Favorite mind flayer story. (They are also my favorite D&D creature). Long story short, 15 month campaign, got to I think 14th level. For some reason the party split and two of them fought a mind flayer and his devours and minions. This was level 9 I believe. month 8. One of the characters who had been in the party since session one, lost her intelligence and was body snatched by a devourer. The other member hit the mind flayer and it pretented to be greatly injured and fled. His goal was accomplished. Libby, the character who was snatched(I didn't tell was snatched but to instead roll a check that didn't matter). I told her with the enemies fleeing her intelligence had come back and they escaped back to the rest of the party. For three more months she played this character, now knowing she was actually playing my mind flayer spy. The enemies always one step ahead. When she finally went down in combat to something unrelated and a intelligent devourer jumped out of her skull. The players completely lost their mind in the best way. Libby was angry, but made a really cool new character and appreciated the drama.
Mind Flayers were the first major villain of the first campaign I ran. A riff on the film "The Live," the party arrived into a town seemingly free of crime, disease, poverty, and conflict, and knew something had to be wrong, only to realize there was a colony that had conquered the whole town. Now they had to stay there, be careful not to arouse suspicion, and meet a small resistance that was determined to free the minds of the city that, in many ways, actually improved under the rule of the Ilithid. Probably my favorite villain in all of D&D.
bmraiche exactly, use undetected memory extraction to represent a mastery over minds, and since memories makes souls, this elevates and consolidates the mind flayers’s soul eater statices.
@@bmraiche I had a wholesome smile, when reading your comment. thanks for the reference. I am getting so many references and ideas for my campaign tomorrow.
I wish I could play DnD with you guys, I'd have an absolute blast with all your ideas and knack for visual storytelling. You guys have become my favorite UA-cam series of late! Keep up the good work.
Though not optimized for it, and having some redundancy, i see mind flyers advancing as great old one Warlocks. The elder brain being their patron, demanding submission to the hive mind as the pact. Btw totally love the grell idea, and incorporating it into my game!
Any ideas for minions outside of the Underdark? My party started as two players taking a taste for this organization, that they obviously didn’t know are mindflayers. So when the other players that joined show up to this drop off meeting, I want thralls or minions to keep them away from the meeting itself. Thanks!
I have been very interested in the relationship with Mindflayer colonies and a beholder. I feel like those two species can create a vicuous diconomy that potentially could a lot of territorial wars. I would love to hear your thoughts on how a war between a strong mindflayer colony and an established beholder can manifest, play out, and the repercussions of these icons of terror pushing their will upon each other.
Could you do an episode on role playing creatures of all different intelligences? Your tips here on playing high intelligence mind flayers was very useful and I would love to see a whole video on it, or link to an older one where you talked about it)
So Cody Lewis (Taking20) did a video on mind flyers yesterday. And had a great idea about having them preform crazy experiments to create new versions of minions or mind flyers, like how the mind witnesses is made from a beholder. He had an idea regarding Slaad.
Before watching the video, I'd say: 1. spy network (basic info about he party maybe if you run more of an intrigue campain) EDIT: sabotage (incl. financial sabotage), hired pickpockets/thieves (that would be very very mean) 2. mindcontrolled minions: hostages, suicide bombers, siege weapons (I mean why not? these guys are smart) 3. tadpole homebrewery, perfectly legit (I'd like to see a centaur variant and maybe a troll or giant) EDIT: regarding the organic spaceships: how about just organic ships, maybe some kind of organic slavetrade train driving though the underdark not needing tracks) 4. puzzles, traps, mazes, maybe some alchemical/chemical warfare (a super intelligent hivemind knows where all traps and secret doors are, the solution to every puzzle etc., production of alchemical item for defense might be an unpopular (as if they have a free will in that sense) job, but with a dozen learned (and dominated) slave workers it should be of great aid in that field) 5. mindblastmindblastmindblastmindblast & 5e psionics handbook they will have something prepeared for any type of save WIS save and INT save need no explanation DEX save: siege weapons, suicide bombers, some alchemical stuff CON save: some other alchemical stuff STR save: some type of super glue maybe? CHA save: ... idk but mindflayer are smart they can figure taht out
I love that you guys did this video. I'm planning a Lovecraft themed campaign after I'm done the current adventure I'm running, and I was planning of putting in either a mind flayer or elder brain big bad. This gave me so many good ideas.
Been playing for little over a year now and this channel totally helped me run my games (still helps to this day). This devastating intellect devourer DM strategy is magnificent. Thank you for sharing! LOVE how that adds so much drama and thrill/horror to the story!
Dungeon Dudes absolutely! And more than just the tips i appreciate how there’s this real feeling of you both wanting people to have the best kind of fun that got them into D&D in the first place and how a lot of the advice comes from your own personal experiences so it’s tried and tested stuff that you guys talk about here. really appreciate the effort!
I love this series. I hope there'll be more of it now and then. Subtle hints: Hags. Giants. Yeti. Or even the dratted yuan-ti; I never can figure out anything original to do with them. Anyway, thanks once again for the very cool content.
Monty, you're a monster and a genius! Your list of minions have given me a superb idea of how to further tweak my Illithid encounters; my players may just rage regardless of their class 😝
I wanted to know if there was some way to incorporate Nagas more than just putting one as a guardian for a treasure room. I feel like they’re a creature as ancient as the aboleth and mind flayer that could be utilized more but I’m not sure how.
Dungeon Dudes I would love to hear a convincing way to make use of a Sibriex. It’s one of the best demons available to use as a DM, but it’s also daunting to consider using.
I love the "The Monsters Know What They're Doing" blog for monster tactics, but it seems to be the only solid resource out there for it. A video series on this subject is incredibly useful! Thanks guys, awesome direction to take the channel in!
