ShiftPet entry for monster challenge

Heres yet another entry by me for the mosnter challenge thingy, this one is
more of a wildspace monster.


 Discovered recently in a distant cluster of relatively unexplored
asteroids, these little creatures are roughly the size of a football.  When
approached they appeared as small, green blobs of viscous liquid, attached
to the side of the asteroid roughly facing the sun.  At first it was though
they were only a mold or some type of fungi that grew in wildspace, but this
was not found to be the case.

 One of the cabin boys, who happened to be out exploring during his free
shift, came across one of the strange patches of green mass.  He decided to
collect a sample incase it was a fungi that also had good flavor properties
(the ships cook was a particularly bland tastebudded elf).  As he approached
the patch, however, it began to take shape, reading his mind through a
limited form of telepathy.  Finding his favourite animal to be a hawk, it
shifted roughly into that form.  The boy was impressed by the feat, but
ended up laughing at the poor imitation the creature made.

 Instead of being a two winged, two legged, beaked, brown feathered hawk, it
instead had bright pink feathers, goofy crossed eyes, and the beak of a
toucan.  Subsequent tests found the creatures to be adapt at changing their
form, but not very accurate in their replication.  The small creature also
polymorphed into a pink elephant with wings, a small snake with the bark of
a dog, and a cat with purple spots all over its green coat.  All forms
seemed to have the same, strange, goofy crossed eyes.

 Eventually the ships captain consented to bringing the creatures aboard,
much to the amusement of the crew.  They were found to be somewhat plant
like in origin, in that they required only the warmth of a sun for food, but
other than that seemed to be strange, gooey like masses of the green
substance.  It was found that when they were pulled apart (this was done by
the elf with a large meat-cleaver, after one kept staring at him googly-eyed
while he was trying to cook) or otherwise seperated, each half would slowly
grow back to the same size as the original.  Both would, from the onset, act
roughly the same, but slowly came to exhibit different mannerisms, just the
same as a family of dogs may after a small amount of time.

 Another bonus to the creatures is that the absolutely LOVED to eat fish,
barnacles, and anything else non-intelligent that came from the sea.  This
was highly prized by the captain, as his ship also spent some time
planetside, posing as a normal galleon trader (the locals were highly
conspicuous of magic-users).  Thusly, his ship often had barnacles upon it,
and there were usually scraps of fish lying around from when the elf would
cook the local quisine's (why eat dry rations when the sea is full of fish).

 After finding the creatures to be highly entertaining to the crew (they
would play for hours at a time upon the deck, shifting forms comically and
playing tricks on each other), and realizing their capitol potential, the
captain retired and has begun to sell them for a cost of 1,000 gp each.

 The beasts were eventually found to have a moderate form of intelligence by
some mages, and some have also been trained as messengers.  Each such
messenger typically stays with the one form while delivering messages, and
seems very able to stay on track and find the appropriate place to go.
There is a 90% base chance for a ShiftPet to find a placed he has been to
when told to, as long as it was named at the time he was taken there (note
that HE is used although they are genderless technically).  If he has
managed this trek once, he can manage it again without hassle.  They can fly
at a rate of 18, MC B.

The rest of their statistics are as follows.

ShiftPet

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: any
FREQUENCY: very rare
ORGANIZATION: solitary/pack
ACTIVITY CYCLE: day
DIET: photosynthesis and aquatic meat
INTELLIGENCE: semi (2 to 4)
TREASURE: nil
ALIGNMENT: none
NO. APPEARING: 1 to 20
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVEMENT: 12, Fl 18 (B)
HIT DICE: 1+1
THAC0: 20
NO. OF ATTACKS: variable by creature imitated*
DAMAGE/ATTACK: variable by creature imitated*
SPECIAL ATTACKS: none
SPECIAL DEFENSES: none
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 10%
SIZE: S (1' tall)
MORALE: 20 (fearless)
XP VALUE: 155

Description:  Each ShiftPet starts life as a green, moldy looking substance,
akin to a small pool of slime but with coherence.  When approached by any
sentient being, however, or when it has been in the company of within the
last month, a ShiftPet will attempt to read the persons thoughts using a
type of ESP power, and imitate an animal they like.  Typical imitations are
dogs, cats, birds, small elephants and pigs (the latter to frequently with
wings for some reason).  Always, however, regardless of form, a ShiftPet's
eyes are crossed and goofy looking.  This sometimes impares their vision,
giving them a 35% chance likelihood to bump into something on any given
round.

