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How do you feed your pet mind flayer?

ARandomGod said:
Wow. So you're saying you've seriously never eaten canned chili or chili from an unknown origin?

Hm... nope. Either it was made by close friends, family, or myself. I know none of these puts brain in their chilli. Personally, I make a point of lobbing the guy's head off before I put him in the mincer to make the meat for the chilli.
 

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I always thought hydras would make for great Mind Flayer herd beasts. It’d be like a dinosaur shaped snack factory.
 

1. Catch a troll. Keep him well-secured throughout the entire process.
2. Cut off its head.
3. Feed the mind flayer the brain while you fillet the troll's body. Make sure to leave some meat on the bones.
4. Cook thoroughly.
5. Enjoy!
6. Let the troll regenerate.
7. Repeat as needed.

Demiurge out.
 

Kae'Yoss said:
Hm... nope. Either it was made by close friends, family, or myself. I know none of these puts brain in their chilli.

Ever eaten a burger at McDonald's? Or any other fast food chain for that matter? It's my understanding they used pulverized cow brains and eyes to maintain moisture in the meat for unnaturally long periods. I seem to recall reading this in a medical journal in a doctor's waiting room, but otherwise cannot vouch for the accuracy.

I do know that prior to the mad cow scare, it was common practice to feed cows cow brains as a cheap dietary suppliment. That's expressly illegal now, but still done here and there. My guess is that brains sneak into all sorts of prepackaged foods, if for no other reason than economics.
 
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Fortunately for you, no matter what decision you make, the problem isn't likely to recur THAT often. The Illithiad says that mind flayers can survive on one good meal a month, and I don't think Lords of Madness has stated otherwise. (Feel free to correct me on that, though, since I don't actually have the latter book). So unless you've got a seriously starving 'quid on your hands already, you've got some wiggle room to figure out what to do.

Illithids CAN rip out nonsentient brains, but the majority of their nutrition comes from the mind of their prey rather than just the grey matter itself, which is why they can't really scavenge. Dead food or animals will quell hunger pangs, but it really just masks starvation rather than preventing it, sort of like trying to fill up on bread and water.

I don't know about YOUR party, but mine seems to be a lot more forgiving and less disgusted by the brain-eating thing when it happens in combat. In an us-or-them life-or-death situation, killing the foe by any means you've got at your disposal is one of those things that just happens, and illithids tend to fight better with their natural weapons than with manufactured ones. There's a difference, somehow, between killing a person to eat them and killing them BY eating them, I guess, even if my own character doesn't quite see it that way.

Speaking from experience as one who's playing a friendly illithid themself, my reccomendation is to shortcut the problem via magic. Ring of Sustenance is ideal, if you've got funds and a chance to stop somewhere and buy one, and create food and water and your above-mentioned "not tasty" food sources can tide it over until you get one. Really, it's no different than what the rest of the party does- I don't imagine iron rations are exactly the height of cuisine. In any case, SOMEONE in the party ought to have prestidigitation if Glass doesn't itself, so the taste problem isn't really an issue unless you're hoarding cantrips.

My own Ikanthilossk counts its Ring of Sustenance as one of its two most precious possessions, though it only wears it around a single tentacle rather than all four at once. If your party is ever in Sigil, stop by the Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts and say hi, okay?
 

The Illithiad says that mind flayers can survive on one good meal a month, ....
Drow propaganda ! Drow Who want to kill the mind flayer race and can't kill their one goody goody two shoe.
 

Some fantastic ideas here!

A cow, some restraints and the mages circlet of intellect could be a good starting point. Glad the ranger quit playing. :)

Next up, a sack of carrion crawlers and a troll. Nice!

Finally the ring of sustenance... think we even have a spare tooling around. Although that's too easy. :)

Plenty to inspire me.
 



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