Ceremorphosis: Race selection depends upon the presence of vital neurochemicals in the victim's brain; these neurochemicals act as essential chemical cues for the initiation of ceremorphosis. Adult illithids lack these cues and are unable to host ceremorphological processes. Acceptable races are usually Humans, elves, drow, githzerai, githyanki, grimlocks, gnolls, goblins, and orcs. Most other races prove unacceptable for ceremorphosis, as determined by their height, weight, or nonhumanoid origin (such as outsiders). As example, implanted tadpoles develop too quickly inside small humanoids and too slowly in giant ones.
Physical description: An adult illithid stands roughly 6 feet tall and weighs in at 170 pounds, on average. Generally speaking, adult illithids possess a height and weight similar to that of their humanoid victims prior to ceremorphosis. Mind flayer's are warm blooded and subject to the harmful effects of extreme heat, cold, and other hostile environmental conditions. Mind Flayeer cannot discern colors, they see everything in black and white.
Gender: Since illithids are hermaphroditic, no sexual differentiation is possible between individuals.
Age: From the time an illithid comes into its adult form, it can expect to live anywhere from 115 to 135 years. During this period it grows in psionic power, formulates plans for the conquest of all other races, accumulates a harem of slaves, and eats brains.
Diet: Biochemicals and hormones found only in brain tissue are essential nutrients for adult illithids. However, illithids eat brains more for the psychic quotient contained in sentient gray matter than the physical nutrients. This psychic essence metaphysically nourishes the illithid far more efficiently than a diet of mere flesh ever could. Illithids use this liberated psychic essence to reenergize their metabolism so effectively that the consumption of only one brain a month constitutes a healthy illithid diet. Onl y intelligent creatures (Intelligence of 3 or more) contain the necessary psychic quotient to nourish an illithid properly. Illithid's do occasionally snack on the brain tissue of animals that they consider culinary delights. However, illithids become malnourished and weak in the absenc e of the minimum essential sentient brain per month.
Illithid Names: Illithid names are more complex than those of creatures using only one-dimensional sounds to communicate and to convey concepts. The very nature of psionic telepathy allows true telepaths (such as illithids) to garner far more from a simple name. To nonillithids, an illithid name impinges upon only the portion of the brain used to assign meaning to such things. Thus, an illithid name may seem no more complex than the name of any individual from a foreig n culture. Names such as Drukt, Sard, Suit, Aurangaul , Ralayn, and S'venchen do not sound exceptionally different from Branwen , Jon, or Marta. Of course , the psioni creferencing of a mind flayer' s name conveys a multitude of additional information to an illithid—including age, status , Creed , and psionic ability.
Some used names are Yharaskrik, Methil El-Viddenvelp, KÂ’thula, Sarkt and heres a name generator (choose Illithid).
Language: Putting their prodigious minds to work, the illithids devised a system of writing based on texture and touch. This writing, called qualith, attempts to capture the essence of the immersive telepathic contact normally used for communication. The qualith utilizes four levels of logic simultaneously: four striated lines, each alternately solid or broken, along which illithids run their tentacles in order to perceive meaning. Thus, a typical line of illithid text carved into a rock wall or punched into stiff parchment could look like the following: Nonillithids find this language fiendishly hard to understand. Only those creatures employing a tentacle or appendage on each of the four lines have any chance to grasp its full meaning, as each line of the "text" modifies the meaning of the other lines. Thus, the complete meaning only materializes in the gestalt presented by all four lines together. Rumors exist of rogue mind flayer communities that experiment with magic and spells—a thoroughly detestable and unnatural event by the lights of the illithid majority. Such communities have supposedly developed qualith into a simpler, less rigorous, true written language in order to investigate the mechanics of spell memorization and casting.
Sign Language: This medium, developed by the Tamer Creed to stymie psionic eavesdropping from rrakkma and other illithid foes, utilizes a highly complex form of sign language. This language engages all four of an illithid's tentacles. While not as rigorous as the engraved form of qualith or as far-reaching as psionic telepathy, illithid sign language has the advantage of being undetectable by eavesdropping or psionic bugging; even those creatures viewing it are unlikely to interpret the meanings of four rapidly signing tentacles.
Telepathy: Mind Flayers can communicate telepathically with any other creature within a certain range that has a language and can address multiple creatures at once telepathically, although maintaining a telepathic conversation with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time.
Read Mind: Illithids can feel and read thoughts of beings around them, even the instinctal thoughts of animals. They do not know from what creature the thoughts emerge and can only discern the "surface" thoughts of the mind. A successful will save of the creature prevents the Illithid from reading its mind ( DC 12 + ability modifier + epic modifier). If the creature has an Int score far greater (+10 or higher) then the Illithid, he will get stunned for 1 round.
