Campaign idea. Your party are the favored thralls of a high ranking mindlflayer. You do things to assist the hive like hunting down a renegade, escort a mind witness on a raid, explore the remains of a destroyed colony... The possibilities are there.
I once played a Mindflayer in a Curse of Strahd campaign. Basically with how when he’s bored, Strahd just sometimes spirits people into his little one way area of Barrovia, and my character was yoinked mid Ceromorphisis. His past psyche was mostly destroyed, but was taken before his mind was fully integrated into the Hive Mind, so he was left as a confused squid man who didn’t know who he was or what his purpose was, and was adopted by the party.
They actually did revisit the mind flayer dragon concept in Fizban's, where they introduced the Elder Brain Dragon. As the name suggests, its what happens when an Elder Brain takes over the corpse of deceased dragon. Their breath weapon is terrifying, its a blast of brine filled with illithid tadpoles for mass Mind Flayer production.
@@LEE3R0Y Then you're in luck! The book says the Mind Flayers start by Capturing a dragon, so odds are it's at least mobile before the Body Horror sets in
@@LEE3R0Y I think its usually a deceased dragon, but I guess you could just have the mind flayers brain blast a dragon and take its unconscious body back for the elder brain to fuse with.
You've been hearing rumors of towns being attacked by a deformed dragon flying over covering everyone outside in a viscous fluid. Then within a week people start disappearing into the caves outside town.... The attacks are heading this way and shortly after the party heard this rumor they hear a dragon's roar in whatever town they're in!
slight spoilers. . . . . A good portion of mindflayers (especially in bg3) can be protected from an elder brain by magic artefacts or altered/warped larva. If you choose the ending where you become an illithid the first person you eat grants you the ability to shield yourself and others from being thralls.
Your twist is actually canon, too! The aberration sorcerer suggests "You got a ilithid tadpole implanted that for some reason didn't take over, and now you have psionic powers"
As a DM I have a fun reason: Disease. A disease ruminating in underdark is causing the sporadic migration of monsters and humanoid species to leave from their dwellings and conquer the overworld in hopes of escaping destruction. Miners, fisherman and mountaineers are all in a state of panic from this sudden outbreak of monsters roaming around. The elves and drow/drider's have reignited their thousand year long war with Loathe using this opportunity to gain more divinity through a ritual demanding mass causalities which she now has the justification for amassing. Through enchantments and illusions the illithids have begun integrating themselves into society and slowly assuming control over political affairs with this outbreak acting as a distraction from their conspiring plans. Dwarves & Deep Gnomes attempting to live beside the disease take up this opportunity to claim massive expanses of the vacated underdark discovering ruins, dungeons and war amongst each other for claim over minerals and passages. Fungi mutated by the disease ravage the forest lands and assimilate their mass into themselves altering their bodies and surrounding terrain into a horrifying mockery of their former glory; ravaging, dividing and starving for all life. But most importantly below even the deepest region of the underdark an ancient horror long since present before even the first God is stirred by the bustling life of the world and slowly begins to awaken. *Where does this come in for the sorcerer?!* Make it so the disease afflicted the brain jacker before it tunneled into PC's brain and died mid way during conversion. It's solid since you can run an amnesia backstory from missing brain bits, plot drop with elder brain still able to send signals to PC without them realizing it's not an illithid, or if your player is cool... the disease is still spreading and the player's on a clock to solve the mystery and find a cure. There are more problems and faction reactions I can world build so plenty of other races/classes get a plot hook and chance to shine but this is a UA-cam comment lol.
I love using Mindflayers. I even wrote a setting where one of the major differences was that the world was so psychically rich with psionic energy that it kept the local Mindflayers' hunger at bay long enough to think past their next meal. They tried to expand their culture and society beyond feeding. And... perhaps due to experimentation, or perhaps due to their "Interns" eating _their_ brains in a demented sort of retribution during the inevitable uprisings... there was now a Half-ilid race known as Versari players could be. Basically an excuse to play a half-elf but with Mind Flayer powers, Aboleth tentacles, or bizarre Beholder laser stuff. But they've been the most popular custom race I've put into my games, so I must have done something right.
In terms of laying eggs, it is important to remember that most of the Illithid's actual form is in the head. I've previously read, I think in Lords of Madness but I may be mistaken, that the laying of eggs more resembles the Illithid vomiting into the pool of the Elder Brain.
I guess I generally assume that the eggs come from the brains of dead mind flayers, and that's part of why it's so culturally important to them for their brains to be returned to the elder brain pool. Either the brain contains eggs, or the elder brain produces the eggs after consuming the brains of dead mind flayers.
Knowing an elder brain needs to be nearby for them to be truly connected to the hivemind, I'm now imagining a mind flayer being "born" outside of one's influence and just being unbelievably confused. Orphaned mind flayer seems like a fun concept
In Baldurs Gate 3 we do come across a New Born Mindflayer that doesn't seem connected to the Elder Brain villain of the game. His default response upon waking up and meeting a bunch of Adventures with Tadpoles in their heads is to immediately demand that they bring him a meal. So if that's any indication an Orphan Newborn would probably start out as just as much of an asshole as a regular Mindflayer. Still once the Mindflayer eats enough brains and goes long enough without receiving orders from the Elder Brain then that's when they would start using that powerful brain to start thinking instead of just following their base instincts.
I love renegade Mindflayers. I like to think that, away from the Elder Brain, a lot of the host's old personality an desires resurfaces. My party ran into a renegade mindflayer cheerfully named Bernard, who is a tailor that lives in Waterdeep. It's sort of an open secret in his neighborhood that he's an illithid, and his "assistants" are linked to him in a hivemind. I envision their shared mind situation being like Sens8 - the members of the "pod" keep their individuality, and joined willingly so that they could all be closer to each other, and consider each other found family. (They were, in fact, a former adventuring party that found Bernard when he was lost away from his Elder Brain, and starved for psychic energy, and once they made contact with him, they realized he wasn't evil. They agreed to make a hivemind so that Bernard could feed off their minds without overwhelming any of them, and liked it so much that they just never unlinked.) There's a lot of evil Mindflayer stuff going on in the campaign, including a couple of NPCs that are being taken over by Intellect Devourers, so Bernard is there as an asset the party can use to help figure out who is being controlled, and maybe even save some of the NPCs whose brains are being eaten. (Or "converted"; I have homebrew lore about how Intellect Devourers are made, and it's kind of horrifying...)
I had an idea for a Mindflayer PC (or perhaps an NPC) who got abandoned by his Elder Brain because his host body was so connected to their magical abilities that the Mindflayer had them as well leading to them being thrown away. They would feed off of common thugs and other small criminals trying to become friends with the society they are in and the party because they miss being part of a family or their idea of it and an adventuring group in a "human" or other intelligent beings' society is the next best thing.
In one of the games I hosted, had a mindflayer who ate a paladin and essentially was overwhelmed. It ended up with ilithid knights that flew on silver dragons and an Elder Brain Librarian. A city of heaven amidst a sea of demon empires. It was great.
Interestingly, there is an official mechanical way for a player to become a Mind Flayer. In Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, we have Elder Brain Dragons, which are Brainstealer Dragons, but better in every single way, and significantly more horrifying. It's the result of an Elder Brain attaching itself to an adult dragon by using it's tentacles to burrow into the dragon's brain, and it fuses itself with it's host with a fleshy membrane. Their signature attack, Tadpole Brine Breath, not only deals huge amounts of psychic damage, but no matter if you succeeded of failed in the saving throw, you become infested with tadpoles. This deals heavy psychic damage at the start of your turns, and if you're reduced to 0 HP while infested, you fall unconscious and nothing, save for a Wish spell, can bring you back at that point. After a few days, or several hours if you're really unlucky, you regain consciousness by becoming a Mind Flayer.
Large creature with evil brain trope, with added bonus of a spawning breath/vomit attack (recently used by the Gorn in ST: Strange New Worlds). Yup, horrifying indeed.
When the mind aberration subclass was released i was into wanting to play as one. So me and my DM decided that, for race, it would be a tiefling, and the lore it would be that a human mother , desperate, agreed to let her dying baby partake in the ritual because a mind flayer wanted to fuck around and find out. He was exiled because he "wasted" the tadpole on a baby, so he decides to live with the woman that offered him shelter, he disguises as a magic item/book shop owner while observing and studying the growing child. The baby grew up to be Neutral Good and learn between the coldness of the mind flayer and the warm and happiness of what a peasant can have on its simple life, it was fun playing her.
Now I'm just thinking of the socially awkward alhoon my party befriended while exploring an abandoned mindflayer colony that was converted into an evil wizard's (now abandoned) lab. Said evil wizard wiped out the mindflayer colony by feeding them people infected with a prion disease, and the alhoon (a mindflayer at the time) missed out on it because he got too into reading a contraband spellbook to go eat dinner. When the alhoon realized what was happening and couldn't feel his hivemind connection, he decided to hide in a secret room and bunker down until the evil wizard went away. Again, he... lost track of time. For about ten years. Since the alhoon doesn't need brains to survive and the party didn't attack him on sight, they were able to make friends and find him a secluded, lost library to organize. They check up on him from time to time, and hes fun to roleplay.
