Symbionts by

# Symbionts

Symbionts are creatures that enters a mutual beneficial relationship with another creature, living on or inside a creature, where it might gain nutrition, protection or locomotion and in exchange offer up some benefit of it's own to the host. Some symbiont evolving or made to live with one specific type of host, to the point where they might as well be one creature, while others are less choosy on which creature they will bond with, up to and including a player's character.
Symbionts present a way for you to explain how a creature might gain additional capability or act as a unusual reward for players, who are not squirmish about having tenants living within their body.

"Host" can therefor mean either Creature or a player's character when referenced in this document.

### Gaining a symbiont

To host a symbiont, a creature must first have the symbiont enter the body, which can happen in any number of ways, ranging from swallowing an egg, to inhaling spores to pushing roots into open wounds and sew them up. Check with your GM for the method of a giving symbiont.
The symbiont then grants the benefit to the host after 7 days have passed.
A symbiont can be forced into a creature, if the creature is restrained or otherwise unable to resist.

### The strain of hosting
Having too many symbiont can put a strain on the hosts' mind and body, as the demands and needs of the symbionts grows with their number, leading to the following penalties if the host carries more than 2 symbionts:

##### Hive that walks
A host who takes in too many symbiont puts themselves at risk of having the impulse and instincts of their symbiont taking over their mind. Each symbiont, starting from the third, reduce the INT and CHA of the host by 1, for as long as the symbiont remains within the Host. A Host reduced to less than 3 CHA or Less than 3 INT becomes a feral beast who cares only for fulfilling instinctual needs. At that point, INT and CHA can only be restored by first removing all symbionts from the Host and then using Greater Restoration on them.

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##### A Thousand mouths to feed
A host who takes in more and more symbiont soon find themselves saddled with a voracious hunger that must be sated, less their symbiont dies off or leaves them for another host. Each symbiont, starting from the third, increases the daily need of rations by 1 to avoid starvation. Symbionts will start to die or leave the host, if the host Exhaustion level reaches 3 or more and at least one of the levels are from starvation. The symbiont is choosing randomly when the host reaches the exhaustion level and then once a week, until the Host no longer have any exhaustion levels.

### Removing a symbiont
Removing a symbiont takes 1 hour and requirer a medicine check against dc 15. On a failure the host takes 1d6 necrotic damage, per point of difference between the dc and the result of the medicine check.

## Symbiont List
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### Iron Fang Wood
The Iron Fang Wood is commonly found in regions with armored, if not outright magical creatures with a hide or shell that predators normally would have trouble penetrating with their fangs.
The seed blossoming when it find itself caught between the teeth of an animal, from where it starts to grow into the gum and along the surface of the host's teeth and even growing new living prosthetic where teeth are missing. The symbiont feeds on the blood of the predators kill, while magically enhancing the fangs of the host.
Variants are said to exist that does the same for claws and it's even said that there's a parasitic strain the have evolved to infect herbivore, subtle influencing their mind to become more aggressive, while giving them wooden fangs as hard as steel.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host one of the following benefit, depending on the strain.
- Natural Bite attack count as +1 magical for the Purpose of attack roll, damage roll and overcoming Resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
- Natural Claw attack count as +1 magical for the Purpose of attack roll, damage roll and overcoming Resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
- Gain a Natural bite Attack if it does not already have it and have a mouth, that does 1d6 + str modifier piercing damage and count as +1 magical for the Purpose of attack roll, damage roll and overcoming Resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

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### Tongue worm.
Not actually a worm. The Tongue worm is a centipede that attaches itself to the host tongue, causing it to atrophies and eventually taking over the function of the organ, becoming part of the nerve and circulatory system and in exchange grants the host an additional defensive measure, since the tongue worm happens to be poisonous, lashing out of the mouth of it's host when threatened or biting along with it's host, if the host can do so. The Tongue worm can also taste on behalf of it's host, finding out if something is safe for consumption

###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The Host gain a Natural Bite attack if it does not already have one and gain proficiency in it, that deals 1d3 poison damage and inflicts the poison condition on a failed con save. The DC for the save is 10 + the Host CON modifier
- A Host with a Natural bite Attack deals an additional 1d3 poison damage when it hits with a bite attack and inflicts the poison condition on a failed con save. The DC for the save is 10 + the host CON modifier
- The Host gains advantage on their investigation roll, if they uses the tongue worm to investigate if something is poisonous or diseased.