I remember I once ran a campaign with a party of a Half-Ord Barbarian Zealot, a High Elf Wizard Diviner, Tabaxi Shadow Sorcerer, Dwarf War Cleric, and a Halfling Rogue Assassin, that also had a Mind Flayer Alhoon named Zuul Thyrian who had an alias of Lawrence Thralentime who was a former Wizard that made a pact with the main villain who was an Arch-Psion becoming a psionic Warlock. Zuul was fun because he was the party's first major antagonist who travelled with them using his eldritch invocations and specific artifacts to keep himself disguise himself as a "human" so he was the parties Warlock, and helped them progress only because he wanted them to become strong so he could sacrifice them to his patron for more knowledge and power as part of their pact and so he would be able to get their brains after they were sacrificed. The fun trick was how everytime the party killed monsters he would loot it last and would everytime have the party go on without him so he could eat the dead monsters/humanoids brains to quell his hunger and keep his powers going. This lasted for 11 sessions, and lemme tell you it was a fun charade, but it ended when the parties Wizard figured some things out too quickly was lured away from the party alone with Lawrence and was not only defeated, but also devoured/sacrificed without the party EVER knowing until the climatic reveal of what Lawrence was, and what he intended for the now strong party he had helped raise up. Thus leading into my level 10 party into fighting an entire mind controlled party of Drow (1 Drow Barbarian, 1 Fighter, 2 Clerics, 1 Wizard, and a Rogue) then a second wave of Slaads (6 red, 2 blue, 1 green, and 1 gray) that Zuul managed to gain control over thanks to the main villain and a group of Drow that were given to Zuul by the main villain. At the end of it half the party died, and all of Zuul's slaves died there, but he escaped becoming a villain the party would go on to defeat later on after enduring hell to get that far. Unfortunately that campaign didn't finish, but my players did manage to defeat Zuul in the last session which for me was good enough of a closing point since at that time we all became adults and couldn't meet for sessions as frequent as before.
Interesting, how do you plan on playing that? I’m currently running a pirate campaign and was thinking about having them encounter another ship with a mind flayer captain who’s turned everyone on board into thralls
@@danielfaubert1903 right now, I'm still thinking about it, but they know that in about month in a half the captain will be arriving to the city they're in, they've been tasked on investigating it. In reality, he's finding a way to get information to get into a secret city of elves, which is connected to the main plot and some of their personal ones. My idea is that it's a Rogue Ulithard that got swayed into helping the BBEG in finding some artifacts, with the promise in getting him completely control over some thrall and Mind Flayer Colonies when it turns into an elders brain. His crew is mostly thralls, but allows some of the their independence
Nelson Gutierrez interesting! I’m thinking about having the mind flayers ship follow theirs from a distance, giving him the opportunity to observe, I may even build it into a larger campaign where he doesn’t present himself before they reach their destination but the next time they are on board (which is inevitable) he’s enthralled the crew. It’ll allow some interesting role play and then I may even lead it into an under dark campaign
Something you didn't mention, is that illithids are a very social race, with an organized leader and incredible group cohesion. VERY rare to find just one. Expect to find 3 or 4 more nearby.
I ran a gothic campaign a little while ago, which revolved around a mind flayer incursion into sort of a Victorian London-esque city. One of the local kids who was helping the party out ended up coming across one of the illithids in a dark and foggy evening while delivering some information. The entire party watched in horror as the kid was mentally dominated, with the illusion that he was going to his mother, grappled, and had his brain extracted right before their eyes. The party shortly thereafter set fire to the city and fled to a different continent. It was inconvenient for the story, but a great way to make an impression on a crew of overconfident players.
What a great video guys, thanks so much. I feel like mindflayers open up more opportunities for a truly interested villain, and I'm excited to implement some of these ideas in my players' campaign!
Psionic power 4th-level, Metamorphosis is equal to arcane Polymorph Self. Your city mentor is a mind flayer, you were just deal with other cosmic horror enemies for him.
My DM is letting me use my homebrew mind flayer character race in his campaign and it is really fun. I have played off of the some of the things the mind flayers are known for such has communicating telepathicly since it is to hard to speak and that my whole bodies is covered to the point that it is impossible to determine my race at all from my clothing so it builds this sense of eeriness though the greatest bit is the fact that the party has no idea that I am a mind flayer and the haven't shown even that slightest to question who I am since I am the most reasonable in the party so I deal with the diplomatic side of things. So I wonder my parties reaction to my race if they found out. Also great video and this has given me many ideas. *starts laughing evilly and maniacally*
I love the format, it feels like having a chat with you guys but I think you should use more art/graphics for some variation of shots to keep the engagement up :) Keep up the good work guys!
Agreed, pictures of Mindflayers and maybe a dungeon setup of a described encounter would be great for engagement purposes. But I do love the new series
I know this video is 3 years old, but this + the Elder Brain vid really has my imagination firing for an upcoming campaign! What a great BBEG for a fantasy/sci-fi hybrid setting!
The best encounter i had with a mindflayer was long time ago. And it actually was the only time i enjoyed a Total Party Annihilation. i was playing a dwarf fighter we where exploring some sewers under a city, whe where there beacose of a politic plot against the queen. Twe found a strange laboratory, and we asume was the home of some kind of mage, there was a lot of brains in tubes and suff like that. We found what we where looking for.. and instead of coming back to the queen to inform, we stayed there to "ambush" the wizard. there is no need to tell that the fight was not what we expected... the second round, my character was taken by some brains and by the forth round i had killed 2 of my party and the mindflyer was having a nice brunch with the only one left. The funny thing was we where givven a lot of chances of leaving and the master told us we where in danger. So. a really good experience as a player... ( if the DM gives you clues about some danger, BELIEVE HIM!)
Ooo...imagine a Mind Flayer masquerading as the local druid. Turn the local bears and deer into thralls. Use illusion to disguise the illithid, so tentacles look like animated vines...you could have the illithid send them on missions to protect the woods and local villages, but really you're just protecting and helping a Mind Flayer...a mystical pool that's actually full of tadpoles. So evil...
This is an awesome series! I appreciate you guys sharing your expertise a loooot! In terms of efficiency vs theatricals, I would perhaps add that it depends on the group, and what their focus is. If you have a bunch of game-mechanics experts that build their multi-classed characters for maximum efficiency, by all means, play those Mindflayers like the mind-reading fiends they are meant to be - but if the group is about the role-playing before meta-gaming and mechanics, then I think there is nothing wrong with going for maximum emotional impact and showmanship :D
Heroes of the Storm has this character Alarak which has some mindflayer skins. Its abilities are totally in tune with a squid predator mindset : Set up an ambush where you silence the opponent first (dispel magic), as they panic and flee you pull them back in with your psionic powers, if they fight back, let them think they got the edge on you until you use the ultimate ability counterstrike which makes you invulnerable for a short time and retaliate a burst of damage as they don't expect it, and then you suck the life out of them ! Watch animal documentaries and watch squids predator tactics, it's very inspiring !
