Aberrant Characters [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Xuldarinar

2013-12-31, 07:48 AM

Starmage21

2013-12-31, 08:58 AM

Xuldarinar

2013-12-31, 09:14 AM

The Elan is the best. They have +0 LA and 0 racial hit dice. They have the aberration type, which means theyre unaffected by X Person spells, and a couple of other type-related perks.

Everything else is fail, because racial hit dice, or LAs or a combo of both.

Except for Black Ethergaunts. Black Ethergaunts rape face.

What of the other two +0 LA, 0 RHD, aberration races?

I had forgotten all about Ethergaunts, thank you for bringing them up.

Humble Master

2013-12-31, 09:24 AM

The Elan is the best. They have +0 LA and 0 racial hit dice. They have the aberration type, which means theyre unaffected by X Person spells, and a couple of other type-related perks.

Everything else is fail, because racial hit dice, or LAs or a combo of both.

Except for Black Ethergaunts. Black Ethergaunts rape face.Pretty much spot on. Level Adjustment and Racial Hit Dice tend to make a race not worth the bonuses it gives.

As for the other +0 LA races I know Synads are at least ok what with +3 Power Points, +2 to Will saves and being Aberrations.

And yes, Black Ethergaunts do "rape face" as Starmage put it.

Starmage21

2013-12-31, 09:37 AM

What of the other two +0 LA, 0 RHD, aberration races?

I had forgotten all about Ethergaunts, thank you for bringing them up.

I cant comment on the other two. Not familiar with them. Sorry!

sideswipe

2013-12-31, 09:51 AM

i like synads as casters (psions mainly for obvious reasons) they can once per day take an extra mental standard action. this has proved useful many times for me.
also a +2 1/day to an attack roll, initiative, or save. and this can be added after the roll has been deemed as failed on attacks or saves!
and can use 1 power point to gain a +2 bonus to knowledge or psicraft.
so even as not a psion class you can 3 times per day +2 to a knowledge check.

and i believe the elans bonuses become less useful as they gain levels. since at low levels negating 10 damage is live or death and at say 15 its ignore a small nick from a thugs dagger.

Xuldarinar

2013-12-31, 09:54 AM

I cant comment on the other two. Not familiar with them. Sorry!

Understandable.

Daelkyr Half-bloods are from Magic of Eberron. They start out with a symbiont, which is their twin, and are better at dealing with symbionts but they die if they don't have one attached for 24 hours. Also, attempting to read their mind risks being dazed for one round. Favored Class: Rogue

Synads are from Complete Psionic. They have +3 power points, +2 on Will saving throws, a +2 insight bonus on an initiative check, attack roll, or saving throw 1/day, can spend 1 power point for a +2 bonus on a Knowledge or Psicraft check, and can also spend a power point to gain a swift action that they can use for any purely mental action. Favored Class: Any

Greenish

2013-12-31, 10:03 AM

and i believe the elans bonuses become less useful as they gain levels. since at low levels negating 10 damage is life or death and at say 15 its ignore a small nick from a thugs dagger.Well, if you make the elan psion (or other manifester class), you can ignore quite a bit of more damage.

Still, Synad with more power points and the extra mental action are probably better at being manifesters. To add insult to injury, elan are the only aberration without darkvision, for whatever reason.

Daelkyr Half-Bloods aren't that good at anything, though symbionts can do some cool things.

TheMooch

2013-12-31, 01:53 PM

Phaerimm are missing from this list. Depending on how you read their spellcasting ability they can be pretty awesome (the hatchlings are definately playable)

Vhaidara

2013-12-31, 02:28 PM

Do not mention those monsters. And also, I'm not sure how it could be misread. If you look in the Phaerimm characters section, it explicitly says their casting stacks with Sorcerer levels.

Big Fau

2013-12-31, 03:07 PM

Understandable.

Daelkyr Half-bloods are from Magic of Eberron. They start out with a symbiont, which is their twin, and are better at dealing with symbionts but they die if they don't have one attached for 24 hours. Also, attempting to read their mind risks being dazed for one round. Favored Class: Rogue

I've played a 1st level Daelkyr Half-Blood Crusader before. I was more or less immortal compared to the rest of the party.

