An esthetic is essentially a living craft, created by the reigar, and is apable of self-sustenance for unlimited time. It has no intelligence of its own, being totally reliant on its creator. The reigar use it for transportation and it is the fastest vessels in known space.
    Each esthetic is different from all the others - a direct result of the personality of the creator. The only common thread is the extremely ornate nature of the vessels. If the reigar is off-ship for long periods, the esthetic operates according to a set of instructions given to it by its creator. Normal instructions include things like “Don't let in any strangers" and "Stay within 100 yards of this dock”.

    Combat: Tactics vary because of the individual nature of each esthetic, but the basic attack is to immobilize the prey, generally using a jammerscream attack (an ability innate to each esthetic). The creature then closes with the victim, grapples, and then drives a hollow boarding spike into the hapless victim. In the case of animal victims, the spike can be used to inject a digestive enzyme that breaks down the opponent's tissues for use by the esthetic.
    This attack can also be used against ships, in which case the spike opens, secretes enough acid to completely bore through the vessel's hull, then proceeds to disgorge boarding parties of helots and lakshu attack troops (see individual entries for details).
    The esthetic protects itself from boarding action by not making obvious doors or hatches. Entry is granted by means of permeable membranes in and around the esthetic's body. Since the reigar and its creation are in a symbiotic relationship, the reigar can always enter or leave at will. However, non-reigar accompanying the creator may not be allowed this freedom, unless the reigar specifically grants it.

    Acid (Ex): Acidic enzymes can be disgorged from the esthetic's boarding spike. The acid automatically deals 2d12 points of damage to organic creatures in addition to the spike's gore damage. Wood, metal items, and ships take 40 hit points of damage per round of exposure.

    Blindsight (Ex): Esthetics has Blindsight out to a range of 100 million miles. This perception does not extend through a planetary air envelope, nor does it duplicate x-ray vision.

    Construct: Esthetics is immune to mind-influencing effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects) and to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and necromantic effects.
    Esthetics are not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, or energy drain. They are immune to anything that requires Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects). Esthetics is not at risk of death from massive damage (see Injury and Death in Chapter 8: Combat in the PHB), but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, they are immediately destroyed. Since it was never truly alive, an esthetic cannot be raised or resurrected.
    Esthetics create and perpetually renew their own air envelope and ecosystem, but it self does need to breathe. This allows it to sustain a standard crew with clean air, potable water, delicious meals, and sanitation indefinitely.

    Fast Healing (Ex): An esthetic heals 1 hit point of damage every 5 minutes as long as it has at least 1 hit point. The esthetic can also be healed/repaired via Mending, Make Whole, and a combination of successful DC 15 Heal and Craft-Shipmaking skill checks.

    Improved Grab (Ex): If the esthetic successfully grabs its target, it attempts to grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. The esthetic then delivers its acidic enzymes and gore attack to its held opponent instead of any constriction.

    Jammerscream (Su): A jammerscream is a ray (ranged touch attack with a range of 2,500 yards and no range penalty); it affects one spelljammer. This attack form seeks out and neutralizes the energy flow necessary for spelljamming. In the case of space going animals and humanoid spelljammers, the effects range from a temporary cessation of spelljamming ability (similar to an extreme migraine, spelljamming ability lost for 30d6 minutes and the helmsman/creature is effectively “staggered” for a like amount of time) to cerebral hemorrhage (the latter in the case of a failed Will saving throw [DC 25; or for larger esthetics the DC is 10+ ½ esthetic's hit dice]) causing 5d6 permanent Intelligence ability damage and being stunned; failing the saving throw almost always leads to death. In the case of dwarven forges, a jammerscream causes forge flames to expire and shovelers to writhe on the floor, grasping their heads in pain for the same 30d6 minute duration; each shoveler must make the above Will saving throw to be staggered (on a successful check) or be stunned, suffering 1 point of permanent Intelligence ability damage (on a failure).
    Note that the jammerscream is not a spell and is not available to characters. This attack form is able to affect another esthetic, but with limited effect – the esthetic only loses the ability to attain spelljamming speed if it fails the above Will save and its creator must make the required Will save only if the esthetic fails.

    Symbiosis (Ex): An esthetic and the reigar that created it share an empathic link in most ways similar to the bond shared between a sorcerer and his familiar. The esthetic gains its master's base saving throws (if better than its own), heightens its master's awareness (grants the reigar the Alertness feat and benefits of the esthetic's Blindsight as long as the reigar is aboard the esthetic), allows telepathic communication between both as long as the reigar is within in the same crystal sphere as her ship, has SR equal to 5 + its master's hit dice (typically TS 21), and the reigar can scry upon her esthetic (as if casting the Scrying spell but not requiring a material component or focus).
    The esthetic gains the mental aptitude of its creator as long as its creator remains alive; this translates into a dodge bonus to the Armor Class of the esthetic equal to the Intelligence bonus of its creator.
    Should the esthetic's creator go insane, sink into a depression, or otherwise lose its normal mental acuity, the esthetic reflects this change in mental state by physically altering its appearance (e.g., rotting, developing spiked flanges, blades, etc.) and quite often acquiring a stronger personality of its own. If the creator dies, the esthetic loses the dodge bonus component to its Armor Class and will act similarly as if under a Confusion spell (1=wander aimlessly for 1 hour; 2-6=do nothing for 1 hour; 7-8=attack the one responsible for the reigar's death [or attack the nearest creature if the creature is unavailable] until the death of either the creature or the esthetic).
    The esthetic will always react hostilely to attacks (both internally and externally) while in its grief and will usually commit suicide by flying into a fire body or crystal shell if left on its own devices.
    If the esthetic dies, the reigar suffers exactly as if she had lost a familiar.

In the Spheres
    Esthetics have been the reigar's homes since the destruction of the reigar's planet in the Master Stroke. When the loss of their home world necessitated a new habitat, the reigar leaped at the opportunity to combine their pursuits of artistic perfection, their desire for ultimate personal expression, this lead to the the birth of the esthetics. Esthetics cannot move into the phlogiston, thereby effectively stranding the reigar inside a crystal sphere.

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©2002 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

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Esthetics, © 1990 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
d20™ System, Conversion of Esthetics ©2002, Ron Pollard
Original Source: Monstrous Compendium #7