Illithid-touched Race

Torx said:

fourthmensch - I'm very interested in your "illithid-touched." Do you have stats available? Perhaps they're already posted in another thread. If not, please let me know how they can be made available. Thanks!

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(This thread was started to respond to the poster Torx, in order to avoid off-topic posts in a different thread. Hence the entirely undeveloped subject matter Anyone visiting, please feel free to join us, though!)

Torx, to be honest I haven't done a lot of work on the illithid-touched race that I mentioned in the monster art thread. It was kind of a fluke idea, mostly because I really like mind flayers, but the full-blooded ones are too powerful to be in the realm of player use--and I hate all that LA crap. It started like that: how can I let my player's have the fun of playing a creature that is related to an illithid?

But I'm in the middle of a very fun FR campaign, so I haven't been rushing to get all these ideas together yet. Its still in the "wouldn't it be cool if..." stage. So far I call them cerebrates, but that seems like an inelegant name. I would be welcome to new suggestions!

Basically, I'm designing a homebrew setting to be the playground for an Incursion campaign (ie, Dragon 309; Dungeon 100). This is the world from which the githyanki came, originating as thralls to a global mind-flayer empire. Naturally, since the gith rebellion all those millenia ago, illithid power has been greatly weakened, but they are still a political power (ie, not scheming underdark denizens, but the rulers of empire). Because, however, mind flayers are so hideous and alien, I figured they might see the need for subordinates that would be more acceptable as envoys and diplomats to other nations--thus, the cerebrates, humans with a definite illithid-bloodline, but without that level of mental power, able to understand and deal with humans (and other races) in ways that the illithids themselves could not (or, at any rate, don't care to).

As for rules info, I'm undecided. I'm considering using psionics in this campaign, perhaps even making it much more prevalent than magic, but part of that depends on how willing my players are to learn a whole new set of classes, rules, and powers. If psionics is in, then the racial abilities would naturally reflect that. Otherwise, this is what I've got:

Cerebrate Racial Traits

• –2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma. Cerebrates are highly intelligent and have unusually strong wills. However, their highly developed mental powers leaves them physically more frail.

• Medium: As Medium creatures, cerebrates have no special bonuses or penalties because of their size.

• Cerebrate base lands speed is 30 feet.

• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting spells and abilities. A cerebrate’s mental prowess helps them defend themselves against mental attacks.

• +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks. Cerebrates are mildly empathic, allowing them to influence others through their commanding presence and subtle psychic powers.

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Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Are you aware of the Half-Illithid Template in Fiend Folio?

Frukathka said:

Are you aware of the Half-Illithid Template in Fiend Folio?

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Yes indeed. A very cool and versatile idea--I'm sure I'll be making extensive use of it as a DM.

However, with an LA of +6, that kind of limits its usefulness as a PC race option. Whenever possible, I like to go for things with LA +0.

Cool. Still avoiding psionics, you could give them some cantrip-level innate abilities (similar in power to gnomes). Maybe Daze, Mage Hand and Lullaby 1x/day.

Why would having big brains mean that you are weaker physically? Perhaps thats another reason why they are allowed to exist? Also It would make sense if the Cerebates were easier to control by the mindflayers? Maybe just from the mindflayers.

My 2 cp's

Ferret said:

Why would having big brains mean that you are weaker physically? Perhaps thats another reason why they are allowed to exist? Also It would make sense if the Cerebates were easier to control by the mindflayers? Maybe just from the mindflayers.

My 2 cp's

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That's a good idea. Actually, on the WotC site they're doing a series of articles on designing story arcs, and they have this same idea. You could do something like give the Illithid-touched a -2 on all saves against Enchantment effects from Illithids, instead of the +2 they normally get.

Thanks so much for the post, fourthmensch. Like you, I hate LA. And I am reworking a homebrew and adding a few cool, but not too radical, races. This is a great idea and I think I can run with it. I prefer to keep psionics out of my games, it's just too many rules for me to keep straight. Yet, I still like some of the classic psionic monsters. This looks like it might be a good start on a workaround.

I'll do some editing and post back my suggestions/changes. Thanks again!

According to the Fiend Folio, an illithid only reproduces by gestating a "tadpole" in a human's brain cavity. Once the gestation is complete, a trueborn illithid emerges/takes over and it begins its adolescent life. (I'm reciting from memory, so one or a couple of those details could be wrong.)

It also goes on to state that Half-Illithids are a result of non-human gestation. So what, then, is an illithid-touched? How did/does it come into being?

I really like the idea, I am just having a hard time getting over this hump.

My attempt at Illithid-Touched Racial Traits:

• +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength. Illithid-touched possess high intellects and have a knack for gaining knowledge. However, this engrossment, coupled with their natural physique, does not lend well to physical prowess.
  
• Medium sized. As Medium creatures, illithid-touched have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  
• Illithid-touched base land speed is 30 feet.
  
• Detect Thoughts (Sp): Once per day, an illithid-touched can tap its mind-flayer heritage to scan the surface thoughts of intelligent nearby creatures. This special ability functions in the same manner as the Detect Thoughts spell except that the target(s) save DC is Will 13 + illithid-touched Int modifier.
  
