Visitor Druid's Alien Form: What is it Good For?

[FaerieGodfather]

Alien Form (Ex)

The visitor druid is an alien creature that perfectly emulates a terrestrial race in order to understand the beings it intends to befriend or enslave.

However, the facade is merely that, and the alien can reveal her true nature as she grows in power.

At 1st level, the visitor druid appears for all intents and purposes as a member of any one humanoid race, and gains all racial traits as normal. If the visitor druid was a monstrous or non-humanoid race previously, she loses all traits from her former race. The player should work with the GM to define the exact nature of the visitor’s true species.

At 1st level, the visitor chooses additional racial traits worth a total of 2 or less Racial Points.

The visitor can gain or lose these racial traits as a standard action. The visitor must meet any prerequisites for this racial trait. The visitor druid can gain these traits while using the wild shape ability as long as the form taken meets any prerequisites. The visitor druid may not select any advanced or monstrous traits.

At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter (8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th), the visitor gains an additional 2 RP to spend on racial traits, which may represent new racial abilities or improved racial abilities. At any level the visitor gains additional RP, she may redefine how her RP is allocated. The visitor can gain or lose all racial traits as a standard action.

This ability replaces nature’s bond.

Thematically I love this archetype and I love this power-- I first discovered it in Genius Guide to the Talented Druid-- but in practice it doesn't like it actually does anything for you. With the prohibition against gaining advanced or monstrous traits... the only real options I'm seeing here are vision modes and linguist. What can a Talented Druid do with this Edge that's worth... not taking literally any other Edge, instead?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Tempting as it is to complete the song lyric with "absolutely nothing!", it looks like the restriction of no advanced or monstrous traits only applies to the RP you get at 1st level, and later you can even reallocate them into advanced or monstrous traits.

[Maat Mons]

If you pick Flexible Bonus Feat, does that bit about gaining and losing the traits as a standard action let you change which feat you took? Same question for spending the skill points from Skilled.

You can't take Flexible Bonus Feat twice, but you can take both that and Static Bonus Feat. It's a bit limiting that the feat can't have prerequisites, but Defensive Combat Training, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will are all possibilities.

Hardy gives a +2 racial bonus on all saves against spells and spell-like abilities. It doesn't stack with the bonus from Lesser Lucky, but you can take that too to get a +1 racial bonus to the saves that Hardy doesn't cover.

Stability, for +4 to resist Trip and Bull Rush wouldn't hurt.

[Psyren]

Thematically I love this archetype and I love this power-- I first discovered it in Genius Guide to the Talented Druid-- but in practice it doesn't like it actually does anything for you. With the prohibition against gaining advanced or monstrous traits... the only real options I'm seeing here are vision modes and linguist. What can a Talented Druid do with this Edge that's worth... not taking literally any other Edge, instead?

I'm seeing a lot more than those two, am I missing something? All the traits on ARG pgs 221-223 are Standard. Some need you to be an outsider (the planetouched ones like Crystalline Body etc), but most don't.

[FaerieGodfather]

Tempting as it is to complete the song lyric with "absolutely nothing!", it looks like the restriction of no advanced or monstrous traits only applies to the RP you get at 1st level, and later you can even reallocate them into advanced or monstrous traits.

You could argue that. I'm not reading it that way, and I'm pretty sure that's not the intended meaning-- but I am incliined to think maybe it ought to be that way. It makes sense that only standard abilities would be avaiable at 1st, while advanced and even monstrous abilities are fine starting from 4th.

I would love to hear more opinions on this.


If you pick Flexible Bonus Feat, does that bit about gaining and losing the traits as a standard action let you change which feat you took? Same question for spending the skill points from Skilled.

That's even better than the 3.5 Chameleon's Bonus Feat... but I'm generally under the impression that most DMs take a real dim view of the Chameleon. Then again, Brawlers get more than one flexible feat, and I've never heard anyone complain about that.


You can't take Flexible Bonus Feat twice, but you can take both that and Static Bonus Feat. It's a bit limiting that the feat can't have prerequisites, but Defensive Combat Training, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will are all possibilities.

I mean, a bunch of basic bonus feats can't go wrong and I'm feat-starved on this concept. Seems awful goddamned boring for being a shapeshifting alien impostor, though, even if I'm getting the good stuff from other Druid archetypes/abilities.

[StSword]

You could argue that. I'm not reading it that way, and I'm pretty sure that's not the intended meaning-- but I am incliined to think maybe it ought to be that way. It makes sense that only standard abilities would be avaiable at 1st, while advanced and even monstrous abilities are fine starting from 4th.

I would love to hear more opinions on this.


The Visitor Druid is a Lovecraftian Horror pretending to be an elf or whatever that uses the Alien Form class ability to unleash their true form in all it's Alex Mercer-like glory.

So I'd say it's not only rules as intended, it's the entire freaking point of the class feature and the entire class it came from in fact.