Holomath

A holomath appears as a very large balloon or ball, with a mouth-like opening in front. They tend to be off-white in color, and have very few distinguishing features.

Combat: The holomath will never act on a foe until it is attacked. When this happens, it will blow gas at the attacker, which functions like a "cloudkill" spell. The victim is allowed a saving throw, at -2. Failure results in nausea (as opposed to death) that lasts 3-18 rounds, during which time the character is unable to do anything other than choke and wheeze. Note that this will also drop the atmosphere one place in quality (fresh to fouled, fouled to deadly). A holomath will also do this if a ship merrily bumps into it, so captains of all races avoid them.

Habitat/Society: Holomath travel in groups, often around air worlds, but they can be found anywhere in wildspace. Phlogisin is deadly to them, and they are never found there.

Ecology: The holomath feed on the trace gases that can be found in wildspace and around air worlds. They use their "mouth" to inhale the gases, where they remain until the creature digests it. By this time, the holomath has shrunk to about two-thirds of its full size, and will starve within two to eight days if no more food is available. Hence they remain within close proximity to an air world, and will drop into the upper atmosphere if necessary.