### Clot Ooze
Rarely seen and for a long time it's benefit was considered a natural ability of the creatures it used as hosts in the region it's from. This deep blue Ooze, which in fact is a colony of thousands of minute ones, lives within the blood stream of the host, barely making it's presence known except for making the host slightly more hungry, until something wounds the Host. At that point, the Ooze colony swiftly seeks out the breach into it's home to close it, making it seem like a blue membrane grows forth from within the host to stop the bleeding.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The Host reduce the damage taken from Piercing and Slashing weapon by 2, to a minimum of 1.

### Mimic Ooze
An Ooze as white as snow when at rest. This being lives within cavity inside it's host just below the surface of the skin, with a single feeler attached to the spinal cord, ready to jump into action at which point it forces it's way out of the skin, piercing minute holes out from the inside and envelope the Host so it can disguise itself. Prey species making themselves seem more threatening, predator make themselves seem like the same species as their prey as they stalk closer, while Sentient beings can with training gain a higher level of control of the Ooze disguise.

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###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The Host can take an action and 1 damage to apply the effect of the "disguise self" spell to themselves, but can not take a shape smaller than themselves and maximum an inch larger in any dimension. The disguise does not count as a magical effect.

### Orpheus Wart
A plant that grows on the skin of it's host and digs it's roots below. The symbiont at a glance looks like patches of brown warts, though they are soft and slightly spongy to the touch. The exact spot where it settles in depending on the species but in humanoid species, often finding themselves growing on the lower part of the side of the neck. Orpheus Wart protects it's Host by expelling a cloud of spores that puts creature to sleep when the Host is threatened or agitated, and with training can be made to do so on command.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The Host can as an action expel a cloud of spore in a 15 feet radius the have the same effect as the "Sleep" spell casted at level 1. The effect is considered poison and not magic for the purpose of immunity. The Host is immune to their own spore and can use the Symbiont a number of time equal to their constitution modifier (Minimum of 1) and regain any expended uses when they finish a Long Rest.

### Lung Moss
A symbiont often found in regions prone to flooding, along the coasts or in swampy area. The symbiont lodges itself and grow in it's Host lungs when it's spores are inhaled, often unnoticed except for a higher need for water as the symbiont drains fluids from it's host. It's true worth not revealing itself, until the Host are underwater and water enter it's lung, at which point the Symbiont swiftly and efficiently absorb the water and expel oxygen, allowing the Host to breath underwater.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The Host can breath under water.

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### Flesh Hive Bee
A swarm symbiont that starts with a queen along with a small swarm choosing a host and stinging it with a painkiller and stimulant, removing any pain and unpleasantness at the selected area. Soon afterward, the enzymes in the stings will steadily causes a tumor to grow at the selected spot that the swarm will carve out and turn into their hive. Most never grow larger than that of half a melon, but there are reports of old Host who have carried around hives large enough to cover their entire back, or make their stomach seem bloated.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The Host can as a bonus action release a Swarm of Insects with the same stat as the creature in Monsters Manuel, except with a fly speed of 20 feet. The swarm can act on the turn it's released and will afterward act on it's own on the Host initiative, attacking the nearest hostile creature. A Swarm reduced to 0 hp can not be released until after a week have passed.

