D&D General Githyanki Incursion

[Quickleaf]

Astral Whitewing (from 4e)

These highly intelligent reptilian flyers are native to the Astral Plane. Githyank raise and train them as flying mounts. A whitewing seats one rider in a specially made saddle, and it can be controlled by reins or voice command. These creatures have a wingspan of nearly 30 feet. Native wild whitewings are found only in the Astral Plane, and they are known for their predatory pack attacks on travelers in that realm. Whitewings trained as mounts by the githyanki are sometimes lost on scout missions, and they can be found wandering wild in the remote mountainous regions of the world and the Feywild.

• Roughly CR 6-9 range (comparable to wyvern), large dragon, unaligned? neutral?
• 110 (13d10+39) hit points
• understands Draconic but can’t speak it
• Speed 20 ft., fly 50 ft. (hover) or 100 ft. on the Astral Plane
• Str 17, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 6, Wis, 17, Cha 16
• Flyby
• Tail Slam, reach 10 ft. Hit: 2d8+4
• Stunning Shriek: cone 30 feet, DC Con save or stunned until the end of its next turn
• Astral Jaunt (recharge 5-6): As a bonus action, the whitewing and its rider teleport up to 40 feet. This ability only functions on the Material Plane, the Outer Planes, or the Astral Plane.

EDIT: There's a really cool lore tidbit in MToF page 92 talking about Tu'narath:
Rumors persist of an enormous dungeon that lies beyond the caves, a hidden fortress occupied by a mighty demigod who claimed The One in the Void as its home before the githyanki occupied it. Coteries of Red Wizards from the land of Thay on Faerûn, accompanied by githyanki knights, have ventured into this area in recent years. Supposedly, the Thayans once emerged with a huge adamantine container that rumbled and shook, as if to the beat of a monstrous heart.

EDIT EDIT: A few githyanki factions that I came upon when doing campaign research last year...

Gul'othran = Sect devoted to the “Eternal Crusade” against the Mind Flayers which makes incursions even into the Far Realm itself. Some of them are marauders who also take slaves, apparently. Their outlook is that by invading other worlds, the githyanki can ensure those places don't become safe havens for mind flayers and thralls. Essentially they're playing a massive game of Go against the mind flyers, adopting "the best defense is a good offense" to deny the illithids any place to flee to. I was imagining them "claiming" illithid thralls who aren't totally lost and can be "rehabilitated" the githyanki way. But that might just be my own interpretation.

Sha'sal Khou

Swords of Gith / Sword Stalkers = I believe these were fanatic knights and gish who fashioned the silver swords, imbued them with power, held knighting ceremonies, and hunted down sword thieves. In my interpretation they were also searching for the legendary Sword of Gith which was believed to hold the secrets of what befell their race's progenitor.

EDIT EDIT EDIT: A bunch of githyanki terms from the old Demon Stone video game...

• Chal’ikith = sword thief
• Voreeshan soot = Seize the village
• Dori’na kraten = Crush all resistance
• Resnúdanti vor’ki = Your general has returned
• Torvi nedesta un’telee = You’ll be the first to perish in our camps
• A’kt’ta stuerka = The Slaad Lord approaches!
• A’na gezun satsezl = Secure the higher ground for battle
• Duor amundi Faerun = Faerun will be mine, Slaad
• Kith’sutan Na = You will not stop me
• Neetura’rek gisi haaz’liet = You’ll have this Sword when I run it through you
• Lian su’ta = Kill them!
• Naii = No!

 

[MonsterEnvy]

It should be noted as of 5e that Vlaakith and the Vlaakith that knew Gith are the same person. Which makes more sense to me then there being 157 Vlaaktihs. She is both a Lich and lives in the Astral Plane were time does not pass. It makes perfect sense for her to be the same being the whole time.

 

[Quickleaf]

It should be noted as of 5e that Vlaakith and the Vlaakith that knew Gith are the same person. Which makes more sense to me then there being 157 Vlaaktihs. She is both a Lich and lives in the Astral Plane were time does not pass. It makes perfect sense for her to be the same being the whole time.

Before Covid and plans changing, when I was prepping an Incursion game, my idea was that the CLVII was a designation of how many times Vlaakith had been revived using her phylactery or otherwise given death the short shrift. There may have been times where she crafted / borrowed a new body via magic (perhaps when her chaotic nature chaffed against the current generation of githyanki elite), thus giving those outside of her inner court the impression of a regime change, but her close advisors would know it was the same old Vlaakith. Classic lich move.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I am a huge, huge fan of the Githyanki Incursion, but sadly have never run it in all its glory. Though I have used bits and pieces.

