Mantella (Druid Archetype)
(art by Hyarion-art on DeviantArt)
As much as we’re all very familiar with physical trauma being the “default” way to damage something, toxins are perhaps just as old when it comes to ways to harm or even kill other living foes. Life is, after all, the product of a complicated series of delicate curated chemical reactions, so it only makes sense to destroy life by disrupting a creature’s ability to continue those chemical reactions.
Toxins are subdivided into poisons, which the creature delivers passively when another creature interacts with them (touching, swallowing, injuring), and venoms, which the creature delivers actively as an attack (bites, stings).
It only makes sense then, with so many toxins being weaponized in nature, that there would be druids using their primal magic to draw upon said poisons, and we’ve had three of those: the toxicologist, which specializes in poisonous spells, making use of real poisons, and shapeshifting into giant vermin (Though only higher level versions get the ability to poison in those forms); second is the urushiol, which sweats poison from their skin like certain frogs and works to refine the poison to become more and more deadly; and third is today’s subject, the mantella!
The lore of the matella archetype suggests that it was invented by grippli to improve or replicate the poisons possessed by some of their kind, but the archetype doesn’t actually interact directly with the toxic skin racial trait, meaning that in theory anyone can take it.
What sets the mantella apart is that they seem in some ways to honor the creatures that specifically use venom or poison, which is true of the former two true, but while the toxicologist uses toxins in all forms they take (plus transforming only into vermin), and the urushiol generates it’s own poison, the mantella focuses on wild shaping to recreate venomous creatures as well as delivering their own venoms through their own natural attacks, as we’ll see.
Or maybe you just want a poisonous druid that doesn’t give up nature bond or a bunch of the druid’s passive abilities.
Either way, we’ll soon see what the mantella is all about.
The mantella’s primary difference is how they handle wild shape. Namely, while they cannot take elemental forms, they always gain the ability to replicate the poison of their plant or animal forms. This means that their animals forms prior to early mid-levels can be venomous, allowing them to get poisoning much sooner than other druids.
Their other ability allows them to take a dose of poison they’ve been inflicted with and store it in their bodies, secreting it again through the natural weapons they either normally possess or gain later either through wild shape or some spell. This consequently also makes then and any animal companion they have immune to poison as well, making for a nasty surprise when a foe’s own venom (or that of their allies or other monstrous neighbors) is suddenly used against them.
This archetype is much simpler than other poison-themed archetypes for the druid class, but that’s part of it’s charm, offering accelerated poisoning in the early levels when poison is at it’s most effective and a fun reversal effect later on. This can be especially fun for a druid that moonlights as a magical assassin, or one that just enjoys focusing on debuffing foes.
Since toxins are such a common adaptation in the natural world, it’s likely many druids, and especially mantellas, find the idea of poison being “dishonorable” or “evil” to be patently absurd. Even the most painful and unpleasant venoms exist purely to ensure the survival of the creature that wields it, and poisonous animals and plants ensure the survival of their species by either killing the one that eats them (or at least giving them a very strong Pavlovian aversion to eating another one).
Taking an ambitious bite of a plant, falling on an ant nest, reaching into a viper’s den… Baju the Rougarou has an intimate history with poison, but despite this, it hasn’t deterred him. Quite the opposite, as he has developed a great interest in the natural toxins of the world, which carried over when he became a druid. The fact he is now immune has only made him bolder, much to the chagrin of his packmates.
Rumors of the presence of a fachen, a misshapen parody of a humanoid with only one leg, arm, and eye, can only mean the influence of the deity known as the Hateful Sculptor. The local druid circle contemplates evacuating the area, knowing that the beast and other creations of the monstrous divinity are terribly strong despite their malformed nature. However, Ghilis has no intention of running, for as monstrous as the fachen is, it can still bow to venom’s agonizing kiss.
Claiming that they must be warding their morality against his divine senses, a paladin working with a colony of settlers has declared the grippli of the nearby rainforest dishonorable and evil for their use of poison. The longer he goes on, the more support he gains and the more unhinged he becomes. The fact that he hasn’t been able to feel the divine power flow through him is of no consequence, as surely it is just a divine test of character, one that he aims to pass by wiping out the “wicked frogs”
