Dear Oras, God of adaptation, change, and evolution,
Hi there. I’m Nate and I’m a big fan of your work. The process of evolution is an amazing phenomenon. Did you know that there are people on my planet who don’t believe in evolution? Pretty crazy, I know. But you know what’s even crazier? The fact that those people are on the right track, but they’re just walking in the wrong direction. You see, I know that evolution is real. And I also know that you’ve been holding out on us.
That’s right, I’m on to you. Sure, you took a bunch of apes and helped us discover things like mathematics and medicine and Breath of Fire II for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and that’s all awesome, but I know what you’re truly packing in that bulbous giga-brain of yours. You’ve got the know-how to turn me into some kind of writhing monstrosity beyond our worldly comprehension and I’m writing you to say just one thing.
Gimmie.
Hello and welcome to Eldritch Excursion, the blog where I weave the flavor and mechanics of tabletop roleplaying games into the silken chrysalis that will birth my ascended form. Or I would, if it wasn’t for someone being stingy with letting me swim in the gene pool. Not going to name any names but it starts with O and ends with me unleashing waves of grotesque creatures upon all of creation until I get what I want.
In fact, I’m going to go ahead and fire off a metaphorical warning shot to show that I mean business. Figuring out exactly what kind of beastling to hurl screaming into the unexpecting world might be a difficult task in its own right. Luckily, it was none other than Know Direction that practically made the decision for me.
If only they knew what was to come.
Fleshy Leshies
A leshy is formed when a nature spirit inhabits a vessel crafted around living plant matter, taking a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions. This process was expanded upon when a fleshwarp druid and an alchemist obsessed with transhumanism found a way to lead such spirits into specially-made alchemical familiars. Such beings, referred to as ‘fleshies’ in reference to their verdant siblings, have bodies that are built with and around still-living tissue in the same way that leshies are built with plants.
Playing as a fleshy can be a simple matter of adjusting the flavor and some labels. A gourd leshy can be a stomach fleshy, a vine leshy can be a tendon fleshy, etcetera. The plant type could be replaced with aberration. Maybe throw in some Aklo. A fleshy familiar is possible, especially when taken by a multiclass alchemist/druid for flavor, but it would be mechanically identical to an alchemical familiar.
But if you want something more than a simple reskin, pun very much intended, then I’ve got you covered.
Fleshy Heritage (Rare Heritage)
Unlike a typical leshy, your body is made of a mixture of plant matter and vat-grown flesh. Your spirit was coaxed into a body made from equal parts natural growth and alchemical tampering. You gain the fleshwarp trait and low-light vision, or darkvision if you already have low-light vision. In addition, you can select fleshwarp or leshy feats whenever you gain an ancestry feat.
I knew this is what our goblin assistant would have wanted. Also, resurrection spells are way beyond our quarterly budget.
I know what you’re thinking right about now, Oras. You’re thinking that you’re perfectly safe sitting there on the other end of the nebulous Gap, free of the repercussions of my reckless experimentation. And you think that you’re doubly safe, as I am trapped here in this mundane world, in the body of a mundane man, surrounded by mundane people with mundane misgivings about our mundane origins.
While I may not be an evolution denier, I know that my evolution has been denied. My creations run wild in your galaxy even as I pen this letter. Cast your many eyes across the many worlds, and you’ll see my many creations living their best and generally messing with all of your plans that don’t involve turning me into an abomination in the eyes of Man and God.
Fleshies, But Now In Space
Life grows in a multitude of strange ways out in the Vast, and stranger still are the ways that life is artificially constructed. In some cases, vat-grown creatures can attract souls to inhabit their bodies. Special rituals lure these ancient spirits, believed to originate from Golarion, into forms crafted from a fusion of magic and science. These creatures, colloquially known as fleshies, have bodies that mutate and grow in a way that’s oddly reminiscent of plant life. They are often used for experiments by their creators, and much like androids, are treated with respect by some and as property by others. While they can sometimes go unnoticed in cosmopolitan hubs of space travel, their unusual anatomy often gives away their true nature.
Fleshy
Ability Scores +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Int
Hit Points 4
Size and Type Flesies are Small aberrations with the fleshy subtype.
Bio-Engineered Fleshies are created with integrated augmentations. They gain a 1st level biotech augmentation for free. They may instead gain a special version of adaptive biochains that duplicates a 1st level cybernetic augmentation. Because it is already part of their body, it does not take up an augmentation slot.
Low-Light Vision Fleshies can see in dim light as if it were normal light. For more details, see Core Rulebook page 264.
Verdant Memories Fleshies receive a +2 racial bonus to Stealth and Survival checks.
Fleshy Borai
The process of creating a fleshy can be reverse engineered and used to infuse an undead spirit into a patchwork of body parts. This counts as a borai. Their Old Talents ability functions like the fleshy’s Bio-Engineered, except that it grants them a 1st level necrograft augmentation or a special necrograft that acts as a 1st level biotech augmentation.
And there you have it. The abominations will continue until I my demands are met. Heck, I’m not even done with the fleshies yet. There’s still ancestry feats, alternate racial traits, and this fun alchemist bomb that covers you in meat except the meat has teeth and it tries to eat you. I’m sure you’ll hate it. But if you meet my demand for a betentacled form with three extra arms that have wolf heads instead of hands, you might not have to deal with them.
Looking forward to showing you my next monument to hubris,
~ Nate Wright, author of Eldritch Excursion.
