Psicrystal

Tiny construct, unaligned

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 15 (6d4)
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft., fly 20 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
6 (-2)	14 (+2)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)

Saving Throws Dex +4 (or any other)
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4 (or any two other)
Damage Resistances psychic
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages understands Common but can’t speak; telepathy 120 ft.

Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

SPECIAL TRAITS

• False Appearance. While the psicrystal remains motionless and isn’t flying, it is indistinguishable from a normal crystal.
• Magic Resistance. The psicrystal has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• Spider Climb. The psicrystal can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

ACTIONS

• Zap. Ranged Spell Attack: +2 to hit, range 20 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (2d4) psychic damage.

ABOUT

Psicrystals in the wild are very likely once bonded to another creature, and even if the psicrystal has grown much since their departure, they might have interesting quirks or specific knowledge that they inherited from their creator.

By what is generally considered as little more than a remarkable coincidence, the thoughts of sentient creatures are able to be embedded within certain crystal matrices. (Also remarkable is that so few scholars seek to probe the ramifications of this, the why of it all: is this simply the realities of evolutionary theory in inorganic life forms, or is there a deeper mystery to be considered. Our task here though is to present the state of research in the field and not to descend into either religion or pseudoscience.) What follows is a brief summary of the realities of crystalline evolution.

The intricacies of embedding one’s thoughts into a crystal are not to be minimized but are only discussed here in broad strokes. It is sufficient to understand that only certain crystalline lattices are suitable for holding the patterns of complex thought, especially when considering long-term storage. Thought corruption within the lattice is a nontrivial concern and many investigators have paid dearly for their lack of proper precautions.

Many a crystalline matrix can be imprinted with a copy of some fragment of thought from another creature. This creates a recording of said thought (to be clear, this is a nonmobile object and capable of no action on its own) that gifted researchers can then access independently. An actual psicrystal is formed, however, only when a sufficient amount of thought is embedded within a given crystal, thus giving it a semblance of life. (The threshold for sentience in psicrystals is a hotly debated topic, but the standard at present is that these psicrystals are little more than automatons and not to be considered sentient. It is still considered inappropriate by some to even consider the idea of an “inorganic life form,” though this archaic sentiment seems to be fast fading, and the designation now sees common usage.)

At their simplest, such psicrystals mimic those patterns recorded within their matrix. You can see how this might cloud the issue of whether they are a unique life form or merely a constructed copy, an object that merely acts upon those processes written within its form. When imprinted with the more instinctual thoughts of beasts, the new entity will display “personalities” that mimic the model creature.

Psicrystal familiars are more advanced specimens, imprinted with the more complex thoughts of intelligent creatures, and they can exhibit some truly fascinating abilities. They begin to raise the question of actual sentience in the life forms. A typical such psicrystal appears indistinguishable from a sample of the type of crystal it was formed from.

It can, however, quickly grow spiderlike, crystalline appendages to move around and manipulate objects, and it can display other remarkable abilities, such as levitation and psychic manipulation of energy and matter.

As the entities grow, accumulating more imprinted thoughts, building more and increasingly complex patterns within their matrices, who can say what they might become. and then there is the crystlid. No other creature could have tested our notions of crystalline evolution more. Crystlids have only recently surfaced, self-evolving from other crystalline constructs.

These organisms are self-aware and highly intelligent. They have much to teach us. (It is a sad reality that there are still many researchers that argue that a mere collection of processes, no matter how complex, when copied from another organism, can’t be considered intelligent. Crystlids will have to deal with much \fear and hatred in their lifetimes.)

Elemental Intelligence

Lest one begins to believe that crystalline intelligence is beholden, even marginally, to flesh and blood, consider the elemental. Just as with other elemental lifeforms, the occurrence of those composed solely of crystal should not come as a surprise. Crysmals, for example, are elemental creatures composed entirely of crystal and that can take on various forms, often mimicking other nearby lifeforms. These fascinating creatures have evolved unique life cycles, developing an intelligence all their own and not contingent upon the imprinting of the thoughts of others.

The breadth and diversity of elemental crystalline intelligence is its own rich and wonderful area of study. Their forms and abilities are tremendously varied and increasingly strange: the capabilities of some discovered species include aggregation (that is, colonial specimens), the transduction of various types of energy into other forms, and varied innate psychic abilities. and all crystalline creatures, whether construct or elemental, appear susceptible to pattern corruption, in which their mental patterning becomes altered in such a way as to change their behavior, often making them unpredictable and prone to lashing out.