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The Ecology of the Phasm (unpublished 3.5 "Ecology" article)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: 8235220" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><em>Pothelwick Glintpebble<strong>[7]</strong> wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set down the goblet of deepberry wine on the tavern's table. “...And she never found out who was responsible!” he added, finishing the tale he'd been telling to the small crowd of boisterous svirfneblin gathered around him. They burst out laughing at the conclusion of his outrageous story, one of the deep gnomes seated at his left slapping him heartily on the back.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The phasm had spent several hours in the drinking establishment, telling tales and picking up all sorts of fresh gossip from his new friends. It had been many years since he'd last split off and found himself in a form small enough to impersonate a svirfneblin and he was taking full advantage of the current opportunity to do so. The Pothelwick persona he'd crafted had served him well over many incarnations and he'd established himself in this form as a wandering storyteller, which easily explained his frequent absences of often several decades at a time. As a deep gnome storyteller, he could walk into just about any svirfneblin drinking establishment and earn enough coin for a drink or two and a meal with his tales, which served the phasm just fine; while he could change his outer shape into just about any form imaginable he had no way of breaking off pieces of himself and thus could not fabricate false coins. He was well aware it was possible to form hollow spaces inside whatever form he chose to take and thus carry along small items with him in that fashion – and in fact, many phasms did just that, using their own bodies to carry coins with them – but it was a practice he'd never gotten into himself; it always seemed like too much bother, especially when with a bit of creativity you could make do without carrying money.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>“Well,” he said, sliding off of the stool in a practiced manner, “I'd best be heading back out. Places to go, people to see – you know how it is.” He nodded to the tavern keeper. “Thanks for the meal, and the drinks!”<strong>[8]</strong> And then Pothelwick Glintpebble stepped out of the tavern and with a final wave to the friends he left behind headed for another part of the svirfneblin city. He'd check in a few other places here to pick up gossip about what had been going on here in the city since the last time he'd passed this way – he'd definitely need to swing by and see Tamarish, a deep gnome woman whose ability to pick up and repeat gossip was unparalleled in the phasm's experience, although she'd undoubtedly expect him to spend the night with her while he was in town.<strong>[9]</strong> Then he'd depart the deep gnome city and go exploring. There was a lot more of the Underdark to be seen and he was eager to continue his explorations.<strong>[10]</strong></em></p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p><strong>NOTES</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>7.</strong> Phasms have no personal names among themselves, nor do they feel the need for such. When assuming the form of an intelligent creature, they often adopt a name for themselves and refer to themselves by that name while in that form, but as soon as they change shape that name no longer serves a purpose.</p><p></p><p><strong>8.</strong> As aberrations, phasms eat, breathe, and sleep. They are capable of ingesting almost any organic matter and have no qualms against eating carrion but make a point of only being seen to eat whatever is appropriate for the form it is currently wearing. (If there's nobody around to see, however, all bets are off.) A phasm in its natural, oozelike form consumes matter by engulfing it with its pliant body and creating digestive juices in the “pocket” thus formed. Phasm metabolisms are extremely efficient, creating nearly no waste products at all. However, much of the energy produced by their food consumption goes toward their shapechanging abilities, so they grow in size only very gradually; a Small phasm formed by its larger self splitting into two often takes about 20-30 years to regain its normal Medium size and then can spend upwards of another 70-80 years as a Medium creature before becoming large enough to force it to split into two again. Phasms who remain immobile for great spans of time – like those taking a year to sort through their oldest memories – need almost no food intake at all during their time of inactivity.</p><p></p><p><strong>9.</strong> A phasm can only reproduce by splitting its amorphous body in two. While in an alternate form it can engage in normal sexual activity but it cannot reproduce in that form, regardless of which gender it has assumed.</p><p></p><p><strong>10.</strong> Phasms are insatiably curious. With the ability to shapechange into just about any form they can imagine they need fear almost nothing – they have preferred forms for scaring away potential foes and others best assumed for rapid departure – so they can afford to explore their subterranean world to their fullest extent. Phasms seek to increase their personal knowledge and value new experiences, from the tastes and smells of new foods to obscure facts and juicy gossip. They tend to gather up as many new experiences as they can, realizing they can always take some time off as a rock or something to sort through their memories of their experiences and decide which ones are worth keeping.