Some planar shepherd questions won't generate good answers when the questions are about the class's abilities' interactions with planes outside the Eberron campaign setting. That means, as always,
Ask the DM
The Wilderness of the Beastlands has never received the attention the higher profile planes receive. Like the previous question about the Outlands, the planar shepherd who picks a fictionally underdeveloped plane1 with which to link is at no particular advantage over a planar shepherd who picks a fictionally well-developed plane.2 A planar shepherd who picks an unpopular plane just leaves more of his options up to the DM.
The Beastlands' Magical Beasts
There's just one.
In addition, native to the Beastlands is the beast dragon (Dragon #321 50-1), a dragon with the extraplanar subtype, and the dread blossom swarm (MM3 45), a plant. No single template changes dragons or plants to magical beasts, however.
Template Shenanigans
There's no template that makes an animal into a magical beast by making it more beastlandish, but that's okay because the Beastlands specifically calls out the template celestial, which "can be added to any corporeal animal, aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, plant, or vermin of good or neutral alignment" (MM 31), so that template's pretty wide-ranging.
And while it's interesting that the Beastlands "is the home of many beasts of legend--superior versions of powerful animals, beasts, and magical beasts" (MP 142), that doesn't let the Beastlands-attuned planar shepherd break the rules of the template monster of legend, which says that it "can be added to any animal, beast, magical beast, or monstrous humanoid .... The creature’s type changes to outsider [not magical beast], though the monster of legend’s home plane is the Material Plane" (MM2 213), not the Beastlands. So what, exactly, that sentence means is up to the DM; perhaps the DM'd be willing to homebrew some creatures, convert some from a previous edition, or allow 3rd-party sources to satisfy this note.
But ask the DM if the planar shepherd's level 3 wild shape special ability that permits him "to change into a magical beast native to [the] chosen plane" and "includes creatures whose type changes to magical beast as the result of applying a template" (FE 106) also includes templates other than the examples celestial or fiendish. If yes, there are templates that can be added to animals to change their types to magical beasts. In my opinion, those appropriate for Beastlands animals include the following:
- chimeric creature (MM2 206).
- kaiju (Dragon #289 68-71). Note: Using wild shape to assume the form of one, though, is quite the challenge.
- monstrous beast (SS 122).
- valicorn ("Ghostwalk Web Enhancement" 4-5).
- winged creature (SS 137).
Any of these could satisfy the "beasts of legend" flavor text of the Beastlands.
The Beastlands' Native Outsiders
In Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition the following outsiders are native to the Beastlands:
Some neutral good angels. According to the Monster Manual, one of the sources of "neutral good angels [is]... the Beastlands" (MM 10).
After the Monster Manual Wizards of the Coast published no further angels.
- The hollyphant (BE 176-7).
- The spirit of the wild (Dungeon #148 25)
- The xap-yaup energon (PlH 122).
Unlike many planes, the Beastlands never received their iconic creatures--the plane's popularity never even spawned a race as sparsely detailed as the rilmani from the Outlands or the demodands of Carceri. The closest I could find from earlier editions are the mortai, converted to Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition here, and, honestly, I don't think they count.
live in Remains Different from native to
It's obvious you want the answer to be different, but Jack Lesnie's correct when he says that these terms mean different things. Seriously.
- "Lawful good angels hail from the plane of Celestia, neutral good angels from the plane of Elysium or the Beastlands, and chaotic good angels from plane of Arborea" (MM 10).
- "Archons are celestials from the plane of Celestia" (MM 10).
- "The eladrins are a celestial race native to the plane of Arborea" (MM 93).
- "Guardinals are a celestial race native to the plane of Elysium" (MM 141).
- "Lillends are mysterious visitors from the plane of Ysgard" (MM 168).
...And so on. An outsider's entry tells the reader what plane a creature's native to. All the other times when a creature is mentioned as hanging out on another plane, such a creature can only live in another plane. He's not native to it.
- While I find researching these questions interesting, there just isn't that much information about Arborea, Bytopia, Ysgard, Pandemonium, Carceri, and the like.
- In fact, short of the Abyss, Celestia, Baator, Limbo, and Mechanus, not a lot's been said about many planes.