In one of our campaigns we have one of our players be a renegade Ilithid that decided to become a wizard. he keeps his identity a secret we play him as needing a somewhat constant supply of brains to sustain himself, but he grows sentient moss in his coat as a backup. the more intelligent the brain was, the more nourishing it is to him. the player also plays him as needing to keep himself moisturised (also he has an ice cream spoon to spoon out a fallen enemies brain)
Fun fact: "Thrall" actually comes from the Old Norse "Þræll", which means ""Intern"". The word is still used in Icelandic to this day. Just thought I'd share this little tidbit.
@@lilsiggi5436 Hi, as an icelandic person, I do feel very dumb after your reply. But also points to you for replying to a reply send a year after your original comment
writing mind flayer dialogue is so fun. early on in the chain of acheron there was an imprisoned mind flayer with such hits as: “Oh no, _I_ haven’t eaten anyone’s brain in… _hours.”_ “I’m surprised a creature with so many _bones_ in its head has room for a brain.” one i wrote is “What… thoughts run through your head? And what use could you _possibly_ have for them?”
by any random shot was that bone head eather a paladin or barbarian who was likely some elf or half ork. and for more detailed poke in the lawful side.
@@lechking941 none of the above. the mind flayer was speaking about the party generally, and at the time there were no barbarians, paladins, elves, or half-orcs present
I've found mindflayers are commonly seen as pure evil because they "have" to eat sentient live brains. They may be evil, but I can't say something is evil because of what it has to eat to live; if a mindflayer became an adventurer and ate bandit brains, no one would bat an eye. It wouldn't even be that cruel compared to what some regular adventurers do
well if its the only cruel thing in the part were the world has a history of cold ruthless and considerably morally corrupts or worse adventures (ie there maybe even EXTREAM and harsh laws being enforced to crush any adventuring left and replacing it with say some really shitty army so in the end the world suffers more) then this party maybe not only a lovely presence but even their "odd" friends needs can be looked over sense in the end most folks are probably used to the cold treatment the other adventures give.
I think its less that they have to eat brains and more the lengths of immorality that they have achieved to justify it. They basiquelly treat all sentient species as cattles, always denying the harm of what they are committing under the pretense that they are inferior creatures and that tit is simply the way things are meant to be. They also torture and brainwash anyone who ever dare to question the current system, preventing their kind from seeking a better way. They are masters of biology and psynoix, they could probably modify themselves to phase out their need for brains if they really wanted to. But the illithid empire does anything in its power to preserve the status quo, even if it means that countless evil have to be committed in its name.
@@blackbloom8552 thus if you can change the que and force a change the empire falls and a new way of existence can come. as im Shure they can even change their own method of breeding in order to remove both the worm growing out of control deal by just making the young develop longer in a womb instead and maybe only use the old method as a last resort or to the willing as a way to expand apron the genetic pool rapidly so one does not accidentally cause an extinction.
@@riblix4744 like humanity the illithids are as stuborn as rocks and proably will need a near complete genocide to see the problem they made for them selves. plus irl runs in a completly different problem i may not be a public speaker trying to make a difference, but a man can give a idea of what is a good thing to poke at for someones table game. this is dnd boyo if someone likes my comments to use them as a bases for their game power to them im a happy clam they did. you clearly have woken up with a dagger in the ass and are just trying to find the goblin to punt into the wall till it dies
The whole thing about them incubating inside someone gives me an idea of what if something went wrong and now there are just tentacles bursting out of a persons face or maybe unnervingly long appendages with regular sized ones, and they are just degraded into a violent being due to still having some control meanwhile the other being is trying to take over degrading into insanity Messed up I know but kinda cool in a fictional sense
I mean, it does sorta track with the cinematic for BG3 Larian put out a couple years ago. Just imagine the process not quite...completing. Yikes. I love it!
I think this is exactly where the Baldur’s Gate 3 game’s main story is heading. The use of Illithid Wisdom rolls both allow for easy surpassing of skill checks at the cost of more Tadpole-induced Illithid Dreams beckoning you to use your powers more.
In my personal setting, I have an organization of wizards who have fully expanded on the magic behind bags of holding, and other pocket dimension type things. They have essentially begun the process of using this to build a new school of magic and are now creeping into people's minds, homes, vaults etc etc. They are on the slow process of becoming my world's version of mindflayers as their new power slowly corrupts them into ultra-egotism. This video gave me a lot of inspiration to crank up the mad scientist/abuse of power vibes for them :)
There was a book called the Book of Exalted Deeds, and one of the characters is a redeemed Mind Flayer who became a monk. They established that brains are a delicacy to Illithids, not a requirement, so she refuses to eat brains now.
A whole while ago I made homeberw playable mind flayers called Dihtilli (backwords Illithid) who instead of normal color's that the mind flayers have have warm colors such as yellow, red, orange or more of a spotted octopus aka tropical look, they have evolved to eat normal meat and are practically surfer bro's who use poison damage and have proficiency in surfing with an innate homebrew spell like effect they can cast at will "Waverider" which just lets them surf on water as if they have waterwalk cast on themselves +10 extra movement while moving in this way as they surf on a tiny wave. (+extra details for riding actual waves without needing a surfboard tho they know how to craft them, and they still have an elder brain but things are... different when it comes to procreation it just lays lotta egss like a normal octopus). Was inspired by a random anthro red & orange octopus piece from an artist I dont know sadly it was just a case somebody didn't credit so now I can't credit as well -_-
@@wrongtown haha practically but a lot more buff people. They are kinda supposed to be opposite of the original more akin to Orc's being muscle dude bros.
@@rextheboxer1163 no, it was for a private homebrew game, I also don't play dnd anymore as well because of wotc. When you taste what an actual well working ttrpg like the Wildsea is you dont wanna come back ether
Learning all this interesting information has gotten my gears turning on an idea for a mind flayer colony centered on gaining knowledge. The elder brain would act less like a leader and more like a big hard drive to store information. The colony could have guild branches in large cities with mindwitnesses to send back gather information and extend their services to outsiders.
What is your favorite horror movie and why is it alien :) Also! The timecode to skip the eye stuff is slightly wrong bc we moved some stuff around in editing. To avoid it entirely go to 13:52
Every video I watch from you makes me want to look for a DnD group, honestly man. Please keep up the good work. One day I'll find a group. I would also make sure to share this channel with em too. Thanks again for another video :)
Well please do look for a group! I know the feeling of really wanting to play the game, and there are lots of platform to meet people, try to play with them, and dip if it's not the right group!
I used to think Giths were weird too, I couldn’t really wrap my head around them, but I realized that they’re just D&D versions of Vulcans and Romulans from Star Trek, and it all started to come together. Also I love corruption mechanics, I’ve got something similar going on with my Hexblood wizard as they slowly become more Hag like they unlock more power and I may end up multiclass into into warlock and unlocking some fey magic as they become their own patron.
something really cool with this transformation scene is that you could pretty easily and effectively have the npc or even the player (if they want to obviously) be set up to as the next big bad especially if they are a mindflayer that eventually becomes an elder brain.
@@ODDnanref that's actually a really cool idea to justify it. To add to that it could want to take over the elder that created it which is why it made its merging with an adventurer more drawn out. With the added time not only did it grow more powerful on its own but its merging with the adventure gave the power to defy avoid the elder brains mind control along with giving it the powers to be able to take it down.
@@gepapa3633 Yeah, checks out. And when the reveal happens, the party was fighting said elder brain, and the midflayers maybe in chaos just turn around to the party and thank them. Dunno the description slipped my mind.
@@ODDnanref I was thinking that the party could beat the elder brain along with the transformed pc but afterwards the pc would take over the colony and offer the party two choices. Either become mindfalyers themselves so they can bring harmony to the universe or fight it along with the rest of the colony. Granted the second option would leave them room to escape if they wanted thanks to everyone there being weakened but that'd still lead to a new big bad.
What if you put a tadpole into a troll ? The troll can regenerate so how would that modify the transformation ? What about forcing a tadpole inside a mature mindflayer ? Does it undergoes a second, much worse transformation ?
Willing to bet someone has already pointed this out below, but just in case: In the 3.5 Edition supplement called "Lords of Madness", there is a chapter on the Illithids, including Ceremorphosis, including what it does to the victim (one point each from Mental stats per hour, when one reaches zero, the original personality is 'dead' [no saving throw]) Only high level spells like Heal can stop the process, or you can......remove the 'infected' organ.....with an axe, war hammer, or Big Frakkin' Rock, and cast Resurrection (or of course a Wish). In the same book there are also some 'Illithid Heritage' feats to allow a person to slowly gain Illithid like abilities (mind blast, tentacle attacks, etc), but usually at some cost to the character. To reference another system: Pathfinder 1st Edition has a set of 'Horror' rules, among them are rules for 'Corruption' (giving the character 'Monster' abilities, but at a cost of eventually turning into the monster in question and being removed from play). I have often thought about adapting the 'Illithid Heritage' feats into a 'Illithid Corruption", but have just been too lazy to do so 😏
Interesting revisiting this after BG3 particularly the end bit where they talk about how it’s a precedent for it lasting longer which now that we know the story isn’t a thing but likely wasn’t known at the time. However there’s many similar grounds to it.