Xuldarinar

2013-12-31, 04:19 PM

Phaerimm are missing from this list. Depending on how you read their spellcasting ability they can be pretty awesome (the hatchlings are definately playable)

I had completely forgotten about them. Thank you for pointing that out.

TheGeckoKing

2013-12-31, 06:59 PM

Dragon 332 contains the Aberrant Paragon PrC, a 3 level class that turns you into an Aberration as its capstone. It also does a 2/3 progression for a variety of classes that can be sorta-related to Khyber/The Dragon Below.

Werephilosopher

2013-12-31, 08:09 PM

There are also Flumphs, those jellyfish things the OotS is always using to break their falls. They were updated to 3.5 in Dungeon #118, 2 RHD and +2 LA.

Xuldarinar

2014-01-01, 01:27 AM

Any others I may have missed, or any further input on the topic at hand?

Seto

2014-01-01, 06:12 AM

And yes, Black Ethergaunts do "rape face" as Starmage put it.

Or occasionally heel, if they're PCs :smallbiggrin:

The_Snark

2014-01-01, 06:32 AM

Any others I may have missed, or any further input on the topic at hand?

Grell (Lords of Madness) are playable too, with 5 HD and +6 LA. It's not usually a good idea to play them, but in gestalt or some other game where you have levels to spare they might be a solid choice. They get a decent smattering of abilities: 11 natural attacks, paralysis, reach, flight, blindsight, grappling. It's just not nearly enough for an ECL 11 character, given your fragility and generally low stats.

Xuldarinar

2014-01-01, 09:03 AM

Grell (Lords of Madness) are playable too, with 5 HD and +6 LA. It's not usually a good idea to play them, but in gestalt or some other game where you have levels to spare they might be a solid choice. They get a decent smattering of abilities: 11 natural attacks, paralysis, reach, flight, blindsight, grappling. It's just not nearly enough for an ECL 11 character, given your fragility and generally low stats.

While they seem to lack a section discussing them as options as playable, the information is there so I've put them up now.

Well. This looks like quite the fun selection of races now doesn't it?

ShurikVch

2014-01-01, 02:50 PM

123456789blaaa

2014-01-02, 12:47 AM

In general, if you use LA buyoff, monsters with RHD and less then +3 LA are adequate (same for monsters with +3 LA but no RHD). They certainly won't be winning any awards for brokenness (in most cases) but you'll probably be able to make a decent build.

The popular E6 variant of DnD has special LA buyoff rules that make races with LA very good most of the time. As long as their RHD doesn't go beyond 6, they can be played. Depending on the amount of LA, they use a smaller and smaller Point Buy (stopping at +4). This actually makes it so that (for example) a race with 6 RHD and +4 LA can actually be viable (and even overpowered sometimes). Since E6 caps out at level 6, this also means that the abilities of monstrous characters can continue to be viable even as you advance (flight for example, isn't really impressive by level 14).

Some thoughts on using specific abberations:

Daelkyr Half-Blood is one of two ways in the game to aquire eberron symbiotes in a non-cheesy manner (the other is the Impure Prince PRC). While the race on its own is basically a human that trades bonus feats/skill points for the aberration type, symbiotes are actually really awesome (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1038816). Even without the cheese from the link (just refrain from reviving dead symbiotes) symbiotes are great.

Grell were actually previously given +4 LA in the 3.5 Update booklet for the MMII. Sadly Lords of Madness supercedes that. Still, if you can convince your DM to allow the +4 LA, Grell are extremely powerful in E6. Your fellow PC's will have to be playing very powerful characters to keep up.

Phaerimm are on of the very few races with LA that are brokenly overpowered. Seriously, they are horrific cheese even in a normal game.

Vampiric Ixitxachitl probably aren't worth the extra point of LA and RHD.

The LA of the Worm that Walks template is ridiculous. It's not overpowered compared to high level stuff but most DMs will crush your skull if you try and play an ECL 5 Worm that Walks.

Meenlock are decent in an E6 game. Their 300 ft telepathy and Rend Thoughts abilities are especially interesting. Take Mindsight and torment enemeis when they have almost no way to fight back :smallbiggrin:.