### Spine Slime
A clear ooze with several interconnected filament-thin milky-white strand within, that lives, as it's names says, in the spine of it's host, attaching itself to the nerve system where it acts like a second instinctive brain that aids the Host in avoiding danger. The symbiont aware of anything the Host is, perhaps even more so, since it's mind is not cluttered with higher thoughts and when danger present itself, will in split seconds hijack the Host's body to move it out of the way of harm. A trait that have left skeptics worried that the Spine Slime might fully take over the body of the host, but there have never been report of the relationship being anything else but benign and many attribute their survival to the Ooze reaction, even while they were frozen with fear.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The Host can choose to reroll a dexterity save after they have seen the result of the initial roll, but before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails and must keep the result of the second roll. The Host can do so a number of time equal to it's constitution modifier and regain any expended uses when they finish a Long Rest.
- The Host can at the end of it's turn move up to half it's movement speed in any direction, if the Host is not restrained and is under any other effect that otherwise would prevent the host from moving or would force the host to move against it's will, such as *Confusion* or *Hold Person*.

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### Nymph's hair
The name refers to a wide variety of plants, some looking more like sea weed when viewed up close, others like grass and some like the branches of a willow. The symbiont binding itself to the hair sack of it's host and sprout out like hair, giving hair or fur a greenish tint. The symbiont regular release an earthly smell that adapts to the surrounding, masking the host's natural smell. There's also an ongoing effort to breed a species of Nymph's hair that feel and looks as close to human hair as possible, without the ability to release it's smell, in an attempt to hide baldness.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- Creatures with keen senses gains no special benefit from using their sense of smell to track or find the host.

### Hulking Worm
A symbiont that in no way seem to live up to it's name. The Hulking Worm resembles a thinner and flat earth worm when outside a host, though the location where it is found makes it's purpose clear. The worm attaching itself along the muscle of it's host, replicating the movement of the surrounding but with an increased force when needed.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host can as a reaction gain advantage when performing a str check or save. The Host can do so a number of times equal to it's strength modifier and regain any expended uses when they finish a Long Rest.

### Hedgehog's Skin
In the same family as grass, this plant symbiont grows out of the skin of the host and looks like spread out rows of plant needles laying flat against the skin of the host, until it becomes agitated, at which point the spikes rises up much like on the namesake mammal, turning the entire body into a gruesome weapon.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- Any creature that grapples the host and any creature grappled by the host, unless the host grapples with it's mouth or by swallowing, receive 1d4 damage when the grappling is initiated and at the beginning of each of the creature's turn, for as long as the grapple is maintained.

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### Scale Scarab
The host of Scale Scarab at a glance "merely" seem like they are covered with patches of very fine scale, but even a curious glance will make it apparent that the "scales" are moving and a closer look reveals the truth. That the scales are in fact colonies of minute beetles that lives on the skin of their host, sustaining on sweat, dead skin and the occasional blood splatter, be it from the host or victims of the host and in return provide the service of their surprisingly sturdy shell to blunt blows and bites against their host.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host increase their armor class by 1.

### Poison Eater
These small remora like symbiont have the appearance of small and thin fleshy appendage dangling off the skin of their host and are commonly found in areas with poisonous plants and wildlife, where they attach themselves to animals living on said poisonous wildlife and literally suck out poison from their host along with a small amount of the host blood, before salivating anti-dote through the very same bite wound. 
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host gain advantage on rolls to end poison and disease.

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### Spell Shield Shroom
This short stalked, wide capped mushroom digs it's mycelium into the flesh of it's host, lodging itself firmly into the host body and in return for nutrition, provide protection against hostile magical effects by instinctively expelling a magic suppressing cloud of spore when it senses threats.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host can as a reaction cast counterspell against a spell targeting them. If a spell also target other targets, then the counter spell effect from the symbiont only stops the effect on the host. This does not count as a spell, for the purpose of effect that suppresses magic. The Host can do so once and regain the use when they finish a Long Rest.

