FormerlyHemlock
Hero
Don't forget about Regenerate. Returning to 1 HP at the start of every turn is almost as good as trollish regeneration.
D&D 5E Let's Read: Volo's Monsters
Don't forget about Regenerate. Returning to 1 HP at the start of every turn is almost as good as trollish regeneration.
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
I really do hope we get a "mystic mindflayer" update when the new take on psionics comes out. Some Metacreativity powers (making constructs and objects out of pure thought) would be a great addition to an Elder Brain's arsenal.
At any rate, Ulitharids are the potentially rebellious teenage daughters of the Elder Brain (technically at any rate). Which does provide numerous plot hooks. For starters, they can serve as a a kind of satellite for the Elder Brain, extending their sphere of influence significantly. Or they could be recently emancipated, and looking to form their own colony. Finally, the Ulitharid represents an opportunity for a civil war inside of an Illithid colony, something that would be impressive to witness at least.
Also, you could just say screw lore and have an Ulitharid be the detached physical body of an Elder Brain, a meat-puppet for them to control, if you really need to add more meat to that encounter.
But speaking of adding meat to the mind flayers, now is a good time to go back and look at what other options they have.
Back in chapter One:
We have a Variant: Mind Flayer Psion. Much like the Mind Flayer Archanist, it is a CR8 spellcaster. Unlike the Archanist, it is not an outcast, and it has quite a wide selection of spells, including spells from multiple classes. Most of these options are things you would expect something with advanced mental powers to have, though there is no allegory for pyrokinesis, and Meld into Stone is a bit of a non-standard pick. A good way to beef up any illithid encounter, and potentially serve as a "Boss" or lieutenant. But it would really shine as an individual member of the species, serving better in that casting call than an Ulitharid or any other member of the tribe, for when you want just a dash of squid-flavored badness instead of the entire calamari dish that the colony brings with it.
Thralls are covered a bit better in this chapter. It's worth noting that Thralls keep most of their brains in this edition, and in fact could actually end up smarter due to mind-tampering if they were of average or lesser intelligence to begin with. A stark difference from previous editions which had them as more or less mindless husks of meat to throw into the grinder that is the typical adventuring party. The book even suggests that the Thralls can be given a measure of telepathic powers (Mind Flayers don't like speaking after all) or other psionic abilities to make them more potent in combat and better spies.
It's also worth calling back to the MM here, Intellect Devourers are what happens to the brainmeats of a thrall after a ritual, and are employed to lead groups of people back to the tentacles of the Illithids by making one of them into a suit. Just keep in mind that despite their CR of 2, they are hyper deadly with permanent ability drain. And as such, may not be appropriate for your group without modifications.
To round out the tour of chapter one, we have Mind Flayer Magic Items and Augmentations. These items follow the traditional underdark magical item rule of "Screw the players, they ain't gonna use this!" But there are a few ways to bypass such a restriction.
Firstly, Mind Blades deal extra Psychic damage, allowing humanoid thralls to do more damage with their melee attacks. A bit boring mechanically, but it is a way to give a thrall more bite and a way for the players to track down it's master if they encounter it as a spy out by itself in the larger world.
Mind Carapace Armor is heavy armor that protects the dumb sort of louts who use them from mental attacks and fear. The sorts of things they are traditionally weak against, so yeah, that's good. Also, could be slapped onto one of the more important Illithids for a measure of extra protection.
Mind Lashes are an Illithid only weapon, that should only be given to a generic Illithid and not a boss, due to action economy. But it is very attractive to have on a minion, as it does significantly more damage than a normal whip, has the 15' range of a whip so the user can stand behind the front lines, and it imposes disadvantage on mental saving throws, making the rest of the tribe significantly more dangerous.
Shield of Mind Sight, it's another thing for a thrall, or maybe as a trap on the wall somewhere. But this one lets the mind flayer see through the shield and send out a Mind Blast from any distance on the same plane. Which is really handy, and something that should be incorporated into a smaller item so more spy thralls can use it.