I run mind flayers in teams of 3, with each having it's own minions and area of responsibility. The elder brain has a dozen of these teams, each specialized for specific task (minion growing, infiltration, security, and janitorial duties).
Just to mention it, traditionally mind flayer communities hate arcane magic, and mindflayers that are discovered using arcane magic are eaten or shunned. As such, a mind flayer that also uses arcane magic, and alhoons and illithiliches (as lichdom only comes through arcane magic) don't associate with other mind flayers or elder brains.
The villain in my current campaign is a homebrewed, mindflayer DIVINATION arcanist. Basically, a mindflayer arcanist with the portant ability of a divination wizard. He scries on the party daily, and his first lair had magic traps, an alert spell prepared so that way the party could not ambush him, and constantly watched the party via clairvoyance. The first time they encountered him, they were level 3...he toyed with him them. He casts invisibility on himself and hid while his minions fucked them up. After the battle, he mind blasted them all, and devoured the brain of their NPC companion. I had another NPC show up last second and save the PCs though. Second time they saw him, they were level 5. He ambushed them with a fuck ton of minions, gaining the upper hand...mind blasting them AGAIN! Luckily, several npcs they assisted during their adventures rode by on horses and scooped them up, saving them again. He constantly scries on them, and has spies everywhere, sending his minions to always ambush and attack them. My party HATES HIM SO MUCH lol they always talk about how badly they want to kill them, especially afted he devoured the brain of one of their favorite NPCs. They are also TERRIFIED of him, and always say they don't think they can take him on in a fight and are too afraid to confront him, even at level 7. This video REALLY helped me create him to be such a great villain. My players both love and hate this villain 😂 especially when he mind blasted the wizard and used portant so that way the wizard would automatically fail the saving throw!
Listened again today and found a gold nugget. The idea of a dragon that is collecting books is fantastic. Would not start out as obvious though. Maybe it's a green dragon who sends out lizard minions out to steal from libraries and centers of learning. I can see some gaming possibilities here! The dragon might even have a nickname like..."The Collector"...which would also be a nice way to rip-off the MCU! No more original ideas, right? Ha ha ha! ;-) All the best Dungeon Dudes!
I've not yet had the pleasure (or displeasure) of encountering a Mind Flayer yet. Judging by how one of my current campaigns is shaping up, it may not be too much longer...
New to the channel and Dming and I love your videos. And that intro narrative was so chilling and well done, I found myself clapping, haha. Fantastic job guys, keep up the great work, love it!
There is something about Doppelgängers, perhaps some of the early art, which makes me think that they could also be creations of Mind Flayers... Even if not, a doppelgänger minion, or 'intellect-devourer-hosting' doppelgänger suggests all kinds of interesting opportunities!
So funny, how Monty robbed himself and used all of his Mindflayers suggestion in Shadows of Drakkenheim 😁 Great to see, that all their advice was even better played out, than I imagined. Great tips guys!
I've loved mind flayers ever since reading the legend of drizzt as a child. That sequence where their party is defeated by mind flayers and become their dominated subjects for a few days or weeks is absolutely legendary.
Mind flayers are such classics. They're one of my most favourite monsters and cultures, but I am way too scared to ever use them against my players. Not because of the cosmic/psychologic horror, but because of their ability to instakill.
Run a One Shot with new side characters they have no investment in. To top it off, let each player have three PCs to run at the same time. Just hand them index cards to draw from with pre rolled PC & equipment.
Krell came from a different source (Forbidden Plane) than the Mind Flayers (Cover Art of Titus Crow book), but your ideas make sense since they have both been relegated to being from the far realm.
I created the backstory for the Warlock in my game that a Mindflayer (in Waterdeep) is his Patron and his first mission is to bring back the brain of a white Dragon. (Dragon of Icespire Peak) I eventually want the warlock and party to be forced to defeat the Mindflayer and stop his evil plans(dragon cult, Drow, still working that out.) once they get powerful enough to do so. This video will help me flush out the details. Thanks Dungeon Dudes you have really helped me get back into DND and understand 5E rules. Any other tips from the community are welcome also.
I can see Assassins and Gloom Stalkers, especially supported by wizards, are what Mindflayers fear the most. Thus, waging war on a Mindflayer colony might not involve large armies clashing, but an assassin guild teaming up with an abjurer wizard guild; systematically eradicating the mindflayers over a prolonged campaign. But of course, if you ever encounter mindflayers, you'd probably be best off just calling the Gith!
Thanks for discussing minions/thralls. I just surprised my party with an intellect devourer crawling out of an enemies head. The surprised reaction from all the party was priceless.
Had to point out that innate spell casting removes the MATERIAL component, not the verbal or somatic component to the spells unless otherwise noted. The mind flayer notes material only for its spellcasting. In other words, binding its hands or hitting it with silence is a very viable strategy.
Surface level thoughts get no saving throw against Detect Thoughts. I’d argue that attacks against a Mindflayer from anyone not under the effects of either a mind shielding or the Rage ability are at disadvantage. They can just know what you’re planning to do against them before you act on it after all.
I just started a campaign where an elder brain is trying to manifest its self into chuthulu, and is using his mind flayers to set the ground work so this helps a lot.
How your campaign turn out ? Did the same thing years ago with 3.5e Psionic hand book along with AD&D2ndE " Skills & Powers." My first game shop 15 years ago had five to seven gaming groups going on at any given time. My .. human PC psionist was a practicer of meta morphoisi, so they just blew it off that I was a shapeshifter. They knew one day I would try to become a psionic lich, but .. it blew them away when I turn into a mind flayer before them and transform into an elder brain. Couple of players that just hated my guts whined, " You not allowed to PC a monster ! "
Hey Guys. Loving your video's, so helpful and funny! It would be great if you guys could add more to the "Monster Tactics" playlist. I'd love to hear you go through the MM adding a bit of lore and roll playing for each creature...
