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Let’s Read Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.
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<blockquote data-quote="Leatherhead" data-source="post: 8666881" data-attributes="member: 53176"><p><h3>Neothelid (VGtM)</h3><p></p><p>To say that mind flayers have a strange life cycle would be an understatement. They start out as “tadpoles” in an Elder Brain’s brine pool, where they swim around until they are either eaten by the Elder Brain, or implanted into the brain of another creature. Once implanted, the host creature undergoes ceremorphosis. A horrific mutation, where the host's entire body is transformed into a different creature, while the tadpole eats the host's brain and assumes control of the fleshy remnants. More confusingly, the resulting abomination can be something totally different depending on the host creature. While most humanoids turn into another mindflayer, this is not always the case (as seen with creatures such as the Squidlings) And non-humanoids have even stranger changes.. At any rate, the mind flayers are near the top of this society, second only to an Elder brain. The Mind Flayers are the ones who spawn more tadpoles, and eventually “merge” with the Elder Brain or become part of a new one. Perpetuating the cycle. </p><p></p><p>But the weirdest part of all that? It might not even be the “Natural” life cycle of a tadpole. Enter the Neothelid. Once tadpoles are free from the influence of an Elder Brain, they spend their days Highlandering their kin, until one emerges from the brine pool. This gargantuan psionic worm hunts for tasty intelligent life forms from subterranean tunnels. Their indiscriminate hunger and lack of a properly developed mind makes them a severe threat to a mind flayer colony. While they lack sufficient smarts to be pinged on an Elder Brain’s mind-raidar, they can most certainly find any mind flayers with theirs. Any way you manage to play such enemies against each other, it will be gross and weird for sure. And who is to say what happens when a Neothelid finds a creature that is big enough to be ceremorphosisied? </p><p></p><p>In combat the Neothelid is barely more than a beast. It’s likely to start combat off with a quick spray of its digestive juices, then follow up by trying to swallow the tastiest brain it can see. After that point, you have several options. Either disable a spellcaster with Feeblemind, or disable a heavy hitter with Confusion. Should the battle be going in the worms favor, just have them eat more. While they do have Levitate and Telekinesis, the only reason to use them is if the Neothelid is somehow trapped, and do note that they cannot use either on themselves. Meaning no airborne worm attacks.</p><p></p><p>I have to say, I am a bit disappointed that the Neothelid has only a 30’ movement speed, and no advanced movement options. No burrowing speed, no swimming (despite coming out of a brine pool, how did that happen?), and they can’t even use their spells to help that because they are too big. Technically speaking, they also lack a decent ranged attack, and it’s really strange how they don’t have a multiattack at CR 13. Just tossing a rock with their mind powers would have gone a long way. I don’t care much for slow-ground-bound melee creatures. Which is a total shame because the Neothelid is cool, and it didn’t need to be designed that way at all. Part of me thinks that their at-will Levitation was meant to be a movement option of some kind, but the restrictions were overlooked.</p><p></p><p>In the changeover, the Neothelid was gutted. They lost nearly 100 hp. Their tentacles also had a bit of damage shaved off, while their stomach acid was toned down by 1/3rd. I know people are more concerned with the caster changes, but this is the biggest nerf in the book so far.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Leatherhead, post: 8666881, member: 53176"] [HEADING=2]Neothelid (VGtM)[/HEADING] To say that mind flayers have a strange life cycle would be an understatement. They start out as “tadpoles” in an Elder Brain’s brine pool, where they swim around until they are either eaten by the Elder Brain, or implanted into the brain of another creature. Once implanted, the host creature undergoes ceremorphosis. A horrific mutation, where the host's entire body is transformed into a different creature, while the tadpole eats the host's brain and assumes control of the fleshy remnants. More confusingly, the resulting abomination can be something totally different depending on the host creature. While most humanoids turn into another mindflayer, this is not always the case (as seen with creatures such as the Squidlings) And non-humanoids have even stranger changes.. At any rate, the mind flayers are near the top of this society, second only to an Elder brain. The Mind Flayers are the ones who spawn more tadpoles, and eventually “merge” with the Elder Brain or become part of a new one. Perpetuating the cycle. But the weirdest part of all that? It might not even be the “Natural” life cycle of a tadpole. Enter the Neothelid. Once tadpoles are free from the influence of an Elder Brain, they spend their days Highlandering their kin, until one emerges from the brine pool. This gargantuan psionic worm hunts for tasty intelligent life forms from subterranean tunnels. Their indiscriminate hunger and lack of a properly developed mind makes them a severe threat to a mind flayer colony. While they lack sufficient smarts to be pinged on an Elder Brain’s mind-raidar, they can most certainly find any mind flayers with theirs. Any way you manage to play such enemies against each other, it will be gross and weird for sure. And who is to say what happens when a Neothelid finds a creature that is big enough to be ceremorphosisied? In combat the Neothelid is barely more than a beast. It’s likely to start combat off with a quick spray of its digestive juices, then follow up by trying to swallow the tastiest brain it can see. After that point, you have several options. Either disable a spellcaster with Feeblemind, or disable a heavy hitter with Confusion. Should the battle be going in the worms favor, just have them eat more. While they do have Levitate and Telekinesis, the only reason to use them is if the Neothelid is somehow trapped, and do note that they cannot use either on themselves. Meaning no airborne worm attacks. I have to say, I am a bit disappointed that the Neothelid has only a 30’ movement speed, and no advanced movement options. No burrowing speed, no swimming (despite coming out of a brine pool, how did that happen?), and they can’t even use their spells to help that because they are too big. Technically speaking, they also lack a decent ranged attack, and it’s really strange how they don’t have a multiattack at CR 13. Just tossing a rock with their mind powers would have gone a long way. I don’t care much for slow-ground-bound melee creatures. Which is a total shame because the Neothelid is cool, and it didn’t need to be designed that way at all. Part of me thinks that their at-will Levitation was meant to be a movement option of some kind, but the restrictions were overlooked. In the changeover, the Neothelid was gutted. They lost nearly 100 hp. Their tentacles also had a bit of damage shaved off, while their stomach acid was toned down by 1/3rd. I know people are more concerned with the caster changes, but this is the biggest nerf in the book so far. [/QUOTE]
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