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The Ecology of the Phasm (unpublished 3.5 "Ecology" article)
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8235224" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><em>Still in his Pothelwick Glintpebble form, the phasm walked down the narrow Underdark passageway, heedless of whatever dangers might lie ahead of it. Now that he was alone, he no longer had to pretend to be able to see – the deep gnomes not only had darkvision, but their eyesight allowed them to see twice as far as most Underdark races – but even after adopting the form of a svirfneblin the phasm had to make do with normal vision which required light to see.<strong>[11]</strong> During his encounter with the deep gnomes in the pitch-black tavern, the phasm had faked being able to see the others in the unlit interior by turning his head toward those who spoke, relying heavily upon his own telepathy and innate tremorsense to interact seamlessly with the svirfnebli. Now he needed to do none of those things and ambled aimlessly down the stone tunnel, heading to a section of the subterranean world to which he'd never been – or if he had, he no longer retained those memories.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>As the fake svirfneblin ambled on, his tremorsense alerted him to the presence of a small lizard scampering up the wall. Quick as a wink, Pothelwick's hand darted out and grabbed the lizard by the tail, bringing it to his mouth so he could bite the hapless reptile in two. He held the creature's tail as he made short work of the first bite, then popped the rest of the lizard into his mouth and chewed it as he walked. He wasn't the least bit worried about anyone spotting this unsvirfneblinlike behavior, for he could tell by the lack of vibrations in the stone below his feet there was nobody within the normal range of darkvision and thus he could enjoy his snack unobserved.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Alas, he was wrong about that. There was a vertical shaft to his left; he was well aware of the fact by the slight draft of air he could feel on the outer surface of his pliant skin, which currently was configured in the guise of not only the svirfneblin but also the clothes he wore. He was not, however, aware of the creature <em>levitating</em> in the shaft, watching as the deep gnome wandered past him without even noticing. Strange behavior for a svirfneblin indeed!</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Slightly puzzled by the deep gnome's odd behavior, the mind flayer chose not to look a gift rothé in the mouth and sent a <em>mind blast</em> of psionic energy erupting outwards in a cone at the svirfneblin.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Pothelwick froze up immediately, puzzled at his sudden inability to move. The phasm had never been stunned before, in any of the forms he had worn over its many years of life and he was admittedly curious as to the reason why. When the illithid dropped to the stone floor of the tunnel before the false svirfneblin, Pothelwick knew immediately the cause of his immobility; to the phasm's tremorsense, the illthid's presence suddenly entered his awareness as soon as his feet touched the stone floor.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><Interesting,> Pothelwick thought to the mind flayer. <Are you planning on eating my brain?></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The mind flayer instinctively flinched at this unexpected occurrence. <You are telepathic,> it stated, the mental “voice” carrying an element of surprise. Illithid faces weren't configured for smiling, but Pothelwick could hear the smile in the mind flayer's mental voice nonetheless as he said, <...Very interesting indeed. This will be an unexpected bonus to my feast.></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The mind flayer stepped up behind the immobilized svirfneblin, bent forward, and spread out its four facial tentacles to encompass the deep gnome's bald head. Rows of lampreylike teeth started boring through the flesh and skull of the illithid's frozen prey to get at the juicy brain within. Almost immediately, the mind flayer could tell something was “off” about the taste of this careless svirfneblin, but he didn't have the time to formalize the thought before his prey suddenly melted from his grasp – the effects of the <em>mind blast</em> had worn off and the phasm had reverted to its normal, amorphous form.<strong>[12]</strong></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><A phasm!> the mind flayer exclaimed telepathically, a note of disgust in its mental voice. <You have no central brain at all! You are useless as a food source!></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><That is true,> admitted the phasm, reshifting its form into a central column, much as it had when first splitting off from its twin, only this time reaching twice the height of the svirfneblin's size before forming arms, legs, facial features, and the appropriate clothing of its newly-assumed shape. In a matter of mere moments, the would-be illithid attacker found himself staring into a virtual mirror duplicate.