Shipmind

This yellowy viscous liquid bubbles in a large tank suspended by strangely organic cables. Wisps of white gas occasionally escape the roiling fluid.

Shipmind (CR 13)

Huge Ooze
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Initiative: +13
Senses: Blindsight 60 feet, Detect Good, Detect Law, Detect Magic; Perception +20

Speed: 0 feet or 10 feet (limited mobility)
Space: 15 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 27, touch 17, flat-footed 18 (+9 Dex, +10 armor, -2 size)
Hit Points: 161 (14d8+98)
Saving Throws: Fort +11, Ref +13, Will +12
Amorphous, thought disruption
Damage Reduction: 10/-
Immunity: bludgeoning, charm effects, electricity, fire, ooze traits
Spell Resistance: 24
Weaknesses: limited mobility, vulnerability to cold

Offense

Melee: 3 slams +20 (1d8+12 plus 1d4 Int damage and Grab)
Reach: 15 feet
Ranged: plasma bolt +17 touch (10d6 plasma/19-20)

Special Attacks: immerse

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; Concentration +18):

• Constant- Detect Good, Detect Law, Detect Magic
  
  
• At Will- Enthrall (DC 17), Sending, Telekinesis (DC 20)
  
  
• 3/day- quickened Touch of Idiocy
  
  
• 1/day- Confusion (DC 19), Crushing Despair (DC 19)

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
34 (+12)	28 (+9)	24 (+7)	21 (+5)	23 (+6)	21 (+5)

Base Attack Bonus: +10
CMB +24
CMD 43 (can't be tripped)

Feats: Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical (plasma bolt), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (Touch of Idiocy)

Skills: Knowledge (engineering) +19, Knowledge (geography) +19, Knowledge (nature) +19, Knowledge (planes) +19, Knowledge (religion) +19, Perception +20, Sense Motive +20

Languages: Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Draconic, Infernal, Undercommon, Protean; telepathy 60 ft.

Special Qualities: container, ship interface

Special Abilities

Container (Ex)

A shipmind dwells within an immobile container of partially organic material grown by its Dominion masters. This container functions somewhat like a suit of armor for the shipmind. A shipmind container has hardness 10 and 240 hit points, and can be damaged by sunder attempts. A shipmind container that gains the broken quality grants only a +5 armor bonus to the shipmind within, and does not allow the shipmind to heal negative levels gained during a prolonged period outside of the container (see Limited Mobility). The partially crystalline nature of a shipmind container makes it vulnerable to shatter spells, and sonic damage bypasses the container's hardness and inflicts full damage.

Immerse (Ex)

When a shipmind in its container successfully grabs a Large or smaller target with one of its slam attacks, it can attempt to drag that target into its body as a swift action. To immerse a creature, the shipmind must attempt a combat maneuver check (as though attempting to pin the opponent). If it succeeds, the prey is pulled into the container with the shipmind and immediately takes 6d6 points of plasma damage (half of which is electricity and half of which is fire) and 1d4 points of Intelligence damage-a successful DC 24 Fortitude save halves the plasma damage and negates the Intelligence damage. A creature that remains immersed takes this damage again every following round at the start of the shipmind's turn. In addition, an immersed creature is in danger of suffocating. A creature can attempt to escape immersion by making a successful combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check, as if it were attempting to escape a pin. If the shipmind's container has the broken condition, attempts to escape in this manner gain a +8 bonus.

Limited Mobility (Ex)

Unlike most oozes, a shipmind cannot exist outside of the partially organic container it was originally created in-this container serves the shipmind as its "skin." While inside its container, a shipmind has a speed of 0 feet. When it leaves its container, it gains a speed of 10 feet, but loses its armor bonus to AC. A shipmind can exist outside of its container for 1 hour without consequences, but at the start of each subsequent hour it gains 1 negative level as its body starts to dissolve. These negative levels cannot be restored by any means save by returning to an appropriate shipmind container, at which point they are removed at a rate of 1 level per hour.

