A really, really smart fish.

[alsih2o]

Assume you are an evil type who had a permanently charmed aboleth. You know, those big goofy fish that store all of the memories of the folks they eat. If you fed it everyone in your little evil kingdom as they started to go frail or old or rowdy what advantages can you imagine emerging from this awesome storehouse of info?

How would you protect this awesome animal, assuming it had to stay in a natural body of water?

Assume you are a lich of some power.

 

[Greylock]

I really need to start looking at the post author before clicking on new posts. I really, really do.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Assume you are a lich of some power.

For starters, it wouldn't be a full powered real aboleth, it'd be a simulacrum of one. That way it is permanently dominated by me.

Beyond that - I'd be using it as a permanently mindlinked supercomputer.

Forcecage it.

Statue it.

Baleful polymorph it into something else whenever it's not feeding. If it fails the fort save (which you make it do voluntarily) but makes the will save (which it should do because you buff it first), you now have a tiny animal that contains the memories of many.

Use it as a spellbook.

 

[alsih2o]

For starters, it wouldn't be a full powered real aboleth, it'd be a simulacrum of one. That way it is permanently dominated by me.

Beyond that - I'd be using it as a permanently mindlinked supercomputer.

Forcecage it.

Statue it.

Baleful polymorph it into something else whenever it's not feeding. If it fails the fort save (which you make it do voluntarily) but makes the will save (which it should do because you buff it first), you now have a tiny animal that contains the memories of many.

Use it as a spellbook.

You are soooo cool.

 

[Piratecat]

I would definitely disguise it as something that wouldn't be immediately slain by adventurers - a pet of some kind, probably, or even a goldfish. I'd also take a piece of its flesh for a clone spell should anything actually happen to it.

 

[Aeolius]

I would definitely disguise it as something that wouldn't be immediately slain by adventurers - a pet of some kind, probably, or even a goldfish...

"...those magic little fish that grant his every wish..."

 

[der_kluge]

What's in this for the fish? Aside from a free source of food, I suppose.

All that knowledge would certainly come in handy, but I could see a fish that smart eventually overthrowing his master.

 

[BryonD]

I would definitely disguise it as something that wouldn't be immediately slain by adventurers - a pet of some kind, probably, or even a goldfish. I'd also take a piece of its flesh for a clone spell should anything actually happen to it.

So it would be a tiny fish that, amongst other things, let you understand just about every known language.....

 

[Umbran]

Hm. I'm wondering if perhaps we have to worry about taking flavor text too far. Other than the one sentence, there's nothing in the beastie's description that this should become awe-inspiring. A standard aboleth gets a hefty boost on a single knowledge skill. Big whoop.

Another way of thinking of it is that the overwhelming majority of the memories are either useless trivia or redundant. If you're feeding every old person to the thing, you're getting what? The combined knowledge of thousands of 2nd level commoners?

The only folks with useful knowlede will be those rowdy people. And I'd assume they have to be fed to the aboleth alive for it to absorb the memories. So only those rowdy folk weak, young, or stupid enough to get caught and taken alive are going to make it into the fishy maw. All the bright and knowledgeable ones will fight to the death rather than become fish-flakes. Again, we aren't talking about earth-shattering knowlegde here. Nothing the lich won't already know.

Or, another way to think of it - the ones that have assimilated many memories are the aboleth mages. They have knowledge skills out the wazoo. Buy they've got high CR, high will saves. Dangerous, dangerous things to keep as pets...

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Wow! This is a really funky idea... rather inspiring... {Polishes thieving tools}

I'd agree that making it look innocuous is a good start. Depending on how powerful the lich is, perhaps keep it on a private demiplane?

If people knew or could find out the lich had a source of information, then I'd also make a fake. Perhaps a machine, impressive looking with plenty of levers, tubes, flashy lights, wires, gloop and shiny gems. Even a 'hat' that you can connect to it with (complete with poisoned needles). Guard it heavily. Apply a large number of permenancied Magic Auras to it. Show it off to visitors. Talk about it down the pub...