As for non magic items, there are Flensing Claws. A body augmentation that allows the Thralls fingers to become long metal blades. They have a blurb of rules that I find to be totally unnecessary, as you can't implant the claws into another creature after the first, so no PC is going to become Wolverine (well more Lady Deathstrike I suppose) unless the DM specifically conspires with them. Maybe as part of a backstory. A good way to beef up combat thralls at any rate.
And finally we get to the Survival Mantle, which is a SCBA that is incorporated into a suit of half-plate, and allows the target to breathe in space. This device actually can work for anyone, thankfully, and can enable all kinds of adventures.
At any rate, Ulitharids are the potentially rebellious teenage daughters of the Elder Brain (technically at any rate). Which does provide numerous plot hooks. For starters, they can serve as a a kind of satellite for the Elder Brain, extending their sphere of influence significantly. Or they could be recently emancipated, and looking to form their own colony. Finally, the Ulitharid represents an opportunity for a civil war inside of an Illithid colony, something that would be impressive to witness at least.
Also, you could just say screw lore and have an Ulitharid be the detached physical body of an Elder Brain, a meat-puppet for them to control, if you really need to add more meat to that encounter.
But speaking of adding meat to the mind flayers, now is a good time to go back and look at what other options they have.
Back in chapter One:
We have a Variant: Mind Flayer Psion. Much like the Mind Flayer Archanist, it is a CR8 spellcaster. Unlike the Archanist, it is not an outcast, and it has quite a wide selection of spells, including spells from multiple classes. Most of these options are things you would expect something with advanced mental powers to have, though there is no allegory for pyrokinesis, and Meld into Stone is a bit of a non-standard pick. A good way to beef up any illithid encounter, and potentially serve as a "Boss" or lieutenant. But it would really shine as an individual member of the species, serving better in that casting call than an Ulitharid or any other member of the tribe, for when you want just a dash of squid-flavored badness instead of the entire calamari dish that the colony brings with it.
Thralls are covered a bit better in this chapter. It's worth noting that Thralls keep most of their brains in this edition, and in fact could actually end up smarter due to mind-tampering if they were of average or lesser intelligence to begin with. A stark difference from previous editions which had them as more or less mindless husks of meat to throw into the grinder that is the typical adventuring party. The book even suggests that the Thralls can be given a measure of telepathic powers (Mind Flayers don't like speaking after all) or other psionic abilities to make them more potent in combat and better spies.
It's also worth calling back to the MM here, Intellect Devourers are what happens to the brainmeats of a thrall after a ritual, and are employed to lead groups of people back to the tentacles of the Illithids by making one of them into a suit. Just keep in mind that despite their CR of 2, they are hyper deadly with permanent ability drain. And as such, may not be appropriate for your group without modifications.
To round out the tour of chapter one, we have Mind Flayer Magic Items and Augmentations. These items follow the traditional underdark magical item rule of "Screw the players, they ain't gonna use this!" But there are a few ways to bypass such a restriction.
Firstly, Mind Blades deal extra Psychic damage, allowing humanoid thralls to do more damage with their melee attacks. A bit boring mechanically, but it is a way to give a thrall more bite and a way for the players to track down it's master if they encounter it as a spy out by itself in the larger world.
Mind Carapace Armor is heavy armor that protects the dumb sort of louts who use them from mental attacks and fear. The sorts of things they are traditionally weak against, so yeah, that's good. Also, could be slapped onto one of the more important Illithids for a measure of extra protection.
Mind Lashes are an Illithid only weapon, that should only be given to a generic Illithid and not a boss, due to action economy. But it is very attractive to have on a minion, as it does significantly more damage than a normal whip, has the 15' range of a whip so the user can stand behind the front lines, and it imposes disadvantage on mental saving throws, making the rest of the tribe significantly more dangerous.