I'm going to enjoy this series! For those who don't mind a bit of reading, there's blog someone made called 'themonstersknow' which covers in-depth text reviews of monster abilities, tactics, and a bit of role-playing potential. The list of monsters covered continues to grow, but there's already a wealth of articles to draw from for all sorts of monsters. =D Just... Be careful. If your party doesn't play really tactically, the advice in these articles might just TPK your party...
one thing I love about hive minds monsters is this: a defeat isn't a real one, because **all of the things that happen in the fight has been observer by the hive, and already analyzed for the next time.** so even if the mindflayer don't know the threat, they just need to do fake offense agaisn't the threat to test out their ability, that the entire hive will then learn. the hive will end up knowing the party like the back of their hand, but the party may never know the full reach of the hive. and that is the most thrilling aspect.
In my last session me and my party had to capture these special larva and bring them back to an NPC for a reason we are supposed to find it next time, but they were in the heart of a Mind Flayer Hive. Let me tell you, as a Bard this was the worst thing I’ve ever encountered oh my gosh😂. We made it out luckily and managed to grab a good amount of the larva. This was also the session where I ran into an Orc that harvested the memories of people and sold them since they were of high value
My goliath barbarian slammed a heavy door in the face of a mind flayer, severing one of its tentacles. I collected the appendage, cured it, and made a didgeridoo. We called it the Illithidgeridoo.
We brainstormed a list of the monsters we wanted to cover, and I'd say it was a combination of BG3, Stranger Things, and our own interest in Mind Flayers that were the major factors.
I ran an adventure where no one really knew about Illithid's except as mythical creatures from a time long past. When the party, which was quite physically powerful, met the Illithid it was in a truce with its war against a Rakshasa. They manipulated the group to take them back to the other people. Which the party not only did, but teleported them into one of the largest cities and left them there. Things went better than I expected and worse than the PC's ever imagined.
I love the idea for this series. Monsters and foes should use tactics appropriate to their strengths, weaknesses and ability to plan and adapt, not just 'horde mode' at the PCs.
so i was thinking about using mindflayers in my campaign, and when you said 'dc 15 intelligence save throw' i got a little half-chub. since my party has 6, 6, 8 and 12 intelligence.
Thank you for this, but you never described tactics of the Elder Brain!!! Can you please follow up with that? I would love to hear about your ideas and tactics for an Elder Brain boss battle.
Medium size squid, they grapple with a tentacle and try to drown your PC in its pool with the tadpoles trying to infect you. Then you have to shrug off its Mental Domination Field, repeatedly ... Along with its other psionic, arcane enchantment attacks of Charm Person/ Monster.
@@DungeonDudes Hmm.. I'd love to see pretty much all Goblinoids and they're power structures. How they might be manipulated by things other than Goblins also. Goblins are such a staple in a lot of games. Trolls are another one I think would be crazy.
You're right, archers are great against a Mind Flayer. I'd argue that a necromancer poses an even bigger threat. 😃👍 They've got better resistance to the Flayer's mind blast, and their undead minions are immune to it. Give those skeletons and zombies bows, and you can take it down, fast.
Favorite mind flayer story. (They are also my favorite D&D creature). Long story short, 15 month campaign, got to I think 14th level. For some reason the party split and two of them fought a mind flayer and his devours and minions. This was level 9 I believe. month 8. One of the characters who had been in the party since session one, lost her intelligence and was body snatched by a devourer. The other member hit the mind flayer and it pretented to be greatly injured and fled. His goal was accomplished. Libby, the character who was snatched(I didn't tell was snatched but to instead roll a check that didn't matter). I told her with the enemies fleeing her intelligence had come back and they escaped back to the rest of the party. For three more months she played this character, now knowing she was actually playing my mind flayer spy. The enemies always one step ahead. When she finally went down in combat to something unrelated and a intelligent devourer jumped out of her skull. The players completely lost their mind in the best way. Libby was angry, but made a really cool new character and appreciated the drama.
Mind Flayers were the first major villain of the first campaign I ran. A riff on the film "The Live," the party arrived into a town seemingly free of crime, disease, poverty, and conflict, and knew something had to be wrong, only to realize there was a colony that had conquered the whole town. Now they had to stay there, be careful not to arouse suspicion, and meet a small resistance that was determined to free the minds of the city that, in many ways, actually improved under the rule of the Ilithid. Probably my favorite villain in all of D&D.
I bet the brains are tastier if their lives are easy enough to fill the brains with knowledge!
You gave me goosebumps with the description before you said roll for initiative. 😁
That was the idea :)
I. Was. TERRIFIED !
A good spell to give a mind flayer is modify memory, for role play reasons, they are always in the background and no one notices like the MIB.
So basically they are the Silence from Dr. Who? Because that's a terrifying ability for a creature to have.
bmraiche exactly, use undetected memory extraction to represent a mastery over minds, and since memories makes souls, this elevates and consolidates the mind flayers’s soul eater statices.
@@bmraiche I had a wholesome smile, when reading your comment. thanks for the reference. I am getting so many references and ideas for my campaign tomorrow.
oooooooh. As a Who fan, I like this.
I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more monster tactics!
Matt Rondeau blue monster cult!
Check out the book The Monsters Know What They're Doing
Animated cowbells?
I wish I could play DnD with you guys, I'd have an absolute blast with all your ideas and knack for visual storytelling. You guys have become my favorite UA-cam series of late! Keep up the good work.
Though not optimized for it, and having some redundancy, i see mind flyers advancing as great old one Warlocks. The elder brain being their patron, demanding submission to the hive mind as the pact. Btw totally love the grell idea, and incorporating it into my game!
Mind flayers.. intellectual devour.. and the grell working together is a Terrifying Idea! I am so gonna use this!!! 😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈
I have a feeling I'm going to love this new series of videos
Oh it's gonna be good!
This series is going to be a life saver that will ruin my social life and I think I’m okay with that.
Any requests for monsters you'd like to see us cover next?
Dungeon Dudes I’ve always loved the idea of a Rakshasa and have never known how it could be integrated
@@DungeonDudes Can you discuss: Cambions, Sphinxes, Death Knights, Shadow Dragons, Revenants, Succubi, and Liches?