Plasma Bolt (Su)

As a standard action, a shipmind can fire a bolt of plasma at a target within 300 feet (no range increment). On a hit, a blast of plasma deals 10d6 damage, half of which is electricity damage and half of which is fire damage.

Ship Interface (Ex)

As long as a shipmind is interfaced with a Dominion vessel, it can observe events within the ship or within 90 feet of its exterior hull as if via clairaudience/ clairvoyance for as long as the shipmind concentrates. While concentrating on an area, the shipmind can activate traps or other ship systems in the area as a swift action; it can even converse with creatures in the area by vibrating the metal and strange membranes in the walls.

Thought Disruption (Su)

The substance that makes up a shipmind ooze is charged with alien psychic energy that is toxic to the minds of most life forms. A creature who willfully touches an ooze (via a touch attack, natural weapon attack, or unarmed strike) or is struck by its slam attack must make a DC 22 Will save or take 1d4 points of Intelligence damage. This is a mind-affecting confusion effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Ecology

Environment: Any
Organization: solitary
Treasure: standard (mostly gemstones)


The enigmatic shipminds are painstakingly engineered creations of Dominion fleshfarms, molded and formed over the course of years to pilot the massive organic spacecraft the aliens use to navigate the Dark Tapestry. Intimately bound to their vessels, shipminds oversee the health and function of the ships they control. They maintain this single-minded task for as long as a thousand years before they must be recycled and rebuilt.

A shipmind resides within a specially designed container on a craft, connected to the ship's greater workings via varying forms of physical interface. These oozes generally follow orders from superiors stationed on their spacecraft, though coaxing is sometimes necessary in order to get these strange creatures to follow direct orders. This is due in part to the fact that these engineered creatures are fanatically devoted to the Dominion's inscrutable faith, with rigid beliefs regarding orthodoxy. Rumors persist of especially radical shipmind oozes going beyond defiance and actually slaying their passengers, a task made frightfully easy due to the mastery each ooze has over every aspect of its spacecraft's function (such as life support and internal security appendages and creatures). Some have been known to plunge their vessel into a star or black hole in moments of defiance or religious ecstasy, leaving the rest of the ship's crew helpless and unable to convince the shipmind to abandon its actions.

As a shipmind reaches more advanced age, it becomes increasingly pedantic and difficult to control. Such oozes often demand small offerings, sacrifices of lesser creatures, or the powering down of ship's systems they deem superfluous or \"unpure.\" At a certain point, the shipmind is recycled, poured from its container into vats to serve as nutrients for the cultivation of a replacement. Fragments of the previous shipmind's intellect and skills carry over into the newly created ooze, ensuring that a sort of entrenched memory and institutional knowledge persist through the generations.

Deteriorating Shipmind (CR-1)

In cases where a shipmind isn't recycled in time, as often happens in abandoned ships or in cases where a Dominion crew neglects the shipmind for too long, a shipmind can begin to deteriorate while still within its container. Deteriorated shipminds are sometimes encountered on Dominion drop ships after the vessel has landed on a planet and been left to rot. In such cases, the shipmind slowly goes insane, serving almost as a sort of living haunt within the decaying ship and bringing madness and pain to any creatures exploring its decks. Most deteriorating shipminds survive for only a few years, or a decade at most—in the majority of cases, the Dominion drop ship decays into filth and sludge long before then.

A shipmind that is deteriorating has slightly different statistics than the typical shipmind. You can create stats for one of these shipminds by applying the deteriorating shipmind simple template to the statistics above. The quick rules and rebuild rules for a deteriorating shipmind are the same.

Quick/Rebuild Rules: -2 on all rolls (including damage rolls) and to special ability DCs. The shipmind's container is broken and has only 120 hit points. A deteriorating shipmind can only use its plasma bolt once every other round, and gains negative levels at a rate of 1 per round immediately after it leaves its container.