Combat:  A ShiftPet will not engage in combat unless it is backed into a
corner and threatened, or someone emotionally attached to it is in dire
peril.  ShiftPets will take the form of something likely to cause damage, or
find a way to do so in their current form if need be (it takes a round for
the creature to shift forms).  When in combat such as this a ShiftPet never
flees, allowing any harm that would come to its friend to come to it first
(not that the word friend is used as no one truly owns a ShiftPet, as
explained below).

 A Typical ShiftPet attack might be 1d3 for biting, or 1d2 per claw
available.  Things imitated such as hawks or rats etc do differing damage,
DM's are encouraged to look in the mammal section of the Monstrous
Compendium for a good reference.

Habitat/Society:  ShiftPets have no society per se, but when one meets up
with another they will typically fly about each other and gabble in an
in-understandable language (even through magical means), while making
strange noises.  Shortly after, they may chase each other around, cuddle a
little, or go back to whatever they were doing.  Occasionally a  ShiftPet
seems to sniff the other, and will fly away instantly.  This is usually
because the ShiftPet sniffed has been around someone with a bad temper
lately, and reeks of it (see below).

 ShiftPets require sunlight to feed upon, and when in a solid form for more
than a month or so at a time start needing small meals of seafood once per
day.  Aside from this, they do not breathe, and do no drink.  This is not to
say they cannot, just that they are used to being in wildspace (their
natural habitat), and don't have to/cant really do these things there.  In
fact, on a fouled ship, a ShiftPet may start breathing the fouled air, and
producing oxygen, much the same as a plant.  Each ShiftPet actually does
this very quickly, and they can be lifesavers on long voyages, each ShiftPet
defouling a block of 10 x 10 x 10 feet with only 5 minutes of this
breathing.  However, this drains them thoroughly, and they must eat at least
twice their body weight in seafood, and absorb 5 hours of direct sunlight
within a day or they will slowly start to fade in color and wither,
reverting to their true form and dying.

 It is theorized that they are a type of plant, and that they have adapted
to wildspace and the needs of others so that they might live more
interesting lives than sitting up asteroids for their long lives.  Each
ShiftPet can live for up to 500 years.

Ecology:  ShiftPets, as stated above, feed primarily upon sunlight, and
secondarily upon seafood.  However, these are not the only things they need
to survive in the spelljamming eco-sphere.  If a ShiftPet does not find a
being of good alignment to follow and travel with, it will eventually return
to its green form, and wait for someone suitable.  This is not because
ShiftPets require any sort of magical sustenance from a good aligned soul,
but is related to the fact that they are in a way a type of animal, and do
not react well to being mistreated.  A ShiftPet can be controlled/enslaved
by an evil character, but is likely to be dull in colors and move a lot
slower than normal.  A ShiftPet, however, that is hanging around a neutral
good person roaming the universe in search of exploration, is a happy,
bubbly little creature, filled with excitement and joy.  They seem to
enhance the mood of good people, seeing the well-hearted for what they are
and rewarding them with companionship.

 ShiftPets are very empathic with whoever (or whatever) they have chosen to
follow through the cosmos, and can usually tell that something is wrong.  At
times like these they try to help by cheering the person up, or making sure
they know they are not alone.  A quick hug from a ShiftPet elephant is
usually enough to cheer up a depressed person recently fired from his ship's
post, and quickly helps the person get on with life and find things to be
happy about again.

 If ever the ShiftPets companion falls in love, the ShiftPet will try to
help to the limit of its intelligence.  These things include closing doors,
keeping others away, leading the two to each other, and even occasionally
dropping a flower into the hand of a man just before his potential wife
comes walking around the corner.  This is not only because ShiftPets love
happiness, but that they seem to adore children, who are the purest of heart
of all the beings in the universe, and wish to make sure there are more of
them around.