• Minor Mind Blast (Sp): Twice per day, an illithid touched may attempt to overwhelm the thoughts of another. This special ability functions in the same manner as the Daze spell except that the target(s) save DC is Will 13 + illithid-touched Int modifier.
  
• Favored class: Sorcerer. The illithid-touched have a natural inclination toward arcane magic and have the innate spark of magic borne within.

Care to comment?

Torx said:

According to the Fiend Folio, an illithid only reproduces by gestating a "tadpole" in a human's brain cavity. Once the gestation is complete, a trueborn illithid emerges/takes over and it begins its adolescent life. (I'm reciting from memory, so one or a couple of those details could be wrong.)

It also goes on to state that Half-Illithids are a result of non-human gestation. So what, then, is an illithid-touched? How did/does it come into being?

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Lol... I knew that someone was going to mention this at some point. I had meant to make a pre-emptive strike by covering my butt; however, it appears that I forgot to do so.

That is quite a problem. If we were to stick with the official mind flayer means of procreation, then it seems doubtful that any blood mixing would be possible. The following is the explanation that I am using in this campaign, although YMMV.

Illithid-touched did not evolve from the mixing of illithid and other bloodlines, but from the arcane experiments of illithid transmuters. They were essentially "grown", after many centuries of experimentation, until the transmuters finally achieved the right combination of illithid intelligence and humanoid empathy. This fits very nicely with a strong undercurrent of transmutation magic in this world, such as a major organization of "Chimerists" that specialize in transmutation magics--especially those pertaining to altering, improving, or (as with many of the famous magical creatures, such as the (ahem) chimera) mixing already existant creatures.

How does this sound? It seems to me rather elegant, and it makes perfect sense in a world soaked in magic. Moreover, I think it raises some interesting questions for characters of this race. Their race was created by mortals, not by gods or nature. For the more philosophically-minded, this could raise all sorts of interesting questions about the illithid-touched. Such as: do they have souls? Do they have a place in the divine plans, or indeed any place in the machinery of fate at all? How does the fact of their cold and deliberate creation make them feel about their illithid overlords?--adoration and worship? hatred and resistance? admiration and imitation? etc etc.

My attempt at Illithid-Touched Racial Traits:

• +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength. Illithid-touched possess high intellects and have a knack for gaining knowledge. However, this engrossment, coupled with their natural physique, does not lend well to physical prowess.
• Medium sized. As Medium creatures, illithid-touched have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Illithid-touched base land speed is 30 feet.
• Detect Thoughts (Sp): Once per day, an illithid-touched can tap its mind-flayer heritage to scan the surface thoughts of intelligent nearby creatures. This special ability functions in the same manner as the Detect Thoughts spell except that the target(s) save DC is Will 13 + illithid-touched Int modifier.
• Minor Mind Blast (Sp): Twice per day, an illithid touched may attempt to overwhelm the thoughts of another. This special ability functions in the same manner as the Daze spell except that the target(s) save DC is Will 13 + illithid-touched Int modifier.
• Favored class: Sorcerer. The illithid-touched have a natural inclination toward arcane magic and have the innate spark of magic borne within.

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Basically, I think that your writeup and my own are just two different ways of coming at the same object. Either would work well, I think, although naturally, I have a few reasons why I prefer my own .

Regarding the minor mind blast. Personally, were I playing such a character, I wouldn't like the fact that it doesn't scale. Ie, its effect and DC are pretty much the same whether it is being used by a 1st or 20th level character--meaning that it will come in to play very often in the early days, and then at some point become far less useful than any of the character's other abilities.

Although, perhaps you could treat the minor mind blast as just the basic ability, and design a whole feat tree that empowers the minor mind blast in various ways.

...random question: why are the base DCs all 13? Aren't they usually 10 + (relevant ability modifier)?

...random question: why are the base DCs all 13? Aren't they usually 10 + (relevant ability modifier)?

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I don't think ten is really enough. I grabbed 13 so that it'd start out equally at 1st level with, say, a wizard's base Will save (13 + Wis mod). I would think that an illithid-touched and a wizard should start out on equal ground. If it was just DC 10 + Int modifier, that would put the illithid-touched behind other 1st level characters in ability, and this just makes it that much more useful for the next few levels as others catch up.

As far as the minor mind blast is concerned, I didn't want it to be too powerful, as it stands, the race is just a hair above average as far as racial traits go. A racial feat tree is a neat idea, and could be incorporated well.

I wish I could have stuck in some skill bonuses, but I really wanted a detect thoughts ability and, of course, the stalwart, mind blast. That didn't leave much room for skills.

I also wanted darkvision 30', but again, it would make them a tad bit overpowered.

My only beef with your version of their write-up is that they didn't seem unique. You could have named them Mind-Trees and had them be of type plant and I wouldn't have noticed a difference. That's why I thought a mind blast feature, if only duplicating a cantrip, needed to be inserted.

I do like your flavor-text. That was along the lines I was thinking, but I hadn't quite made the leap you did. Plus I like Ferret's allusion to the fact that they may have been originally designed by the illithids as uber-thralls. Perhaps a method to create a better true-illithid.