@@DungeonDudes Aboleths, Nagas, Yuan-Ti, Goblinoids
Rakshasa for the win!!!!!!!!!
I love this concept for a series, and I'm surprised more D&D channels aren't doing it. More monster tactics please!
Loved this, as a new DM i need more of these Monster Tactics episodes... I would love one on Beholders next!!!
My part is meeting up with a secret organization they fetched an ancient dagger for but are secretly mind flayers. This is so clutch! Thank you!
Any ideas for minions outside of the Underdark?
My party started as two players taking a taste for this organization, that they obviously didn’t know are mindflayers. So when the other players that joined show up to this drop off meeting, I want thralls or minions to keep them away from the meeting itself. Thanks!
When in doubt, human/ dwarf thugs, bugbears, and any other common humanoids make excellent thralls.
I have been very interested in the relationship with Mindflayer colonies and a beholder. I feel like those two species can create a vicuous diconomy that potentially could a lot of territorial wars. I would love to hear your thoughts on how a war between a strong mindflayer colony and an established beholder can manifest, play out, and the repercussions of these icons of terror pushing their will upon each other.
Could you do an episode on role playing creatures of all different intelligences? Your tips here on playing high intelligence mind flayers was very useful and I would love to see a whole video on it, or link to an older one where you talked about it)
So Cody Lewis (Taking20) did a video on mind flyers yesterday. And had a great idea about having them preform crazy experiments to create new versions of minions or mind flyers, like how the mind witnesses is made from a beholder.
He had an idea regarding Slaad.
What's scarier? Demon undergone ceremorphosis, or mind flayer undergone demonic corruption? I forsee many deaths caused by the Marilithid.
Mind Flayers made the Gith race.
Now that we know how to deal with Mind Flayers, the next thing we must know about is... Flind Mayors.
I'm pretty sure Monty is an evil mastermind. James Bond wouldn't stand a chance.
James Bond is just the distraction so the real spies can get their job done.
Before watching the video, I'd say:
1. spy network (basic info about he party maybe if you run more of an intrigue campain)
EDIT: sabotage (incl. financial sabotage), hired pickpockets/thieves (that would be very very mean)
2. mindcontrolled minions: hostages, suicide bombers, siege weapons (I mean why not? these guys are smart)
3. tadpole homebrewery, perfectly legit (I'd like to see a centaur variant and maybe a troll or giant)
EDIT: regarding the organic spaceships: how about just organic ships, maybe some kind of organic slavetrade train driving though the underdark not needing tracks)
4. puzzles, traps, mazes, maybe some alchemical/chemical warfare (a super intelligent hivemind knows where all traps and secret doors are, the solution to every puzzle etc., production of alchemical item for defense might be an unpopular (as if they have a free will in that sense) job, but with a dozen learned (and dominated) slave workers it should be of great aid in that field)
5. mindblastmindblastmindblastmindblast & 5e psionics handbook
they will have something prepeared for any type of save
WIS save and INT save need no explanation
DEX save: siege weapons, suicide bombers, some alchemical stuff
CON save: some other alchemical stuff
STR save: some type of super glue maybe?
CHA save: ... idk but mindflayer are smart they can figure taht out
cha save: (just getting a bit toooo creative here) mindcontrolled succubus? lmao jk
I love that you guys did this video. I'm planning a Lovecraft themed campaign after I'm done the current adventure I'm running, and I was planning of putting in either a mind flayer or elder brain big bad. This gave me so many good ideas.
@Naren Gurrier-Jones heard of it, not sure if me or my players would be into it.
@Naren Gurrier-Jones I've seen most of his d&d videos already.
I've already watched two dozen of you videos but now... SUBSCRIBED
(Mind Flayers are the best!)
Phil Scheuer late
Been playing for little over a year now and this channel totally helped me run my games (still helps to this day). This devastating intellect devourer DM strategy is magnificent. Thank you for sharing! LOVE how that adds so much drama and thrill/horror to the story!
Thank you! Glad to hear you've found our tips and tricks useful :)
Dungeon Dudes absolutely! And more than just the tips i appreciate how there’s this real feeling of you both wanting people to have the best kind of fun that got them into D&D in the first place and how a lot of the advice comes from your own personal experiences so it’s tried and tested stuff that you guys talk about here. really appreciate the effort!
I love this series. I hope there'll be more of it now and then.
Subtle hints: Hags. Giants. Yeti. Or even the dratted yuan-ti; I never can figure out anything original to do with them.
Anyway, thanks once again for the very cool content.
I ran a game recently with a elder brain gangster boss with a giant fedora, with mind flayer minions. Was great fun
Monty, you're a monster and a genius!
Your list of minions have given me a superb idea of how to further tweak my Illithid encounters; my players may just rage regardless of their class 😝
badass intro, i got goosebumps when you sad "roll intiative" *__*
This is a genius series that will definitely get my attention every time to help me DM!
Any requests for monsters you'd like to see us cover next?
I wanted to know if there was some way to incorporate Nagas more than just putting one as a guardian for a treasure room. I feel like they’re a creature as ancient as the aboleth and mind flayer that could be utilized more but I’m not sure how.
Ieric Lopez Maybe as a ruler over a civilization of Yuan-ti in a fallen jungle temple.
Dungeon Dudes I would love to hear a convincing way to make use of a Sibriex. It’s one of the best demons available to use as a DM, but it’s also daunting to consider using.
I love the "The Monsters Know What They're Doing" blog for monster tactics, but it seems to be the only solid resource out there for it. A video series on this subject is incredibly useful! Thanks guys, awesome direction to take the channel in!
Gotta love the tactics! Kobolds, goblins, and other smaller monsters are all perfect for this tactical breakdown series.
These are cool! Do vampires next!!! Please*
I remember I once ran a campaign with a party of a Half-Ord Barbarian Zealot, a High Elf Wizard Diviner, Tabaxi Shadow Sorcerer, Dwarf War Cleric, and a Halfling Rogue Assassin, that also had a Mind Flayer Alhoon named Zuul Thyrian who had an alias of Lawrence Thralentime who was a former Wizard that made a pact with the main villain who was an Arch-Psion becoming a psionic Warlock. Zuul was fun because he was the party's first major antagonist who travelled with them using his eldritch invocations and specific artifacts to keep himself disguise himself as a "human" so he was the parties Warlock, and helped them progress only because he wanted them to become strong so he could sacrifice them to his patron for more knowledge and power as part of their pact and so he would be able to get their brains after they were sacrificed. The fun trick was how everytime the party killed monsters he would loot it last and would everytime have the party go on without him so he could eat the dead monsters/humanoids brains to quell his hunger and keep his powers going.
