GLOG Class: The Parasite Brain

I was going to post more Cleric stuff but here I am, jumping on a bandwagon.
I don't write stuff for GLOG, but maybe I've nicked enough stuff that it's time to give back!

To my players: Don't worry I'm not going to convert this into a class for our game... yet.

For those not in the know, GLOG's schtick is every time you level up you add a Template to your character, 4 max.
Basically this ABCD thing is what you get each level up to level 4.

Also: The others involved!
Oblidisideryptch, Micah, Type1Ninja, Ambnz, Coalfiber, Lexi, Isaak Hill, Chuffer, Martin O, Wizards, and Wr3cking8a11

Class: The Murmurer

Murmurer A: Parasite, Threading, 2 Threads.
Murmurer B: Mindshift, +2 Threads.
Murmurer C: Infinite Thread, +2 Threads.
Murmurer D: Backup Brain, +2 Threads.

A Murmurer, more properly "The" Murmurer and sometimes called a Parasite Brain, is a tenacious parasitic mind that colonises the heads of humanoids.
This isn't a particularly evil act from the Murmurer's perspective. After all, it's the only way it can survive!

The part that a Murmurer may admit is kind of evil is the way they worm their threads into the cerebellum of living creatures and take direct control of them, forming them into a colony under the Murmurer's mental control.

The Murmurer itself is a sort of parasitic sludge, rapidly liquefying and replacing the neocortex of the host. The most obvious sign of the Murmurer is the reverse-face. A face grows on the back of the creature's head over time. This is usually covered by hair, if possible, or a hat.
Yea it's basically like Voldemort in the first Harry Potter plus a Yeerk.

A Murmurer is permanently attached to their Core Host and relies on it to survive.
If it is ever removed from the host by some means, or the host takes so much damage that their brain shuts down, the Murmurer dies with it.

Murmurers can extrude long web-like Threads from their Core Host. Usually these emerge from the ears or nose, but it's not unknown to have them emerge from the mouth or the corners of the eyes.

A Thread, placed on the back of the neck of an unconscious being, grows into the victim's spinal cord and crawls up the brain-stem. When it reaches the cerebellum it grows over it and takes control of the victim's nervous system.

A Thread is wispy and floats on air currents, and very difficult to break without focused effort. It is incredibly slippery, strong, and thin. Even scissors have a difficult time with it unless they are extremely sharp.

The most obvious mark of someone taken over by a Murmurer is the eyes - within hours of Threading the new drone has a bifurcated double-pupil. 

Another obvious mark is a large bubo on the nape of the neck. The Thread emerges from the centre of this bubo, and the lump itself is filled with a tangled spool of Thread.

early onset

Core Host

HD, saves, exp, etc as Fighter.

You begin play embedded in the back of the head of an ordinary human, or maybe an equivalent humanoid common in the region. This is your Core Host, the one whose brain you've grown around.

Ability scores are rolled as normal and apply to your host - even mental attributes. 

If you ever shift into another host, you'll take their ability scores.

Threading

You can Thread up to two creatures per Template.

A Threaded creature must be unconscious and must possess a cerebellum - ie. it must have a spine.
The process always succeeds.
A Threaded creature must stay within 30' of you and must protect you against anything you perceive as a threat, but cannot be controlled directly and will not take orders.
Threaded creatures are otherwise mindless. They will not even feed themselves. Not that they lose their mind - the creature is still in there looking out through their own eyes - you've just hijacked their nervous system.
This is why Threaded creatures often murmur and mumble, they're trying to speak.
They're trying to beg.

If the Thread is ever broken by some means, they fall unconscious for 1d4 hours. When they wake up they regain their mind and remember everything that befell them. It will take some time for their pupils to reform and the bubo on their neck to heal, but they are otherwise back to normal.

Mindshift

You can shift your consciousness into a Threaded creature, allowing you to control them directly. Your Core Host stands stock-still while this is happening, although it is of course defended by any other creatures you have Threaded nearby.

You can control the creature as if it were your own body, although you cannot go more than 30' away from your Core Host.
Your attributes change to those of the Threaded creature you're controlling - physical and mental - and you gain access to all of the creature's natural powers and abilities. You never gain access to the creature's memories, so any unnatural abilities (spellcasting, unsupported flight, etc) are beyond you.

If the controlled creature dies, you take the same amount of damage that killed them (you experience their death) and snap back to your Core Host.

Infinite Thread

There is no range limit to your Threads.
You can directly control Threaded creatures and send them far afield. If they cannot see you they will not know the way back to you, so they will wait wherever they are indefinitely.
Maybe check up on them occasionally - they won't eat or clean themselves without direct compulsion from you.

Backup Brain

By going ear-to-ear with a Threaded creature, you can compel a portion of your goopy Murmurer-stuff to squish out and infest their mind.
The creature must possess a human-scale neocortex - ie. be some sort of primate or equivalent humanoid. Lesser creatures simply don't have enough higher brain function to replace.

It takes a full week for the goop to digest and replace the neocortex, but the creature otherwise acts as normal during the process.
After a week the creature is essentially new Murmurer slaved to you via the Thread - a backup copy of your Murmurer parasite-mind.

There is no limit to the number of Threaded creatures you can turn into backups - turn them all into backups if you like! What could go wrong?

If your Core Host is ever killed, you (the player) can swap to controlling a Backup.

You revert to a Level 1 character in a new body with the Murmurer A template.

You are not shifting in. The original "you" in the Core Host has died. By dying it has unshackled all connected Backups, each of which is now the "real" Core Host.

This is the manner in which The Murmurer reproduces, and why each considers itself "The" Murmurer. Each is the continuation of the one Murmurer, and all others are clearly fakes.
Murmurers hate each other, since the mere act of existing takes the "copies" further and further away from their original experiences. They often kill each other, as though they were seeing their own Clone.

If the Thread to a Backup is severed while your Core Host yet lives, that Backup is unshackled as though you had died. Since it's legitimately the real you and knows everything you know, it will be hard to hide from yourself.