I would take a look at the Dungeon Magazine where the players can play as githyanki rebelling against Valaakith (Lich Queen's Beloved, Dungeon #191) - there are some really cool NPCs and monsters to steal there. I'm particularly fond of the duthka'gith (githyanki enhanced (corrupted?) with red dragon blood) and the blackweave warlock (a kinda-sorta necromancer, but sufficiently different to hopefully make your players appreciate the variety).

 

[Quickleaf]

@Redwizard007 I finally finished all my githyanki stat blocks! There's also an overview of the githyanki castes and a couple traits/actions/magic items you can use to customize your githyanki NPCs.

Hope these will be of use to folks wanting to use the githyanki more in their campaigns. If you use them, please hit me up with your playtest feedback! I'd like to know how they played for you!

It was an interesting blend of how to merge things from past editions to get the right feel, as well as imagining completely new things from just one-liners in the source material. Some of them, like the yr'n (portal mage) dropping an asteroid through a portal are pretty crazy, and I had fun imagining the ghustil (healer) as not relying on curative magic but on turning back the creature's physiology to an earlier time.

There are just 2 that I didn't get to... the senja'si (seers) were tricky for me to figure out how to implement my concepts mechanically, while the var'ith'n (who transmute psychic energy of Astral in materials) seemed like a good thing to leave as a plot device...

Monster	CR	Source
Githyanki Youngling	1	*
Githyanki Pirate	2	*
Githyanki Warrior	3	MM
Githyanki Ghustil (healer)	4	*
Githyanki Mlar (crafter)	4	*
Githyanki Mindslicer	5	*
Githyanki Sarth (captain)	5	*
Githyanki Varsh (caretaker/tutor)	5	*
Githyanki Darkweaver (warlock)	5	*
Githyanki Pyroclast (sorcerer)	6	*
Githyanki Pirate Captain	6	*
Githyanki Bloodblade	7	*
Githyanki Y’rn (portal mage)	7	*
Githyanki Ch’r’ai (inquisitor)	8	*
Githyanki Kajorr (master mage)	8	*
Githyanki Knight	8	MM
Duthka’gith (half-dragon)	10	*
Tl’a'ikith (sword spirit)	10	*
Githyanki Gish (fighter/mage)	10	MToF
Githyanki Tla’Kajorr (grandmaster)	11	*
Githyanki Kith’rak (general)	12	MToF
Kr’y’izoth (spell spirit)	13	*
Githyanki Supreme Commander	14	MToF
Osyrimon	16	*
Zetch’r’r	16	*
Vlaakith the Lich Queen	23	Dragon+

 

[Redwizard007]

@Redwizard007 I finally finished all my githyanki stat blocks! There's also an overview of the githyanki castes and a couple traits/actions/magic items you can use to customize your githyanki NPCs.

Hope these will be of use to folks wanting to use the githyanki more in their campaigns. If you use them, please hit me up with your playtest feedback! I'd like to know how they played for you!

It was an interesting blend of how to merge things from past editions to get the right feel, as well as imagining completely new things from just one-liners in the source material. Some of them, like the yr'n (portal mage) dropping an asteroid through a portal are pretty crazy, and I had fun imagining the ghustil (healer) as not relying on curative magic but on turning back the creature's physiology to an earlier time.

There are just 2 that I didn't get to... the senja'si (seers) were tricky for me to figure out how to implement my concepts mechanically, while the var'ith'n (who transmute psychic energy of Astral in materials) seemed like a good thing to leave as a plot device...

Monster	CR	Source
Githyanki Youngling	1	*
Githyanki Pirate	2	*
Githyanki Warrior	3	MM
Githyanki Ghustil (healer)	4	*
Githyanki Mlar (crafter)	4	*
Githyanki Mindslicer	5	*
Githyanki Sarth (captain)	5	*
Githyanki Varsh (caretaker/tutor)	5	*
Githyanki Darkweaver (warlock)	5	*
Githyanki Pyroclast (sorcerer)	6	*
Githyanki Pirate Captain	6	*
Githyanki Bloodblade	7	*
Githyanki Y’rn (portal mage)	7	*
Githyanki Ch’r’ai (inquisitor)	8	*
Githyanki Kajorr (master mage)	8	*
Githyanki Knight	8	MM
Duthka’gith (half-dragon)	10	*
Tl’a'ikith (sword spirit)	10	*
Githyanki Gish (fighter/mage)	10	MToF
Githyanki Tla’Kajorr (grandmaster)	11	*
Githyanki Kith’rak (general)	12	MToF
Kr’y’izoth (spell spirit)	13	*
Githyanki Supreme Commander	14	MToF
Osyrimon	16	*
Zetch’r’r	16	*
Vlaakith the Lich Queen	23	Dragon+

First, I love you.

Second, how did you format this to look like something WoTC would do?