Shield of Mind Sight, it's another thing for a thrall, or maybe as a trap on the wall somewhere. But this one lets the mind flayer see through the shield and send out a Mind Blast from any distance on the same plane. Which is really handy, and something that should be incorporated into a smaller item so more spy thralls can use it.
As for non magic items, there are Flensing Claws. A body augmentation that allows the Thralls fingers to become long metal blades. They have a blurb of rules that I find to be totally unnecessary, as you can't implant the claws into another creature after the first, so no PC is going to become Wolverine (well more Lady Deathstrike I suppose) unless the DM specifically conspires with them. Maybe as part of a backstory. A good way to beef up combat thralls at any rate.
And finally we get to the Survival Mantle, which is a SCBA that is incorporated into a suit of half-plate, and allows the target to breathe in space. This device actually can work for anyone, thankfully, and can enable all kinds of adventures.
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Charles Rampant
Explorer
Thanks for bringing those up, @Leatherhead - I'm not really touching on the Chapter One stuff as much, so it's good to have it mentioned here.
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Almost the last of the Mind Flayer-themed entries, the Mind Witness is a pretty strange customer. Created by a fusion of all that is nasty and wrong about Mind Flayers and all that is nasty and wrong about Beholders, it is a Large floating tentacle eyestalk monster with psionic abilities.
The art in the book is really unpleasant. It has a sticky, moist quality to it, and the almost symmetrical alignment of its limbs just highlights how odd it is. The milky white eye also draws the gaze, and it makes it seem even more unpleasant. All in all, a well done horror image.
As I mentioned above, these creatures are a fusion of Mind Flayer and Beholder. They are created by stunning a Beholder and putting it through the same transformation that (when done on Humanoids) makes Mind Flayers. I can only imagine that it takes a lot of time and effort to pull that effort off, so presumably there are not many of these in the average colony. After the transformation - which, oddly, results in a creature weaker than either a Mind Flayer or a Beholder - the Mind Witness is an ultra-loyal blank slate which is primarily used for its ability to broadcast telepathic messages. In other words, they are used in the same way that my dad uses wifi signal boosters in his house: to strengthen the existing network. They must be especially useful around thralls, who would have less of a native connection to the Elder Brain.
One very intriguing idea is that if the Mind Witness gets seperated from the colony, it will attach itself to the first psionic creature it finds, taking on their world view. Some flumphs who have one of these as a protector is interesting, but flumphs are already so weird it might be overload. I'd be very interested to have one turn up as the totally-horrific-but-benign protector of an underdark psionic monk temple: especially since you could play with the idea of the Mind Witness starting to revert if Mind Flayers approach...
The combat options for this fella are almost an overload. It can either multiattack - for a surprisingly high damage routine that includes the option to grapple and stun its victims - or use eye rays, which are primarily rather than damage, and which also have a strong psionic theme. This makes the Mind Witness a really versatile monster, since it appears perfectly happy both at range and in melee, and it can do all sorts of things that will help its allies out in combat, able to slow, stun and and restrain opponents, targetting just about every stat rather than just intelligence.
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Almost the last of the Mind Flayer-themed entries, the Mind Witness is a pretty strange customer. Created by a fusion of all that is nasty and wrong about Mind Flayers and all that is nasty and wrong about Beholders, it is a Large floating tentacle eyestalk monster with psionic abilities.
The art in the book is really unpleasant. It has a sticky, moist quality to it, and the almost symmetrical alignment of its limbs just highlights how odd it is. The milky white eye also draws the gaze, and it makes it seem even more unpleasant. All in all, a well done horror image.
As I mentioned above, these creatures are a fusion of Mind Flayer and Beholder. They are created by stunning a Beholder and putting it through the same transformation that (when done on Humanoids) makes Mind Flayers. I can only imagine that it takes a lot of time and effort to pull that effort off, so presumably there are not many of these in the average colony. After the transformation - which, oddly, results in a creature weaker than either a Mind Flayer or a Beholder - the Mind Witness is an ultra-loyal blank slate which is primarily used for its ability to broadcast telepathic messages. In other words, they are used in the same way that my dad uses wifi signal boosters in his house: to strengthen the existing network. They must be especially useful around thralls, who would have less of a native connection to the Elder Brain.
