wear a breastplate or other heavy armors as long as it is made out of dead things.
The Animalist, I'm tempted to say they cannot wear any armor.
The Mechanist can only wear metal armors. When not wearing metal armor, they lack their connection and have a harder time dealing with their magics.
The 'wildshape' ability of the mechanist depends on what kind of armor they are using a bit. Fullplate armor gives them the largest benifit of course, as it transforms into the mechanics new skin.
Unlike a normal druid, instead of "violating" any code, they instead suffer ASF even though they are divine if they are not wearing appropriate equipment. For the mechanist, the ASF for the light armors kinda works in reverse.
The important thing is to create a link between their focus and themselves. So a mechanist who is in shackles would have some ASF lowered or even removed. a Dead Creator, would be able to use things related to death.
Its a bit complciated right now, cause I haven't figured exactly how it should work. Once I do, It should simplify
I def like the idea of the Dead wearing deadstuff armor. I think you might have a bit of a balance issue with the mechanist having to wear heavy armor,and being rewarded if it's heavier. The whole point of ASF is that you sacrifice the better armors. Being forced to wear better equipment isn't really a penalty.
Myself I'd scale down the spellcasting and make it more minion master oriented,but I don't think that's what your going for.
So:
Maybe they have a focus item that occupies a body slot? And maybe could have more,effectively sacrificing slots for amped class abilities?
Just some thoughts,might be miles from what your thinking.
I really like the idea of the Animalist not wearing any armor. Maybe they could get a natural armor bonus to compensate,which they would lose if they wore armor.
i haven't checked out the Summoner yet,but I understand that they can customize their Eidolon/minion/thingy. Is that sort of what your going for with this?
That's the point of ASF yes, but this is intended to be something similar different.
I'd guess something like a concentration check if they are in inappropriate armor would be a more appropriate event.
The Idea is more to be an anti-thesis (I think that's the word) of a normal druids restrictions. Normal druids don't wear metal armors because it severs their connection with nature and all that.
Like wise the mechanist wants to be surrounded in what his focus is, which is metal.
One of the biggest features is the Shifting.. which is where the character shifts to become more like what they wish to create. The mechanist would probably have a slower shifting progression, as they are mostly happy in heavier armors, while the Animialist would have a greater progression of shifts.
The Idea started mostly around the idea of Anthropomorphic animal and awaken animal. What druid in their right mind would constantly go around and cast those spells as they actually kinda go against the whole revering of nature thing.
I was thinking a bit further on the mechanist..
His ability of "wildshape" is dependent on his armor. I don't have any real examples.. But think about it as the armor becoming his actual skin. Totally different from most transformations..
The bonus is that you gain a number of Temporary HP based on the armor and the HP of the armor. When you go out of the wildshape, the damage done to your temp hp, is applied then to the armor... Your weapons you aquire in the transformation use whatever matieral your armor was made out of. Later versions, if you want to become say, an Adamantine Golem, you would need adamantine fullplate.
Of course that's the rules as intended.
First off Shifting. The process in which the character slowly develops aspects of their focus.
Creators have 1 less spell slot per level than normal druids. They also do not get the "wildshape" until level 6 at least.
Animalists have the ability to gain a new shift every other level. First few shifts are from the animalists minor catagory, Then a few later from the major, and finally a last couple from the greater category.
Some Minor ones..
Tail: You grow some sort of animal tail (you decide) giving you a +2 on balance checks. This does not give any other special abilities of that animal.
Tooth and Nail: You gain a bite attack of 1d3 piercing damage, and two 1d2 claw attacks. You now clearly have sharp animalistic teeth and claws giving you a +2 on intimidate checks.
Animal Swiftness: You develop a habit of walking on your toes instead of your whole foot. While no real physical change has happened, your basic land speed increases by five feet.
Of course names, descriptions and the like are subject to change here..
At second level, Mechanist Creators gain the ability to walk on metal.. called Magnetized step. It functions similar to spider climb, but only works on metal for 1 round per character level.
The creator gets a new list of spells, and then each type of creator gets a list of "bonus" spells.