This lasted for 11 sessions, and lemme tell you it was a fun charade, but it ended when the parties Wizard figured some things out too quickly was lured away from the party alone with Lawrence and was not only defeated, but also devoured/sacrificed without the party EVER knowing until the climatic reveal of what Lawrence was, and what he intended for the now strong party he had helped raise up. Thus leading into my level 10 party into fighting an entire mind controlled party of Drow (1 Drow Barbarian, 1 Fighter, 2 Clerics, 1 Wizard, and a Rogue) then a second wave of Slaads (6 red, 2 blue, 1 green, and 1 gray) that Zuul managed to gain control over thanks to the main villain and a group of Drow that were given to Zuul by the main villain. At the end of it half the party died, and all of Zuul's slaves died there, but he escaped becoming a villain the party would go on to defeat later on after enduring hell to get that far. Unfortunately that campaign didn't finish, but my players did manage to defeat Zuul in the last session which for me was good enough of a closing point since at that time we all became adults and couldn't meet for sessions as frequent as before.
OK guys, are you reading my Mind? I'm preparing my group to meet the first Boss of the campaign: a Mind Flayer Captain of a ship
Interesting, how do you plan on playing that? I’m currently running a pirate campaign and was thinking about having them encounter another ship with a mind flayer captain who’s turned everyone on board into thralls
@@danielfaubert1903 right now, I'm still thinking about it, but they know that in about month in a half the captain will be arriving to the city they're in, they've been tasked on investigating it.
In reality, he's finding a way to get information to get into a secret city of elves, which is connected to the main plot and some of their personal ones.
My idea is that it's a Rogue Ulithard that got swayed into helping the BBEG in finding some artifacts, with the promise in getting him completely control over some thrall and Mind Flayer Colonies when it turns into an elders brain.
His crew is mostly thralls, but allows some of the their independence
Nelson Gutierrez interesting! I’m thinking about having the mind flayers ship follow theirs from a distance, giving him the opportunity to observe, I may even build it into a larger campaign where he doesn’t present himself before they reach their destination but the next time they are on board (which is inevitable) he’s enthralled the crew. It’ll allow some interesting role play and then I may even lead it into an under dark campaign
Nelson Gutierrez was it named Davy Jones?
Something you didn't mention, is that illithids are a very social race, with an organized leader and incredible group cohesion. VERY rare to find just one. Expect to find 3 or 4 more nearby.
AD&D2ndE No of Ap: 1d4+1
so there are always at lest two.
I find most of your videos extremely useful, and commend you on the length of your takes without stumbling through the scripts. Kudos!
I ran a gothic campaign a little while ago, which revolved around a mind flayer incursion into sort of a Victorian London-esque city. One of the local kids who was helping the party out ended up coming across one of the illithids in a dark and foggy evening while delivering some information. The entire party watched in horror as the kid was mentally dominated, with the illusion that he was going to his mother, grappled, and had his brain extracted right before their eyes.
The party shortly thereafter set fire to the city and fled to a different continent. It was inconvenient for the story, but a great way to make an impression on a crew of overconfident players.
By the power of Hyrule.
Love the shirt Kelly
Rev Shad42 he has the power
You do NOT wanna be the guy that fascinates a Mind Flayer!
What a great video guys, thanks so much. I feel like mindflayers open up more opportunities for a truly interested villain, and I'm excited to implement some of these ideas in my players' campaign!
I am totally going to use this in our campaign. I love mind flayers and their Lovecraftian feel. I love the flayer encounter you propose at the end.
Psionic power 4th-level, Metamorphosis is equal to arcane Polymorph Self.
Your city mentor is a mind flayer, you were just deal with other cosmic horror enemies for him.
As a 14-old kid playing Baldurs Gate 2 and having my first encounter with Mind Flayers was a nightmare, and the clearest D&D memory i have.
My DM is letting me use my homebrew mind flayer character race in his campaign and it is really fun. I have played off of the some of the things the mind flayers are known for such has communicating telepathicly since it is to hard to speak and that my whole bodies is covered to the point that it is impossible to determine my race at all from my clothing so it builds this sense of eeriness though the greatest bit is the fact that the party has no idea that I am a mind flayer and the haven't shown even that slightest to question who I am since I am the most reasonable in the party so I deal with the diplomatic side of things. So I wonder my parties reaction to my race if they found out. Also great video and this has given me many ideas. *starts laughing evilly and maniacally*
I love the format, it feels like having a chat with you guys but I think you should use more art/graphics for some variation of shots to keep the engagement up :)
Keep up the good work guys!
Agreed, pictures of Mindflayers and maybe a dungeon setup of a described encounter would be great for engagement purposes. But I do love the new series
This is absolutely amazing. Can't wait to see more of these types of videos!
Love the squiggly guys. The Underdark lighting for you guys helped too.
You crushed it with that intro! Gave me chills. DMing at its finest
I know this video is 3 years old, but this + the Elder Brain vid really has my imagination firing for an upcoming campaign! What a great BBEG for a fantasy/sci-fi hybrid setting!
I need more monster tactics, this was awesome! Definitely gonna use these tips in my world.
The best encounter i had with a mindflayer was long time ago. And it actually was the only time i enjoyed a Total Party Annihilation.
i was playing a dwarf fighter we where exploring some sewers under a city, whe where there beacose of a politic plot against the queen. Twe found a strange laboratory, and we asume was the home of some kind of mage, there was a lot of brains in tubes and suff like that.
We found what we where looking for.. and instead of coming back to the queen to inform, we stayed there to "ambush" the wizard.
there is no need to tell that the fight was not what we expected... the second round, my character was taken by some brains and by the forth round i had killed 2 of my party and the mindflyer was having a nice brunch with the only one left.
The funny thing was we where givven a lot of chances of leaving and the master told us we where in danger. So. a really good experience as a player... ( if the DM gives you clues about some danger, BELIEVE HIM!)