One very intriguing idea is that if the Mind Witness gets seperated from the colony, it will attach itself to the first psionic creature it finds, taking on their world view. Some flumphs who have one of these as a protector is interesting, but flumphs are already so weird it might be overload. I'd be very interested to have one turn up as the totally-horrific-but-benign protector of an underdark psionic monk temple: especially since you could play with the idea of the Mind Witness starting to revert if Mind Flayers approach...
The combat options for this fella are almost an overload. It can either multiattack - for a surprisingly high damage routine that includes the option to grapple and stun its victims - or use eye rays, which are primarily rather than damage, and which also have a strong psionic theme. This makes the Mind Witness a really versatile monster, since it appears perfectly happy both at range and in melee, and it can do all sorts of things that will help its allies out in combat, able to slow, stun and and restrain opponents, targetting just about every stat rather than just intelligence.
Mecheon
Sacabambaspis
I really do like the Mindwitness. Mind, I do like a lot of the crazy Beholderkin out there, so another one helps.
Though wasn't acting as a signal booster the point of the Brain Golem back in the day? I think they might have been the opposite though, extending the range of the Elder Brain, whereas Mindwitnesses are just general purpose boosters
Though wasn't acting as a signal booster the point of the Brain Golem back in the day? I think they might have been the opposite though, extending the range of the Elder Brain, whereas Mindwitnesses are just general purpose boosters
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
The Mindwitness is begging to be a target of an Elder Brain's Psychic Link. These guys are custom made to serve as an extension of it's will, by having none of their own, and serving as their hands, so to speak. Mostly I see these being employed as the Comms officer in a group of Illithids, or a group of elite Thralls being lead by a Mind Flayer (preferably the Psion type) for a special mission.
I could also see a room filled with these things, serving as a server (heh), allowing communications between multiple colonies. And what happens when these creatures dream? For a normal Beholder it's a form of reproduction, for these, who knows?
One interesting note is that it lacks both the central eye of a True Beholder and the Brain eating of a true Illithid. Not a very useful note, but it seems as if the hybrid loses something in the translation between the species from both ends.
Another interesting note: The implications of this creature being less than a normal Illithid raises some interesting questions about Mind Flayer Morality, such as "Is a Tadpole considered a Mind Flayer baby by the Illithids?" The answer, of course, is no. The Elder Brain eats them as part of a eugenics program after all.
But perhaps the most interesting note is the possibility of inducing Ceremorphosis in a wider range of creatures.
Instead of ending up a snack for being imperfect, a tadpole could find itself become an experiment. A few such experiments from past editions were:
Mozgriken, using a Svirfneblin and a ritual. Gives a shapeshifing, if weak, brain drinker.
Tzakand, using Lizardfolk. Resulted in a smarter lizardfolk with acid shooting powers and psionic defences.
Uchuulon, using a Chuul. Good for underwater action and not much else.
Urophion, using a Roper. Ambush like Ropers, have lesser mental powers, and serve as sentries.
Brainstealer Dragon, which is exactly what it sounds like. Serving as another potential leader for a colony because it's an Illithid who is also a Dragon and thinks it's the most advanced lifeform possible.
I had to dig out my Lords of Madness book to find some information about a few of these and other potential far-realm spawn. Which reminded me that back in 3.5, the endgame of the Mind Flayer's was to extinguish the Sun. Something that is still a totally awesome idea for a campaign.
I could also see a room filled with these things, serving as a server (heh), allowing communications between multiple colonies. And what happens when these creatures dream? For a normal Beholder it's a form of reproduction, for these, who knows?
One interesting note is that it lacks both the central eye of a True Beholder and the Brain eating of a true Illithid. Not a very useful note, but it seems as if the hybrid loses something in the translation between the species from both ends.
