Talk:Eldritch Abomination (3.5e Race)

Regarding Racial traits.

Ability adjustments: Right away, this creature is an ABERRATION and called an ELDRITCH ABOMINATION and has a -2 to Charisma?!? How about a -6 Charisma? Even Duerguar get a -4 Cha. TROLLS get a -4 Cha. Even with a -4 to Wis and Cha, still getting +1 LA just off the stat adjustments.

I like this about being an Extraplanar aberration. Subject to Banishing spells =D

A Form You Are Familiar With: Are you kidding me?!? AT WILL power, assume the RACE of any sentient creature nearby, gaining physical adjustments and racial adjustments. This is like Hengeyokai but way more awesome. This is like the Wildshape Variant ranger on awesomesauce pills: more like Mystique. And how close is nearby? I gather from the unspecified limit of telepathy from Alien Mind, as long as you can *sense* the creature, it's nearby? Right there, AT LEAST another +1 LA for this ability, if not +2. (+2 minimum so far)

Knowledge of the Ageless Ones: +10 to all knowledge skills. FO FREE SON?!? WHAT IN THE WORLD? Make bards weep as their Bardic Lore is now useless. Uh...so it's basically 10 Epic Skill Focus feats. ten, for free +2 LA minimum, right here. (+4 min total)

Maddening Body...where to start? All abilities are not explicitly stated to only be selectable once. I could start as a level 3 character: level 1 Wizard and be immune to Sneak Attacks & Crits, have a base 16 AC without factoring in Dex, have wings with an instant fly speed, AND enemies must immediately, upon encountering me, be affected by Madness and be stricken by one of several effects, one of which can be BLINDNESS. But this character still only has a -2 charisma! Whoopee, it makes no sense!! This ability is character-breakingly good. At least +2 LA for all of the worst of the sub-abilities (say, 10 spent on energy, 2 on eyes, 2 on wings, 6 on alignment, 4 on limbs), or infinite LA. (+6 minimum total)

Multiple Limbs: Normally, you take Aberration feats to gain extra limbs. here, you get them as a SUBSET of a racial feature. And somehow, having multiple arms makes it harder to trip you. Riight. So I could splurge and get more arms than Brahman at first level. Thri-kreen get TWO more arms, but have to deal with an ECL 4. Hurm.

Tentacles. Normally, more aberration feats needed. Oh, and without feats, you are considered armed and your tentacles deal 1d6 damage. HOW EXCITING.

Sharp: Jeez are you serious? 2d6 damage per tentacle. Let's think about this math: 20 points on limbs, gaining 10 additional limbs, 2 on tentacles, and 2 on sharp, for 10 sharp tentacles. That means that this race can get 12 Greatswords AND WIELD THEM ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Hum, odd. Multiattack on this character would be scary.

Maddening appearance: Ex, not Su or Sp. Fear is OK, Confusion is great, Blinding is awesome. Save DC = 5 + lvl + Int? Gee, that +4 racial to Int sure is awesome!! Apparently enemies that PERCEIVE this creature are struck blind, no given duration. Permanent Confusion alone is worth a +3 LA, and perma-Blindness is around +4 LA

Thousand Unearthly Eyes: +8 spot for 2 points. One of the worst, but if it can be selected multiple times, amazing. A +96 to spot at first level would allow you to, http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#spot for example, detect the presence of unmoving, unliving invisible creature, read lips at full speed with east, pronounce unfamiliar languages, and defeat illusions without ever needing a will save. This racial ability could grant you immunity to an entire school of magic/psionics. It's like a 15th-level item or so.

Alien Mind: Telepathy, at unspecified distance. Then you can, at will, make any creature shaken every time you talk to it. So all you have to do is say "ass" in their mind until they fail a will save and BAM, shaken. Basically, all enemies are shaken, no save, no SR, as a free action. That's rather powerful. Depending on how powerful this Telepathy is, it could be game-breakingly good. YOu could, for instance, steal knowledge from Gods, gain divine ranks, find Cthulu and find out what it's thinking, and then crush the Elder God. Hell no. Either LA +2 or LA 80+.

