Tinkerer [Giant Bubble]

A tinkerer is a comical hovering sphere ringed by six eyes, with four ball-jointed arms ending in three-fingered hands, so it sees and grabs in every direction. Round gray pores dot its hide, and a mouth big enough to fit over a human head opens on its underside.

Warriors who laugh at one rarely do so twice, since it can swing a weapon in each limb for normal damage. Its bare fists deal only 1-2 points each, but a bite on anything it can bounce onto or sit atop does 2-5.

A piercing hit that inflicts over 10 damage in one round makes it burst, killing it and blasting all within ten feet for 3-12 points (no save). Swallowed or held objects fly loose; they may need saves vs. crushing blow when they hit something, and can strike bystanders as missiles for 2-5 or 2-8 points by size, using normal attack rolls.

It regains 1 hit point per 3 rounds while touching water, so most carry canteens.

Tinkerers live to grab, upgrade and rework any equipment, magic items included. They prize tools and magic and may gulp small blunt objects to study later. They also experiment on living beings, grafting on mechanisms like weapon limbs. Most subjects, who must consent or be helpless, end up maimed, but a few void pirates and wandering explorers now sport saw, scythe or pincer limbs, or sockets for swappable tools. Both such folk and tinkerers are very rare along busy space lanes.

Two famed sage-wizards think they are among the oldest spacefaring races, either having abandoned ship-based society or lost their learning in a disaster they are slowly recovering from. Today they wander, hitching rides on any vessel and favoring those of humans, gnomes, dwarves and watcher serpents, where they meddle with everything. They can use most human gear.

Membranes in their pores strain pollen, germs, mold spores and similar protein out of dust, so they need little food and no disease or poison known to humans affects them. Each one keeps a ton of air clean, and crews sometimes capture and tow them on long voyages for that. They steer by puffing gas from tiny jets, spinning and stunting with precision, and hover by venting evenly while pulsing all over. They also eat ordinary human food and are hooked on candy and sweets.