### Wrist Spider
The flat and black wrist spider digs almost it's entire body into it's host flesh, often the wrist of bipedal creates, and in the shoulder or even forehead otherwise. Only the abdomen sticks out, from where the host can shot out a great mass of web on on command.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host can cast *web* with a DC of 10 + the host con modifier. This does not count as a spell, for the purpose of effect that suppresses magic. The Host can do so once and regain the use when they finish a Long Rest.

[Art by Dominik Derow](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oOoQrO)

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### Rejunevation Worms
These flat worms lives in the torso cavity of their host, needing only some of the nutrition that they draw from thier host, the rest stored for emergency, where it can be released to swiftly hear their hosts wounds. Some house of healings keep a colony of rejunevation worms at hand, using them for the most grivious of wounds.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host can use a bonus action to heal up to 5 time their constitution bonus (minimum 5). The healing can be split across several uses and all spent healing is regained when the host finish a Long Rest.

### Stormward Wood
A plant in the same family as the mistletoe, the lightning eater often grows on tall trees in regions with stormy weather, where they act as living lightning rod that takes the brunt of a lightning strike, but have been found to also grow directly on the flesh of animals allowing them to survive the heat of a forest fire.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host reduces all lightning and fire damage by 5.

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### Finger Sap
This ooze lives just under their host skin, spreading a network that connects to their host sweat glands, from where the ooze can force itself out giving the extremities of the host appendages a sticky surface that allows it to climb even sheer cliff surface, or making it's skin adhesive and harder to escape. Traits that prey and predator alikes can benefits from.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host can climb vertical surfaces as if it was walk flat ground and add their CON modifier as a bonus to any attempt to grapple.

### Berserker's mites
Small and barely visible to the naked eyes, these tiny beings resides in the safety of their host skull cavity unnoticeable even to the host, until their lives are threatened by monsters at which point the mite secrets a chemical when it senses that it's host have chosen fight instead of flight, that sends it's host into a berserk rage. Some cultures are said to implant the symbiont into members of their warrior caste.
###### Effect: 
The symbiont gives the host the following benefits
- The host deals an additional 3 damage with it's melee attack, when at half their maximum hitpoint or less.

[Art by MrRedButcher](https://www.deviantart.com/mrredbutcher/art/Paras-Parasect-442703239)

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# Hive that Walks
*The symbionts of Tenra provide a quick, if risky path to power, but some learns to harnesh the symbionts without risking losing themselves to the hivemind. Through mental and physical honing, a warrior who decides to become a Hive that Walks gain greater control over the beings that calls his body their home and the cost of being seen as a grotesque freak by others are dampened by knowing that they'll never be alone for the rest of their life.*

### Symbiotic relationship
When you take this archetype at 3rd level, you learn to better live with and use the symbionts living in your body, gaining the following benefits:

- Any symbionts with an ability with a use that's regained on a long rest, is now regained on a short rest.
- The DC for symbionts ability becomes 8 + proficiency modifer + Con modifier
___
You also start as the host for 2 symbionts, choosen from the following list and gain an additional symbiont at level 6, 9, 13 and 17. The symbionts chosen from this feature, does not count toward the number of symbionts you are hosting for the purpose of the *The strain of hosting* rule:

*Iron Fang Wood, Tongue Worm, Mimic Ooze, Hulking Worm, Hedgehog's Skin, Finger Sap, Orpheus Warts (6.th level), Scale Scarab (6.th level), Spine Slime (6.th level), Stormward Wood (6.th level), Clot Ooze (6.th level), Wrist Spider (6.th level) Flesh Hive Bee (6.th level), Spell Shield Shroom (9.th level), Berserker's Mites (9.th level)*

### Commune through the hive
At 7th level, you're able to insert your symbionts into others mind to extract information, allowing you to cast *speak with dead* on a corpse that have died within the last hour, so long it also have a brain.

___
You can also cast *detect thoughts* affecting only a creature with a brain, that you touch as part of the casting. The affected creature always knows that it's under effect of the *detect thoughts* as the symbionts crawls within their mind and can make a con saving throw at the end of each of it's turn against your symbiont DC, to force out the symbionts.
___
Each cast can be used once and is regained on a long rest and does not count as magic, for the purpose of effects like counter spell and antimagic field.