I do love the idea now of running a "mindflayer campaign" where the party plays as thralls in a low-centralization hive mind (ie: everyone has telepathy and cordination from the elder brain but, they retain their individuality. The party would go on a bunch of missions for the colony. I'd have to talk to my players about how it'd work but, the idea would be spend awhile getting into the flow of it. Then they'd slowly be gifted magic items that just "felt right" to them before starting to have "nightmares" (actually memories) leading up to them uncovering the day that they were captured (one of their former party becoming the mindflayer that became their "owner". Idk what would happen then. Up to the players really.
this makes me laugh just because when you got to thralls and having emotional bonds for their thralls I just thought of my dnd character I made. She is a bard that was trained by a mindflayer disguised as a human because she was interested in his music (made weird music that wasn't stereotypical bard music so frowned upon by most people). She does not know they are a mindflayer just in search for them since was left with a weird magical guitar pick.
I was driving while listening this, and at 0:45 I heard "along with beholders and rogues, My Players are one of the most iconic villans in dnd". I couldn't stop hearing "my players" instead of "mindflayers" for a good part of the video, lol ¡Un abrazo desde el fin del mundo, maese Antonio!
There actually is a process to become a lich. Usually it's a ritual you learn from outer gods. Typically it requires you to sacrifice something which allows you to put your soul in a phylactery.
There's another process to become a Lich, too. First, be an Elf. Second, be a hero of your people. Third, Lich, aka Baelnorn. They're the exact same creature as a Lich in every single way, but they're renamed so that they're not seen as "Evil" automatically (so players won't be racist pieces of filth, as usual).
I have actually been planning on having a mindflayer d&d character in the next campaign. He suffered a brain trauma so he is no longer connected to his hivemind and has also kinda forgotten that he's supposed to be evil, so now he's just a cinnamon roll with abandonment issues and a taste for brains. His adventuring goals are finding a new family, because he really misses his hive mind pals and not having that community is freaking him out.
I've been messing around with an idea that a minor apocalyptic event killed all elder brains on a world and most illithid in their mental control. Survivors from outside the elder brains direct control now outnumber the rest. Survivors of the event relished in their freedom and began working on a safeguard against elder brain domination, renaming themselves illithir. They established a psionic network between the survivors and then elevated it to being a formless psychic entity of neutral alignment, choosing neutral over chaotic do to recognition of the potential of being enslaved to their own whims. The psychic entity helped the illithir change aspects of their physical nature to allow them to fit in with the other races including a ritual to fuse two tadpoles from different illithir to produce a illithir child. The psychic entity functions as a repository of knowledge and ideas like a psychic library that they can contact an hour per day (long rest), tracks and attacks elder brains trying to assert dominance once again with psychic damage that ignores resistance/immunity, facilitates and oversees world wide council meetings of the illithir every five years and during emergencies (grounds for what is an emergency is founded in the usual council meetings), and assists with education of young illithir.
to be fair I actually prefer how much mindflayers and ceromorphosis became detailed now after BG3. Im not going to go into any details to avoid spoilers, but the game explains regular ceromorphosis, special/unique tadpoles, mindflayers that gain independence, whether or not mindflayers have souls, and explored multiple ways regular ceromorphosis could be stopped (without limiting them to the only ways that would usually work)
The tadpole infestation thing gave me a cool idea: a warlock subclass with psionic powers that gets its powers from a tadpole (maybe a new form of ceremorphosis that is more symbiotic than parasitic, from a mind-flayer colony that decided it would be a better survival strategy to integrate into human etc. society rather than prey upon it.)
BG3 early access was out for like a year before this video came out, and he actually utilizies a clip from the game. Unless youre referring to ceremorphisis actually becoming a thing at the end of the game in which shhh dont tell me im not that far yet.🤫
This is awesome! I've been crafting a Spelljammer setting that has potential to have a Beholder become a Mind's Eye from your Beholder video (think Beholder being inspired by Halo Forerunner aesthetic), and now I have some additional guidance for some Illithid shenanigans! (I had been playing with the idea that one of the Spelljammer captains had been infected during the Illithid Wars and has until now kept the ceromorphosis at bay, but potentially not for long)
Y'know, I love the Gith a lot! I spend hours researching their culture through various books and wikis to create backstory stuff for my girl Jarsh (even if I later found out that in most documents I could find talking about the Gith language that that name shouldn't work, but I mentally retconned it so that that spelling of her name is one designed to work better in languages like Elvish and Undercommon). Love myself that wheel-esque writing system and their weird quasi-theocratic governments and thinking about how you do ensure you survive in Limbo or the Astral Sea! Sure, the Gith look a bit weird, honestly I think the main issue there is the faint yellow skin, but also they look like gritty elves and I still love their aesthetic to bits. So I hope you'll eventually make that Gith video!
I always loved the idea of "What if a tadpole got into a Doppleganger?" and started working on this idea of a dungeon that was actually just that as a creature. The idea being that as the tadpole grew inside the doppleganger the doppleganger would try and shapeshift it out or warp to grow bigger and bigger to try and escape the Mindflayer latching on. Now you have this sort of rogue like dungeon crawl inside the Doppleganger Illithid that is constantly fighting itself for its own existence.
I never really understood mindflayers, so i really appreciate you posting this. Watching your videos is so entertaining, educational and inspiring, can't wait for what's coming next
I've had a game in which the players encountered illithids several times (and an ooblex with some illithid memories). The ooblex tricked the players into all allowing it to touch their minds. The players tricked the ooblex into giving them all a free feat directly into their minds, in exchange for being brought into a large city, which was actually a lie. The feats came from the memories of illithid minds the ooblex touched when it was young. In the combat, it kept creating clones of the PCs to fight, but the party managed to kill it anyway. The first time with illithids directly, the illithids were looking for a neothelid they had to kill. They sensed the illithid memories in some of their minds, and the party spoke to them through telepathy and had some psionics, so they were more trusting of the party as a result. The party convinced them not to search the ship they were on, promising to kill the neothelid themselves if they found it. The party realized a gnome on the ship they were on was smuggling it in a crate shortly after the illithids left. Not enough sedative was used for the whole trip, so all of the gnome's crates burst open and the players had to fight almost everything the gnome was smuggling... There was a feathered t-rex, a neothelid, and some smaller creatures, plus flumphs who were just panicking and the players were trying to protect. The players fought and killed the creatures, who only killed a couple of the flumphs. The third time with illithids directly, they found the colony. There was an elder brain dragon in charge of the colony. The players dicovered a plot to upgrade the elder brain dragon into an overbrain that would link together all of the elder brains of this plane (which is why it had a ulitharid as second in command, for the ulitharid to take over this colony's direct control when it rose to this new position), and eventually to a cross-realm brain to link together overbrains across realms, to create/become what they referred to as "Thoon", an unknowable being beyond time and space they couldn't really describe or explain that they had a glimpse of when looking into the Far Realm. (All they could say on the matter was "Thoon is Thoon and Thoon is all!") The players freed the flumphs that were being farmed for something called "quintessence", killed the whole colony of illithids, and destroyed the colony itself with an earthquake to be sure. Also, the ulitharid was the one that originally negotiated with the party regarding the neothelid, and knew the party had killed it, so he chatted with the party telepathically as they approached, not initially realizing the party's intentions towards their colony. To add additional complication here, the third time actually came after the party had traveled forward in time to a bad future (due to the lair action of a sphinx they were fighting), saw that this colony had taken over an entire political region and enslaved all of its humanoids, and they ran away from the elder brain dragon showing up in the middle of what should've been a friendly city to capture the party, to send them to another city the illithids were allies with that'd been taken over by devils and had a bounty out for the party... Going after the colony when they returned to the present was part of fixing things so that potential future could no longer occur. (They also stopped the potential takeover of their main city by devils too...)
Love the concept of another mechanic ruling a sector of the dnd-sphere. Very much like the history of psionics and psi points. Better than them getting shoe horned as "magic like"
2:35 You are very right about that. I was a D&D player way way back when Mindflayers were first introduced and it was so out-there that it caused quite an uproar. There were many who complained "This isn't D&D! This is a fantasy game, it has no place here!" Now of course, as you said, they're just one of a whole category of monster types.
I always wanted to play a character with a conscious mindflayer tadpole in their head who the character can convince to lend them psychic powers. The tadpole communicate with them psychically, but will only use it's powers for selfish reasons and has to be convinced every single time. Almost like migi from Parasyte: the Maxim.
I've been wanting to play a mindflayer for ages, if I ever get the time to play D&D again. The idea of trying to play out a renegade aberration's unique motivations is really fascinating to me.
Yay! Another one! Good timing I was bored! Edit: Mindflayer is the one race I feel doubles as its own class. I feel like it's a necromancer minus the dead plus interns, I feel like it'd have a unique mechanic. It would just Seize someone Psionically and subjugate them! I feel like it'll learn spells like a Sorcerer but cast with intelligence like a sort of Sorcerer/Wizard multiclass gone wierd!
