Home >Game Mastering >Bestiary >Creatures by Type >Ooze >

Living Nebula

Living Nebula CR 15

This purple, red, and yellow cloud of stardust glows with ionized gases and the fluorescences of whitehot newborn star fragments embedded within it.

XP 76,800
CN Colossal ooze
Init +5; Senses blindsight (life) 120 ft., darkvision 120 ft.; Perception +31

DEFENSE HP 237

EAC 28; KAC 29
Fort +15, Ref +11, Will +16
Defensive Abilities alien mind, gaseous; DR 10/magic; Immunities cold, fire, ooze immunities, trick attacks; SR 26
Weaknesses sightless

OFFENSE

Speed fly 100 ft. (Su; perfect)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.
Ranged star matter ejection +24 (4d6+15 F)
Offensive Abilities enveloping cloud
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th)

1/dayholographic image (5th level; DC 25), telekinesis (DC 25)
3/daygreater invisibility, holographic image (4th level; DC 24), holographic terrain (DC 24)
At willdisplacement, holographic image (3rd level; DC 23), psychokinetic hand

STATISTICS

Str —, Dex +5, Con +7, Int —, Wis +9, Cha
Skills Acrobatics +26, Physical Science +31
Languages telepathy 300 ft.
Other Abilities cautious, no breath, mindless, starflight

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Alien Mind (Ex)

A living nebula’s mind is vastly different from the corporeal bodies of most sentient races. The first time a creature other than an outsider or aberration makes mental contract with a living nebula, it must succeed at a DC 23 Will save or be Stunned”>stunned for 1d4 rounds. On a successful save, the creature is merely staggered for 1 round. This effect can occur whether the living nebula initiates mental contact (via telepathy) or another creature attempts to do so (such as via detect thoughts or mind probe). Once a creature is exposed to a specific living nebula, it is immune to this effect from all living nebulas for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Cautious (Ex)

A living nebula always uses the fighting defensively or total defense option during combat, unless it is casting a spell or engulfing opponents.

Enveloping Cloud (Ex)

A living nebula can engulf foes. Engulfed creatures take 12d6 fire damage and are blinded for 1d6 rounds. A creature that succeeds at a DC 23 Reflex save takes half damage and negates the blinded condition. A creature engulfed by a living nebula does not gain the pinned condition and may move normally, but if it ends its turn sharing space with the living nebula, it is blinded for 1d6 rounds in addition to taking 12d6 fire damage (no save).

Gaseous (Ex)

A living nebula has a body composed of stardust. It can pass through small holes or narrow openings, even mere cracks, but cannot enter water or other liquid. It has no Strength score and cannot manipulate objects as a result.

ECOLOGY

Environment vacuum
Organization solitary, pair, or pod (3–6)

Living nebulas are fragments of awakened cosmic consciousness that have coalesced over long centuries and have drawn accretions of dust and gas into themselves to surround their living spark, infusing the dust with their awareness like plankton floating on the eddies of the interstellar ocean.

They frequently inhabit nebulas but also rove the spaceways, with an uncanny ability to sense the presence of starships and trail along behind them absorbing waste energies from their engines.

These composite creatures are playful, with an almost childlike immaturity of children and a curiosity about travelers in the void combined with an alien lack of awareness about the repercussions of their actions. Most instances of their “attacks” against space travelers are more a result of them getting too close to the objects of their interest and unintentionally damaging creatures or their vessels, or playful illusory pranks created in a misguided effort to communicate with travelers or get them to chase, play tag, or other juvenile forms of recreation. A pod of living nebulas might pretend to be an asteroid field, using holographic terrain and holographic image to enhance the effect. A lone living nebula may take up residence within the abandoned hulk of a derelict starship containing salvageable trade goods, using the interior ventilation ducts of the vessel to facilitate its movement. Explorers may not realize a living nebula is behind the strange happenings occurring around them until the creature reveals itself.

Starship Hazard

Tier 6 Biological Size Tiny

Flying through the aura of a living nebula, or worse, flying through the living nebula itself, disrupts sensors, erodes shields, and can even damage the hull itself on smaller ships. A science officer can use the starship’s sensors to detect the living nebula within their sensor range distance with a successful DC 30 Computers check to scan. If the ship moves through the hex in which the living nebula is located, the ship’s pilot can attempt to evade at the last moment with a DC 30 Piloting check to perform a stunt maneuver. On a failure, the starship passes through the nebula and takes 2d6 damage to one or more arcs, depending on its size, and suffers the blindness condition. Tiny ships take damage to all quadrants, Small and Medium ships take damage to two quadrants, and Large or larger ships take damage to one quadrant. If the stunt maneuver is successful, the starship takes only 1d6 damage to one quadrant and is not blinded.

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.