<strong>[13]</strong> From the outside, the phasm looked identical to a mind flayer; had the illithid been able to peek inside the creature's interior, he'd see there were several empty spaces inside as the phasm only had so much physical matter to go around.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><Interesting,> the mind flayer thought aloud. <Despite your inedibility and uselessness as a food source, I can see a use for your shapeshifting abilities, infiltrating the outposts of the enemies of my people. Are you by any chance available for employment?></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The phasm didn't waste any time in thinking it over; working for the members of an illithid city would give it the opportunity to learn about these strange creatures, something its centuries of amassed knowledge was currently lacking. <I am,> the phasm replied and followed his new guide and employer to the illithid city which would be his home for as long as it held his interest.<strong>[14]</strong> Once he got bored hanging out with the mind flayers, he'd go explore somewhere else that looked interesting, probably in a completely different form.</em></p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p><strong>NOTES</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>11.</strong> When adopting a new form the phasm gains the extraordinary attacks of its new form (such things as constrict, improved grab, and poison) but not the extraordinary special qualities (such as fast healing, regeneration, scent, or darkvision). It likewise fails to gain any of the new form's supernatural or spell-like abilities. The lack of such abilities are often what gives a phasm away as being an impostor so it is careful to “shore up” its disguise by finding ways around these giveaways whenever possible.</p><p></p><p><strong>12.</strong> In its amorphous form, a phasm is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning effects. It therefore makes reverting to its natural form a logical defense when facing a foe using one of those effects as its primary form of attack. Because of its amorphous nature, a phasm in its normal form is also not subject to critical hits and cannot be flanked, for it has no true front or back.</p><p></p><p><strong>13.</strong> When shapechanged, a phasm gains a +10 circumstance bonus to its Disguise checks. Given the creature's normal skill ranking of Disguise +20 (+22 when acting in character, thanks to a synergy bonus from its ranks in Bluff), this gives a phasm a pretty good chance of not being discovered for what it truly is.</p><p></p><p><strong>14.</strong> Phasms are often hired on as spies, a role for which they excel – but their effectiveness is hampered by the phasm's easily-bored natures. A phasm has no real ties to any particular employer and often feels no great need to report back what it has seen while spying. If sufficiently bored, a phasm gives no thought to simply stepping away from the job at hand and doing something more interesting.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8235224, member: 508"] [i]Still in his Pothelwick Glintpebble form, the phasm walked down the narrow Underdark passageway, heedless of whatever dangers might lie ahead of it. Now that he was alone, he no longer had to pretend to be able to see – the deep gnomes not only had darkvision, but their eyesight allowed them to see twice as far as most Underdark races – but even after adopting the form of a svirfneblin the phasm had to make do with normal vision which required light to see.[b][11][/b] During his encounter with the deep gnomes in the pitch-black tavern, the phasm had faked being able to see the others in the unlit interior by turning his head toward those who spoke, relying heavily upon his own telepathy and innate tremorsense to interact seamlessly with the svirfnebli. Now he needed to do none of those things and ambled aimlessly down the stone tunnel, heading to a section of the subterranean world to which he'd never been – or if he had, he no longer retained those memories. As the fake svirfneblin ambled on, his tremorsense alerted him to the presence of a small lizard scampering up the wall. Quick as a wink, Pothelwick's hand darted out and grabbed the lizard by the tail, bringing it to his mouth so he could bite the hapless reptile in two. He held the creature's tail as he made short work of the first bite, then popped the rest of the lizard into his mouth and chewed it as he walked. He wasn't the least bit worried about anyone spotting this unsvirfneblinlike behavior, for he could tell by the lack of vibrations in the stone below his feet there was nobody within the normal range of darkvision and thus he could enjoy his snack unobserved. Alas, he was wrong about that. There was a vertical shaft to his left; he was well aware of the fact by the slight draft of air he could feel on the outer surface of his pliant skin, which currently was configured in the guise of not only the svirfneblin but also the clothes he wore. He was not, however, aware of the creature [i]levitating[/i] in the shaft, watching as the deep gnome wandered past him without even noticing. Strange behavior for a svirfneblin indeed! Slightly puzzled by the deep gnome's odd behavior, the mind flayer chose not to look a gift rothé in the mouth and sent a [i]mind blast[/i] of psionic energy erupting outwards in a cone at the svirfneblin. Pothelwick froze up immediately, puzzled at his sudden inability to move. The phasm had never been stunned before, in any of the forms he had worn over its many years of life and he was admittedly curious as to the reason why. When the illithid dropped to the stone floor of the tunnel before the false svirfneblin, Pothelwick knew immediately the cause of his immobility; to the phasm's tremorsense, the illthid's presence suddenly entered his awareness as soon as his feet touched the stone floor. <Interesting,> Pothelwick thought to the mind flayer. <Are you planning on eating my brain?