Kraken Caller (Druid Archetype)
Few things signify the terrors of the deep more than the image of massive tentacles rising over the sides of a boat and attacking the crew. The classical image of a kraken is one we’ve seen time and time again, with its own variations here and there.
Regardless of whether you prefer the old norse giant squid or the giant piscine humanoid of Clash of the Titans, wherever you find monstrous power, you’ll find those seeking to take that power for their own, whether that means controlling the monster, or becoming it yourself.
Thus, using druidic arts tied to the water and perhaps a little bit of magic stolen from the krakens themselves, some druids seek to emulate those magical and incredibly cunning squid monsters, for good or ill.
In the Golarion Setting, these druids universally worship Besmara, goddess of pirates, sea monsters, and the waves. In other settings, you might do away with this restriction or choose another appropriate deity.
Swimming comes second nature to these mystics, so they rarely risk drowning under normal circumstances. This is especially true since their lung capacity and oxygen retention becomes supernaturally high.
Just as other druids resist the magic and powers of the fey, so too do kraken callers resist the power of the beings that dwell in the depths.
The real power of this specialization, however, comes with their wild shape. Though it is limited only to aquatic creatures, these druids learn to tap into the might of krakens to take on a strange hybrid form, growing multiple tentacles to attack and befuddle foes with, not to mention climb. The more powerful they are, the more tentacles they can manifest, though if they retract several, they can improve the length or muscle mass of those limbs to better strike foes. Additionally, this form can also jettison ink underwater, filling an area with an obscuring cloud.
More powerful members can even swim swiftly and breath underwater, making them terrors of the deep in their own right.
Interested in a water-themed druid that be particularly vexing in combat? This may be what you’re looking for. Its annoying that the tentacles do not count as primary attacks, but they’re meant to supplement whatever normal attacks you have access to, so it’s not that big of deal, that and they are also useful for performing dirty tricks and other combat maneuvers, so a build with that in mind is perfect. Use spells to further control what your opponent can do, and watch as you and your allies pick them apart.
These druids can be rather nasty, but what’s more interesting is figuring out their origins. They might be devotees of a god of the sea, stealing, emulating, or even serving the tentacle horrors below. Alternately, they may view cephalopodic beings as merely another part of nature, and seek merely to emulate them the same way druid animal shamans do with other beasts.
The Cult of the Night Sea might seem, at first glace to be mad druids devoted to the bizarre abberant horrors found in the underground lakes and seas of the Deep World. However, while they do emulate such beings, they also fight against them, using their mastery of water to keep vampiric mists from escaping to the surface, and their tentacles to use unconventional tactics against the bizarre formless things in the dark waters.
Creations of a masterful kraken mage in aeons past, icthyocentaurs long ago gained their freedom from that master, spreading across the oceans. Some, however, in sinister devotion to that creator, or perhaps to arm land-dwellers against them, have taught some flesh-warping magic to more terrestrial druids, having little use for it themselves as already aquatic beings.
Puwami Coast is a craggy, cliff-laden shore, peaceful and picturesque, with a healthy population of hippogriffs. However, few approach it these days, as a tentacle humanoid has repeatedly appeared to accost visitors, lashing out and toying with them.
