A suitable end for a life cycle?

[James McMurray]

If any of my players are reading this, you may want to stop now to avoid spoilers.

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Alright folks, I'm running an all psion campaign and the next part of the story arc involves slavers. These aren't your average every day slavers, these are Puppeteers and other psionic creatures.

I've strung some psionic creatures together in a lifecycle:

Udoroots are the breeders. the others all grow from pods depending on how the plant is nourished and what it wants to grow.

Normal pods give birth to 1-3 puppetteers. These are the overmind's primary means of taking over a region.

If fertilized with gems, the Udoroot can grow Flesh Harrower Pupetteers. The gems go to give the Flesh Harrowers their natural armor in the form of a thin clear crystalline shell. They act as gaurds and carriers for the puppetteers and Udoroots. They will sometimes (10%) be encoutered with puppeteers inside them, being ferried somewhere (usually to a new group of hosts).

If fertilized with humanoid flesh the Udoroot can grow a Doppleganger. These allow for infiltration into humanoid lands.

If fertilized with at least 5 brains of creatures of intelligence 15 or higher the udoroot can become an Unbodied. The Unbodied act as secondary leaders and relay stations. Without an Unbodied in the area, the overmind loses contact with its pieces. All puppetteers will die, but the other pieces of the entity will remain autonomous creatures capable of acting on their own.

The overmind is a _____________.

I have no idea what the Overmnd should be. The party won't encounter it for a long time, so it doen't have to be of a CR they can handle.

Any ideas what I can use? Any more ideas for intermediate steps in the evolutionary chain, or possible slave races would also be cool.

Thanks!

 

[Piratecat]

Hmmm. One of my favorite threads is Nifft's conversion of a cranium rat swarm, giving it wilder levels. That'd make a kickass overmind... especially if throughout the campaign the PCs see a lot of rats.

Cranium rats gone WILD!

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Overminds

Hey,

IMHO, the most obvious choice for an Overmind type character is the always popular mind flayer which can be given any amount of levels in the various psionic classes in order to give it the CR you need by the time the PC's reach it. Another monster you could use is the aboleth (if you can imagine the PC's reaching a lair that contains a huge tank of water in which it lives).
As for extra "evolutionary chains" don't forget to include intellect devourers, possibly by feeding the Udoroot only one brain, while Skum from the MM make good slave races (especially when boosted by Mind Flayer grafts from the Fiend Folio)

Hope this helps a little, and let me tell you I love the idea!

J from Three Haligonians

 

[James McMurray]

I thought about a Mind Flayer, but they don't have the mystique that I want the overmind to have. A Mind Flayer to my group of jaded gamers is just a CR x critter.

Cranium Rats are closer to what I'm looking for, but I'm not sure how to fit them into the Lifecycle. I'm wanting it to be possible for the Overmind to spawn a sibling (or a backup Overmind in case it should die.) Perhaps tying it to Unbodieds (frex 1 unbodied can merge with a rat swarm to becomea cranium rat swarm)?

Any other ideas folks? I'm starting to like the rats idea, but I'm not sold on it yet.

 

[The Forsaken One]

An Illithid Elder brain would fit best if you insist on taking something already written. Else creating something yourself shouldn't be to much of a problem

 

[Piratecat]

One choice that occur to me pre-coffee:

- Use a cranium rat swarm but disguise the appearance. They're thousands of flying ganglia, or balls of purplish light, or maybe the nightmarish dreamlike depiction of your most shameful fantasies -- but use the stats from the swarm (or from whatever creature you like) as your ultimate groupmind. That prevents metagaming and provides a memorable finale.

 

[Schmoe]

Check out (contact)'s Liberation of Tenh story hour. His psionic ooze seems to be exactly the type of thing that you are looking for. It's easy to imagine a giant psionic ooze budding the Udoroots and other things you describe. I believe the ooze was called Zeflon.