Why are Mind Flayers considered "cool villains"?

[Orius]

I'd say it's because it's they're a cool Underdark race with lots of nasty abilities — and also because DMs haven't been plagued by countless players wanting to play a good-aligned illithid ranger that dual-wields scimitars.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Their alien mindset makes them nearly impossible for PCs to understand, much less play. The way they view time alone makes them unplayable.

They also make cool leader-type villains. Give 'em some grimlock barbarian servants and let them rip through the players

 

[Virel]

All of the reasons listed above are why they are cool...but to me the following one will always have a special place...

Way back in the early 80's with our very first batch of high level characters ran amok killing everything that crossed their path. There were a couple of spell casters with very powerful psionics etc.

That group ran into 4 mind flayers one day...and ended up running for their lives. Not all of them made it a the fleeing PC's saw one of their own get his brain devoured. As DM I had found a new villian that gave the players fits. Astral Projection is a wonderful thing sometimes...

 

[jasper]

mind flayers smarter than the avg adventurer and wanting to eat PC brains as popcorn as set back to watch the lastest Buffy episode.
Drow cool icky nasty villians which became the Klingons of D&D.
Same name different villians, no players, no opponents, no main stars yech!

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Same goes for drow to some degree. It's why ENWorld constantly sees posts whinging about "why do so many adventures have drow or gith?". If you need a savage, primitive race, you've got lots of choices, but if you need one that actually produces well-trained soldiers, spies, and spellcasters, the list is just not that long.

Hobgoblins.

No penalty to Intelligence or Wisdom. Lawful alignment. Tight, organized society with many skilled professionals. Advance by character class.

Why does noone use them beyond the low level cannon-fodder stage?

 

[Testament]

Hobgoblins.

No penalty to Intelligence or Wisdom. Lawful alignment. Tight, organized society with many skilled professionals. Advance by character class.

Why does noone use them beyond the low level cannon-fodder stage?

I agree, Hobgoblins seem to cry out for use like that. Maybe its the fact that they have "Goblin" in the name.

 

[The Shaman]

Hobgoblins.

No penalty to Intelligence or Wisdom. Lawful alignment. Tight, organized society with many skilled professionals. Advance by character class.

Why does noone use them beyond the low level cannon-fodder stage?

They qualify among the "humanoids with class levels" I use as major BBEGs. A hobgoblin blackguard is a fearsome thing.

 

[Victim]

I love the Squiddies, aka Illithids. They're terrifyingly smart, utterly alien and as has been said, are unlike anything the PCs will encounter. And unlike Drow, they're aren't as hideously overused.

IMHO, fighting Illithids should be like fighting MJ-12 was in Deus Ex. You have no idea what's happening to you, and they're always three steps ahead of you. Until they overreach, you're dancing to their tune, and you don't even realise it.

Illithids: The Great and Secret Masters.

Our experiences in fighting MJ-12 playing Deus Ex must have differed then. It'd be like adventurers stumbling onto the lair of an illithid doing the whole scheme and take over routine, killing him, then finding out his plot later.

Mind flayers wouldn't dual wield scimitars. They'd attach knives to their tentacles then do battle with 6 weapons at a time.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

Mind flayers are cool because they have alien, cthulhoid heads, are highly intelligent slavers and evil masterminds, and they eat brains. I've used them a number of times over the years and they've always struck fear into the players.

Beholders are also cool, although they are goofy-looking so it must be the death ray....

I used aboleth for the first time recently at the start of Hell in Freeport. They made for a memorable encounter as several PCs ended up dominated and the others wasted time fighting an illusory kraken.

Githyanki, githzerai and yuan-ti are also cool. Drow have been used in too many adventures since the original D series to be cool anymore.

Cheers


Richard

 

[GreyShadow]

Zombies are the coolest thing there is.
Zombies eat brains.
Mind Flayers eat brains.
Therefore Mind Flayers are cool.

Zombie Mind Flayers are really cool.