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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 6043214" data-attributes="member: 3192">I like the definition of aberration. These are things that don't even have much of their component parts recognizable. They might be corporeal. They might be something altogether different, but beyond an odd shaped mass they don't commonly have legs, arms, eyes, ears, fur, scales, heads, tails, wings, as we know them. They are not easily described for players to imagine without help. We have no words for what these are. These are wholly different "things". It should be pointed out that any new aberration needs a picture to show the players as verbal descriptions will routinely fail. Beholder[sblock]Type, Level, and Environment stats being included gets a big thumbs up from me.I think the eye stalk rays are more about having a large suite of powers on hand to handle a wide variety of foes. The original set aren't necessary as is mentioned. Even then, only a few could fire in a single round in one direction, which aided single attackers. They are far better against groups.One of the catches with Beholders is they have a unique defense, sort of like hydras and how you cut off their heads. Called shots may no longer be in the game, but they were designed for earlier. A Beholder's main eye & eye stalks are less difficult to hit than attacking all of it at once. It's body is chitinous (insect-like exoskeleton), while its central eye can be hit relatively easily. This is one of the reasons it is not commonly open. The stalks are also high up and often out of reach of melee warriors and aren't as low AC to piercing attacks as they would be to something like slashing (not helping the AC of most ranged attacks). All of this may be ignored in the simple core rules, but might want to be reexamined for combat modules. Facing for the direction of the anti-magic cone is yet another missing feature.This looks like a pretty good write up. I like the unique elements and the wide variability. Question: Why are these found only underground?  Couldn't I have some as oligarchs ruling openly above ground in an isolated jungle slave empire?[/sblock]Mind Flayer[sblock]I don't understand what your rationales are for the distance limits on the powers. Sure, they have a limit, but why those?Mind Flayers aren't magic users except perhaps by item use because of their magic resistance. Because they can dominate PCs this is an important instance where the game balancing of PCs vs. their average opponents comes to light. If the PCs are significantly stronger than such (as this average has been moving down), then when PCs become foes to each other they are too big a threat for any monster to have under its power. Tentacle attacks & brain extraction are commensurate with assassination attacks. However, I would say these creatures are not assassin role-based combatants, but not quite magic users either. They are both hidden and back line foes. They use special effects to control the battlefield and attack only solo creatures when they leave hiding. AD&D lists powers as Levitation, Domination, ESP, Body Equilibrium, Astral Projection, and Probability Travel. These aren't fireball attacks. Telepathy is a very powerful and not altogether rare ability. Like some creatures have a standard Magic Resistance, the usual PC races have Psychic Resistance to psionic effects. Once broken through (saving throw) telepathy was a 1-way street. It did not alone allow for reading of minds, which is how the victims who were not telepathic could respond via the mind. Mind Reading was another spell level up. Language was the big natural barrier here even if Mind Reading was possible. Comprehend Languages meant greater Mind Reading ability. Tongues and Telepathy allowed full comprehension from any intelligent creature telepathically spoken to. Add that to Read Minds and you're an open book. The ability of mind flayers telepathy to do all of this short circuits the ladder of communication spells that used to be built in for magic user exploration. It could be okay as a special kind of telepathy for this high level monster, but it is far more powerful than the norm and should be accounted as such in its tactics and XP rating and called out as a uniquely titled kind of telepathy and a racial power.The thrall list is really good. These are creatures that can actually survive underground and under brutal conditions. Weak races like orcs, gnolls, hobgoblins, and your standard 0-level human or demi-human are relatively quick to die off. (Well, maybe dwarves)[/sblock]Aboleths[sblock]These guys are are psionicists focusing on mind affecting and illusionist psionics, probably from their cultural tradition. They are also telepathic and can Charm creatures (not Dominate like Mindflayer) 3x/day. This has a range of 1 mile, but no limit on how many followers it can control. [I'd probably include some limit based upon Intelligence, which is only High BTW, not genius or exceptional]This was a pretty good write up overall in my opinion. Also, this has become one of my favorite columns on Wizards site.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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