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8235220, member: 508"] [I]Pothelwick Glintpebble[B][7][/B] wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set down the goblet of deepberry wine on the tavern's table. “...And she never found out who was responsible!” he added, finishing the tale he'd been telling to the small crowd of boisterous svirfneblin gathered around him. They burst out laughing at the conclusion of his outrageous story, one of the deep gnomes seated at his left slapping him heartily on the back. The phasm had spent several hours in the drinking establishment, telling tales and picking up all sorts of fresh gossip from his new friends. It had been many years since he'd last split off and found himself in a form small enough to impersonate a svirfneblin and he was taking full advantage of the current opportunity to do so. The Pothelwick persona he'd crafted had served him well over many incarnations and he'd established himself in this form as a wandering storyteller, which easily explained his frequent absences of often several decades at a time. As a deep gnome storyteller, he could walk into just about any svirfneblin drinking establishment and earn enough coin for a drink or two and a meal with his tales, which served the phasm just fine; while he could change his outer shape into just about any form imaginable he had no way of breaking off pieces of himself and thus could not fabricate false coins. He was well aware it was possible to form hollow spaces inside whatever form he chose to take and thus carry along small items with him in that fashion – and in fact, many phasms did just that, using their own bodies to carry coins with them – but it was a practice he'd never gotten into himself; it always seemed like too much bother, especially when with a bit of creativity you could make do without carrying money. “Well,” he said, sliding off of the stool in a practiced manner, “I'd best be heading back out. Places to go, people to see – you know how it is.” He nodded to the tavern keeper. “Thanks for the meal, and the drinks!”[B][8][/B] And then Pothelwick Glintpebble stepped out of the tavern and with a final wave to the friends he left behind headed for another part of the svirfneblin city. He'd check in a few other places here to pick up gossip about what had been going on here in the city since the last time he'd passed this way – he'd definitely need to swing by and see Tamarish, a deep gnome woman whose ability to pick up and repeat gossip was unparalleled in the phasm's experience, although she'd undoubtedly expect him to spend the night with her while he was in town.[B][9][/B] Then he'd depart the deep gnome city and go exploring. There was a lot more of the Underdark to be seen and he was eager to continue his explorations.[B][10][/B][/I] - - - [B]NOTES 7.[/B] Phasms have no personal names among themselves, nor do they feel the need for such. When assuming the form of an intelligent creature, they often adopt a name for themselves and refer to themselves by that name while in that form, but as soon as they change shape that name no longer serves a purpose. [B]8.[/B] As aberrations, phasms eat, breathe, and sleep. They are capable of ingesting almost any organic matter and have no qualms against eating carrion but make a point of only being seen to eat whatever is appropriate for the form it is currently wearing. (If there's nobody around to see, however, all bets are off.) A phasm in its natural, oozelike form consumes matter by engulfing it with its pliant body and creating digestive juices in the “pocket” thus formed. Phasm metabolisms are extremely efficient, creating nearly no waste products at all. However, much of the energy produced by their food consumption goes toward their shapechanging abilities, so they grow in size only very gradually; a Small phasm formed by its larger self splitting into two often takes about 20-30 years to regain its normal Medium size and then can spend upwards of another 70-80 years as a Medium creature before becoming large enough to force it to split into two again. Phasms who remain immobile for great spans of time – like those taking a year to sort through their oldest memories – need almost no food intake at all during their time of inactivity. [B]9.[/B] A phasm can only reproduce by splitting its amorphous body in two. While in an alternate form it can engage in normal sexual activity but it cannot reproduce in that form, regardless of which gender it has assumed. [B]10.[/B] Phasms are insatiably curious. With the ability to shapechange into just about any form they can imagine they need fear almost nothing – they have preferred forms for scaring away potential foes and others best assumed for rapid departure – so they can afford to explore their subterranean world to their fullest extent. Phasms seek to increase their personal knowledge and value new experiences, from the tastes and smells of new foods to obscure facts and juicy gossip. They tend to gather up as many new experiences as they can, realizing they can always take some time off as a rock or something to sort through their memories of their experiences and decide which ones are worth keeping. [/QUOTE]
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