The Practicality of Bees

[KnotKnormal]

I've been rolling a few ideas around in my head for a character I want to play in an upcoming game, but I have literally no idea how to build them or how it would work. so I was hoping I could bring it up here and the wonderful people here at GITP could help me out. you haven't let me down yet... no pressure.

So my idea for this character is worshiper of the Sun, not Palor, the sun. She is a "disgraced," botanist, scholar that during one of her research projects, suddenly believed that Bees could talk and were fellow followers of the Sun's will, Pollinizing flowers for the Sun and all. What actually made her snap, and go a bit crazy I'll have to figure out yet, but it warped her entire personality and way of seeing the world. instead of a spool of razor wire she sees a beautiful rose bush, instead of palisades sees a dense hedge. Nothing is evil, everything is beautiful, etc. moving on however, she would then take it upon herself to become a sort of Shepard for the bees, carrying a large nest where ever she went. The Bees act as a source of food, honey, company, they talk to her, and protection, which is where I'm having trouble building her.

I recently learned that banana oil's composition is very similar to a Bee's Attack/Alarm hormone, ant they will try to sting and attack what ever holds the scent. So my idea was that she would produce this Banana oil and store it in jars, and when she was ever in danger she would throw the jar at the threat, breaking it, having the bees attack it. Is this viable, practical, or just silly. She would of course synthesize other pheromones, used by bees as well to have them help her in day to day challenges.

As far as classes go, anything that utilizes a high Dex would be appreciated, as she will probably have that as a main stat, so she can survive skipping carelessly down the hallway of traps. Past that, I care not. as long as it fits the theme I'm going for.

Thank you all,
you are already amazing for even reading this.

[SilverLeaf167]

It's definitely an interesting idea. Translating it into a D&D build is a bit more difficult, but the central theme should be plausible.

As you can probably guess, your idea of using the bees in battle is going to take either homebrew or some creative refluffing, and your character is going to need some other abilities to be useful in the slightest. There's no real answer for whether it's "viable or practical", since there are quite literally no rules for it - in fact, there isn't even a statbox for bee swarms, though some other insects could be refluffed.

Summon Monster II can get you some giant bees, and is available to Clerics, though a Druid might be more suitable in other ways - like Summon Swarm, and more nature stuff in general. Very few classes specifically utilize a high Dexterity score, though some are obviously associated with it, and there are better ways to survive trapped corridors. Of course, I don't know how literally I should take that statement, nor how serious your gaming group is, but it might be wise to consider how you can make this character bearable in a team environment.

I might be able to offer more help if I had a better idea of the mechanics you're going for.

[eggynack]

Sounds like some kinda swarm druid. Summon swarm, vermin wild shape by any number of methods (waste druid, the ECS feat, vestment of verminshape, and so on), a vermin companion (likely by way of this page (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040705a), though vermin companion is a feat as well, and both allow a giant bee companion), and vermin summoning by way of child of winter. Not all strictly bee based, but you can still do your bee thing, boosted by the fact that you can be a bee and have a bee friend, and the additional vermin theming supports that in other areas. You could also run a vermin lord from book of vile darkness to eventually become a bee hivemind, though the hivemind feature itself is kinda borked to hell. This could be either through druid or separate from it, in accordance with your wishes. I think that druid seems to really fit your warped devotion to nature flavor.

[Psyren]

I'd do Alchemist or Witch with the Vomit Swarm (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/v/vomit-swarm/) spell, which summons a swarm of "bees" (wasps) at 7th level. You can fluff it as, rather than vomiting out the swarm, that you are in fact spitting out the "banana oil" onto your target and the bees are heading that way.

[Geddy2112]

This sounds like a job for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYtXuBN1Hvc

I once played a druid based on Dr. bees. I started combats by summoning swarms, or giant bees/wasps, and I had a giant wasp animal companion. This was in pathfinder FYI. I do suggest going druid, but I am biased...

I suggest having a giant bee as an animal companion, although you might be able to swing a swarm of bees as a familiar or apply some kind of template that gives the familiar a swarmlike trait. If you go the familiar route like a wizard etc then the swarm will be intelligent. A vermin companion for a druid is generally mindless but can be given intelligence, and is likely the easier route to go. I second taking any of the druid archtypes such as waste already mentioned. Blight druids in pathfinder(not sure about 3.5) don't get a companion but get a sickening miasma around them, which could be your bee cloud.

