Lords of Darkness - Aberration Feats

[JacktheRabbit]

The Aberration feats in Lords of Darkness require that you take the Aberrant Blood feat as their base. This feats means the character in question had as it implies some aberrant blood in their system.

Now here is the question.

The Elan from the Expanded Psionic Handbook is an aberration by default. So could he take the aberrant feats without taking the Aberrant Blood base feat?

 

[Jack Simth]

Well, that depends - when it says something is required, does it say a) "Abberant Blood" or b) "The Aberant Blood Feat"

If a, then yes, as Elans are abberations - they have aberant blood (assuming they have blood at all....).

If b, then as written, no, as Elans don't have the abberant blood feat.
The flavor, however....

 

[smootrk]

The Aberration feats in Lords of Darkness require that you take the Aberrant Blood feat as their base. This feats means the character in question had as it implies some aberrant blood in their system.

Now here is the question.

The Elan from the Expanded Psionic Handbook is an aberration by default. So could he take the aberrant feats without taking the Aberrant Blood base feat?

Obviously a grey area.

I would (house) rule that Elan do not need the Aberrant Blood Feat. They do not however gain any of that feat's bonuses... they can simply ignore that particular requirement. However, they can choose to take the Aberrant Blood Feat if they so desired.

 

[Ruvion]

The Aberration feats in Lords of Darkness require that you take the Aberrant Blood feat as their base. This feats means the character in question had as it implies some aberrant blood in their system.

Now here is the question.

The Elan from the Expanded Psionic Handbook is an aberration by default. So could he take the aberrant feats without taking the Aberrant Blood base feat?

I am sorry, does Lords of Darkness have any abberantion feats?
Do you mean Lords of Madness?

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I am sorry, does Lords of Darkness have any abberantion feats?
Do you mean Lords of Madness?

Yes, Lords of Madness.

My bad.

 

[Nyeshet]

To be honest, I've never understood why elans are considered aberrations in the first place. Basically, they are a symbiotic organism in which their spirit is actually a psychic entity in its own right that is no longer able to survive outside of the body. As I recall, the background of the character must include having gone through a ritual that effectively 'awoke' this 'true self' - in the process erasing all previous personality traits / skills / classes / etc as the second personality gained ascendence, dominance, and completely fused-with / consumed the former personality.

In effect, the spirit / mind of the character is replaced with this 'true self', granting the character psychic abilities while permanently removing all prior traits and levels (if any existed, from the text it seems most are only first or second level when this occurs).

So why is this an aberration? We have a body with a soul / mind within it. At best, only the qualities of the soul are 'aberrant' - and that only in the fact that it is more of a psychic ghost that has taken permanent possession of the body and undergone a spiritual variant of the 'fusion' power.

Their body is not aberrant, so I would base my decision on (1) what is gained from the feat 'aberrant blood', and (2) what further feats the PC wishes to take. If they fit the pattern of the elan, then I would likely allow it (while not allowing the gain of th feat not taken). If the feats the player intends to take, however, have little in common with the nature of the elan, then I would not allow it (without first taking he 'aberrant blood' feat, that is).