D&D 5E If a PC had his brain "eaten" by an Intellect Devourer and then goes into an antimagic field...?

[Klaudius Rex]

We're playing Waterdeep Heist (5e), and one of my players got his brain "eaten" by the intellect devourer in the sewers via the Body Thief ability.

I dont necessarily want to kill this PC, so i decided to just have him play his character normally, and as DM be able to take control of this player's character whenever the intellect devourer would reasonably make a different decision, which has been fun.

So far, the intellect devourer has only interrupted in a few instances. The intellect devourer isnt dumb, and doesnt want to be revealed inside this guy's head and be killed. So it has been conservative in overriding the character's autonomy and patiently waiting for further instructions from Nihiloor or the Xanathar's guild (which will be coming soon!)

So, despite a few minor bad decisions on the part of this character controlled by the intellect devourer, the other players have not noticed that he is being controlled by anything or anyone...

However, this PC (along with the other players in the group) are being accused of a crime they did not commit unrelated to the intellect devourer or Xanathar's guild or the Heist. He will soon be detained in the Waterdeep jails, which in my game is covered by a giant antimagic field (a prudent measure by the Waterdeep guards so no criminals of any kind try to break out or disguise themselves using magic).

My question is: while in the jail/antimagic field, does that break the intellect devourer's control over the player's mind? Would the intellect devour be forced out in an antimagic field? Or, is the intellect devourer's 'Body Thief' ability sort of a permanent thing unaffected by an antimagic field?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jasper]

The stat block says jack about Antimagic field. Only spells which affect it are protection from good and evil. Wish to get the brain back. I do like how you allowing the player to still play the pc.

 

[Dausuul]

As I read the Body Thief ability, while the process of devouring the brain and replacing it is magical, the control thus established is not. So the devourer would not be affected. But you could argue the other way, too; in that case the field would shut down the devourer's control and the PC would become catatonic.

If you're going by the book, forcing the devourer out or disrupting its control will not free the PC. He's already dead - the devourer ate his brain and took its place. If it leaves or dies, his body dies 1 round later, per the Body Thief description. A resurrection spell would be required to bring him back (since he is missing a body part vital for his survival).

However, if you haven't already established the details of how the devourer's ability works, I'd be tempted to rewrite it on the fly and allow the player to regain control of his body while in the field. That seems like a lot more fun.

 

[Oofta]

For all practical purposes the PC is dead barring a wish because their brain is gone and the devourer has taken up residence where the PC's brain used to be.

While the creature can be forced out of the body by a protection from evil and good, doing so leaves a body with no brain. On the other hand, there's nothing about the antimagic spell that's going to harm the devourer, although I would rule that they can no longer communicate telepathically with anyone.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

A standard intellect devourer as I understand it controls a person by physically removing the brain and taking its place in their skull. So I wouldn't have an antimagic field shut that down any more than it'd shut down a heart transplant. But that doesn't seem to be what's happening here. I think the mechanism of the control is up to you, thus so too is whether it counts as "magical".

 

[Oofta]

...
However, if you haven't already established the details of how the devourer's ability works, I'd be tempted to rewrite it on the fly and allow the player to regain control of his body while in the field. That seems like a lot more fun.

Good point. If it's more fun for you and your group just change how the devourer works.

Don't let the rules get in the way of a good game. As long as you're consistent changing the rules to fit the story is something I do on a fairly regular basis.

 

[darjr]

I don't think it's magic. Isn't the field pretty precise in what it works on?

Anyway I had a player lose their brain to an ID when he wen't off on his own. The surprise on the players face when he ganked the guy he was following and the ID dragged itself out of that guys head. Wow! He wanted to play his dead mind controlled NPC. I maybe shouldn't have though, he was super effective.

 

[Klaudius Rex]

As I read the Body Thief ability, while the process of devouring the brain and replacing it is magical, the control thus established is not. So the devourer would not be affected. But you could argue the other way, too; in that case the field would shut down the devourer's control and the PC would become catatonic.

