Illithid (4e Race)

Illithid

By Fred Hooper

Illithids are Aberrant Demonoids of the Far Realm, very distant relatives of mind flayers and far less unapproachable.

Racial Traits

Average Height: 6' 4" - 6' 8"

Average Weight: 170 - 210 lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma or Dexterity

Size: Medium

Speed: 6 squares

Vision: Darkvision

Languages: Common, Deep Speech

Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana or Dungeoneering, +2 Insight or Intimidate

Telepathy: You can communicate telepathically with any creature within 5 squares of you that has a language. The range of this telepathy increases to 7 squares at 11th level and 10 squares at 21st level.

Superior Mind: You have resist psychic equal to 5 + one half your level. In addition, you gain a +1 racial bonus to your Will defense.

Aberrant Origin: Your kind came from the Far Realm, so you are considered an aberrant creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.

Mind Blast: You can use mind blast as an encounter power.

Manipulate Brain: You can use manipulate brain as a daily power.

Mind Blast	Illithid Racial Power
You let loose a torrent of psychic energy, then watch as your foes fall before its power.
Encounter  Psychic
Standard Action	Close Blast 2
Target: Any enemies in the blast
Attack: Intelligence Vs. Will
Hit: 1d4 + Intelligence modifier psychic damage, and the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.

Manipulate Brain	Illithid Racial Power
You wrap your tentacles around your foe's head and manipulate its mind with psychic energy.
Daily  Psychic
Standard Action	Melee touch
Requirement: You must be grabbing a creature.
Target: One creature you are grabbing
Attack: Dexterity Vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d10 + Dexterity modifier psychic damage, and the target is stunned for two rounds. In addition, if this attack reduces the target to 0 hit points, roll 1d4. 1 or 2 - Eat Brain (healing): The target dies as normal, and you regain hit points equal to its Intelligence modifier. 3 or 4 - Thrall Surgery (charm): Instead of dropping to 0 hit points, the target remains at 1 hit point. It is dominated until you die or until it is again reduced to 0 hit points.

Curious summoners, planeswalkers, pathmages, and plain adventurers with access to portals. These people lead dangerous lives, constantly dealing with the infinite and immense dangers of the Elemental Chaos. It is a miracle that these brave and foolhardy people exist, despite all the pitfalls and traps that send them to fates far worse than death. One of these fates is the Pool of the Oldmind. The Pool is the wellspring of all Lithidfolk, who can all trace their dark origins back to its depths. Many summoners who disobey their masters and play with forbidden spells and planeswalkers who lose sight of their beacons end up here the most, giving way to a predominantly magical culture. Illithids are not always spell-casters, however, for their culture is at its roots entirely xenomorphic, shaped only by those who fall . . or jump . . into the Oldmind's Pool.

Play an Illithid if you want...

• To be cunning, ambitious, and plotting.
• To possess great mental prowess.
• To be a member of a race that favors the warlock, artificer, ardent, and psion classes.

Physical Qualities

Illithids are tall, frail humanoids who possess surprising physical strength for their builds. Their skin ranges from pale blue to dark purple, and all the hues in between. Their hands have three long fingers and one equally lengthy thumb, all four of which end in sharp nails. Their bodies and legs are unremarkable, and their feet appear as those of humans, save that they have no toes. However, their heads are otherworldly in their appearance. Where most creatures' mouths would be, they feature four prehensile tentacles that vary in length. Concealed by those four tentacles is a mouth filled with row upon row of sharp, pointy teeth. Illithids' eyes are deep-set beneath heavy brows, and they lack visible noses and ears. Their craniums are relatively large and are covered in large ridges similar to those found on the surface of a human brain. Illithids are created from people who fall into the pool, but they do not simply continue as they are. They are reborn into young, child-like bodies, with all the essential skills of their past lives present. They usually have only vague memories of their past lives. Illithids mature very quickly, and they are ready to make their way in the world around the age of twelve. They usually live well past the age of 200, and remain relatively fit until the very end.

Playing an Illithid

Illithids are meticulous, methodical, an practical as a rule, but these traits can easily be overpowered or strengthened by those from their previous lives. For those Lithidfolk who did not plan on becoming what they are now, they almost always hold an insatiable lust for vengeance on whatever it is that got them into the Pool of the Oldmind. This thing could be absolutely anything, and they often manically attempt to destroy, emasculate, or otherwise remove them from existence. It is for this reason that Illithids are sometimes viewed as incredibly manic and erratic. Illithids are, like all elementals, extremely open, although they do maintain perverted tastes acquired from the collective memories of the Oldmind.

Illithid Characteristics: Practical, Manic, Obsessed, Ambiguous

Names: Illithids, being xenomorphic, usually take on titles resplendent of their old names, but bastardized to obscurity.

Illithid Adventurers

Three sample Illithid adventurers are described below.

In a past life, the Warlock Volgax was once an apprenticed wizard named Garreth Belmont. Studying to become a summoner, Garreth found his master to be quite boring, what with all her theories and analysis. Garreth was a more practical learner, and as a result betrayed his master's commands. He tried to summon a creature from a very old tome he had found in his master's library. What he thought was a summoning circle portrayed in the book was actually a portal. With his foolish actions, he was transported to the Pool of the Oldmind. After spending 12 years in development, he emerged with his mind and body noticeably altered. He stepped out of the pool to be greeted by darkness. From that moment forward, he was alone in his travels. Seeing that it was in fact a book that sent him here, he developed a refusal to learn from books that led him to research more . . direct methods of acquiring arcane power. He forged an infernal pact with the denizens of the nearby abyss. From the city of Underdark, he thieved all that he needed to return to his master and destroy the book that took his life.

The Psion Palaerogmas never cared for her past life. She does not know whether it was the madness of the Far Realm that possessed her to jump in or just childish curiosity, nor does she care. Now armed with the clarity and power that the Oldmind had provided her, she takes her leave of the pool, and sojourns far and wide for ways to combat the Far Realm, the only vestige she has of her old life.

Undemeer is a mad Illithid Ardent, who uses his psionic power in a more direct way by spreading his own madness to others. As an Illithid, madness and insanity affect him differently than less psychically aware folk, so his power acts as a mental poison to all who come in contact with it. This special brand of psionics attracted the attention of a band of psionic mercenaries, who found themselves more or less immune to his collective buggery. They inducted him into their company, and now they help spread his madness wherever they go plundering.

Racial Options

Heroic Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description
Focused Blast	You pinpoint your Mind Blast, ripping your enemy apart.
Improved Superior Mind	Your mind expands in its mental prowesses.
Prehensile Tentacles	Your tentacles function like virtual fingers, letting you use them as such.

Paragon Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description
Devourer of Brains	You can feast upon the grey matter of those you kill.

Epic Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description
Danger Sense	Your empowered mind can sense the presence of those who wish you harm.

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