Living Hologram

Source: Starfinder #4: The Ruined Clouds

CR: 8 XP: 4,800

CE Medium construct (incorporeal)

Init.: +6 Senses: darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision Perception: +16

Defense

HP: 115

EAC: 20 KAC: 21

Fort: +5 Ref: +5 Will: +9

Offense

Speed: fly 30 ft. (Su, perfect)

Melee: hardlight slam +18 (1d12+8 B; critical dazzled [DC 18])

Offensive Abilities: None

Statistics

Str: +0 Dex: +6 Con: — Wis: +1 Int: +2 Cha: +4

Skills: Acrobatics +21 (+29 to fly), Bluff +16, Computers +21, Culture +16, Stealth +21

Languages: one language determined by original creator

Ecology

Environment: any

Organization: solitary

Special Abilities

<p><b>Freeze (Ex)</b> A living hologram can hold perfectly still so that it appears to be a normal hologram. It can take 20 on Stealth checks to hide in plain sight as a hologram (usually among other holograms).<br/><br/> <b>Hardlight Slam (Ex)</b> As an attack, a living hologram can temporarily cause its fist (or a melee weapon, if it has been programmed to have one) to become substantial. This functions as a natural weapon that deals bludgeoning damage. On a critical hit, the attack creates a bright flash of light and the target must succeed at a DC 18 Reflex save or be dazzled for 1 round.<br/><br/> <b>Rejuvenation (Ex)</b> In most cases, it is difficult to completely destroy a living hologram in combat. A living hologram reduced to 0 Hit Points vanishes, though its corrupted projector reconstructs it in 1d4 hours. The only way to permanently destroy a living hologram is to find its projector and either repair or destroy it. Living holograms are aware their existences are tied to their projectors and protect the machinery at all costs.<br/><br/> <b>Tethered (Ex)</b> A living hologram can’t travel more than 100 feet from its projector. If it is ever forced to do so, it is immediately destroyed, though only temporarily (see rejuvenation above).</p>

Description

In many technologically advanced societies, holograms are used in advertising, entertainment, and other industries to catch the eye when two-dimensional images would otherwise fall flat. At their simplest, holograms are silent, still images in a single color, often at a low resolution. More complex projectors can offer full color and a few repeated frames of animation, while the most advanced varieties can be programmed with artificial personalities and interact with their viewers. Implementations of this most sophisticated version of the technology are wide ranging, and holograms serve as instructors in educational institutions, as tour guides for famous locales in large cities, and even as concierges at luxury hotels.

On very rare occasions, usually through a fault in the machinery of its projector, an advanced hologram gains a modicum of sentience and, sometimes, a twisted idea of the reason for its existence. These “tech ghosts,” as some call them, can appear in almost any shape, limited only by the capabilities of their projectors, and they use their forms of living light to harass their foes—sometimes even striking from a hiding spot in another holographic display—though they are always confined to the area near their projector.