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Ceroptor

Ceroptor CR 8

This creature’s hideous head, with a vaguely humanoid face surrounded by a bulbous, multicolored mass of horns, scales, and bony plates, sits atop a glistening welter of stinger-tipped tentacle strands.

XP 4,800
CE Medium aberration (extraplanar)
Init +2; Senses blindsight (life) 60ft., darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +16

DEFENSE HP 115

EAC 20; KAC 21
Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +11

OFFENSE

Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Melee stinger +17 (1d12+8 P plus paralysis)
Ranged frostbite zero pistol +15 (1d10+8 C, critical staggered [DC 18])
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with stinger)
Offensive Abilities ganglion probe, paralysis 1d4 rounds, DC 18
Spell-like Abilities CL 8

At will—daze (DC 17), fatigue (DC 17)
1/day—mind thrust (2nd level, DC 19), inflict pain (DC 19)
3/day—command (DC 18), lesser confusion (DC 18), fear (DC 18)

STATISTICS

Str +0, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +6, Wis +2, Cha +0
Feats Combat Casting
Skills Bluff +16, Intimidate +16, Mysticism +21, Physical Science +21, Stealth +21
Languages Aklo, Common
Other Abilities steal body

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Ganglion Probe (Ex)

As a standard action, a ceroptor can forcefully insert one of its ganglia into a helpless creature’s nervous system.

Inserting the ganglion deals 1d4 points Dexterity damage. For each round thereafter, for as long as the ganglion remains inserted, the ceroptor continues drawing fluids dealing an additional 1d4 points of Dexterity damage. If this ability damage exceeds the target’s Dexterity score, any additional Dexterity damage becomes Dexterity drain. A ganglion probe can be torn out by hand with a successful grapple combat maneuver or a DC 25 Strength check; in either case, a successful check deals 3d6 damage to the creature being probed.

Steal Body (Ex)

A ceroptor can take control of a headless corpse of that died within the past 12 hours by affixing itself to the creature’s nervous system and absorbing the residual memories of the creature. A ceroptor cannot affix itself to the body of a mindless creature or a creature lacking a central nervous system, such as elementals, oozes, plants, undead, and many aberrations.

Mounting itself onto a corpse is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Once mounted, the ceroptor’s ganglia connect to its host, allowing it to control the body and to make use of the dead creature’s skills, feats, class features and abilities (including spellcasting and spell-like or supernatural abilities), and racial traits and abilities. It uses the physical ability scores the dead creature had in life, but retains its own mental ability scores, skills, feats, spelllike abilities, and any other effects or abilities related to its own mental ability scores.

ECOLOGY

Subpages

Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or mass (3-8)

Created by the dark and alien manipulations of the jagladine, they were designed to manipulate weaker species of the neighboring moons in order to break them into revealing the secrets of the Ancient gates. of genius and entirely alien intellect, a typical ceroptor appears almost as an oversized, hideous head trailing long ganglion-like structures of thick cartilage. Parasitic predators, they capture, enslave and breed the various humanoid races as if they were cattle. They eat humans when they so desire, but also use their bodies by removing a host’s head, inserting their ganglion into their necks and taking over their central nervous systems so they gain full control over the body. This mounting process kills the humanoid host, although the body can remain “alive” and in the possession and control of its host for as long as the host desires or until it is killed.

They also reproduce by laying eggs inside a host body. When the eggs hatch, a brood of tiny ceroptor larvae eats its way out of the corpse.

Upon escaping the host, the larvae go into deep caves where they sleep for several months as they mature into fully developed ceroptors. Ceroptors believe themselves to be a paragon species, far superior to all others. Currently ceroptors travel from moon to moon by mentally projecting themselves form their existing head-like bodies, through inner space and into recently hatched ceroptor larvae on other moons. The original form dies, but the same personality lives on in the new form. In this way, they are somewhat immortal.

How ceroptors originally traveled between the moons is unknown, though it is speculated that an earlier humanoid race possessed the ability to moon jump and became infested with ceroptor eggs after an encounter with the hostile creatures.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Alien Bestiary (Starfinder) © 2018, Legendary Games; Lead Designer: Jason Nelson. Authors: Anthony Adam, Kate Baker, John Bennet, Eytan Bernstein, Robert Brookes, Russ Brown, Duan Byrd, Jeff Dahl, Robyn Fields, Joel Flank, Matt Goodall, Robert J. Grady, Jim Groves, Steven T. Helt, Thurston Hillman, Tim Hitchcock, Nick Hite, Daniel Hunt, Mike Kimmel Marshall, Isabelle Lee, Jeff Lee, Lyz Liddell, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Tom Phillips, Alistair J. Rigg, Alex Riggs, Wendall Roy, Mike Shel, Neil Spicer, Todd Stewart, Russ Taylor, Rachel Ventura, Mike Welham, George Loki Williams, Scott Young.