Third, we went in some different directions with a lot of these guys. I'll have to share my own builds once I figure out how to steal your format. Having 2+ options for each entry gives some nice flexibility in encounter design and keeps githyanki from getting boring.

 

[Quickleaf]

First, I love you.

Second, how did you format this to look like something WoTC would do?

Third, we went in some different directions with a lot of these guys. I'll have to share my own builds once I figure out how to steal your format. Having 2+ options for each entry gives some nice flexibility in encounter design and keeps githyanki from getting boring.

Well, thanks! Haha. I love you too, Redwizard. Definitely was getting a little experimental with some of my ideas, especially when working with some of the paper thin caste concepts. Look forward to seeing your takes on some of these guys.

Format? OK, so I use Mac Pages, but I'm pretty sure everything can also be done in Microsoft Word. Set up document as 2-column, with 0.75 inch document margins all around.

Then the text styles (I know Word has text styles too) are all Arno Pro and hex color #941100, with the following sizes:
Body font = Arno Pro 11 pt (specifically Arno Pro Caption sub-style)
Title Header = Arno Pro 20 pt Bold
Secondary Header (e.g. "Special Abilities") = Arno Pro 16 pt Semi-Bold
Tertiary Header (e.g. "Traits") = Arno Pro 14 pt Caption

Then the tables (like the list of monsters) are set so none of the borders are visible, and with an alternating row hex color #E5E9CD.

The sidebars are actually also tables, same color as above, just with grid lines turned off at the left and right boundaries. While the top and bottom have 0.25 pt borders.

Oh yeah, for the tables/sidebars, the sidebar body font is Scala Sans 10 pt, while the header font is Scala Sans 11 pt Bold with the Small Caps setting turned on.

The monster stat blocks are also tables, with Scala Sans font for the body & for the header (monster name) it's Andada SC 17 pt Bold small caps, hex color #58180D. Lastly, there's something I can't remember how to do in Word but is super easy in Pages... it's the line separators in the top of the monster stat block... in Pages it's a Layout > Borders & Rulers option... 1.5 pg with hex color #AE1916. But it's a very curated / non-automated process, as I'm manually adjusting little things like text spacing, the size of the "paragraph breaks", and other stuff to get the layout the way I want.

EDIT: After typing this out, I think my process must look archaic to anyone familiar with LaTeX or Homebrewery. Were I doing this for publication, I'd handle layout in InDesign, but this is my quick-n-dirty method for homebrew.

EDIT EDIT: Oh! @Redwizard007 something I forgot to do (but definitely plan to include when I update) was include Astral movement speed in the stat blocks, just like a giant spider might have "30 ft., climb 30 ft." in its stats (i.e. "Speed 30 ft., Astral 45 ft."). Astral speed is 3 x Intelligence score, so I'm translating this as...
Int 13 = 39, or 40 ft
Int 14 = 42, or 40 ft
Int 15 = 45 ft
Int 16 = 48, or 45 ft
Int 17 = 51, or 50 ft
Int 18 = 54, or 55 ft
Int 19 = 57, or 55 ft
Int 20 = 60 ft
Int 21 = 63, or 60 ft
Int 22 = 66, or 65 ft
Int 23 = 69, or 70 ft
.
.
.
Int 30 = 90 ft (Vlaakith)

 

[Quickleaf]

Could use some feedback on this githyanki stat block....

The Var’ith’n is a type of githyanki who transmutes the energies of the Astral Plane (dreams, thoughts, dead god's essence, psychic winds) into physical form. They belong to the hr'a'cknir caste who can be described as "astral specialists." In my head canon, the hr'a'cknir have an ascending order of power: ghustil (healer, CR 4), yr'n (portal mage, CR 7), var'ith'n (?), senja'si (seer, ?).

While there's definitely a Plot Magic aspect to them where there's an advantage to not having everything super defined, so you can have things like "the githyanki teaches you a ritual to commune with the dead god" or somesuch, I realized that having a baseline stat block for the Var'ith'n also opens up storytelling for "this particularly dangerous githyanki must be thwarted if we want to deal with the overall githyanki threat facing us" scenes.

Some of the concepts I'm playing with for these guys are...

