A stubby, sluglike polyp inches forward, leaving a slime trail behind it. It heaves upright, then swivels the end of its upper portion to stare with a baleful white eye.

Winter cysts are a naturally evolved symbiont that first appeared on Daelkyr Half-Bloods. The Daelkyr now commonly outfit their own aberration servants with these helpful hands.

Attunement. A winter cyst can attach itself only to a willing or helpless host. In general, a creature seeks out a winter cyst to gain its benefits, or encounters the winter cyst accidentally. The winter cyst sends rooting tendrils into the host’s skull and braincase to feed itself directly from the host’s blood and mind. The stubby stalk raises its single eye to bring its baleful gaze to bear.

Host Benefit. As a standard action, you can make a ranged attack with a ray of cold emitted from the eye. You know the ray of frost cantrip. Use Constitution as your spellcasting ability modifier.

Sentience. Winter cysts are lawful evil sentient items with an Intelligence score of 5, a Wisdom score of 8, and a Charisma score of 10. They do not speak any language, but can understand Deep Speech. Once attached a winter cyst can communicate telepathically with its host, if its host has a language.

Personality. When a symbiont bonds with creature that does not share the symbiont’s alignment and goals, it immediately tries to take possession of the host. Only those with strong wills can overcome the mental invasion of a symbiont. Once the symbiont is subdued the first time, it will usually act cowed, subjecting itself to the users wishes. However, the symbiont may try to take over its hosts mind again if the host is especially weakened, or if the host tries to do something not in the best interest of the symbiont, like remove it or attack another symbiont. When the symbiont gains dominance, it is in full control of the host's actions, though it usually becomes apparent that the host is no longer in control of his or her body. Even in a cowed state, the symbiont may subtly influence its host, fanning the fires of rage or increasing a host's hunger for its own nourishment. Some hosts can be driven mad by the constant whispering of a symbiont in its mind.

Symbiotic Nature. The winter cyst can't be removed from you while you're attuned to it, and you can't voluntarily end your attunement to it. If you're targeted by a spell that ends a curse, your attunement to the winter cyst ends, and it detaches from you.

Eye Ray. While attached to the host, a winter cyst does not make any attacks of its own. If not attached to a host, a winter cyst can make an eye ray attack every other round as a standard action. The eye ray has a range of 60 feet and deals 2d6 points of cold damage.

Notes: Headwear, Sentient