Ceremorph, Illithid

aka Mind Flayer

Mind flayers, also called illithids, are the scourge of sentient creatures across countless worlds. Psionic tyrants, slavers, and interdimensional voyagers, they are insidious masterminds that harvest entire races for their own twisted ends. Four tentacles snake from their octopus-like heads, flexing in hungry anticipation when sentient creatures come near.
In eons past, illithids controlled empires that spanned many worlds. They subjugated and consequently warped whole races of humanoid slaves, including the githyanki and githzerai, the grimlocks, and the kuo-toa. Conjoined by a collective consciousness, the illithids hatch plots as far-reaching and evil as their fathomless minds can conceive.
Since the fall of their empires, illithid collectives on the Material Plane have resided in the Underdark.
Credit Wizards of the Coast
Wildspace is home to a seemingly endless diversity among species, and Mind Flayers are no exception. Relying in their palatable and slightly more socially acceptable brain fungus, Illithids are the most common of their ceremorph family to be a touch less out of the ordinary at civilised ports, although the many enemies of their species are prone to crossing sword and shot with them regardless of any local authorities’ strictures.
Vegan (or at least, vegan appearing) illithid’s served alongside what their more typical brethren would term ‘cattle’ during both unhuman wars, aiding the free fleets with innovative ship designs such as the octopus heavy cruiser. Equally adept producers of magical and psionic devices, their skills were welcomed in the fiercest hot spots of conflict, and many have become artisans and traders with welcome reputations. Further back historically, the illithid known as Hull was a key part of the freedom fighting forces that defeated the tyrant overlords.
All that being said, there are vast areas of wildspace that have felt the cold and cruel domination of mind flayers, and even now dark clouds connected to their dark powers drift in space, echoes of the far realm that touch upon reality. Since the shattering of the spheres, the astral sea has proven a more accommodating highway between spheres, as it does not prevent contact with the mindscape as the phlogiston did.
Of course, when your ships can teleport at will anyway, it's not necessarily the phlogiston that keeps you at bay, and many organisations in wildspace continue to fire upon illithid vessels without hesitation, and a lone mind flayer is often the target of vilification if not outright violence. Adventuring illithids should beware of dark alleys and being out late at night alone.

Illithid Traits

Creature Type: Aberration
Size: Small or Medium (about 3 ½ - 6 feet tall)
Speed: 30 feet
As an Illithid, you have these special traits.
Psychic Resistance. You have resistance to psychic damage.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of yourself as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.
Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). Your innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (choose at character creation). You can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:
At will: detect thoughts
3/day each: levitate (self only)
Mind Blast. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with a blast of psychic energy in either a 15-foot Cone or a 30-foot Line that is 5 feet wide (choose the shape each time). Each creature in that area must make a saving throw against your innate spellcasting ability (DC 8 plus your ability modifier and Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, a creature takes 1d10 damage psychic damage. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage. This damage increases by 1d10 when you reach character levels 5 (2d10), 11 (3d10), and 17 (4d10).
You can use this Mind Blast a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
Telepathy. You cannot communicate using verbal sounds. Instead you use telepathy to convey your thoughts. You have the psychic ability to transmit your thoughts mentally to willing creatures within 120 feet of yourself. A contacted creature doesn’t need to share a language with you to understand your thoughts, but it must be able to understand at least one language. Your telepathic link to a creature is broken if you and the creature move more than 120 feet apart, if either of you is incapacitated, or if either of you mentally breaks the contact (no action required).
Tentacles. You have four tentacles. These tentacles can manipulate an object, open or close a door or container, pick up or set down a Tiny object, or wield a weapon that has the light property.
You can make unarmed attacks with your tentacles. Unarmed Attack, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 11 (2d10) psychic damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 15) and must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or be stunned until this grapple ends. You may only have one creature grappled at a time, and making another tentacle attack ends any current tentacle grapple.

Related Organizations

• ICF