Beetle Related Archetypes

[Amani Zultiras]

OK so this may sound weird, but I really like beetles. I had some ideas for beetle related archetypes, but don't know how to approach them. My ideas are:

The Scarab Rider: A cavalier that rides giant beetles, gains favored terrain bonuses in deserts, and has minor spellcasting abilities.

The Beetle Bard: A bard specializing in vermin and who has a thirst for knowledge (maybe being able to gain a temporary bonus to knowledge skill checks somehow).

The Swarm Slayer: a slayer with wild empathy to vermin and the ability to cast summon swarm and swarm form.

Any ideas on how to approach these? If anyone wants to take a stab at doing it yourself, go ahead, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Aralicia]

Amani Zultiras wrote:

The Scarab Rider: A cavalier that rides giant beetles, gains favored terrain bonuses in deserts, and has minor spellcasting abilities.

Given the description, It should probably be a ranger archetype :

¤ Change Favored Terrains to give only scaling bonus for deserts (like the Wave Warden)
¤ Give him access to the animal companion (hunter's bond) at lower levels. In exchange debuff or remove favored enemy.
¤ Replace track by a riding or handling bonus
¤ The hunter must select the Mounted Combat Style.

Amani Zultiras wrote:

The Beetle Bard: A bard specializing in vermin and who has a thirst for knowledge (maybe being able to gain a temporary bonus to knowledge skill checks somehow).

A variant of the Animal Speaker might work :

¤ Animal Friend limited to insect/swarms
¤ Nature’s Speaker with the same limitation
¤ Attract Rats is replaced with a similar ability that summon insect swarms instead for rat swarms.
¤ Instead of Summon Nature's Ally V and VI, the bard learns Insect Plague and Swarm Skin 1. He still learns Summon Nature's I, II, III and IV, but can only summon vermins.

Amani Zultiras wrote:

The Swarm Slayer: a slayer with wild empathy to vermin and the ability to cast summon swarm and swarm form.

Something similar to the Stygian Slayer could work. I didn't give a swarm form power (which doesn't exist afaik) and gave a modified swarm skin instead :

¤ At first level, the slayer gains wild empathy as the druid ability, but which work only with vermins. This replaces Track.
¤ At 4th level, the slayer can cast summon swarm once per day using his slayer level as his caster level. The slayer uses his Intelligence modifier for concentration checks when using this ability. The slayer can use this an additional time per day at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter. This ability replaces the slayer talent gained at 4th level.
¤ At 10th level, a slayer can transform into an swarm of insects that he controls. This functions as swarm skin with the following exceptions : when the slayer cast swarm skin, his body disappear completely with his gear. The slayer may end the ability at any moment during his round, and he reappear in the place of any of the swarm. If all the swarm he created are killed, the ability ends, the slayer reappears at the position of the last killed swarm, and he loses all remaining round of the ability. The slayer can use this ability for a number of rounds equal to his level. These rounds need not be consecutive. This ability replaces the advanced slayer talent gained at 10th level.

Those are rushed archetypes, so there may be issues someplace.

[Amani Zultiras]

Aralicia wrote:

Amani Zultiras wrote:

The Scarab Rider: A cavalier that rides giant beetles, gains favored terrain bonuses in deserts, and has minor spellcasting abilities.

Given the description, It should probably be a ranger archetype :

¤ Change Favored Terrains to give only scaling bonus for deserts (like the Wave Warden)
¤ Give him access to the animal companion (hunter's bond) at lower levels. In exchange debuff or remove favored enemy.
¤ Replace track by a riding or handling bonus
¤ The hunter must select the Mounted Combat Style.

Amani Zultiras wrote:

The Beetle Bard: A bard specializing in vermin and who has a thirst for knowledge (maybe being able to gain a temporary bonus to knowledge skill checks somehow).

A variant of the Animal Speaker might work :

¤ Animal Friend limited to insect/swarms
¤ Nature’s Speaker with the same limitation
¤ Attract Rats is replaced with a similar ability that summon insect swarms instead for rat swarms.
¤ Instead of Summon Nature's Ally V and VI, the bard learns Insect Plague and Swarm Skin 1. He still learns Summon Nature's I, II, III and IV, but can only summon vermins.

Amani Zultiras wrote:

The Swarm Slayer: a slayer with wild empathy to vermin and the ability to cast summon swarm and swarm form.

Something similar to the Stygian Slayer could work. I didn't give a swarm form power (which doesn't exist afaik) and gave a modified swarm skin instead :

¤ At first level, the slayer gains wild empathy as the druid ability, but which work only with vermins. This replaces Track.
¤ At 4th level, the slayer can cast summon swarm once per day using his slayer level as his caster level. The slayer uses his Intelligence modifier for concentration checks when using this ability. The slayer can use this an additional time per day at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter. This ability replaces the slayer talent gained at 4th level.
¤ At 10th level, a slayer can transform into an swarm of insects that he controls. This functions as...

These are brilliant! I love these. And sorry about swarm form (was trying to go by memory and was thinking of swarm skin).

Thanks for this, BTW. I really appreciate this.