Planar Bestiary
The silvery blobs orbiting a psychic war veteran are condensed from the veteran's mind.
Psychic war veterans have spent years battling aberrations and other threats. Some veterans are mercenaries, and others whisper of a coming war.
From the multiverse's time-stretched edge, the psychic war veteran returns from battle. Ages upon ages have passed in their absence, but the veteran recalls fighting in an eternal now where unimaginable creatures sailed in from outside existence to assail creation. That endless fight killed most soldiers and left the veterans scarred, wounded, and psychologically fragile. One moment they may be enjoying merriment in a tavern, only to suddenly fall silent, eyes darting to the floor. Tears may come then, or a simmering anger that others would do well not to disturb, lest it turn upon them.
If a psychic war veteran believes a regular creature has some connection to an aberration, they are likely to slay first and establish specific connections later, or just let their previous belief stand. But if faced with actual aberrations to destroy, a psychic war veteran becomes a stolid ally—at least for as long as it takes to hunt down and slay the offending entity.
Motive: Varies by individual
Environment: Anywhere in the multiverse, usually alone, sometimes part of a motley crew of other individuals haunted by a half-forgotten past
Health: 15
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Armor: 3 (including Intellect damage)
Movement: Short
Modifications: Psychic lore and resisting mental influence as level 7
Combat: The veteran attacks twice per round, once with their sword and once with a "psychic sliver." Three to five slivers orbit the veteran, and attacks made with them can reach targets within short range. A target hit by a sliver takes damage and, on a failed Might defense task, is held until they can escape with a successful Might task as their action. A target held by a sliver can't move from their location and all their physical tasks are hindered.
Instead of making a physical attack with a sliver, a veteran can attempt to mentally damage one target already grabbed by a sliver. On a failed Intellect defense task, a grabbed target takes 5 points of Intellect damage (ignores Amor) and falls one step on the damage track.
A veteran can use their slivers as if they were extra hands. If destroyed (treat them as level 2 objects against damaging effects), a veteran can condense new psychic slivers after a brief rest.
Interaction: Sometimes dreamy, often lost in thought, and occasionally angry at the great gaps in their memory, a psychic veteran does what they can to get by despite not knowing where they really came from, how old they really are, and what they might have done in a war fought far across the planes. There are only a few psychic war veterans around, but their lack of shared memories tends to keep them away from each other. An individual war veteran might be a brigand, an adventurer, a protector, or a layabout drunkard.
Use: On the other side of the lake from a frontier community lives a veteran from a war no one remembers. Sometimes kids visit, hoping for stories. Usually, they come away disappointed. Other times, the veteran gives them a souvenir from another age.
Loot: Even though they can't remember where they acquired them, most psychic war veterans still have a handful of useful cyphers, such as a zero point field ring, a weapon enhancement rune, or a vocal translator amulet.
GM Intrusion: A psychic attack or spell that would inflict mental damage or mentally influence the veteran bounces, affecting the character instead as if the veteran made the attack.