| Class: | Arthropod symbiont |
| Hab: | On host |
| Fre: | Rare |
| Num: | 50-5,000 |
| Lair: | 100% |
| Size: | ¼ to 6" across, 1/8th to 3" tall |
| Move: | Sessile on host |
| Def: | Top stone-hard shell, bottom embedded on host |
| Att: | None; relies on host |
| Int: | None |
| Spec: | Enhance host with natural armor, maybe weapons |
| Posns: | None; by host |
Body barnacles become of interest to adventurers when they serve as armour to aquatic and amphibious beasts. "Armoring" or "studding" symbiotic barnacles are actively cultivated by many host-creatures. Special features of these symbiotic barnacles include their ability to grow to just the size and shape which will best protect while not interfering with movement. A creature so protected will seem to have a hide with scales, studs, and small plates, generally smaller on supple areas such as the face and paws or hands. Some areas, such as spines, shoulders, shins, and the backs of forearms, may have larger barnacles of spike form, weapon-sturdy.
Armoring barnacles have shells both hard and tough, a mixture of bone and horn. "Externally-oriented" barnacles will, when their host is at rest, extend wee gill-feathers and snare bits of food floating by and also extend their wee claws to clean any particles off their host; these externally-oriented barnacles require a humid environment and are quite suitable for fully aquatic hosts.
"Internally-oriented" barnacles splay their gills and mouths inside their host's blood vessels, which become suitably modified over time, and have no external openings; these internally-oriented barnacles need no external moisture. These internally-oriented barnacles, with their nutrient draw, may double the host's food requirements, not only to feed the barnacles but also because the host's internal systems, from oxygenation to kidney filtering, are increased.
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