A Planar Shepherd-specific List Is Probably Unavailable...
...but the Web site Oryan's RPG Locker has in its Downloads, in both Excel (which I haven't tried) and PDF formats, a document entitled "Monsters and Gods Sorted by Planes." It's extensive, covering (but not reproducing) Dungeons and Dragons 3.X and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition material (and probably earlier material, too) and even referencing (but not reproducing) Dragon and Dungeon magazine material.
"Monsters and Gods Sorted by Planes" is just a big list of stuff and where to find it; any actual details about the list must be acquired by the user (the document doesn't even list creatures' Hit Dice), so it's the kind of fan-made thing that should be totally legit, but if this answer needs to be deleted because someone suspects the document of wrongdoing, so be it.
The document is obviously someone's labor of love, a project that must've taken at least months to complete. I want to put a name to this document so the fellow who made it can get credit, but I can't find one. I hope Comments can.
Best Answer
Some planar shepherd questions won't generate good answers when the questions are about the class's abilities' interactions with planes outside the Eberron campaign setting. Even the planar shepherd's own Adaptation section is unhelpful, saying, for example, "If manifest zones do not exist in your campaign, the 10th-level ability to create one could instead allow creation of a planar touchstone (Planar Handbook 153)" (FE 109). That ability to create apparently permanent manifest zones was, I assume, excised in editing. Thus, as always, ask the DM when considering using such classes in campaign settings other than home ones.
Questions & Answers
The planar shepherd (FE 105-9) is largely considered one of the most powerful prestige classes in the game. When a druid takes a prestige class, it must be good.
Question: Does the planar shepherd's extraordinary ability planar attunement render the shepherd immune to the normal magic, impeded magic, and limited magic traits that occur the closer he gets to the Outlands' central spire?
Answer: No. The planar attunement extraordinary ability reads
Emphasis mine.
Q: What creatures are the Outlands' natives for the purposes of the planar shepherd's supernatural ability wild shape?
A: Not many. The planar shepherd's supernatural ability wild shape reads
Unlike some other planes, no template exists to make, for example, animals into magical beasts by making them more Outlandish. Worse, while the outlands is home to countless creatures because of its position on the Great Wheel, few published creatures are native to the Outlands.1 Even residents from other planes who've lived there a long time--or were even born there--still aren't native to the Outlands. Dungeons and Dragons's immigration policy is horrible that way; there are very few ways to make oneself native to plane if one's race is from another plane; such creatures are usually unique.
Finally, the elemental or outsider forms into which the planar shepherd can wild shape remain restricted by the druid's wild shape which is, in turn, restricted by the special ability alternate form, which reads, "A creature cannot use alternate form to take the form of a creature with a template." Thus the planar shepherd could not, for example, use his wild shape ability to assume the form of any creature via the template petitioner (MP 199-200).
What remains, then, are printed creatures like the following:
Undoubtedly other creatures exist in more obscure sources.
Q: What does the the supernatural ability planar bubble and the spell-like ability intensify manifest zone do when the planar shepherd's picked the Outlands?
A: For the supernatural ability planar bubble, not much. The special ability reads
The outlands has the following traits according to the Dungeon Master's Guide (2013)
The only interesting trait is the last, but as that trait's dependent on proximity to the spire, it has no effect. Nonetheless sometimes it's worthwhile to have the ability to create a safe zone when planar traits are otherwise dangerous.
For the spell-like ability intensify manifest zone, it's unclear what happens when the Outlands is picked. The ability will likely have an effect similar to one of those created by an orrery of the planes (ECS 271), but the DM must determine what effects--if any--occur.
The rilmani got a raw deal in Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition. While never more popular than any other minor iconic (there were more 3rd Edition yugoloths than rilmani but an equal number of demodands), they're nonetheless important planarly... planally... to the planes and received a lot more attention in Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition. A fan's conversion of 2nd Edition rilmani to 3rd Edition is here, and more about the rilmani can be learned from Timaresh: The Mirrored Library, a Web site taking its name from a rilmani institution. The Web is a strange place.
The article containing the creature is Todd Stewart's "The Gatetown of Ecstasy," likely of interest to one considering a trip to the Outlands.