Emotions: Illithids are organic beings that possess individual emotions. To a non-illithid, it may appear that mind flayers are emotionless beings bent only on the domination of other creatures. However, illithids feel anger when cheated of their goals, fear when faced with rebellious thralls, happiness after the delightful ingestion of a tasty brain, hatred for those who would deny the illithids their right to rule, disgust for those who would parley with thralls on an even basis, and sadness upon learning of the death of a compatriot far from the mental embrace of the elder brain. The emotion illithids most often experience is frustration, as their racial goals of domination and mastery remain unrealized. Such a constant undertow of discontent subtly colors every other emotion, thought, and action.
Beliefs: Illithid society is a lawful one; individual illithids hold many beliefs in common. Of course, some individuals evidence extreme variations from societal norms, but the majority of illithids hold to the following basic precepts and convictions.
1) All wisdom flows from the elder brain.
2) Joining the elder brain is the greatest reward for a life well spent.
3) What is not illithid is thrall.
4) Dominion is life.
5) Dominion over all.
Thralls: When an illithid first captures a creature, it shaves and powdes the hapless victim with a bug-killing dust (this is done on a regular basis thereafter ) and checks it for communicable diseases (which could contaminate other slaves). In addition, an illithid captor brands a small tattoo on its captive's left forearm, raising a significant welt for easy tentacle identification; this mark denotes the captive's future service to a preselected Creed (faction) or individual illithid. Sometimes, an illithid brands a captive possessing particularly important skills with psionic seals.
An interpredation of how Thralls work:
wrote:Read up on some real-life master-slave (you, in the back.. not the sexual kind, dumbo) dynamics. Some pretty simple things let normal humans enslave their own kind, creating behaviours in very short periods of time that seem utterly at odds with any form of rational thought. Look at the Elizabeth Smart case, or at various descriptions of cults and how they wear down a persons will to resist. Then there is Stockholm Syndrome, where people come to identify and sympathize with their captors. (Though that's probably not going to come into play with mind Flayers; they're too unlike the slaves. With Drow? Yeah, that's going to work.)
Charm makes them see you as a trusted ally and bestest buddy. The Mind Flayer has a pretty decent Cha so your normal human is likely to be blowing the oppossed Charisma checks to avoid doing non-suicidal things against his will. Thing like eat your child's brain, let the mind flayer mate with you, beat your best friend, kill that stranger, stuff like that. Of course, the memory of doing those things apparently of your own free will and liking them doesn't go away when the monster lets the charm fade.
Charm lets the mind flayer be your best pal. A best pal who is a sadistic, evil, hyper-intellegent monster who delights in your pain, confusion, misery and self-loathing. We've all known a friend-of-a-friend who's in a bad relationship and we all wonder 'well, why doesn't she just leave'? This is something like that; the charming effect is a one-way street.
It becomes, in some ways, a vastly more sick tool that Domination because it doesn't allow puppet-like control. There's that sense and memory of devotion and caring that comes with friendship. That more than anything will wear away at a person.
We have Detect Thoughts, an at-will power. It can know what you are thinking at any time, day or night. It can turn the power of your dreams against you. Use the names of family and friends, which it can learn with a few well-asked questions. (It's like 'Don't think of a white elephant'. Ooops. Sorry. Unless you have the concentration of a monk, you just thought of a white elephant. Same principle applies.) Any escape plan you think of, it knows, right then.
Then we have the Suggestion power, which lets the mind flayer gradually pick and pick at that barrier of what you will and will not do. Used over time, it's a gradual nudge here and there to get them used to doing horrible things, or used to obediance. It helps form patterns, and most people live by patterns.
Then we have simple pain and abuse. Your average PC hero probably isn't going to succumb to the starvation, pain, and constant abuse but most people will. These things wear people down in a shockingly short span of time, until, yeah, you'll do pretty much what you're told to do. Especially because you remember that suddenly this Thing can become your best friend on earth.
It cares for you, and likes you; it told you, and your best friend would never lie to you, would he? He tells you you're a worthless slave, so of course that's what you must be. He only beats you or drills holes in your head when you anger him. If you tried harder, if only you were not such a useless sack of dung, he wouldn't have to hurt you. Indeed, you are the one making him hurt you! It's your fault, you filthy useless thing. How dare you? You should be good. If you cared, you would be good. And we all want to be good, don't we? Of course we do.
