Dweomerborn

A dweomerborn looks like a warped, stretched humanoid ghost about 8 feet tall, with long, delicate fingers ending in claw-like nails. It cannot speak. While it chases a ship, observers at the stern see only a small patch of fog trailing behind and steadily gaining.

Magic that drives starships leaves an invisible wake of spent energy, visible only to detect magic. A dweomerborn seizes the far end of this trail, which runs 60 + 6d20 feet, and hauls itself forward hand over hand at 60 feet per round; each climb requires a Dexterity check (most have Dexterity 12 + 1d6). Within arm's reach of the hull it digs in its talons and clambers aboard.

Seven times a day each, at 10th level, it can use detect magic, gaseous form, identify, invisibility and know school. It feeds on any magic except artifacts, relics and starhelms. A magical item it drains must save vs. electricity or lose its enchantment forever. A spellcaster caught in its wrestling grip takes normal wrestling damage and also forgets one spell chosen at random regardless of level. After absorbing 20 spell levels, the creature leaps overboard and stays sated for 24 hours; each enchanted item is worth one spell level per 100 XP of its value (at least 1).

If cornered, it slashes with both hands for 1d12 each, though it must release its hold on the deck to do so. Only weapons of +2 or better can harm it, and any weapon that hits must save vs. electricity or become mundane. Most spells cast at it are simply eaten. Illusions and phantasms are the exception and affect it normally; sages guess this is because illusions leave nothing behind, whereas even a divination leaves knowledge. Contact with a wand of negation or a rod of cancellation forces a save vs. death at -2; failure destroys it, while success still costs it 2d10 damage.

Dweomerborn drift alone through the void between worlds, hunting for new magic. They want no treasure, build no lairs, never sleep and form no groups. Their bodies soak up magical energy like sponges, without any conscious effort.

They serve no purpose in nature and cannot reproduce. Uneaten, a ship's magical wake fades harmlessly within about a week. Any starship can give rise to one except those driven by gazer-powered helms, forges, furnaces or nonmagical engines. Each month, roll a 1% chance per two levels of the pilot; the pilot is not wholly to blame, since the ship's exhaust simply supplies the final spark. Some sages believe the creatures take humanoid shape from a kind of racial memory, since most spells are carried in humanoid minds.