• They make the unmanifest manifest, so spells like phantasmal force & phantasmal killer are their jam. Might include mass dispelling blink / invisibility or tracking by emotional residue.
• In Lich Queen's Beloved, there was a substance called "residuum" (translucent ectoplasm from creatures Vlaakith killed in the Astral) which imbues an object with sentience. There also was a 3e githyanki feat to psionically control objects. So I'm thinking animate objects would fit.
• They draw rough matter from seemingly nowhere, which I've interpreted as often being surrounded by whirling debris.
• In the AD&D Guide to the Astral Plane, there's a spell called "conduit pierce" which basically intercepts a character traveling via conduit (like a wormhole) through the Astral. While the idea of conduits isn't really present in 5e, the original idea was that conduits delivered both belief & souls to the gods. Makes sense that would be part of the "energy" the githyanki could tap into.
• The Var'ith'n are described as overseeing the mining of dead gods which would mean they have some really strange alchemical items ("godsblood" is the only one I know defined in lore). Also, the adventure Lich Queen's Beloved mentioned several weird alchemical items – astral effluvium, cerebral grist, and netherflame – that might be good fits.
• There's a Binder vibe (from 3e's Tome of Magic) that I'm getting from these guys tapping into the essence of dead gods. While I understand the basic idea of the class – choose a vestige & get a bunch of powers associated with it – I don't know if there are any specific mechanics worth borrowing for the Var'ith'n.
• In 3e Complete Psionic, there was a githyanki feat to use "ectoplasmic form" which got me thinking about how in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes it's confirmed that githyanki hatch in eggs. What if these weren't the hard-shelled eggs of a chicken, but more like the amniotic sack (caul) dialed up to sci-fi... thick, rubbery, slightly luminous and pulsing? What if those githyanki who lingered longer in this caul even upon being taken to the Material Plane to hatch/grow had the psionic gift to manifest an ectoplasmic form?

There's more there than I need... want to keep the stat block streamlined after all... but here's a first pass...

Githyanki Var’ith’n
Medium humanoid (gith, hr’a’cknir), typically lawful evil

Armor Class 16 (breastplate)
Hit Points 60 (11d8+11)
Speed 30 ft., fly 20 ft. (see Ectoplasmic Caul)

STR 13 (+1) DEX 14 (+2) CON 13 (+1) INT 16 (+3) WIS 15 (+2) CHA 16 (+3)

Saving Throws Con +5, Int +7, Wis +6
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages Gith
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)

Ectoplasmic Caul. When the githyanki is not surprised at the start of combat, it is surrounded by a translucent shimmering aura. While this aura is active, the githyanki is immune to damage from attacks or effects dealing less than 10 damage, and it gains a fly speed 20 feet.

Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). The githyanki’s spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:

At-will: mage hand (the hand is invisible)
3/day each: jump, misty step, nondetection (self only), phantasmal force
1/day each: animate objects, phantasmal killer

Actions

Field of Debris. The githyanki conjures a magical field of debris in a 10-foot-radius sphere around itself. The debris field has AC 10 and 15 hit points per creature within 30 feet that is hostile to the githyanki. As long as the debris field exists, the githyanki and its allies in the area gain half-cover (+2 AC and +2 Dexterity saving throws). A hostile creature moving into, or starting its turn within, the debris field must succeed a DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or take 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone.

Call Psychic Winds (on the Astral only, once per long rest). The sky darkens and in 1d4 rounds at the start of the githyanki’s turn, a psychic wind (see DMG p.47) washes over a half mile radius centered on the githyanki. This requires the githyanki’s concentration; if it is disturbed before the psychic winds arrives, the effect ends.

Reactions

Pierce Soul Conduit. When a creature fails a death saving throw or dies within 30 feet of the githyanki, the githyanki drains it of 2d10 levels worth of spell slots (starting with its lowest level spell slots) and also reduces its maximum hit points by that amount. The githyanki gains that number of temporary hit points.

 

[Stormonu]

No need to throw out so much of the MM; the Gith could work with a menagrie of monsters and other humanoids, so long as they feel they're the ones in control.

Gith + manticore; a low-level scout calvary possibly with Gish casters who can disguise themselves and their mount as ordinary beasts so as to spy and gather information

Gith + medusa; an assassination squad who uses the charmed/enslaved/allied to make a bold statement about opposing the Gith. Of course, the Gith wear special filtered glasses that protect them from their charge's gaze attack

Gith ghosts; even dead, with no afterlife to move to, some gith fight on from beyond the grave

Gith + Neogi; nothing wrong with selling a couple slaves from your raids to someone else...

Gith + Minotaur; when you need some extra muscle and don't care much about collateral damage

Dark Ones; when you just need someone dead but don't have the time yourself, but do have the coin.

...and so on.

 

[Quickleaf]

Let me know if you have thoughts on how to capture the githyanki var'ith'n (astral collector/binder) concept? That one's really tricky... it's supposed to be a weird blend of alchemist, a vestige binder, a transmuter/conjurer, and a psychic all in this creepy package.

Or any feedback/critique on the others?

I was able to get some help on Discord cracking the githyanki senja'si (seer) into something really wickedly fun that I can't wait to use. Once we / I can figure out how to approach the var'ith'n, then I'll share what I did with the seer & update a revision of the document.

Then the real fun begins when I get this campaign started and start playtesting these guys.