New Mindflayer Info

[FourthBear]

Yes, I think they were referring to "save or die" going away, not all forms of death attacks and death spells. They just want to greatly reduce the situations in D&D where a character can go from perfectly fine to stone-cold dead with a single die roll in a single round. So a bodak's death gaze may cause a character to begin dying, taking damage continuously unless helped.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

So mind flayers can still bore into people's skulls and kill them. I thought save or die type stuff was going to be gone in 4e?

Otherwise it's not a mind flayer.

It's also not instant death, as it needs to grapple first. Possibly four times. The beholder's petrification power now works the same way.

 

[Mentat55]

I don't know, this attack chain seems a little too much like Step-by-step instructions. Not to say that its a bad thing, but hopefully this isn't what monsters are limited to.

Round 1 attack
Round 2 Use attck based power
Round 3 Use final power
Round 4 See Round 1

Seems a little redundant to me.

I don't think the listing is intended to be a strategy for the mind flayer. It is simply organized in a way that, if Power or Attack A did not succeed, Powers B-D are not relevant.

I like the way this mind flayer looks. It has the powers you'd expect a mind flayer to have -- a mind blast, brain-eating, and ways to both temporary control opponents and create thralls. Granted, a mind flayer psion would probably be better, but that could be reserved for elite or mastermind flayers, while this is your run-of-the-mill illithid (if there is such a thing).

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't think the listing is intended to be a strategy for the mind flayer. It is simply organized in a way that, if Power or Attack A did not succeed, Powers B-D are not relevant.

Exactly. Once it gets to Bore into brain, it has a choice about whether to kill and eat now, or turn it in a thrall.

If it has turned it into a thrall, it could then start commanding the thrall in some way or start grabbing someone elses head etc.

 

[Derren]

At least the Mind Flayer society makes sense now.
In 3E you always had to wonder where the mind flayers got all their dominated slaves from (lore/novels) as they can't cast dominate monster.

 

[Dunamin]

In 3E you always had to wonder where the mind flayers got all their dominated slaves from (lore/novels) as they can't cast dominate monster.

I suppose suggested explanations could be:
1. Psions are a common class among illithids, they use their powers for the job.
2. "Surgical" manipulation to the brain.
3. Repeated exposure to charms and suggestions eventually did the thing.
4. The illithids took captives to their Elder Brain, who did the job.

Anyway, I agree that it works much better with an implemented mechanic in all flayers.

 

[Doug McCrae]

3e mind flayers were both broken and boring. Mind blast was too good, for the reasons given above. Because it was too good there was no reason to do anything else. So combat consisted of:

Round 1: Mind blast
Round 2: Mind blast
Round 3: Mind blast
...
Round X: Flee (plane shift) or feast

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

That mind blast is pathetic.

Once per encounter? Daze? Good lord. That may be the biggest design nerf I've ever witnessed-- and I am not one to cry nerf willy-nilly.

First of all, in 3e, it's already vulnerable to Lesser Globe of Invulnerability. It's a 3rd level spell effect. If you know you're going to be facing mind flayers, I recommend carrying this spell.

(I'll note just for the record that the Heal spell removes the stunned condition, but as it's a 6th level spell I don't consider it a sufficient trump for a CR8 creature.)

I'd much rather they had left the power of the ability alone and tied it to the bloodied condition, either on the mind flayer's side or the targets'. If it were an ability that the mind flayer could only use under sufficient duress, or which he can only use on seriously wounded targets, that alone would have been sufficient to mitigate its "surprise round TPK total spoiler" status.

 

[Doug McCrae]

It's a 3rd level spell effect.

It's 4th level.

 

[Dunamin]

No, Lesser Globe of Invulnerability does nothing against Mind Blast since its equivalent to a 4th-level spell.

Toning down Mind Blast's potency against warriors, also makes things much more sensible in relation to githyankis as succesful illithid-slayers (the generic MM githyanki had a -2 Will save!).