I am going to use your Mindflayer transition rules (with some minor tweaks) as a consequence of giving my players a second chance from a seemingly inevitable TPK. Thanks for your hard work on this!
I played as a mindflayer character once, he was a scientist that defected from his hive so he could return to the family he vaguely remembered. It was an emotional Rollercoaster from start to finish and we never properly finished the campaign.... I have never recovered from this Edit: This character was inspired by the Doctor who character
I once had an experimental campaign where all the players were Mind-Flayers and we had to fight adventurers off and "upgrade" the Elder Brain. It was 90% homebrew to make it somewhat fun.
I think you're one of the best Homebrew channels I've seen on youtube, I'm sure someone will have some other channel that they think is better but you're honestly my favorite, you're light hearted and funny, you go above and beyond with both learning about what you work on as well as how to make it special, if I didn't run low magic/dark survival campaigns I would probably be using your homebrew more than official books.
A messed up mindflayer tadpole is already an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer origin, which is where my mind always goes when thinking about mindflayer/player interactions, and honestly where I thought this was going. I think that when I eventually either play a AM Sorcerer or DM for one I'd like it's backstory and character arc to concern the mindflayers and this transformation. It would be interesting to have the character choice/possibility of going full mindflayer.
First of all I want to say that I really enjoy your videos and especially the twist you implement on the races/classes! I'm using a few of those twists in the campaign I'm running and the players (all rather experienced D&D players) enjoy them immensly. Thanks for sharing your creations with us, it is greatly appreciated! (And I'm most definitely going to use the Psionic Transformation on our very own Githzerai Warlock as part of his character arc - the player actually sent me this specific video in the first place) Can't wait for what's to come from the Pointy Hat!
I actually played as a mindflayer PC, he was a lawful good Artificer (with 2 levels in paladin for dual wielding) who only ate the brains of villains, and only when he needed to in order to survive
Antonio: Does deep dives into various DnD stuff and even makes compelling changes to said stuff. Also Antonio: Finds Gith ugly and therefore hasn't deep dove into them. PS - While it would be nice if us humans don't judge others by their appearance, we can't help but do that unconsciously or otherwise. So I don't fault you for that. It's just funny to me that you gave us an ironic reason.
In my very first campaign, I actually turned from a bug bear into a bug bear mindflayer. It was sooo perfect cuz I had been joking the whole time that I had mindflayer powers, and now I actually did.
This is a Channel that entertain, vocês ideas e helps with New twists on our stories. We are Lucky tô have ppl like you producing content!! Thank you, love the Channel!!
I will say, in regards to the transformation time line in BG3 that there is an in-game explanation for it taking longer. (Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3 below) It's explained through certain story moments (such as if you try to get Auntie Ethel to remove it) that the tadpole inside you and your party was tampered with using Netherese magic, inhibiting its growth.
Pointy your videos are just amazing. Iam always amazed how dnd content creators are so creative and well spoken. U just came out of nowhere and became a big part of this community! Keep going, wishing u the best !
Here's a story of my father's DND character who was secretly a mind flaying shapeshifter. His character was a wood elf named hassi highgrave who was held captive on a mind flayer ship that crashed in a mountain range called 'the spine of the world'. After managing to escape, she had lost her memories and became a mercenary for a group of adventures (the player's.) As wood elfs don't sleep and instead go into trance for 4 hours, she would wake up some mornings writing in a note book she was carrying during the crash, that was written in celestial and heavily coded. After getting the other players to decode it, it was revealed that she was an ancient mind flayer that took over the body of the girl hassi higrave to stay alive, and was known as a *perfect being* that was over 10000 years old. And after interigateing a mind flayer from the crash, it was also revealed that the real hassi is infact still alive at the crash site. The player's haven't gotten to the crash site as of yet, but it will most likely end with eather the player's killing mindflayer hassi, or killing the real one. I wish I could have been there to see it unfold.
I love these videos and the content I get out of them. These ideas are so cool and I can't wait to implement them in my next campaign! *slowly sobbing with the knowledge I will never get to try dnd*
@@thatHARVguy I DIDN'T KNOW PLAYING ALONE WAS AN OPTION. I would still enjoy a group because I have played table games with people before so it kinda seems like monopoly but you're way more into it. At least the vibe I get. Idk still would like to try it out.
The concept of mindflayers actually liking their thralls immediately made me think of a adventurer duo that’s just a morally ambiguous renegade mindflayer and their thrall, who has somehow broken through the mindflayer’s psionics but has stayed with them because they genuinely liked the mindflayer as a person and doesn’t mind serving them.
Ooh I’m so excited for this! I’ve been mulling over a homebrew playable illithid variant myself for awhile and I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
you threw me off with the Vermont shoutout. thank you for spreading awareness to our little invisible oasis, you are an ally to the cause. jokes aside, amazing video as always Point Hat!
I love your videos! They are so entertaining. But also, I feel like I learn something new every time I watch one of them--even though I've been playing D&D for 20+ years. What a fun idea for a mechanic. I may even incorporate this into my current campaign! Thanks as always! You're awesome!
Thank you for all your videos - you are a fantastic creator. You are one of the few you-tubers where I actually can't wait to see what you put out next. So entertaining! Much Love!
A someone who has never played d&d, I really enjoy these videos, they're such a fun way to dive into the lore and mechanics of the game. It's inspiring me to try and start a game myself!
personally, i found Illithids revolting due to the tentacles around their mouth, so this video was a bit hard for me to stomach, but over all you explained them really well! On a side note: I believe they would just vomit out the eggs because their bodies are either human, Gith, or whatever poor race their body is. thus, unless their psyonics can change organs in their host species, they could only vomit up the eggs which somehow appear in their head or stomach.
Listen man dragons got so much potential how do you not like them their design, Abilities, personality, hoards, and story’s are limitless if you would give them a chance
The concept of a mindflayer that excessively collects adventurer thralls like a cat mom bears merit.
"I have to help them! If I don't, who will?"
Campaign idea. Your party are the favored thralls of a high ranking mindlflayer. You do things to assist the hive like hunting down a renegade, escort a mind witness on a raid, explore the remains of a destroyed colony... The possibilities are there.
Double down and make the mindflayer collect Tabaxi exclusively.
@@rtaraquin "mom, can I keep it!" Points to tabaxi pc. "Ugh, fine but will kill their friends. (Clapping) "ok, yea!"
Party/One player: I want to go to an adventure!
Mindglayer: You can go on an adventure, but first we get you your flu shot.
I once played a Mindflayer in a Curse of Strahd campaign. Basically with how when he’s bored, Strahd just sometimes spirits people into his little one way area of Barrovia, and my character was yoinked mid Ceromorphisis. His past psyche was mostly destroyed, but was taken before his mind was fully integrated into the Hive Mind, so he was left as a confused squid man who didn’t know who he was or what his purpose was, and was adopted by the party.
They actually did revisit the mind flayer dragon concept in Fizban's, where they introduced the Elder Brain Dragon. As the name suggests, its what happens when an Elder Brain takes over the corpse of deceased dragon. Their breath weapon is terrifying, its a blast of brine filled with illithid tadpoles for mass Mind Flayer production.
Is it a deceased dragon? I thought there was a graphic and mentally scarring fusion scene I was hoping to show my players
The faculty horror movie
@@LEE3R0Y Then you're in luck! The book says the Mind Flayers start by Capturing a dragon, so odds are it's at least mobile before the Body Horror sets in
@@LEE3R0Y I think its usually a deceased dragon, but I guess you could just have the mind flayers brain blast a dragon and take its unconscious body back for the elder brain to fuse with.
You've been hearing rumors of towns being attacked by a deformed dragon flying over covering everyone outside in a viscous fluid. Then within a week people start disappearing into the caves outside town....
The attacks are heading this way and shortly after the party heard this rumor they hear a dragon's roar in whatever town they're in!
Flawlessly predicted the star mechanic of BG3’s full release with the Illithid powers.
The fuck are you talking about, they used game footage FOR their video, they knew about the illithids in BG3 the whole time.
I mean.. it was in early access which explained the basic concept since 2020.
I was about to say lol
@@gejnormcswipe8435
slight spoilers.
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A good portion of mindflayers (especially in bg3) can be protected from an elder brain by magic artefacts or altered/warped larva. If you choose the ending where you become an illithid the first person you eat grants you the ability to shield yourself and others from being thralls.
@@gejnormcswipe8435not to mention he used a clip from the beginning of bg3 aswell so yeah
Your twist is actually canon, too! The aberration sorcerer suggests "You got a ilithid tadpole implanted that for some reason didn't take over, and now you have psionic powers"
How didn't anyone tell me about this??
@@the-patient-987 It's in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
@@straydog8178 nice
As a DM I have a fun reason: Disease.
