D&D 5E Chris Perkins and Todd Kenreck Talk About Mind Flayers

[darjr]

The mind flayer form is perfection. Why would you change that? To do better in the Sun? No. Darken the Sun instead so that the form remains

 

[Kurotowa]

This sounds really cool until my brain thinks about it for a little bit. Like, if y'all put out the sun, entire ecosystems are gonna go to crap fast and THEN whose brains you gonna be eatin'?

I figure it's just one of those slogans. You know, the ones that are overly reductive and extreme sounding, while the actual platform is a lot more complex.

So while the illithids say they want to put out the sun, what they mean is they want to slide the dimmer switch until the sun is a dull ember, sinking the world into an eternal chill twilight where penned slaves fed by fungal farms provide a steady supply of tasty brains. If you've seen the speculative fiction paintings of what the sun would look like from one of Jupiter or Saturn's moons, that's about what I imagine their goal is.

(And wouldn't that be a nice science-fiction like origin for them. Their homeworld was something like the oceans under the frozen surface of Europa. That's why they're so poorly adapted for the Earth-like Prime worlds. The whole "parasitize a humanoid body" is effectively them bonding with an exo-suit.)

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Why would the Illithid want to extinguish such a wonderful supply of energy? The trick is converting the Sun's energy to something more amicable to the mauve skin persuasion. A lens/shield around the star to keep the energy harnessed for experimentation. Maybe have full light preserves for keeping the food frolicking and picking up those delicious experiences we...I mean they love so much.
I anticipate that the Spelljammer teaser adventure coming out next month will involve our tentacled overlords in some capacity.

My familiarity with existing illithid lore is admittedly limited, but as I understand it there are references to a fallen, space-faring (well, Spelljamming) illithid empire that spanned multiple worlds, as well as rumors that they originated as time travelers fleeing a cataclysm in the distant future.

Keeping with that quasi-sci-fi theming, I think a reasonable angle to take on the hypothetical plans for "extinguishing stars" might actually be something more along the lines of the creation of Dyson sphere type devices to fully capture and redirect the energy of those stars for their own use.

 

[Parmandur]

So, they just dropped another video about Demogorgon. Some Stranger Things brand awareness AoO, methinks.

 

[Laurefindel]

What immediately came to my mind is that like Vecna, the Mind Flayer is featured in Stranger Things. Has there been many of those presentation featurettes prior to those two? If not, are we gonna have Demogorgon next?

 

[grimslade]

My familiarity with existing illithid lore is admittedly limited, but as I understand it there are references to a fallen, space-faring (well, Spelljamming) illithid empire that spanned multiple worlds, as well as rumors that they originated as time travelers fleeing a cataclysm in the a distant future.

Keeping with that quasi-sci-fi theming, I think a reasonable angle to take on the hypothetical plans for "extinguishing stars" might actually be something more along the lines of the creation of Dyson sphere type devices to fully capture and redirect the energy of those stars for their own use.

There was a great Halloween issue of Dragon (pre-Illithiad) #150 that was focused on Mind Flayer lore including a visit to a potential Mind Flayer 'homeworld' in 'The Sunset World'. It was a planet under a dying star cold and barren with the experiments of the Illithids eking out an existence predating on each other.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

What immediately came to my mind is that like Vecna, the Mind Flayer is featured in Stranger Things. Has there been many of those presentation featurettes prior to those two? If not, are we gonna have Demogorgon next?

They just released a video on Demogorgon today, actually.

 

[darjr]

I didn’t notice any new art in this one though. Anyone?

 

[Faolyn]

It does need to be intelligent, that's why mind flayers consume humanoid brains. They don't simply eat the gray matter, but consume psychic energy from the victim. That's also why the victims need to be alive when the mind flayer feeds on their brain.

But in Spelljammer the mind flayers farmed "oortlings," which had been bred to be low Intelligence and had no psychic abilities, but had really big (if dumb) brains. So... who knows what mind flayers really need.

 

[beancounter]

I don't care for the new artwork. IMO, It makes them look primal instead of the highly intelligent, evil beings they are.