Astral Searcher (GAP)

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: "We'd finished off the githyanki. We shoulda been done. But no. Then these spirit things — Veru called 'em astral searchers — started pulling at me. I could tell they wanted ta git me, but I didn't know what for. So I tried ta fight 'em, but how do you fight a creature made of some leatherhead's thoughts that're just laying around on the Astral? (Gods, but I hate that plane!) Veru told me after we'd managed ta get away that they wanted ta take over my body. Can you imagine? They wanted to steal my form and go prancin' off on their merry way. Nice.
: "The Astral. Yeah, like I'd go back there again ... "
:: — Raest Marin, one time (and one time only) traveler to the Astral
Formed from the very thoughts that leak onto the Astral Plane from elsewhere, these ghostly beings are memories and ideas given life. The problem is, they seek a more conventional life — they want bodies to move around in and hands to grasp things. They don't mind stealing the bodies of others to attain their goal, either.
When the drifting thoughts found on the Astral are exposed to intense feelings or emotions, particularly pain, anger, and hate (such as found in a battle), sometimes the thoughts become aware and seek a body of their own. As if getting into a scuffle on the Astral isn't bad enough, the whole ordeal might stir up a few astral searchers, leaving the victor of the battle in a second struggle — this time to hang on to his own bodily form.
As was mentioned in the chapter about conduits, there is a special type of enlightened searcher that takes it upon itself to watch over the conduit system, protecting conduits and making sure they operate properly. Why this is, no one knows.
Astral searchers have a nebulous humanoid shape until they find a material body. After successfully making a fatal blow (Id6 points of damage per mental blow), an astral searcher acquires the victim's physical abilities and hit points. For further information, reference the astral searcher in the PLANESCAPE Campaign Setting Monstrous Supplement.