If you're going by the book, forcing the devourer out or disrupting its control will not free the PC. He's already dead - the devourer ate his brain and took its place. If it leaves or dies, his body dies 1 round later, per the Body Thief description. A resurrection spell would be required to bring him back (since he is missing a body part vital for his survival).

However, if you haven't already established the details of how the devourer's ability works, I'd be tempted to rewrite it on the fly and allow the player to regain control of his body while in the field. That seems like a lot more fun.

thanks. Eventually, I want to give this player back full control over his character, and have the intellect devourer leave his head...just not now while in jail...

 

[Aaron L]

Well, considering the fact that the Intellect Devourer literally ate his brain and took up residence inside his empty skull... I'd say the character would be in pretty bad shape.

Honestly, I would say that the actual magic happened when the monster ate his brain and teleported into his empty skull, and from then on the monster was physically integrated with the body's nervous system and so the Anti-magic Field really wouldn't do anything to interrupt it.

As for eventually putting the PC back into the player's control, I would highly recommend against just having him eventually return to normal after the Intellect Devourer is somehow removed, and instead suggest creating a story reason for a powerful Cleric to Resurrect him when the time comes to make the big reveal.

"Oh my Gods he's dead, and his corpse has been the puppet of a squamous, brain-sucking, eldritch grotesquery the whole time! Ahhhhhhhhhh! [gibber gibber scream]"

Go full-on Lovecraft with the description of the whole situation; that's what the Intellect Devourer is meant for! It would be the perfect time to introduce the optional Sanity ability score and have everyone make Sanity saving throws.

The reason for the Resurrection doesn't really matter; if you want him to come back just make up some excuse for a friendly Cleric to do it, maybe so they owe him and he can call upon them for future quests. It could give you a hook into the PCs to lead to another adventure. In my opinion you should play out the real horror of the situation for everyone and really make it a major campaign milestone, having the corpse fall to the ground with a thump such that the top of his head falls off and the empty skull is on full display... I really think just having the little brain-eater pop out of his head and then letting the character return to normal without consequence would be tragically missing out on a memorable, character defining scene, and it would absolutely cripple the impact and emotional power that such a horrifying monster as the Intellect Devourer should have.

I always like to play up the horror angle in games, instead of letting players just be blasé about every extraordinary, momentous, and horrific thing that their PCs witness and endure; even if it doesn't make the players squirm, it would still horrify the characters... and having one's (or witnessing one's companion's) brain being eaten and body used as a puppet by an alien/aberration parasite should be cosmically horrifying, especially since I would rule that the monster leaves the cerebellum intact to continue operating the body's autonomic nervous functions, breathing and such, that it wouldn't want to bother expending the effort to maintain. In my imagining that would leave enough of a brain left to maintain a psychic connection between the character's body and his soul the entire time, his soul remaining in a deathless limbo, unable to pass on through the Astral Plane to the appropriate Outer Plane of his afterlife, his soul tethered to his body by the Silver Cord, to remain stuck in the Near Astral Plane adjacent to his body on the Material Plane until the body dies... his soul Astrally witnessing every awful thing the Intellect Devourer does with his body, and psychically aware of every cosmically horrific thought the monster has, but unable to do anything or exert any control over his body to stop it. Thinking of the whole situation in those terms makes the Intellect Devourer into a much, much more horrifying monster rather than just a fancy mind controller, doesn't it? Such a situation would almost assuredly result in the character becoming a ghost when his body finally dies, from all the trauma and horror of the situation... I would imagine that Intellect Devourers and Mind Flayers are responsible for creating a lot of ghosts in this way... some special type of Sanity-sucking, madness-inducing Spectral entity. Something like a cross between a Spectre and the old Allip.

I would make the character's return to player control into a huge event in the character's life, and a huge event in the campaign, period. Something that will haunt him forever, rather than just let it play out as simply another case of charming or mind control. This squamous monster ate his brain and grotesquely squatted in his skull as it foully impersonated him for how long? You should really play up the horror of the situation... this is the stuff that defines characters and makes them interesting!

 

[darjr]

What if, after so long pretending to be him, the ID begins to actually THINK it is him? What if that would eventually allow the devoured intellect to reassert control? Then he could be both?