Symbiont

Symbiont was a general term for a variety of disparate small sentient creatures that shared certain traits, chief amongst them being a need to live in a symbiotic (sometimes bordering on parasitic) relationship with another larger creature in order to survive. In exchange for these relationships, symbionts granted their hosts a variety of different benefits, in some cases acting much like a graft.
==Abilities==
Symbionts were always aware of any dangers that their hosts were also aware of. Generally, harm befalling a host would not directly cause harm to a symbiont, including harm afflicted by spells, though symbionts could potentially be affected by spells in the same manner as a magic item. Symbionts and their hosts were not mutually affected by any spells targeted directly on one or the other by another spellcaster. However, any spell a host cast upon themselves would automatically affect their symbiont in turn and a symbiont, likewise, could cause any spell or spell-like ability targeting itself to also affect their host.
Symbionts and their hosts were both capable of casting on the other spells that had their target of effect limited to the caster themselves.
Additionally, the two could share their repertoire of spells with each other, even if those spells normally wouldn't affect creatures of the host or symbiont's type.
If a host creature's alignment and goals were ever in conflict with those of a symbiont, or if a symbiont's will and drive for power were exceptionally high, a conflict of personality was likely to occur between the two. Whenever this happened the host and symbiont each attempted to impose their will upon the other, winning complete control over the other for the rest of that day. This period of dominance could be cut short by the two being put in a critical situation, such as something that seriously threatened the lives of both host and symbiont.
==Symbiont Types==
;Cerebral Symbionts
: Aberrant symbionts that possessed an assortment of psionic powers. They were theorized to have some connection to mind flayers, possibly having been created by them. These included such creatures as the cerebral hood.
;Fiendish Symbionts
: Symbionts that originated in the Lower Planes. These tended more towards parasitism, siphoning off some of their host's vitality and spiritual strength. They were sometimes attached to creatures by the same magical devices as fiendish grafts, whilst others could be granted once per month to a willing mortal by a fiend of corruption, usually done as part of a ritual or as a reward. The more parasitic of these fiends attached themselves in much the same way as mundane parasites.
;Undead Symbionts
: Though commonly grouped together with fiendish symbionts, these creatures were undead spirits rather than outsiders from the Lower Planes.
==Ecology==
Whilst these creatures were generally capable of surviving on their own for some degree of time, they were by and large too physically weak to sustain such a life.
==Notable Symbionts==
* Haask, an elder doppelganger, was reduced to a symbiont by the Dead Three and through a ritual was fused to the outer flesh of the undying elder evil he once served, Hargut of the Gray Pestilence.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===External Links===
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===References===
Category:Parasites
Category:Symbiotes
Category:Diminutive creatures
Category:Fine creatures
Category:Tiny creatures