Neogi - how have you used them?

[LoneWolf23]

I have a question. In Monster Manual II, do the Neogi have any specific powers over their slaves (say, umber hulks or otherwise?) In 2E, they had slaves, but absolutely no way to enslave them.

I played it back then as the Neogi having a special power to charm any Umber Hulk it sees, no saving throw allowed - I justified it by saying that there was a special pheromone that Neogi released that make Umber Hulks especially subservient to them. Made them VERY nasty.

As for how I played them, They immediately strike me as having a ferengi like personality. In fact, the designer probably had the ferengi in mind when designing them - or at least it seems that way to me.

Well, in 3E, Adult Neogi all have Enslave, an ability that works like dominate monster (caster level 16, Will save DC 15)three times a day. An enslaved creature obeys the Neogi's every telepathic command to the letter, and can only try a new break of telepathic control once every 24 hours. If it fails, the only other way to break control is remove curse or dispel magic, by killing the Neogi or seperating the victim from the Neogi apart 1 mile. It also has a Wisdom draining poison, which it can use to reduce the target's Will Save.

The 3E Neogis are also all given one Umber Hulk slave raised from birth and conditionned as a slave, which loyally obeys the Neogi without a need for it to use it's Enslave ability.

As for how I use them; Well, I haven't yet, but I'd fit them in as the Slave Traders of the Underdark, wandering in tribes throughout the Underdark and in surface-world raids, capturing stray humanoids and selling them to other nations in the Underdark. They would enjoy a "neutral party" type of relationship with the Drow, Illithids and Duergar, all clients of the Neogi.