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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Leatherhead" data-source="post: 7001679" data-attributes="member: 53176">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.</blockquote>

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