Ooo...imagine a Mind Flayer masquerading as the local druid. Turn the local bears and deer into thralls. Use illusion to disguise the illithid, so tentacles look like animated vines...you could have the illithid send them on missions to protect the woods and local villages, but really you're just protecting and helping a Mind Flayer...a mystical pool that's actually full of tadpoles. So evil...
This is an awesome series! I appreciate you guys sharing your expertise a loooot!
In terms of efficiency vs theatricals, I would perhaps add that it depends on the group, and what their focus is. If you have a bunch of game-mechanics experts that build their multi-classed characters for maximum efficiency, by all means, play those Mindflayers like the mind-reading fiends they are meant to be - but if the group is about the role-playing before meta-gaming and mechanics, then I think there is nothing wrong with going for maximum emotional impact and showmanship :D
Heroes of the Storm has this character Alarak which has some mindflayer skins. Its abilities are totally in tune with a squid predator mindset : Set up an ambush where you silence the opponent first (dispel magic), as they panic and flee you pull them back in with your psionic powers, if they fight back, let them think they got the edge on you until you use the ultimate ability counterstrike which makes you invulnerable for a short time and retaliate a burst of damage as they don't expect it, and then you suck the life out of them ! Watch animal documentaries and watch squids predator tactics, it's very inspiring !
I run mind flayers in teams of 3, with each having it's own minions and area of responsibility. The elder brain has a dozen of these teams, each specialized for specific task (minion growing, infiltration, security, and janitorial duties).
Dungeon Dudes!!!
Mind flayers?! Looking forward to this one! You guys are awesome!
Thanks Clayton!
Just to mention it, traditionally mind flayer communities hate arcane magic, and mindflayers that are discovered using arcane magic are eaten or shunned. As such, a mind flayer that also uses arcane magic, and alhoons and illithiliches (as lichdom only comes through arcane magic) don't associate with other mind flayers or elder brains.
Buy the Psionic hand book.
AD&D2ndE psionic liches were nightmares to deal with.
The villain in my current campaign is a homebrewed, mindflayer DIVINATION arcanist. Basically, a mindflayer arcanist with the portant ability of a divination wizard. He scries on the party daily, and his first lair had magic traps, an alert spell prepared so that way the party could not ambush him, and constantly watched the party via clairvoyance. The first time they encountered him, they were level 3...he toyed with him them. He casts invisibility on himself and hid while his minions fucked them up. After the battle, he mind blasted them all, and devoured the brain of their NPC companion. I had another NPC show up last second and save the PCs though. Second time they saw him, they were level 5. He ambushed them with a fuck ton of minions, gaining the upper hand...mind blasting them AGAIN! Luckily, several npcs they assisted during their adventures rode by on horses and scooped them up, saving them again. He constantly scries on them, and has spies everywhere, sending his minions to always ambush and attack them. My party HATES HIM SO MUCH lol they always talk about how badly they want to kill them, especially afted he devoured the brain of one of their favorite NPCs. They are also TERRIFIED of him, and always say they don't think they can take him on in a fight and are too afraid to confront him, even at level 7. This video REALLY helped me create him to be such a great villain. My players both love and hate this villain 😂 especially when he mind blasted the wizard and used portant so that way the wizard would automatically fail the saving throw!
Listened again today and found a gold nugget. The idea of a dragon that is collecting books is fantastic. Would not start out as obvious though. Maybe it's a green dragon who sends out lizard minions out to steal from libraries and centers of learning. I can see some gaming possibilities here! The dragon might even have a nickname like..."The Collector"...which would also be a nice way to rip-off the MCU! No more original ideas, right? Ha ha ha! ;-) All the best Dungeon Dudes!
Seen almost all of your videos and try to keep up with the dungeons of drakkenheim series as well! Great jobs as usual guys!
Thank you
I've not yet had the pleasure (or displeasure) of encountering a Mind Flayer yet. Judging by how one of my current campaigns is shaping up, it may not be too much longer...
You guys are being way too helpful for me to become a good DM, detect my thankful thoughts
New to the channel and Dming and I love your videos. And that intro narrative was so chilling and well done, I found myself clapping, haha. Fantastic job guys, keep up the great work, love it!
There is something about Doppelgängers, perhaps some of the early art, which makes me think that they could also be creations of Mind Flayers...
Even if not, a doppelgänger minion, or 'intellect-devourer-hosting' doppelgänger suggests all kinds of interesting opportunities!
So funny, how Monty robbed himself and used all of his Mindflayers suggestion in Shadows of Drakkenheim 😁
Great to see, that all their advice was even better played out, than I imagined. Great tips guys!
In what episode does the fight against MF happens?
I've loved mind flayers ever since reading the legend of drizzt as a child. That sequence where their party is defeated by mind flayers and become their dominated subjects for a few days or weeks is absolutely legendary.
Mind flayers are such classics. They're one of my most favourite monsters and cultures, but I am way too scared to ever use them against my players. Not because of the cosmic/psychologic horror, but because of their ability to instakill.
Run a One Shot with new side characters they have no investment in.
To top it off, let each player have three PCs to run at the same time.
Just hand them index cards to draw from with pre rolled PC & equipment.
Kelly's example of the Reapers was amazing!
Oooh
How are you guys getting even better at this!
8:22 Key psychic abilities...
Key...
Ki...
Mind Flayer Monks.
Krell came from a different source (Forbidden Plane) than the Mind Flayers (Cover Art of Titus Crow book), but your ideas make sense since they have both been relegated to being from the far realm.
I created the backstory for the Warlock in my game that a Mindflayer (in Waterdeep) is his Patron and his first mission is to bring back the brain of a white Dragon. (Dragon of Icespire Peak) I eventually want the warlock and party to be forced to defeat the Mindflayer and stop his evil plans(dragon cult, Drow, still working that out.) once they get powerful enough to do so. This video will help me flush out the details.
Thanks Dungeon Dudes you have really helped me get back into DND and understand 5E rules. Any other tips from the community are welcome also.
I can see Assassins and Gloom Stalkers, especially supported by wizards, are what Mindflayers fear the most.