Alien Anatomy: become immune to…WHAAAT?!? Oh no, HEAL CHECKS SUCK. TOO BAD I LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE CLERICS AND DRUIDS CAN HEAL ME NO PROBLEM. Dumb. Warforged have to spend 2 feats and get a 50% immunity to Sneak attacks, not crates. Get this at around level…you suck. +2 LA, since Zombs are around this.

Acquired customs: Oh hey, I can gain 3 feats at first level for FREE. Seriously?? This is… this… this….

Wings: Oh Hey guys, I have 10 wings and a fly speed of 150 feet (perfect) maneuverability!!!! I fly better and faster than a demilich, the EPIC-LEVEL LICH. Let's think: this is about 1/6 the speed of a commercial airliner.

Surpising Speed: Potentially, at ECL 3, this class can walk faster than a 20th-level monk. Lame. Even 60 foot land speed is like having a Permanent Expeditious Retreat.

Resistance: One that is actually not to powerful, since it is implied that you can only select it once for each energy type.

Blue and Orange Morality: This is *strange* and cool. Confuse paladins, as you are EVIL BEYOND BELIEF and GOODY TWO SHOES. The cleric casting Detect alignment will think he drank too much, but anyone that can catch this sonovabitch and still catch him can smite him with great prejudice.

Unnatural talents: Basically, you can get up to 24 Wish spells applied to your stat scores, at First level. For freaking FREE. You must me some kinda troll, race creator.

Amorphous Body: Sure, +6 LA is like +2 LA worthy.

Unfathomable mind: Sure, why not. Make Enchanters useless.

Favored Class: Wizard. Finally a sensible suggestion for this thingey. Some class suitable to play God.

LA: +2?!?!?!? What in the name of Mary and the Holy Spirit are you thinking?? I'd give this class a +10 to +12 LA straight up, even with Wings, Alien Mind, Surprising Speed and Unnatural Talents removed. Illithids would poo their pants upon encountering these beings. This "race" is much more suited to be a partial-progression Psionic class, such as a strange aberration version of a Bard.

Why do you want it to have -6 instead of -2 Charisma? Most aberrations have better-than-average Charisma. Marasmusine (talk) 10:00, 10 April 2013 (MDT)

Reasons for (suggested) stat changes.

It is suggested to make this race have at least a -4 Charisma, if not a -6 Charisma.

Many Aberrations have an above-average intelligence. Heck, even a Gibbering Mouther has a 13 Charisma. Aboleths, for that matter, have excellent Charisma. An Eldritch Abomination is not your standard aberration. It can't be judged by mere mortal standards. It is a creature that has an alien mind and way of thinking that is legendary for its alienness beyond normal means.

The idea of an Eldritch Abomination is "a type of monster defined by its total disregard for the natural laws of the universe as we understand them." They are "grotesque mockeries of reality beyond comprehension whose disturbing otherness cannot be encompassed in any mortal tongue." I don't think such a being, even shaped into human form, is going to be able to have ease relating with other beings of mortal kind. Even aberrations such as Gibbering Mouther still have thoughts and ideas that--while totally insane--are at least graspable by a mortal mind. When describing its form "the Eldritch Abomination is only defined by seeming somehow “off”, hinting at their incomprehensible nature". Even though this creature might look like a standard one, its methods of thought are *so* foreign and strange as to bend the minds of those who can see its thoughts. This is well-reflected in the whole "confusion causing telepathy" idea, but I still think it warrants a much lower-than-normal Charisma.

I seriously recommend looking at the Lords of Madness book and figure out how to balance it from there. Read up on the Aboleths, for example, and these beings get close enough to the idea of HP Lovecraft horrors. Quoting from the book, "Readers will notice a thematic resemblance between the aboleths, the Elder Evils, and various creatures or beings found in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft. This is, of course, completely intentional." In any case, this race is grossly overpowered by the vast array of benefits gained and UNDERpowered by not having standard protections of a creature with such high LA, such as Spell Resistance or Psionic Resistance.