A disease ruminating in underdark is causing the sporadic migration of monsters and humanoid species to leave from their dwellings and conquer the overworld in hopes of escaping destruction. Miners, fisherman and mountaineers are all in a state of panic from this sudden outbreak of monsters roaming around. The elves and drow/drider's have reignited their thousand year long war with Loathe using this opportunity to gain more divinity through a ritual demanding mass causalities which she now has the justification for amassing. Through enchantments and illusions the illithids have begun integrating themselves into society and slowly assuming control over political affairs with this outbreak acting as a distraction from their conspiring plans. Dwarves & Deep Gnomes attempting to live beside the disease take up this opportunity to claim massive expanses of the vacated underdark discovering ruins, dungeons and war amongst each other for claim over minerals and passages. Fungi mutated by the disease ravage the forest lands and assimilate their mass into themselves altering their bodies and surrounding terrain into a horrifying mockery of their former glory; ravaging, dividing and starving for all life.
But most importantly below even the deepest region of the underdark an ancient horror long since present before even the first God is stirred by the bustling life of the world and slowly begins to awaken.
*Where does this come in for the sorcerer?!* Make it so the disease afflicted the brain jacker before it tunneled into PC's brain and died mid way during conversion. It's solid since you can run an amnesia backstory from missing brain bits, plot drop with elder brain still able to send signals to PC without them realizing it's not an illithid, or if your player is cool... the disease is still spreading and the player's on a clock to solve the mystery and find a cure.
There are more problems and faction reactions I can world build so plenty of other races/classes get a plot hook and chance to shine but this is a UA-cam comment lol.
@@singularity1130 dam forget the youtube comments i want to the PDF for it to throw at my friends to see what they think as i like it.
I love using Mindflayers. I even wrote a setting where one of the major differences was that the world was so psychically rich with psionic energy that it kept the local Mindflayers' hunger at bay long enough to think past their next meal. They tried to expand their culture and society beyond feeding. And... perhaps due to experimentation, or perhaps due to their "Interns" eating _their_ brains in a demented sort of retribution during the inevitable uprisings... there was now a Half-ilid race known as Versari players could be. Basically an excuse to play a half-elf but with Mind Flayer powers, Aboleth tentacles, or bizarre Beholder laser stuff. But they've been the most popular custom race I've put into my games, so I must have done something right.
This is really cool! Do you have rules posted for this somewhere? I'd love to have a starting place for 5e to introduce something to my players.
Can I steal the rules from you thank you
@@KingOfBlood217 drive.google.com/file/d/1Veb7-Z6CWT3UvHPUsNYrk3a28bQE6KNP/view?usp=sharing
@@burninghands8883 Page 30 ish
@@davididiart5934 where can I find your homebrew?
In terms of laying eggs, it is important to remember that most of the Illithid's actual form is in the head. I've previously read, I think in Lords of Madness but I may be mistaken, that the laying of eggs more resembles the Illithid vomiting into the pool of the Elder Brain.
That makes sense!
Head cannon was that as well, largely because of the Dr. Who race though.
I was thinking that too
I guess I generally assume that the eggs come from the brains of dead mind flayers, and that's part of why it's so culturally important to them for their brains to be returned to the elder brain pool. Either the brain contains eggs, or the elder brain produces the eggs after consuming the brains of dead mind flayers.
I asked Mister Dungeons and Mister Dragons and they told me they squatted over the pool
Knowing an elder brain needs to be nearby for them to be truly connected to the hivemind, I'm now imagining a mind flayer being "born" outside of one's influence and just being unbelievably confused. Orphaned mind flayer seems like a fun concept
In Baldurs Gate 3 we do come across a New Born Mindflayer that doesn't seem connected to the Elder Brain villain of the game.
His default response upon waking up and meeting a bunch of Adventures with Tadpoles in their heads is to immediately demand that they bring him a meal.
So if that's any indication an Orphan Newborn would probably start out as just as much of an asshole as a regular Mindflayer.
Still once the Mindflayer eats enough brains and goes long enough without receiving orders from the Elder Brain then that's when they would start using that powerful brain to start thinking instead of just following their base instincts.
I love renegade Mindflayers. I like to think that, away from the Elder Brain, a lot of the host's old personality an desires resurfaces. My party ran into a renegade mindflayer cheerfully named Bernard, who is a tailor that lives in Waterdeep. It's sort of an open secret in his neighborhood that he's an illithid, and his "assistants" are linked to him in a hivemind. I envision their shared mind situation being like Sens8 - the members of the "pod" keep their individuality, and joined willingly so that they could all be closer to each other, and consider each other found family. (They were, in fact, a former adventuring party that found Bernard when he was lost away from his Elder Brain, and starved for psychic energy, and once they made contact with him, they realized he wasn't evil. They agreed to make a hivemind so that Bernard could feed off their minds without overwhelming any of them, and liked it so much that they just never unlinked.)
There's a lot of evil Mindflayer stuff going on in the campaign, including a couple of NPCs that are being taken over by Intellect Devourers, so Bernard is there as an asset the party can use to help figure out who is being controlled, and maybe even save some of the NPCs whose brains are being eaten. (Or "converted"; I have homebrew lore about how Intellect Devourers are made, and it's kind of horrifying...)
I got curious now. Whats the Lore?
I’m curious too because this sounds great so far.
I had an idea for a Mindflayer PC (or perhaps an NPC) who got abandoned by his Elder Brain because his host body was so connected to their magical abilities that the Mindflayer had them as well leading to them being thrown away. They would feed off of common thugs and other small criminals trying to become friends with the society they are in and the party because they miss being part of a family or their idea of it and an adventuring group in a "human" or other intelligent beings' society is the next best thing.
In one of the games I hosted, had a mindflayer who ate a paladin and essentially was overwhelmed. It ended up with ilithid knights that flew on silver dragons and an Elder Brain Librarian. A city of heaven amidst a sea of demon empires. It was great.
Hmm. So kinda like the original version of "Douglocke" from the X-Men comics. Kind of a blend of the host and tadpole
I think a mindflayer separating from the brain and slowly regaining their former identity would be hella fun to play
Play Baldur's Gate 3
Interestingly, there is an official mechanical way for a player to become a Mind Flayer. In Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, we have Elder Brain Dragons, which are Brainstealer Dragons, but better in every single way, and significantly more horrifying. It's the result of an Elder Brain attaching itself to an adult dragon by using it's tentacles to burrow into the dragon's brain, and it fuses itself with it's host with a fleshy membrane. Their signature attack, Tadpole Brine Breath, not only deals huge amounts of psychic damage, but no matter if you succeeded of failed in the saving throw, you become infested with tadpoles. This deals heavy psychic damage at the start of your turns, and if you're reduced to 0 HP while infested, you fall unconscious and nothing, save for a Wish spell, can bring you back at that point. After a few days, or several hours if you're really unlucky, you regain consciousness by becoming a Mind Flayer.
Large creature with evil brain trope, with added bonus of a spawning breath/vomit attack (recently used by the Gorn in ST: Strange New Worlds). Yup, horrifying indeed.
When the mind aberration subclass was released i was into wanting to play as one.
So me and my DM decided that, for race, it would be a tiefling, and the lore it would be that a human mother , desperate, agreed to let her dying baby partake in the ritual because a mind flayer wanted to fuck around and find out.
He was exiled because he "wasted" the tadpole on a baby, so he decides to live with the woman that offered him shelter, he disguises as a magic item/book shop owner while observing and studying the growing child.
The baby grew up to be Neutral Good and learn between the coldness of the mind flayer and the warm and happiness of what a peasant can have on its simple life, it was fun playing her.
Now I'm just thinking of the socially awkward alhoon my party befriended while exploring an abandoned mindflayer colony that was converted into an evil wizard's (now abandoned) lab. Said evil wizard wiped out the mindflayer colony by feeding them people infected with a prion disease, and the alhoon (a mindflayer at the time) missed out on it because he got too into reading a contraband spellbook to go eat dinner. When the alhoon realized what was happening and couldn't feel his hivemind connection, he decided to hide in a secret room and bunker down until the evil wizard went away. Again, he... lost track of time. For about ten years. Since the alhoon doesn't need brains to survive and the party didn't attack him on sight, they were able to make friends and find him a secluded, lost library to organize. They check up on him from time to time, and hes fun to roleplay.
XD lol fucking one hell of a twist on the book worm thing
Jesus Christ I'm stealing this 😂😂
Nice
This concept rules
That sounds adorable.
In one of our campaigns we have one of our players be a renegade Ilithid that decided to become a wizard. he keeps his identity a secret
we play him as needing a somewhat constant supply of brains to sustain himself, but he grows sentient moss in his coat as a backup. the more intelligent the brain was, the more nourishing it is to him.
the player also plays him as needing to keep himself moisturised (also he has an ice cream spoon to spoon out a fallen enemies brain)
The only thing that gets me through from one day to the next is knowing I'm going to get a big Pointy Hat smooch when he drops his next video.
Fun fact: "Thrall" actually comes from the Old Norse "Þræll", which means ""Intern"". The word is still used in Icelandic to this day.
Just thought I'd share this little tidbit.
Hi, as an icelandic person I would like to say that while I have never heard "Þræll" used as intern, I is used as the word for slave
@@gandoood Hi. As an Icelandic person. I know. I am continuing the joke Pointy makes, by calling the slaves "interns" to please the youtube algorithm.