Normally you can't direct a summon swarm, or communicate with vermin because they are mindless so any you summon might just attack whatever without any thought. Pathfinder has the vermin heart (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/vermin-heart/) feat that would let you use wild empathy and mind affecting magic, and I would say it would give you the reasonable ability to command a summoned creature and possibly swarms as well. It could represent your use of pheremones and other hive control tricks in one easy package.

Banana oil, like any other oil, is going to be primarily a flammable organic solution and while in and of itself possibly just a way to attract bees to something, it can also make creatures catch on fire. Not particularly effective, but just something bonus to consider as an option.

Dex is never a bad stat to have, but even better for your build. Reflex is a bad save for the majority of casters, arcane casters can't wear armor and druids are not usually in heavy armor so it helps your AC there. If you are planning to shift into a giant bee/wasp a lot then your dex is gonna change in 3.5(but not in PF) so there is that to consider. It would be strange being wis based and having a character who is buzzing mad, but you could dump int or cha or both to simulate your utter stupidity or bizzare nature(yet somehow you have an intimate understanding of bees). As an int or cha based caster dump wis and go classic mad sorcerer/wizard trope.

Another way is to reskin your spells. Take sirocco-my druid would cast this, but instead of heat and sand it would be an intense cloud of bees. Bees will swarm enemies to the nest and buzz on them(vs those crazy Japanese hornets for example) to overheat and kill their enemies. You can refluff just about any AoE spell to some kind of bee swarm, and anything that entangles/sticks(tar ball) can be honey based.

On a personal note, I am very happy you are considering a bee based build, and I really hope this sees play in a campaign.

[Grod_The_Giant]

A Warlock, perhaps, fluffed appropriately?
Eldrich Blast could be the "I throw honey and my bees sting you!" bit. Especially if you add debuffs like Frightful Blast ("Aaah! Bees!")
Take Summon Swarm, obviously. Perhaps upgrade to Hungry Darkness later. Or Sudden Swarm, which is by far the best swarm-y invocation available.
Call of the Wild seems right up your alley
Miasmatic Cloud could be a swarm of bees
Spiderwalk seems appropriately insect-y
Crawling Eye could be sending a bee out to scout for you
Fell Flight could be your bees just picking you up and carrying you around

[KnotKnormal]

Sounds like some kinda swarm druid. Summon swarm, vermin wild shape by any number of methods (waste druid, the ECS feat, vestment of verminshape, and so on), a vermin companion (likely by way of this page (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040705a), though vermin companion is a feat as well, and both allow a giant bee companion), and vermin summoning by way of child of winter. Not all strictly bee based, but you can still do your bee thing, boosted by the fact that you can be a bee and have a bee friend, and the additional vermin theming supports that in other areas. You could also run a vermin lord from book of vile darkness to eventually become a bee hivemind, though the hivemind feature itself is kinda borked to hell. This could be either through druid or separate from it, in accordance with your wishes. I think that druid seems to really fit your warped devotion to nature flavor.

Is there any way you could site what books or source these are from? Our DM prefers these strange ideas to be from trusted sources rather then from the SRD or any online source like that.

Thank you again, you and everyone else who posted has been a tremendous help, and have given me a lot to think about.

[weckar]

Spell Thematics(Bees)

Next thread?

[eggynack]

Is there any way you could site what books or source these are from? Our DM prefers these strange ideas to be from trusted sources rather then from the SRD or any online source like that.
Most of it is eberron campaign setting, particularly child of winter, the vermin companion feat, and vermin wild shape, though I'd avoid the latter two in favor of the other methods I mentioned. Waste druid is sandstorm, and the vestment is DMG II.

[Âmesang]

Is it wrong of me to want to play as some sort of "werebee warforged" based on Waspinato (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLYmcarnFZA)r? :smallbiggrin:

[denthor]

This has been done as a NPC 7th level druid in Caves of Chaos 25th anniversary edition.


very deadly bees could crawl into the holes in the armor since you can get your body to move a/c 2 no chance to defend, but the point was made that bees can travel it just works better if they defend a territory. great for spies and other things.

[Thurbane]

If no one has mentioned them already, here's some creatures that might be apt:
- Giant Bee
- Abeil
- Wasp swarm (re-fluffed as bees)

[gorfnab]

How about taking the Master of Flies prestige class from Savage Species and refluffing it to Master (Queen) of Bees?

[Thurbane]

Maybe not what the OP is looking for, but a Gravetouched Ghoul Half-Ogre (or Necropolitan Half-Ogre, using Human Heritage to qualify) can acquire the Hivenest template, and carry a swarm with them wherever they go.

You could also use a construct, but it need to be large, so a standard Warforged won't work. Maybe a Maug?