> The mind flayer instinctively flinched at this unexpected occurrence. <You are telepathic,> it stated, the mental “voice” carrying an element of surprise. Illithid faces weren't configured for smiling, but Pothelwick could hear the smile in the mind flayer's mental voice nonetheless as he said, <...Very interesting indeed. This will be an unexpected bonus to my feast.> The mind flayer stepped up behind the immobilized svirfneblin, bent forward, and spread out its four facial tentacles to encompass the deep gnome's bald head. Rows of lampreylike teeth started boring through the flesh and skull of the illithid's frozen prey to get at the juicy brain within. Almost immediately, the mind flayer could tell something was “off” about the taste of this careless svirfneblin, but he didn't have the time to formalize the thought before his prey suddenly melted from his grasp – the effects of the [i]mind blast[/i] had worn off and the phasm had reverted to its normal, amorphous form.[b][12][/b] <A phasm!> the mind flayer exclaimed telepathically, a note of disgust in its mental voice. <You have no central brain at all! You are useless as a food source!> <That is true,> admitted the phasm, reshifting its form into a central column, much as it had when first splitting off from its twin, only this time reaching twice the height of the svirfneblin's size before forming arms, legs, facial features, and the appropriate clothing of its newly-assumed shape. In a matter of mere moments, the would-be illithid attacker found himself staring into a virtual mirror duplicate.[b][13][/b] From the outside, the phasm looked identical to a mind flayer; had the illithid been able to peek inside the creature's interior, he'd see there were several empty spaces inside as the phasm only had so much physical matter to go around. <Interesting,> the mind flayer thought aloud. <Despite your inedibility and uselessness as a food source, I can see a use for your shapeshifting abilities, infiltrating the outposts of the enemies of my people. Are you by any chance available for employment?> The phasm didn't waste any time in thinking it over; working for the members of an illithid city would give it the opportunity to learn about these strange creatures, something its centuries of amassed knowledge was currently lacking. <I am,> the phasm replied and followed his new guide and employer to the illithid city which would be his home for as long as it held his interest.[b][14][/b] Once he got bored hanging out with the mind flayers, he'd go explore somewhere else that looked interesting, probably in a completely different form.[/i] - - - [b]NOTES 11.[/b] When adopting a new form the phasm gains the extraordinary attacks of its new form (such things as constrict, improved grab, and poison) but not the extraordinary special qualities (such as fast healing, regeneration, scent, or darkvision). It likewise fails to gain any of the new form's supernatural or spell-like abilities. The lack of such abilities are often what gives a phasm away as being an impostor so it is careful to “shore up” its disguise by finding ways around these giveaways whenever possible. [b]12.[/b] In its amorphous form, a phasm is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning effects. It therefore makes reverting to its natural form a logical defense when facing a foe using one of those effects as its primary form of attack. Because of its amorphous nature, a phasm in its normal form is also not subject to critical hits and cannot be flanked, for it has no true front or back. [b]13.[/b] When shapechanged, a phasm gains a +10 circumstance bonus to its Disguise checks. Given the creature's normal skill ranking of Disguise +20 (+22 when acting in character, thanks to a synergy bonus from its ranks in Bluff), this gives a phasm a pretty good chance of not being discovered for what it truly is. [b]14.[/b] Phasms are often hired on as spies, a role for which they excel – but their effectiveness is hampered by the phasm's easily-bored natures. A phasm has no real ties to any particular employer and often feels no great need to report back what it has seen while spying. If sufficiently bored, a phasm gives no thought to simply stepping away from the job at hand and doing something more interesting. [/QUOTE]
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The Ecology of the Phasm (unpublished 3.5 "Ecology" article)
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