@@lilsiggi5436 Hi, as an icelandic person, I do feel very dumb after your reply. But also points to you for replying to a reply send a year after your original comment
writing mind flayer dialogue is so fun. early on in the chain of acheron there was an imprisoned mind flayer with such hits as:
“Oh no, _I_ haven’t eaten anyone’s brain in… _hours.”_
“I’m surprised a creature with so many _bones_ in its head has room for a brain.”
one i wrote is “What… thoughts run through your head? And what use could you _possibly_ have for them?”
by any random shot was that bone head eather a paladin or barbarian who was likely some elf or half ork. and for more detailed poke in the lawful side.
I really like your contribution!
@@lechking941 none of the above. the mind flayer was speaking about the party generally, and at the time there were no barbarians, paladins, elves, or half-orcs present
@@Hazel-xl8in XD lol dang thats a cold one then. he has my fucking gold on best comedian by coincidence award.
"I dread to see what goes on in your mind"
"My mind cannot take much more of yours any longer"
I've found mindflayers are commonly seen as pure evil because they "have" to eat sentient live brains. They may be evil, but I can't say something is evil because of what it has to eat to live; if a mindflayer became an adventurer and ate bandit brains, no one would bat an eye. It wouldn't even be that cruel compared to what some regular adventurers do
well if its the only cruel thing in the part were the world has a history of cold ruthless and considerably morally corrupts or worse adventures (ie there maybe even EXTREAM and harsh laws being enforced to crush any adventuring left and replacing it with say some really shitty army so in the end the world suffers more) then this party maybe not only a lovely presence but even their "odd" friends needs can be looked over sense in the end most folks are probably used to the cold treatment the other adventures give.
I think its less that they have to eat brains and more the lengths of immorality that they have achieved to justify it. They basiquelly treat all sentient species as cattles, always denying the harm of what they are committing under the pretense that they are inferior creatures and that tit is simply the way things are meant to be. They also torture and brainwash anyone who ever dare to question the current system, preventing their kind from seeking a better way. They are masters of biology and psynoix, they could probably modify themselves to phase out their need for brains if they really wanted to. But the illithid empire does anything in its power to preserve the status quo, even if it means that countless evil have to be committed in its name.
@@blackbloom8552 thus if you can change the que and force a change the empire falls and a new way of existence can come. as im Shure they can even change their own method of breeding in order to remove both the worm growing out of control deal by just making the young develop longer in a womb instead and maybe only use the old method as a last resort or to the willing as a way to expand apron the genetic pool rapidly so one does not accidentally cause an extinction.
@@lechking941 Why should they change their entire species way of life? I don't see you doing the same in real life.
@@riblix4744 like humanity the illithids are as stuborn as rocks and proably will need a near complete genocide to see the problem they made for them selves. plus irl runs in a completly different problem i may not be a public speaker trying to make a difference, but a man can give a idea of what is a good thing to poke at for someones table game. this is dnd boyo if someone likes my comments to use them as a bases for their game power to them im a happy clam they did. you clearly have woken up with a dagger in the ass and are just trying to find the goblin to punt into the wall till it dies
The whole thing about them incubating inside someone gives me an idea of what if something went wrong and now there are just tentacles bursting out of a persons face or maybe unnervingly long appendages with regular sized ones, and they are just degraded into a violent being due to still having some control meanwhile the other being is trying to take over degrading into insanity
Messed up I know but kinda cool in a fictional sense
I mean, it does sorta track with the cinematic for BG3 Larian put out a couple years ago. Just imagine the process not quite...completing. Yikes. I love it!
I remember back in 3.5, there was the flayerspawn psychic prestige class. The whole theme behind it was becoming something of an illithid hybrid.
Aberrant Soul Sorcerer/GOO Warlock. You gain powers from the tadpole, and must constantly fight against the transformation
I think this is exactly where the Baldur’s Gate 3 game’s main story is heading. The use of Illithid Wisdom rolls both allow for easy surpassing of skill checks at the cost of more Tadpole-induced Illithid Dreams beckoning you to use your powers more.
In my personal setting, I have an organization of wizards who have fully expanded on the magic behind bags of holding, and other pocket dimension type things. They have essentially begun the process of using this to build a new school of magic and are now creeping into people's minds, homes, vaults etc etc. They are on the slow process of becoming my world's version of mindflayers as their new power slowly corrupts them into ultra-egotism. This video gave me a lot of inspiration to crank up the mad scientist/abuse of power vibes for them :)
There was a book called the Book of Exalted Deeds, and one of the characters is a redeemed Mind Flayer who became a monk. They established that brains are a delicacy to Illithids, not a requirement, so she refuses to eat brains now.
Vegan ilithid ? Sounds interesting 🤔
A whole while ago I made homeberw playable mind flayers called Dihtilli (backwords Illithid) who instead of normal color's that the mind flayers have have warm colors such as yellow, red, orange or more of a spotted octopus aka tropical look, they have evolved to eat normal meat and are practically surfer bro's who use poison damage and have proficiency in surfing with an innate homebrew spell like effect they can cast at will "Waverider" which just lets them surf on water as if they have waterwalk cast on themselves +10 extra movement while moving in this way as they surf on a tiny wave.
(+extra details for riding actual waves without needing a surfboard tho they know how to craft them, and they still have an elder brain but things are... different when it comes to procreation it just lays lotta egss like a normal octopus).
Was inspired by a random anthro red & orange octopus piece from an artist I dont know sadly it was just a case somebody didn't credit so now I can't credit as well -_-
Sounds a lot like Octodad.
@@wrongtown haha practically but a lot more buff people. They are kinda supposed to be opposite of the original more akin to Orc's being muscle dude bros.
@@calicothecappuccinogurl9874 OctoDaddy
Did you post it anywhere?
@@rextheboxer1163 no, it was for a private homebrew game, I also don't play dnd anymore as well because of wotc. When you taste what an actual well working ttrpg like the Wildsea is you dont wanna come back ether
Learning all this interesting information has gotten my gears turning on an idea for a mind flayer colony centered on gaining knowledge. The elder brain would act less like a leader and more like a big hard drive to store information. The colony could have guild branches in large cities with mindwitnesses to send back gather information and extend their services to outsiders.
What is your favorite horror movie and why is it alien :)
Also! The timecode to skip the eye stuff is slightly wrong bc we moved some stuff around in editing. To avoid it entirely go to 13:52
I mean, the music in the shining really adds to the experience. It’s almost like we’re hearing the big bad of the movie instead of directly seeing it.
I don’t like horror movies in general but alien is the best of them. That is for sure.
Because I love the game
Kobold, Kobold, Kobold
False, its The Thing, hot take but I will choose the thing over alien any day
bro just talked about BG3 plot and im all for it
Every video I watch from you makes me want to look for a DnD group, honestly man. Please keep up the good work. One day I'll find a group. I would also make sure to share this channel with em too. Thanks again for another video :)
same here man, even stuff that isn't the focus of the vid gets me eager to play, but no one around to roll with
Well please do look for a group! I know the feeling of really wanting to play the game, and there are lots of platform to meet people, try to play with them, and dip if it's not the right group!
I used to think Giths were weird too, I couldn’t really wrap my head around them, but I realized that they’re just D&D versions of Vulcans and Romulans from Star Trek, and it all started to come together.
Also I love corruption mechanics, I’ve got something similar going on with my Hexblood wizard as they slowly become more Hag like they unlock more power and I may end up multiclass into into warlock and unlocking some fey magic as they become their own patron.
The references are killing me again, I never thought I'd see RPDR being used in a DnD video, and I'm loving every second.
This video makes me appreciate BG3 so much more, thank you Pointy Hat
Baldurs gate 3 made me realize i love DnD lol
something really cool with this transformation scene is that you could pretty easily and effectively have the npc or even the player (if they want to obviously) be set up to as the next big bad especially if they are a mindflayer that eventually becomes an elder brain.
Maybe that is why it took so long and the process was different. The tadpole was born different.
@@ODDnanref that's actually a really cool idea to justify it. To add to that it could want to take over the elder that created it which is why it made its merging with an adventurer more drawn out.
With the added time not only did it grow more powerful on its own but its merging with the adventure gave the power to defy avoid the elder brains mind control along with giving it the powers to be able to take it down.
@@gepapa3633
Yeah, checks out.
And when the reveal happens, the party was fighting said elder brain, and the midflayers maybe in chaos just turn around to the party and thank them.
Dunno the description slipped my mind.
@@ODDnanref I was thinking that the party could beat the elder brain along with the transformed pc but afterwards the pc would take over the colony and offer the party two choices.
Either become mindfalyers themselves so they can bring harmony to the universe or fight it along with the rest of the colony. Granted the second option would leave them room to escape if they wanted thanks to everyone there being weakened but that'd still lead to a new big bad.
@@gepapa3633
Yeah, something along those lines is what I had in mind.
What if you put a tadpole into a troll ? The troll can regenerate so how would that modify the transformation ?
What about forcing a tadpole inside a mature mindflayer ? Does it undergoes a second, much worse transformation ?
Wooper asking the real questions
Both of these prompts are absolutely rich. I gotta see them play out!
oh fuck, double mind flayers
Conjoined twins mindflayer?