Another interesting note: The implications of this creature being less than a normal Illithid raises some interesting questions about Mind Flayer Morality, such as "Is a Tadpole considered a Mind Flayer baby by the Illithids?" The answer, of course, is no. The Elder Brain eats them as part of a eugenics program after all.
But perhaps the most interesting note is the possibility of inducing Ceremorphosis in a wider range of creatures.
Instead of ending up a snack for being imperfect, a tadpole could find itself become an experiment. A few such experiments from past editions were:
Mozgriken, using a Svirfneblin and a ritual. Gives a shapeshifing, if weak, brain drinker.
Tzakand, using Lizardfolk. Resulted in a smarter lizardfolk with acid shooting powers and psionic defences.
Uchuulon, using a Chuul. Good for underwater action and not much else.
Urophion, using a Roper. Ambush like Ropers, have lesser mental powers, and serve as sentries.
Brainstealer Dragon, which is exactly what it sounds like. Serving as another potential leader for a colony because it's an Illithid who is also a Dragon and thinks it's the most advanced lifeform possible.
I had to dig out my Lords of Madness book to find some information about a few of these and other potential far-realm spawn. Which reminded me that back in 3.5, the endgame of the Mind Flayer's was to extinguish the Sun. Something that is still a totally awesome idea for a campaign.
Charles Rampant
Explorer
I've heard of the 'extinguishing the sun' thing before. It seems gloriously bonkers, and I'd almost like to approach it from the other side - with the players emerging from the Underdark (perhaps they went down as their first adventure) to discover that the surface world has fallen into anarchy and chaos as a result of the Mind Flayers already succeeding. So they need to find a way to sail to the sun and undo the damage!
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Way back in the day, Brain Golems mostly they served in much the same way as a normal golem does: Dumb muscle with gobs of immunities. Only with more Brain-flavor because that's the favorite flavor of the Illithid. More recently (in 3rd) they became a meat puppet for the Elder Brain to walk around in, and do the very few things that couldn't be delegated to something else. Not so much a signal booster as a drone, that was directly controlled by the Elder Brain, and incredibly beefcake because if the Elder Brain had to do something itself, it was going to do it in style.
For the Quick and Dirty 5e Stats (because I know some of you will want them): Pick a golem, preferably a Stone Golem, but any of them will do depending on the target CR of the encounter. Give it a Mind Blast appropriate to the CR (make sure that the DC is adjusted into a proper threat too), take away Berserk if the golem has it, and Mind Link it up to the Elder Brain.
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Charles Rampant
Explorer
Well, that's disgusting.
Chaosmancer
Legend
I don't think they can dream, since they have no will or intellect on their own. They serve and that is it.
That actually is what makes the mindwitness being weaker make perfect sense. The Beholder is the ultimate ego in a way, fully self-aware and drawing its power from that. I think that being born from dreams and the like, their will and view of themselves is in part what drives their power.
Mindflayers remove will, the tadpoles eat the brain and the Elder Brain imposes a will upon the creature. They become blank and then are imprinted on. The beholder though, would begin to lose form and substance once the will and ego that drives them is removed, they can't exist without it, but they had such a massive and alien mind that it takes the larva and the brain a lot of energy to overcome it, they can't dominate it easily.
So, you end up with a creature who doesn't have the ego of the Beholder or the hive mind of the Mindflayer. A blank psionic slate.
That is utterly insane. I can't even begin to think of the ways you could reignite the sun. That would be an epic end to a campaign.
Charles Rampant
Explorer
My first thought would be to make the Sun into a person, or a being of some kind. I'm inspired by this tweet of Mearls, where he mentioned the Stars being entities, and maybe evil ones. So if the Sun is a person - a God, or a giant face, or whatever - then that opens up some interesting ideas. Do the players have to travel inside him/her/it to restart its weird celestial organs? What about going into the Astral to retrieve parts of the Sun's body?
