The fact they're aberrations kind of puts them outside the authority of druids. Fun idea, though.
The fact they're aberrations kind of puts them outside the authority of druids. Fun idea, though.Ok special Archetype druid that favors more into Aberrations than animals. Aberration shape ability lol ^_^ Dungeon Druid?
Well, okay. Sure. We are the "Tellers of Tales", are we not? So tell me what a druid that commands aberrations as companions is all about...?
Aberrations don't have to have anything to do with dungeons. Here’s one way you could play it…
Druids that command aberrations view them as simply a step in the evolutionary chain that may or may not become the norm depending on how successful they are, how many others are born with the aberration, and blind luck.
Say a fish is born with gills that allow it to walk on land, albeit in a limited fashion. None of the other fish can, obviously this fish is an aberration to the norm. But its ability allows it to forage for food where other fish can’t and escape purely aquatic predators. It manages to not only survive but also thrive and has young that inherit the same ability. Years later it’s now a new species of fish.
An aberration oriented druid looks for creatures that are unique or have unique traits and tries to give them the chance to shine, grow, and thrive without being done in by some random misfortune thereby allowing nature to grow, adapt, and strengthen more rapidly.
Short version: They are about evolution.
What makes something an Aberration anyways? The normal fauna of a native beholder or ilithid world would all be considered aberrant if found on a mainstream world. To me aberration just means alien. It's still got to be part of an ecosystem somewhere. An alien druid would be an interesting angle.
Would they still try and alter animals around giving them different traits to enhance them?
I’d say it’d depend on their alignment. A good druid would be more prone to protect or relocate existing aberrations in an attempt to give them a chance to shine. An evil druid might have no problems experimenting and trying to help nature along, so to speak. A neutral druid could go either way but wouldn’t want to risk hurting the animals or plants he wanted to modify and would want to be sure he wasn’t doing more harm then good so it’d take him longer if he did at all. At least those are my views on it.
If in fact it was a Alien druid what might his wildshape be and animal companion options be.
Most likely those abilities would replicate natural creatures from the world/plane that he originates from. You’d have to have an idea what those would be first of course which would probably take a bit of work. To simplify you might try creating a template and say that for the most part similar creatures exist but have the template applied to them then fluff the appearance a bit and your good to go. If you try something like that don’t forget that the template shouldn't really make the creatures stronger just different. Otherwise the entire power would need to be rebalanced.
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I really like the idea of an aberrant druid who gains a pool of evolution points for his animal companion (like a Summoner), but whose companion does not gain the usual benefits of reaching a pivotal level.
Example: My aberrant druid (We'll call her Abby) has seen a lot of things in her day. She grew up around all sorts of anomalous creatures and terrain, and it has influenced her profoundly. She travels with Bernstein the bear, and eventually reaches 4th level. However, the magical impact of alien biologies stunts the growth of Bernstein, but grants him newer, unusual abilities.
This example druid would have an animal companion who counts as an Aberration, and the druid would gain a very slow progression of Summoner evolutions, and probably be limited to 1 and 2 point evolutions overall, to apply to her companion. In addition (similar to the Summoner's Aspect ability), the Druid can spend a limited number of evolution points on herself, with the same restrictions as her animal companion, which remain constant, even while Wild Shaped. We could consider adding a few arcane Transmutation spells to the spell list, sub some of the wilderness stuff for aberrant/adaptive stuff (Aberrant Empathy), and I think it'd be good to go.
Now I'm excited about this. I might have to write up an archetype.
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Only thing that dealt with aberrations previously that I can find was the 3.5 Alienist, which in its current form would be more of a summoner archetype looking at it now. I could see the rust monster ability being an evolution as part of a chain,
(1 point Evolution)
Metal affinty: The Eidolon gains the Scent Metals Extraordinary ability
Scent Metals (Ex) This ability functions much the same as the scent ability, except that the range is 90 feet and the creature can only use it to sense metal objects (including creatures wearing or carrying metal objects).
(3 point evolution)
Rusting attack:
Choose a natural attack your Eidolon possesses. This attack causes any metal object they touch to swiftly rust and corrode. The object touched takes half its maximum hp in damage and gains the broken condition—a second hit destroys the item. Against creatures made of metal, this attack deals 3d6+5 points of damage. An attended object, any magic object, or a metal creature can attempt a DC 15 Reflex save to negate this effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.
The summoner must be at least 7th level before selecting this evolution.
Alien druids revere nature. No not THAT nature the nature of another sphere, the nature of a dark planet, long thought dead that rolls and drifts through the blackness of space. This alien world has a special nature all to its self, one ancient and separated from the vulgar ordered nature the new gods have seen fit to force upon the current universe. This nature existed before there were rules for such. Animals born from such nature adhere to this lack of universal rules its from this older nature that the old things labeled aberrations come. The new vulgar order brought about labeled this primeval animals as monstrous blasphemies, What little these newer smaller minds know.
[insert alien druid archtype here :P]