Eldritch Bond represents one of the most viscerally unsettling options available to Mystics—a feat and associated focus spell that channels power from beyond reality's edges to transform bonded creatures into grotesque, aberrant horrors. By drawing on eldritch forces that defy natural law, Mystics with occult connections grant allies the ability to temporarily reshape their bodies into powerful, alien forms bristling with tentacles, claws, and otherworldly anatomical adaptations.
Eldritch Bond Feat 2
Source Player Core pg. 122
Prerequisites: connection with occult spellcasting
You channel strange power from beyond this reality, granting creatures in your bond the power to reform their bodies into powerful, aberrant shapes. You gain the eldritch bond epiphany spell.
Eldritch Bond Focus 1
[two-actions]
Source Player Core pg. 377
Range 30 feet, Targets 1 willing bonded creature
Duration 1 minute
You channel mysterious power from beyond the edges of the known universe to infuse a bonded creature with the essence of an eldritch creature. You grant the target up to two of the following abilities:
Darkvision
Mental resistance equal to half the creature's level (minimum 1)
A tentacle unarmed attack that deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage
A stinger unarmed attack that deals 1d6 acid damage and has the agile and finesse traits
A beam ranged unarmed attack with a range increment of 40 feet that deals 1d6 mental damage
10-foot reach on all melee attacks (including the above)
Melee strikes (including those above) affect incorporeal creatures as if they had the ghost killer upgrade.
Heightened (3rd) The damage dealt by the attacks increases to 2 dice.
Heightened (4th): Increase the number of targets to 5 targets. The damage dealt by the attacks increases to 2 dice.
Heightened (6th:) Increase the number of targets to 5 targets. The damage dealt by the attacks increases to 3 dice.
Heightened (9th:) Increase the number of targets to 5 targets. The damage dealt by the attacks increases to 4 dice.
Strategic Applications
Target Selection
Who Benefits Most?
Melee Strikers: Frontline martial characters gain the most from Eldritch Bond's offensive options:
Soldiers and Solarians: Tentacle or claw attacks provide additional attack options, and elongated arms increase threat radius
Operatives: Agile, finesse claw attacks synergize with finesse-based combat styles
Nanocyte: Additional natural attacks complement shapeshifting builds
Limited Value for Casters: The unarmed attacks and physical enhancements provide minimal benefit to spellcasters who rarely make weapon attacks. Eldritch Bond is "highly party-dependent: it either grants unarmed attacks (which no class in SF2E really wants) or enhances melee, which is great only for one class and two specific subclasses".
Self-Targeting: You can target yourself with Eldritch Bond, transforming into an aberrant horror personally. This requires you to be part of your own Mystic Bond, which you always are.
Roleplaying Eldritch Transformations
Visual Description
Eldritch Bond's transformations should be horrifying to witness:
Tentacle Strike: Writhing appendages burst from shoulders, arms, or torso—thick, muscular limbs covered in suckers or barbs, lashing out with unnatural flexibility.
Claw Strike: Hands elongate, fingers fusing and hardening into wickedly sharp talons or chitinous blades. Nails extend into hooked claws dripping with eldritch ichor.
Elongated Arms: Limbs stretch grotesquely, bones cracking and reforming as reach extends beyond natural limits. Joints bend at impossible angles.
Aberrant Darkvision: Eyes multiply across the face or turn jet-black, pupils dilating into alien geometries. Vision pierces darkness with unnatural clarity.
Enhanced Speed: Legs warp, muscles bulging with aberrant power. Movement becomes predatory and unsettlingly fluid.
Narrative Implications
Cosmic Horror Themes: Eldritch Bond embodies body horror and transformation—willing submission to alien forces in exchange for power. Characters might experience:
Physical Discomfort: The transformation feels wrong, flesh crawling as anatomy restructures
Mental Whispers: Eldritch entities beyond comprehension brush against consciousness
Lingering Effects: After the spell ends, targets might feel phantom tentacles or notice their fingers seem slightly too long
Connection-Specific Flavor:
Akashic: Tentacles manifest from knowledge of impossible anatomies recorded in the Akashic Record—forms that should not exist
Rhythm: The body vibrates and shifts in response to cosmic frequencies, reality itself warping to the eldritch song
Shadow: Darkness coalesces into physical form—tentacles of living shadow, claws of solidified void
Party Reactions: Allies witnessing an Eldritch Bond transformation might recoil in horror, even knowing it's temporary and beneficial. The spell tests bonds of trust—"I know you need this power, but watching you sprout tentacles is deeply unsettling."
Eldritch Bond embodies the Mystic's willingness to channel forces beyond mortal comprehension in service of victory. By infusing allies with aberrant essence, occult Mystics transform ordinary combatants into tentacled, clawed horrors that defy natural law—walking manifestations of cosmic dread wielded as weapons against the universe's threats. Whether you describe it as drawing power from the Dark Tapestry, channeling Akashic records of impossible anatomies, or singing reality into new shapes through eldritch rhythms, this feat and spell represent a commitment to winning through transformation, no matter how unsettling the means.
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