A psurlon, which look like a gray-skinned centipede centaur with scythe-like forearms and a xenomorh-style head.

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The Lore

A long time ago, in a world far, far away, there was a civilization whose mastery of psionics was so complete they decided to merge their entire population into a single collective god-mind. They failed, and the backlash destroyed their planet.

The survivors managed to escape to the Astral Sea, but only as disembodied consciences. There, they came upon another world that radiated vast amounts of psychic energy, comparable to their old home. The survivors were drawn to it like moths to a flame, piercing the barriers that surrounded this new world and taking over a species of worm that turned out to be particularly receptive to their minds.

Over the following generations, these planar refugees would shape their hosts to be more useful to their mysterious purposes, and would come to prefer their new bodies over their old humanoid forms. And this is how the psurlons came to be, though no one in Athas really knows the whole story.

Some psurlons reside in the Gray, amid the graves of the gods. Many others live in Athas itself, where they often take human form to infiltrate and spy on the city-states of the sorcerer-kings, working towards some mysterious goal of their own. Psurlons are an old people with long memories and extremely advanced psionic skills, so sometimes they’ll be sought out by powerful psychics, spellcasters, and historians willing to risk their lives to bargain for knowledge.

The Numbers

Psurlons are Medium Aberrant Magical Beasts. They have resistance to psychic damage, a burrow speed, and Tremorsense, though the exact values on these traits vary per stat block. Their signature ability is Armored Mind, a passive trait that lets them roll saves against domination both at the start and end of their turns, even if the condition doesn’t normally end with a save.

Psurlon Dustworm

Dustworms are specialized infiltrators, disguising themselves as humanoids to spy on the city-states and on the comings and goings of the sorcerer-kings. They’re Level 17 Skirmishers with 164 HP. Their ground and burrow speeds are 8, and they have 5 psychic resistance and Tremorsense 10.

The dustworm can Change Shape as a minor action to appear as a humanoid. Others need to pass a DC 36 Insight check to detect the deception. Most dustworms encountered by PCs will start out disguised, and will do their best to maintain cover until there is no other alternative. Then, they take their natural shapes and fight, likely attempting to escape.

In addition to Armored Mind, they also project a Psychic Deadpool (aura 5), which inflicts -2 on enemy saves against ongoing psychic damage. They can attack in melee with their Claws, which damage and deal ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends). At range, they fling Mindknives which deal psychic damage and forbid the target from making opportunity attacks for a turn.

Both of these attacks can be boosted by Psionic Augment, which triggers after one of them hits and lets them deal an extra 2d6 psychic damage. This recharges when the dustworm takes psychic damage.

They can use a Burrowing Attack to burrow half their speed, attack someone with a claw, and then burrow the other half of their speed. This is strangely precise phrasing compared to the other “moving attack” skills we have seen so far.

Psurlon Warworm

Warworms cannot change shape, possibly because they’re Huge instead of Medium. They defend psurlon settlements and stay hidden underground near infiltrators, waiting to burst out when things go pear-shaped. They’re Level 18 Elite Brutes with 424 HP. Their ground and burrow speeds are 6, their Tremorsense is 20, and their psychic resistance is 15.

Their bite deals heavy damage and inflicts ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends), and Double Attack lets them bite twice per action. Once per encounter, they can let out a Mind Scream that attacks enemies in a Close Burst 2. A hit deals heavy psychic damage and stuns for a turn. Nasty! A miss deals half damage.

Psurlon Mindworm

Mindworms are powerful seers, able to see many futures at once. They guide their fellow psurlons to the ones most favorable to their secret objectives. Mindworms are Level 19 Controllers with 181 HP. Their movement speed is 6, they have 10 Psychic resistance, and Tremorsense 10.

Their additional passive is a Whispering Meme aura (5) that lets the mindworm slide enemies that start their turns within 1 square. I guess the mysterious whispers of “this is fine” and “always has been” drive enemies to distraction.

A mindworm will probably start the fight at range and attempt to use Ego Control (recharge 5+) on a PC. This deals a sizable chunk of psychic damage and dominates on a hit (save ends). Then they’ll close in to melee range and alternate between Referred Pain and their Psychic Claws. The first power is a Close Burst 2 that deals psychic damage and slows for a turn; the other is a basic attack that deals a mix of psychic and physical damage and inflicts -2 to AC for a turn.

Mindworms can also Change Shape and use Psionic Augment, both of which work just like the dustworm’s, but with higher numbers.

Encounters and Final Impressions

There’s a lot here that reminds me of mind flayers, but I think I actually like psurlons better. With mind flayers, you know they want to eat your brain, and most PCs will start drawing their weapons as soon as they spot one.

Psurlons have a much more mysterious goal, so they can more easily fill the “mysterious but dangerous stranger” role instead of always being overtly hostile. Heck, PCs might want to ally with them against a sorcerer-king.

That said, they do employ a lot of the same tactics as flayers, including keeping large groups of dominated thralls around to help compose mixed encounter groups.