Write the module and tell us what happens
Willing to bet someone has already pointed this out below, but just in case:
In the 3.5 Edition supplement called "Lords of Madness", there is a chapter on the Illithids, including Ceremorphosis, including what it does to the victim (one point each from Mental stats per hour, when one reaches zero, the original personality is 'dead' [no saving throw])
Only high level spells like Heal can stop the process, or you can......remove the 'infected' organ.....with an axe, war hammer, or Big Frakkin' Rock, and cast Resurrection (or of course a Wish).
In the same book there are also some 'Illithid Heritage' feats to allow a person to slowly gain Illithid like abilities (mind blast, tentacle attacks, etc), but usually at some cost to the character.
To reference another system: Pathfinder 1st Edition has a set of 'Horror' rules, among them are rules for 'Corruption' (giving the character 'Monster' abilities, but at a cost of eventually turning into the monster in question and being removed from play).
I have often thought about adapting the 'Illithid Heritage' feats into a 'Illithid Corruption", but have just been too lazy to do so
😏
imagine a colony of mindflayers trying to force a neothelid to undergo ceremorphisis on giant or something too big or powerful for a normal tadpole
Interesting revisiting this after BG3 particularly the end bit where they talk about how it’s a precedent for it lasting longer which now that we know the story isn’t a thing but likely wasn’t known at the time. However there’s many similar grounds to it.
I do love the idea now of running a "mindflayer campaign" where the party plays as thralls in a low-centralization hive mind (ie: everyone has telepathy and cordination from the elder brain but, they retain their individuality.
The party would go on a bunch of missions for the colony. I'd have to talk to my players about how it'd work but, the idea would be spend awhile getting into the flow of it. Then they'd slowly be gifted magic items that just "felt right" to them before starting to have "nightmares" (actually memories) leading up to them uncovering the day that they were captured (one of their former party becoming the mindflayer that became their "owner". Idk what would happen then. Up to the players really.
this makes me laugh just because when you got to thralls and having emotional bonds for their thralls I just thought of my dnd character I made. She is a bard that was trained by a mindflayer disguised as a human because she was interested in his music (made weird music that wasn't stereotypical bard music so frowned upon by most people). She does not know they are a mindflayer just in search for them since was left with a weird magical guitar pick.
I was driving while listening this, and at 0:45 I heard "along with beholders and rogues, My Players are one of the most iconic villans in dnd". I couldn't stop hearing "my players" instead of "mindflayers" for a good part of the video, lol
¡Un abrazo desde el fin del mundo, maese Antonio!
There actually is a process to become a lich. Usually it's a ritual you learn from outer gods. Typically it requires you to sacrifice something which allows you to put your soul in a phylactery.
There's another process to become a Lich, too. First, be an Elf. Second, be a hero of your people. Third, Lich, aka Baelnorn. They're the exact same creature as a Lich in every single way, but they're renamed so that they're not seen as "Evil" automatically (so players won't be racist pieces of filth, as usual).
@@nyxnightmare3542 *unless elves are the racist assholes in witch case its just another problem to their superiority complex*
@@nyxnightmare3542wait but Lich isn't a race, it's something you have to really go out of your way to become on purpose, isn't it?
I have actually been planning on having a mindflayer d&d character in the next campaign. He suffered a brain trauma so he is no longer connected to his hivemind and has also kinda forgotten that he's supposed to be evil, so now he's just a cinnamon roll with abandonment issues and a taste for brains. His adventuring goals are finding a new family, because he really misses his hive mind pals and not having that community is freaking him out.
I've been messing around with an idea that a minor apocalyptic event killed all elder brains on a world and most illithid in their mental control. Survivors from outside the elder brains direct control now outnumber the rest.
Survivors of the event relished in their freedom and began working on a safeguard against elder brain domination, renaming themselves illithir. They established a psionic network between the survivors and then elevated it to being a formless psychic entity of neutral alignment, choosing neutral over chaotic do to recognition of the potential of being enslaved to their own whims.
The psychic entity helped the illithir change aspects of their physical nature to allow them to fit in with the other races including a ritual to fuse two tadpoles from different illithir to produce a illithir child. The psychic entity functions as a repository of knowledge and ideas like a psychic library that they can contact an hour per day (long rest), tracks and attacks elder brains trying to assert dominance once again with psychic damage that ignores resistance/immunity, facilitates and oversees world wide council meetings of the illithir every five years and during emergencies (grounds for what is an emergency is founded in the usual council meetings), and assists with education of young illithir.
to be fair I actually prefer how much mindflayers and ceromorphosis became detailed now after BG3. Im not going to go into any details to avoid spoilers, but the game explains regular ceromorphosis, special/unique tadpoles, mindflayers that gain independence, whether or not mindflayers have souls, and explored multiple ways regular ceromorphosis could be stopped (without limiting them to the only ways that would usually work)
The tadpole infestation thing gave me a cool idea:
a warlock subclass with psionic powers that gets its powers from a tadpole (maybe a new form of ceremorphosis that is more symbiotic than parasitic, from a mind-flayer colony that decided it would be a better survival strategy to integrate into human etc. society rather than prey upon it.)
Isn't that just the aberrant mind sorcerous origin?
You are essentially reciting plot of BG3. And almost a full year before it came out.
BG3 early access was out for like a year before this video came out, and he actually utilizies a clip from the game. Unless youre referring to ceremorphisis actually becoming a thing at the end of the game in which shhh dont tell me im not that far yet.🤫
This is awesome! I've been crafting a Spelljammer setting that has potential to have a Beholder become a Mind's Eye from your Beholder video (think Beholder being inspired by Halo Forerunner aesthetic), and now I have some additional guidance for some Illithid shenanigans!
(I had been playing with the idea that one of the Spelljammer captains had been infected during the Illithid Wars and has until now kept the ceromorphosis at bay, but potentially not for long)
Y'know, I love the Gith a lot! I spend hours researching their culture through various books and wikis to create backstory stuff for my girl Jarsh (even if I later found out that in most documents I could find talking about the Gith language that that name shouldn't work, but I mentally retconned it so that that spelling of her name is one designed to work better in languages like Elvish and Undercommon). Love myself that wheel-esque writing system and their weird quasi-theocratic governments and thinking about how you do ensure you survive in Limbo or the Astral Sea!
Sure, the Gith look a bit weird, honestly I think the main issue there is the faint yellow skin, but also they look like gritty elves and I still love their aesthetic to bits. So I hope you'll eventually make that Gith video!
I always loved the idea of "What if a tadpole got into a Doppleganger?" and started working on this idea of a dungeon that was actually just that as a creature. The idea being that as the tadpole grew inside the doppleganger the doppleganger would try and shapeshift it out or warp to grow bigger and bigger to try and escape the Mindflayer latching on. Now you have this sort of rogue like dungeon crawl inside the Doppleganger Illithid that is constantly fighting itself for its own existence.
I never really understood mindflayers, so i really appreciate you posting this. Watching your videos is so entertaining, educational and inspiring, can't wait for what's coming next
I love how i can learn Baldur's Gate 3 and D&D lore at the same time
I've had a game in which the players encountered illithids several times (and an ooblex with some illithid memories).
The ooblex tricked the players into all allowing it to touch their minds. The players tricked the ooblex into giving them all a free feat directly into their minds, in exchange for being brought into a large city, which was actually a lie. The feats came from the memories of illithid minds the ooblex touched when it was young. In the combat, it kept creating clones of the PCs to fight, but the party managed to kill it anyway.
The first time with illithids directly, the illithids were looking for a neothelid they had to kill. They sensed the illithid memories in some of their minds, and the party spoke to them through telepathy and had some psionics, so they were more trusting of the party as a result. The party convinced them not to search the ship they were on, promising to kill the neothelid themselves if they found it. The party realized a gnome on the ship they were on was smuggling it in a crate shortly after the illithids left. Not enough sedative was used for the whole trip, so all of the gnome's crates burst open and the players had to fight almost everything the gnome was smuggling... There was a feathered t-rex, a neothelid, and some smaller creatures, plus flumphs who were just panicking and the players were trying to protect. The players fought and killed the creatures, who only killed a couple of the flumphs.
The third time with illithids directly, they found the colony. There was an elder brain dragon in charge of the colony. The players dicovered a plot to upgrade the elder brain dragon into an overbrain that would link together all of the elder brains of this plane (which is why it had a ulitharid as second in command, for the ulitharid to take over this colony's direct control when it rose to this new position), and eventually to a cross-realm brain to link together overbrains across realms, to create/become what they referred to as "Thoon", an unknowable being beyond time and space they couldn't really describe or explain that they had a glimpse of when looking into the Far Realm. (All they could say on the matter was "Thoon is Thoon and Thoon is all!") The players freed the flumphs that were being farmed for something called "quintessence", killed the whole colony of illithids, and destroyed the colony itself with an earthquake to be sure. Also, the ulitharid was the one that originally negotiated with the party regarding the neothelid, and knew the party had killed it, so he chatted with the party telepathically as they approached, not initially realizing the party's intentions towards their colony.
