The new Mind Flayers are here!

Staffan · Apr 27, 2003

How does the book compare to the 2e sourcebook "The Illithiad" by Bruce "Tentacle" Cordell?

Bendris Noulg · Apr 27, 2003

Sounds excellent, HH!

While Aedon dumped Mind Flayers due to the SRD issue, there does seem to be a few treats in there I can use for the "species" that filled their niche. Very nice indeed.

HellHound · Apr 27, 2003

Tsyr said:
I'm having Predator visions here...

I won't deny the inspiration

How does the book compare to the 2e sourcebook "The Illithiad" by Bruce "Tentacle" Cordell?

I'll let you decide. I'm a writer of this book, so I'm not going to compare it to one of Bruce's masterpieces.

Squire James · Apr 27, 2003

I'd guess that most Mind Flayers WOULD value physical beauty in female slaves, much in the same sense a human farmer might display some pride in a prize heifer. Not that this attitude would do the female in question any good, of course!

I'll throw in a random plot idea... how about a group of mind flayers running a game of Survivor in a human village or small town. If a 'thid is discovered by someone and not mistaken for a human (there will be ways to verify this), that one is "thrown off the island". Of course some of them haven't the slightest idea of how to "act human", and will make a variety of missteps that may or may not be ignored by the populace as "normal strangeness". Let the plot advance a little bit, then add the PC's. Or maybe the PC's ARE some of those mind flayers!

S'mon · Apr 27, 2003

Tsyr said:
Cool!

I'll have to find out some time exactly what you find so odd about me, though...

*laughs*

Heck, you think _player_ have _rights_ and DMs have to be _fair_ and stuff!

S'mon · Apr 27, 2003

Squire James said:
I'd guess that most Mind Flayers WOULD value physical beauty in female slaves, much in the same sense a human farmer might display some pride in a prize heifer. Not that this attitude would do the female in question any good, of course!

I'll throw in a random plot idea... how about a group of mind flayers running a game of Survivor in a human village or small town. If a 'thid is discovered by someone and not mistaken for a human (there will be ways to verify this), that one is "thrown off the island". Of course some of them haven't the slightest idea of how to "act human", and will make a variety of missteps that may or may not be ignored by the populace as "normal strangeness". Let the plot advance a little bit, then add the PC's. Or maybe the PC's ARE some of those mind flayers!

Re mind flayers valuing beauty - mind flayers having any kind of an aesthetic sense as humans would understand it is something I hadn't thought of, but it's an interesting idea with some nice RPing potential. Mindflayers might decorate slaves (of any gender & race), much as some people braid their horses' manes, or tie ribbons round a cat, and such. While healthiness is an almost-universal value (unless you worship the god of death/disease or are a heroin-chic photographer), other specifics might vary wildly - perhaps scarcity of Underdark food resources makes plump, well-fed slaves an Illithid status symbol. Maybe they shave the slaves' heads (rather, get other slaves to do it) and decorate their heads with tattoos that emphasise the juicy succulent brains within? Who wants to get hair tangled up in your tentacles, anyway?

Re mind flayer 'Survivor' - that is a very very silly idea.

Edit: you can tell I'm a fluff DM not a crunch DM - stats for half-fied illithid lich-paladins leave me cold...

Gez · Apr 27, 2003

HellHound said:
the Bana'Dur (a half-eleven ex-slave race)

Oh no! Why that name ? It sounds too much like someone, well, someone you don't want to have visuals of in a D&D game. Especially as a 5.5 (that's a half-eleven, right ?) with psionic powers! No, seriously, you don't want to see this guy with mouth-tentacles and glowing eyes!

HellHound said:
Food for Thought - turn brains into Power Points or Spell Levels
Taste for Knowledge (psionic, but works without the psiHB)

These are horrible puns! I like!

HellHound · Apr 27, 2003

S'mon said:
Edit: you can tell I'm a fluff DM not a crunch DM - stats for half-fied illithid lich-paladins leave me cold...

Then the first 40 pages of the book will be for you - history, sociology, "the great work", enemies, allies, biology, etc. are all in here.

Thresher · Apr 27, 2003

Sounds like a good read so far, I like the mindflayers as being core upper-level baddies that run things from the shadows. Sort of like drow where in the old days before FR crap turned them into a nemisis that faced the good guys directly.
Still I'd reserve any further judgement upon reading it.

As for art, artists make work for a lot of different reasons. Some for money, some for fun, others for relaxation and to convey an idea.
What the ultimate aim for most artists is to share something with a veiwer, be it an emotion that inspires adoration, fear, distaste or any number of different feelings. In this case it seems to have affected people in some way, even if its mostly negative you can write it off as a successful piece of work. It got something out of someone.

/art snob hat on
I give it a "Meh Factor 10" for unorigionality and a thumbs up for annoying some prudes