### Many as one
From 10th level your symbionts and you fight as one. You can now use a bonus action to use the ability of any symbionts that normally use an action to use or to make an attack granted by a symbiont.

### Shared adrenalin 
At 15th level, your symbionts shares your vitality. You regain an expended use of a symbiont, when you use *second wind* or *action surge*.

### Immortality Strain

At 18th level, your symbionts refuses to let you die. You automatically stabilize when you reach 0 hitpoint even if the attack would normally outright kill you, unless your body have been completely destroyed from effects like *disintegrate* and additional attacks does not cause failed dead saves. You also automatically spend a HD at the beginning of your turn if you start your turn with 0 hitpoint, regaining that much HP and can then act as normal, unless your body are complete destroyed from effects like disintegrate or received at least 3 times your level of fire or acid damage while at 0 hit point.

If you're at 0 hit pint with no remaining HD, then you automatically heal 1 hit point, after 24 hours have passed.

___

You can also reattach severed limbs or regrow new limbs during a short rest and no longer age. You still die at the end of your natural lifespan, at which point your symbionts takes over your body.

Screencap from Ninja Scroll by JVC, Toho and Movic.

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## Patron: The Great Hive

*Your patron is a great gestalt mind consisting of an uncountable number of symbiont beings that perhaps act as one mind, perhaps act as several who find consensus. The hive's for the most part literally merely insects, but together they form an intellect spread across a vast area with motive of it's own. Perhaps it simple desire to constantly grow, becoming more intelligent the greater it is, for whatever purpose that serve. Perhaps it have developed it's own alien moral but need a human face to promote it, or perhaps the worm simple loves you and helps you, cause it wants you to become part of it out of your own free will.*

#### Expanded Spell List
##### The Great Hive Expanded Spells
| Spell Level  | Spells |
|:------------:|:-----------|
|  1st         | *Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals*         |
|  2nd         | *Spiders Climb, Web*            |
|  3rd         | *Conjure Animal, Stinking Cloud*  |
|  4th         | *Giant Insect, Dominate Beast* |
|  5th         | *Insect Plague, Rary's Telepathic Bond*   |

#### The Hive's gift.
Beginning at 1st level, your patron gifts you with part of itself, granting you the following benefits.

- Any symbionts with an ability with a use that's regained on a long rest, is now regained on a short rest.
- The DC for symbionts ability becomes 8 + proficiency modifer + Cha modifier
___
Your patron also grants you 2 symbionts, choosen from the following list and gain an additional symbiont at level 9 and 13. the chosen symbionts does not count toward the number of symbionts you are hosting for the purpose of the *The strain of hosting* rule. Certain symbionts have a minimum level requirement before you can choice them:
<div style='margin-top:10px;'></div>

#### Worm Body
At 6th level, your flesh is partly replaced with that of the hive, granting you supernatural recovery as blows that strikes your body cuts through the hive before it reassemble. You can as a reaction to taking damage, spend a Hit Dice and recover that much hp.

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#### Swarm Walk
At 10th level, your patron grants you the power to temporary turn your body into a swift moving swarm. You can as a an action dissolve your body into a mass of insects and reform in an unoccupied space you can see within 60 feet.

You can also choose to either have all creatures within 10 feet if your location when you perform this action or within 10 feet of the location where you appear, to be engulfed by insects, forcing them to make a dexterity save, taking 6d6 piercing damage on a failed and half on a success.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

#### Swarm Form
At 14th level, you gain the ability to become as your patron for an extended time, your body turning into a walking colony of insects.

You can use a bonus action to become a walking hive, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
- You gain resistance to all damage that does not have an area of effect.
- You gain advantage on your concentration save.
- You are lightly obscured by a constant cloud of insects.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Art from Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous by Owlcat Games