To add additional complication here, the third time actually came after the party had traveled forward in time to a bad future (due to the lair action of a sphinx they were fighting), saw that this colony had taken over an entire political region and enslaved all of its humanoids, and they ran away from the elder brain dragon showing up in the middle of what should've been a friendly city to capture the party, to send them to another city the illithids were allies with that'd been taken over by devils and had a bounty out for the party... Going after the colony when they returned to the present was part of fixing things so that potential future could no longer occur. (They also stopped the potential takeover of their main city by devils too...)
Love the concept of another mechanic ruling a sector of the dnd-sphere. Very much like the history of psionics and psi points. Better than them getting shoe horned as "magic like"
2:35 You are very right about that. I was a D&D player way way back when Mindflayers were first introduced and it was so out-there that it caused quite an uproar. There were many who complained "This isn't D&D! This is a fantasy game, it has no place here!" Now of course, as you said, they're just one of a whole category of monster types.
I always wanted to play a character with a conscious mindflayer tadpole in their head who the character can convince to lend them psychic powers. The tadpole communicate with them psychically, but will only use it's powers for selfish reasons and has to be convinced every single time. Almost like migi from Parasyte: the Maxim.
I think this guy is one of the funniest and best creators regarding dnd
I've been wanting to play a mindflayer for ages, if I ever get the time to play D&D again. The idea of trying to play out a renegade aberration's unique motivations is really fascinating to me.
What you said about the Gith hurt me.... and I will not stop pestering you until you make a video on them!
Yay! Another one! Good timing I was bored!
Edit: Mindflayer is the one race I feel doubles as its own class.
I feel like it's a necromancer minus the dead plus interns, I feel like it'd have a unique mechanic. It would just Seize someone Psionically and subjugate them!
I feel like it'll learn spells like a Sorcerer but cast with intelligence like a sort of Sorcerer/Wizard multiclass gone wierd!
I like the Mindflayers in the R A Salvatore books. Makes me nostalgic for high school d&d sessions
I would really like to see your spin on lycanthropes, they have a similar corruption mechanic like you mentioned at the end
I am going to use your Mindflayer transition rules (with some minor tweaks) as a consequence of giving my players a second chance from a seemingly inevitable TPK. Thanks for your hard work on this!
I played as a mindflayer character once, he was a scientist that defected from his hive so he could return to the family he vaguely remembered.
It was an emotional Rollercoaster from start to finish and we never properly finished the campaign.... I have never recovered from this
Edit: This character was inspired by the Doctor who character
How did you homebrew that race? Ive been thinking about making a MF for quite some time
@@justabraziliandragonborn3642 I'm sure we used a homebrew that had monster races trimmed down to pc playable
I once had an experimental campaign where all the players were Mind-Flayers and we had to fight adventurers off and "upgrade" the Elder Brain. It was 90% homebrew to make it somewhat fun.
BG3 owes you money
I think you're one of the best Homebrew channels I've seen on youtube, I'm sure someone will have some other channel that they think is better but you're honestly my favorite, you're light hearted and funny, you go above and beyond with both learning about what you work on as well as how to make it special, if I didn't run low magic/dark survival campaigns I would probably be using your homebrew more than official books.
A messed up mindflayer tadpole is already an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer origin, which is where my mind always goes when thinking about mindflayer/player interactions, and honestly where I thought this was going. I think that when I eventually either play a AM Sorcerer or DM for one I'd like it's backstory and character arc to concern the mindflayers and this transformation. It would be interesting to have the character choice/possibility of going full mindflayer.
First of all I want to say that I really enjoy your videos and especially the twist you implement on the races/classes! I'm using a few of those twists in the campaign I'm running and the players (all rather experienced D&D players) enjoy them immensly. Thanks for sharing your creations with us, it is greatly appreciated! (And I'm most definitely going to use the Psionic Transformation on our very own Githzerai Warlock as part of his character arc - the player actually sent me this specific video in the first place)
Can't wait for what's to come from the Pointy Hat!
And that's how baldur's gate 3 was born.
Coming straight from the Githyanki video, your comments on dragging your feet to talk about them is very well received.
I actually played as a mindflayer PC, he was a lawful good Artificer (with 2 levels in paladin for dual wielding) who only ate the brains of villains, and only when he needed to in order to survive
I’ve been waiting for someone to post this video like a wizard looking for a chosen hero. Homie, you’re the chosen one fr
Well well well. Look who aged finely.
man i wish there was an offical dnd video game with a major focus on mild flayers... that would be cool
Antonio: Does deep dives into various DnD stuff and even makes compelling changes to said stuff.
Also Antonio: Finds Gith ugly and therefore hasn't deep dove into them.
PS - While it would be nice if us humans don't judge others by their appearance, we can't help but do that unconsciously or otherwise. So I don't fault you for that. It's just funny to me that you gave us an ironic reason.
Dude mindflayers are my favorite. Thanks for doing it man.
In my very first campaign, I actually turned from a bug bear into a bug bear mindflayer. It was sooo perfect cuz I had been joking the whole time that I had mindflayer powers, and now I actually did.
This is a Channel that entertain, vocês ideas e helps with New twists on our stories. We are Lucky tô have ppl like you producing content!! Thank you, love the Channel!!
I will say, in regards to the transformation time line in BG3 that there is an in-game explanation for it taking longer. (Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3 below)
It's explained through certain story moments (such as if you try to get Auntie Ethel to remove it) that the tadpole inside you and your party was tampered with using Netherese magic, inhibiting its growth.
Pointy your videos are just amazing. Iam always amazed how dnd content creators are so creative and well spoken. U just came out of nowhere and became a big part of this community! Keep going, wishing u the best !
Here's a story of my father's DND character who was secretly a mind flaying shapeshifter.
His character was a wood elf named hassi highgrave who was held captive on a mind flayer ship that crashed in a mountain range called 'the spine of the world'.
After managing to escape, she had lost her memories and became a mercenary for a group of adventures (the player's.)
As wood elfs don't sleep and instead go into trance for 4 hours, she would wake up some mornings writing in a note book she was carrying during the crash, that was written in celestial and heavily coded.
After getting the other players to decode it, it was revealed that she was an ancient mind flayer that took over the body of the girl hassi higrave to stay alive, and was known as a *perfect being* that was over 10000 years old.
And after interigateing a mind flayer from the crash, it was also revealed that the real hassi is infact still alive at the crash site.
The player's haven't gotten to the crash site as of yet, but it will most likely end with eather the player's killing mindflayer hassi, or killing the real one.
I wish I could have been there to see it unfold.
Coming back to this after Baulder's Gate 3 is funny
Pointy Hat works for Larion Confirmed
THE HAT WITHOUT THE CAT COMES BACK YEEESS antonio thehatto is always a delight to watch ♥️
I love these videos and the content I get out of them. These ideas are so cool and I can't wait to implement them in my next campaign!
*slowly sobbing with the knowledge I will never get to try dnd*
Pssst...
*points to Ginny Di's **_"No D&D group? Try solo play!"_** video*
@@thatHARVguy I DIDN'T KNOW PLAYING ALONE WAS AN OPTION.
I would still enjoy a group because I have played table games with people before so it kinda seems like monopoly but you're way more into it. At least the vibe I get. Idk still would like to try it out.
Funny enough, my DND group started a quest that involves MindFlayers last Wednesday what a coincidence this video came out awhile ago
The concept of mindflayers actually liking their thralls immediately made me think of a adventurer duo that’s just a morally ambiguous renegade mindflayer and their thrall, who has somehow broken through the mindflayer’s psionics but has stayed with them because they genuinely liked the mindflayer as a person and doesn’t mind serving them.
I can't get over the fact that when the confetti was on screen the start of a Confetti song played
How much traffic has this video gotten since the release of Baldurs Gate 3?
tons
Ooh I’m so excited for this! I’ve been mulling over a homebrew playable illithid variant myself for awhile and I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
This video is being rediscovered by bg3 players
you threw me off with the Vermont shoutout. thank you for spreading awareness to our little invisible oasis, you are an ally to the cause.
jokes aside, amazing video as always Point Hat!
BG3 writers: Write that down write that down!!
I love your videos! They are so entertaining. But also, I feel like I learn something new every time I watch one of them--even though I've been playing D&D for 20+ years. What a fun idea for a mechanic. I may even incorporate this into my current campaign! Thanks as always! You're awesome!
nice coming back to this after bg3
Thank you for all your videos - you are a fantastic creator. You are one of the few you-tubers where I actually can't wait to see what you put out next. So entertaining! Much Love!
this vid hittin different with bg3 out now
p sure he made this video around the same time act 1 released
A someone who has never played d&d, I really enjoy these videos, they're such a fun way to dive into the lore and mechanics of the game. It's inspiring me to try and start a game myself!
personally, i found Illithids revolting due to the tentacles around their mouth, so this video was a bit hard for me to stomach, but over all you explained them really well!
On a side note: I believe they would just vomit out the eggs because their bodies are either human, Gith, or whatever poor race their body is. thus, unless their psyonics can change organs in their host species, they could only vomit up the eggs which somehow appear in their head or stomach.
every single video you make has been amazing! i can’t wait for whatever comes next every time!
Listen man dragons got so much potential how do you not like them their design, Abilities, personality, hoards, and story’s are limitless if you would give them a chance
I absolutely love the rambles at the end of the videos