Mind Flayer (4e Race)

Mind Flayers

Cunning and deadly, an aberrant race of deadly villains and glorious leaders.

Racial Traits

Average Height: 6' 2-6' 6

Average Weight: 120-200lbs

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

Size: Medium

Speed: 6 squares

Vision: Darkvision

Languages: Common, Deep Speech, Telepathy 10

Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 insight

Aberrant Origin: You are considered an Aberrant for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.

Superior mind: You have a +1 racial bonus to your will defense or psychic resistance equal 5+half your level

Devourer of Brains: You have studied hard, but some of the knowledge you possess is not your own. You either favoured a specific kind of brains or enjoyed the entire buffet. When you create your character you can choose to either gain a +3 bonus to one untrained skill of your choice, or a +1 bonus to all trained skills. This choice remains through your character's life and can not be retrained.

Mind Blast: you have the Mind Blast power.

Illithid Heritage: When your mind flayer character gains a class utility power after 1st level, you can forgo taking a power granted to you by your class. Instead you gain a mind flayer utility power of the same level or lower.

Mind Blast	Mind Flayer Racial Power
Your enemies don't look so cocky now that they painfully squirm and twitch, feeling how puny their mind is when set against yours.
'Encounter  Psychic'
Minor Action	Close Burst 3
Target: Each enemy in burst.
Attack: Intelligence+2 or Wisdom+2 or Charisma+2 Vs. Will
Hit: 1d6 + Intelligence modifier psychic damage, the target has -1 to attack rolls and its Will defense until the end of its next turn.
Special: When you create your character, choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character’s life and do not change the power’s other effects.

Mind Flayers, also known as Illithid, are monstrous a race of aberrant psionic humanoids ruling in the Underdark. they are feared even by other evil races such as Drow and Aboleth.They believe themselves to be the dominant species of the multiverse and enjoy using other intelligent creatures as thralls, slaves, and chattel. Powerful psionics and cunning fighters, Mind Flayers follow their goals with diabolical cleverness.

Play as a Mind Flayer if you want:

• To eat brains.
• To be member of a race famous for its cruelty, but also for its reason.
• To beat enemies with your intelligence and then crush them with your mind.
• To be a member of a race that is best in Sorcerer, Artificer, Swordmage, Wizard and Warlock classes.

Physical Qualities

Illithid Warlock defeating a Wizard fellow.

An average Mind Flayer is a thin but strong (and sometimes muscular) humanoid with long arms and legs, has a squid-like head with four prehensile tentacles and a lamprey-like mouth. Their eyes are pale white, and see perfectly in light as in darkness. Their sense of hearing is slightly poorer than a human's; they have difficulty distinguishing between several sounds mixed together. Their slippery skin can be pale gray, grayish blue of dark purple. Even if it isn't dangerous for them, Mind Flayers ferociously hate sunlight. The most horrible thing about Mind Flayers, except their deadly psionic powers, such as mind control, is their diet: they need to devour brains of sentient creatures, using their tentacles to slide into the prey's head and extract its brain. Even if they have masculine or feminine personalities, Mind Flayers are hermaphrodite and spawn tiny larvae, who live in the Elder Brain's pool for 10 years. Those who survive are implanted into a humanoid's head, and upon being implanted the larva grows and consumes the host's brain, absorbing the host's physical form entirely and becoming sapient itself, a mature (but still young) Mind Flayer. This process is called ceremorphosis. Sometimes, experiments with non-humanoid hosts are made, but ceremorphosis involving other creatures usually fails, killing both host and larva; but if it works, terrible abominations can be created. All Mind Flayers share their spite for Drow and Giths, and absolute hate for undead. Illithids live for well over 200 years, their legacy long outlasting them.

Playing an Illithid

Most illithids are nothing but malice, spite and dominating forces in the world. They came from the Far Realm long ago and now reside largely in the Underdark. Illithid society is a free-for-all, with very little structure or hierarchy. Illithids commonly kill each other and devour each other for no other reason than pure sport. Parents abandon their young immediately after "birth". An illithid must make its own way through a hard, cruel and bitter existence.

However, maybe once or twice throughout all of the world's ancient history, a solitary illithid has broken from the sadistic traditions of its race. Illithids are viewed with fear and animosity, and not without reason. Many races have a deep-rooted hatred of illithids and all that they stand for. Therefore, an illithid that has broken from its kind will face a great deal of hatred and anguish directed at it as it ventures into the world. A solitary illithid is most likely attacked on sight in most civilized societies. Most illithids detest the name Mind Flayer, growing wildly irate at its mention.

Perhaps the illithid was contacted by a god to fight in its cause, or perhaps ran across a mystical spell book which inspired it to find a new path for itself. Whatever its reason for adventuring, it must develop its own set of values and ethics, which a typical illithid lacks entirely.

Mind Flayer Characteristics: clever, cunning, rational, calculatory, calm, vicious, cruel, deceptive, natural leaders, authoritarian.

Mind Flayer Names

Illithids can use their transliterated Deep Speech names, but some who have forsaken their heritage translate their names into Common or another languages.

Male and Female Deep Speech illithid names: Blorc, Flurr, Goipne, Grinrall, Huum, Klonre, Prar, Trell, Waerrl, Merril.

Male and Female Common illithid names: Dispair, Envy, Harm, Kill, Master, Pride, Pain, Slay, Spite, Wound, Wrath.

Mind Flayer Adventurers

Three sample Mind Flayer adventurers are described below.

Xallibossk is a Mind Flayer Swordmage. While a Gith attack was ravaging its city, it was completing the ceremorphosis, and the Elder Brain assigned it to become a blade master. after focusing its power, Xallibossk made itself a name in Gith society as it rushed into a monastery, overpowering many Githzerai monks with its serrated cutlass and mind-controlling the grand master in butchering his own students.

Quasthelid is a Mind Flayer Wizard, well-known for have been an acolyte in many arcane sects which himself destroyed by feeding off of the master's brains, getting the knowledge of many interesting spells.

Methil is a Mind Flayer Scion. he was captured by drow raiders to be used as a slave by a high matriarch...eventually, it became her best secret counsilor, using his knowledge of alchemy to manipulate and poison her enemies. As it earned her thrust, it fed off her brain and made of her a thrall, eventually manipulating the drow army into a tremendous ambush and defeat.

More on playable Mind Flayers

A discussion on playable Mind Flayers can be found at http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/25676165/Illithid_Playable_Race_(Mind_Flayer)?sdb=1&pg=last#487778721

Mind Flayer Feats

Heroic Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description
Jeweled Tentacles
Stolen Mind	By eating brains, you learn new tricks
Talented Tentacles	You can use your Tentacles with amazing skill.

Paragon Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description
Eldritch Blood	You are one with your Aberrant nature.
Mind Eater	You have eaten enough brains for a new lore.

Epic Tier Racial Feats

Name	Description

Mind Flayer Utility Powers

When your mind flayer character gains a class utility power after 1st level, you can forgo taking a power granted to you by your class. Instead you gain a mind flayer utility power of the same level or lower.

Brain Drain	Mind Flayer Racial Power
Your enemy feels its own consciousness flow away as you dig your tentacles into its head and devour its brain.
Encounter
Free Action	Melee 1
Trigger: You hit a large or smaller living Humanoid creature that is grabbed, dazed or stunned.
Effect: You grab the creature. At the beginning of each of your turns, if you are still grabbing the target, you daze it (escape ends) and deal 5 damage. If this damage reduces the target to 0 hit points or fewer, you devour its brain, killing it instantly. If you kill the target this way you gain 5 temporary hit points.

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