Thus, waging war on a Mindflayer colony might not involve large armies clashing, but an assassin guild teaming up with an abjurer wizard guild; systematically eradicating the mindflayers over a prolonged campaign.
But of course, if you ever encounter mindflayers, you'd probably be best off just calling the Gith!
Prepping for Shattered Obelisk. This was a GREAT help. Thanks friends.
Thanks for discussing minions/thralls. I just surprised my party with an intellect devourer crawling out of an enemies head. The surprised reaction from all the party was priceless.
Currently in the process of creating a campaign about an ongoing war between an elder brain and an illithilich
Had to point out that innate spell casting removes the MATERIAL component, not the verbal or somatic component to the spells unless otherwise noted. The mind flayer notes material only for its spellcasting. In other words, binding its hands or hitting it with silence is a very viable strategy.
Surface level thoughts get no saving throw against Detect Thoughts. I’d argue that attacks against a Mindflayer from anyone not under the effects of either a mind shielding or the Rage ability are at disadvantage. They can just know what you’re planning to do against them before you act on it after all.
I just started a campaign where an elder brain is trying to manifest its self into chuthulu, and is using his mind flayers to set the ground work so this helps a lot.
How your campaign turn out ? Did the same thing years ago with 3.5e Psionic hand book along with AD&D2ndE " Skills & Powers."
My first game shop 15 years ago had five to seven gaming groups going on at any given time.
My .. human PC psionist was a practicer of meta morphoisi, so they just blew it off that I was a shapeshifter. They knew one day I would try to become a psionic lich, but ..
it blew them away when I turn into a mind flayer before them and transform into an elder brain.
Couple of players that just hated my guts whined, " You not allowed to PC a monster ! "
Hey Guys. Loving your video's, so helpful and funny! It would be great if you guys could add more to the "Monster Tactics" playlist. I'd love to hear you go through the MM adding a bit of lore and roll playing for each creature...
I think another helpful tip you could add to these videos is what levels and party sizes you should be throwing these creatures at.
I'm going to enjoy this series! For those who don't mind a bit of reading, there's blog someone made called 'themonstersknow' which covers in-depth text reviews of monster abilities, tactics, and a bit of role-playing potential. The list of monsters covered continues to grow, but there's already a wealth of articles to draw from for all sorts of monsters. =D
Just... Be careful. If your party doesn't play really tactically, the advice in these articles might just TPK your party...
one thing I love about hive minds monsters is this: a defeat isn't a real one, because **all of the things that happen in the fight has been observer by the hive, and already analyzed for the next time.**
so even if the mindflayer don't know the threat, they just need to do fake offense agaisn't the threat to test out their ability, that the entire hive will then learn.
the hive will end up knowing the party like the back of their hand, but the party may never know the full reach of the hive.
and that is the most thrilling aspect.
This idea with the intellect devourers is great, I'm definitely going to use that in the campaign in running
In my last session me and my party had to capture these special larva and bring them back to an NPC for a reason we are supposed to find it next time, but they were in the heart of a Mind Flayer Hive. Let me tell you, as a Bard this was the worst thing I’ve ever encountered oh my gosh😂. We made it out luckily and managed to grab a good amount of the larva. This was also the session where I ran into an Orc that harvested the memories of people and sold them since they were of high value
My goliath barbarian slammed a heavy door in the face of a mind flayer, severing one of its tentacles. I collected the appendage, cured it, and made a didgeridoo. We called it the Illithidgeridoo.
Did you choose to begin with mind flayers because of Baldur's Gate 3 ?
We brainstormed a list of the monsters we wanted to cover, and I'd say it was a combination of BG3, Stranger Things, and our own interest in Mind Flayers that were the major factors.
I ran an adventure where no one really knew about Illithid's except as mythical creatures from a time long past. When the party, which was quite physically powerful, met the Illithid it was in a truce with its war against a Rakshasa. They manipulated the group to take them back to the other people. Which the party not only did, but teleported them into one of the largest cities and left them there. Things went better than I expected and worse than the PC's ever imagined.
I love the idea for this series. Monsters and foes should use tactics appropriate to their strengths, weaknesses and ability to plan and adapt, not just 'horde mode' at the PCs.
Mind Flayers are my second favorite DnD Monster right behind the Beholder.
so i was thinking about using mindflayers in my campaign, and when you said 'dc 15 intelligence save throw' i got a little half-chub. since my party has 6, 6, 8 and 12 intelligence.
BTW Kelly with a dope shirt as always!
Wow. 2 years ago, you guys were literally dungeon dudes. 2 dudes just chilling in a dungeon.
In my campaign a mind flayer renegade is hunting by the group of players for a long time. Thanks for a new ideas what he can do)
Good one on Mind Flayers, side note, I couldn't find if you covered how to play a psionic player character, might be a good one to do.
Easy answer to beat up Mindflayers , build a swat team of Golems and kick their asses.
I don't know if this is an easy answer, considering the expense, time, and magical resources needed to build a golem.
Thank you for this, but you never described tactics of the Elder Brain!!! Can you please follow up with that? I would love to hear about your ideas and tactics for an Elder Brain boss battle.
Medium size squid, they grapple with a tentacle and try to drown your PC in its pool with the tadpoles trying to infect you.
Then you have to shrug off its Mental Domination Field, repeatedly ... Along with its other psionic, arcane enchantment attacks of Charm Person/ Monster.
Such a great monster deserves it
More of these videos please. You guys are very good at this. Please do more.
Any requests for monsters you'd like to see us tackle next?
@@DungeonDudes Hmm.. I'd love to see pretty much all Goblinoids and they're power structures. How they might be manipulated by things other than Goblins also. Goblins are such a staple in a lot of games. Trolls are another one I think would be crazy.
love this. can you please do beholder soon I'm using one in it's lair for the finale of my year long campaign and I wanna make it as epic as possible
Those CR 2 Walking Brains will quickly kill most players really, really quickly if there are a few of them.
I thought this was an old video next in my autoplay list, but it's brand spanking new. Oh fucking yes, this is going to be good.
You're right, archers are great against a Mind Flayer. I'd argue that a necromancer poses an even bigger threat. 😃👍 They've got better resistance to the Flayer's mind blast, and their undead minions are immune to it.
Give those skeletons and zombies bows, and you can take it down, fast.