Let's finish off Infestation. Con-based DC with the +5 racial bonus is good.
I'll remove those question marks from the
Infestation Rough Draft.
To remove them, I'm kind of thinking a DC 20 Heal check with each attempt doing 5 hp damage might work before the network is established.
I'd prefer something a
little more substantial such as ability damage since it presumably involves the removal of portions of the host's skin, flesh and the risk of nerve damage. So Con damage and possibly a bit of Dexterity damage.
Also it'd mean repeated attempts won't be trivial to a hard PC with lots of hit points.
But after that, it should take magic. Maybe a remove curse spell?
I don't think it can be considered a "curse" in the D&D supernatural sense. The
remove disease spell seems more appropriate, since that "also kills parasites", since they're very difficult to remove I'd add a (high) Caster Level check for it to work.
If we allow
remove disease than presumably a
heal could be used as well if we ignore that "unwanted symbiont" isn't listed amongst the adverse conditions it can end.
The original description says a complete merger "is irreversible without the use of
wish-level magic", which seems a bit extreme but suggests we could say it can automatically be removed with a
limited wish,
wish, or
miracle.
I would think
psychic chirurgery and
bend reality would definitely be able to remove one as well.
However, another idea I had was simply boring the worry-wart into going away. If the hold applies plasters over all the 'warts' so the creature cannot protrude eyestalks and sense its surroundings then after a while the
nibish-riule might eventually get bored and disconnect itself to look for a host that's actually entertaining. 'Course the host will have to ignore its telepathing nagging to be allowed to see what's going on.
Also, couldn't a spell that cuts extradimensional connections sever the link to the
nibish-riule and stop the symbiosis. I don't think
dimensional anchor would do the trick since it doesn't block extradimensional perception or attack forms or interfere with creatures already in ethereal or astral form, but a spell like
dismissal or
banishment might do the job by forcing away the portion of the creature that's on this plane inside the host. Maybe have it apply a decently high Will save and/or Hit Dice against
banishment/dismissal based on its "whole self" rather than the tiny portion in the symbiont?
I have to think about the symbiont traits, etc, a bit more. I see what Cleon's saying about being flat-footed, but it's part of the host's body, really, so it shouldn't have an AC penalty if the host isn't surprised even if it is.
I guess we could treat the flat-footed question like the symbiont and host are in a two-person Hive mind, with that ability's "If one is aware of a particular danger, they all are. If one in a group is not flat-footed, none of them are. No [name] in a group is considered flanked unless all of them are" rule.
