Page 67 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

Few nonillithids have ever seen one of these monstrosities. illithid wears nothing to cover its dark gray flesh. Its head is

They sometimes function as added “muscle” for an illithid smaller and of a different, flattened shape, appearing almost

community that is faced with imminent danger, but their to have shrunk or partially collapsed inward. A vampire
main function is to serve as an elder brain’s physical hands and illithid’s tentacles are longer and more muscular than those
carry out tasks that are too important, secret, or complex for of a living mind flayer, and it uses them for bludgeoning as

mind flayers themselves. As such, they are viewed with great much as grasping.

wonder by mind flayers. The emergence of a brain golem from Such a monster would be truly terrifying if it possessed

an elder brain’s pool is considered a grand portent and treated the mighty intellect of a mind flayer. Fortunately, vampiric

with awed solemnity by the community. mind flayers are completely feral. Their minds hold bestial
cunning and savagery, but they do not think or reason. Some
A brain golem shares its creator’s imperviousness to psychic
CHAPTER 4 THE MIND FLAYERS probes. It never communicates in any way with entities it portion of their minds must recall their former lives, since
their favorite haunts are subterranean, in the types of areas
encounters. If it is destroyed before returning to the pool for
reabsorption, its mass doesn’t seem to be missed by the elder
where mind flayers live. Other mind flayers are a vampiric

illithid’s worst enemies, because they destroy one whenever
brain.
given a chance.
Brain golems are described in the Fiend Folio.
For vampire mind flayer statistics, see page 160.

Alhoon
A lot of mind flayers practice magic, and some grow quite Urophions

powerful. However, illithid society prefers to focus on the The racial limitations involved in selecting donor bodies
creatures’ true heritage of psionic mastery. As a result, excessive for ceremorphosis are well known to the illithids. Still, this
study of magic is considered a distraction at best and an offense knowledge does not prevent them from experimenting with

at worst. Mind flayers that persistently violate this stricture other creatures to see what might result. In most cases, both
suffer the ultimate punishment; they are banned from joining host and tadpole die.
with the elder brain upon their deaths. Oddly, implanting a tadpole into a roper proves viable. The

For that reason, mind flayers that study magic, and especially result is a urophion, or illithid roper. This is the only known
sorcery, devote the better part of their attention to devising case of tadpole implantation succeeding in a cold-blooded
ways to extend their lives unnaturally. The ultimate goal is creature.
to become a lich. Those that succeed at becoming liches are Physically, ropers and urophions are nearly indistinguish-

known as alhoons to other mind flayers, or illithiliches in the able. Urophions are stationed around illithid communities
Common tongue. to act as guardians and sentinels. The live their lives much

Physically, an alhoon can be difficult to distinguish from a as any roper would: solitary, sedentary, and stationary. Their

normal mind flayer. The most obvious difference is the lack acute senses allow them to detect intruders at great distances.

of the mind flayer’s ever-present mucus coating. Without that When a victim approaches within 50 feet, a urophion unleashes
protection, an alhoon’s skin becomes dry and cracked. Its eyes a powerful mental blast to stun the prey, then uses its six very
might appear shriveled and sunken. Both of these clues are easily long tentacles (up to 50 feet in length) to grasp the victim, drag

missed by someone who hasn’t seen a living mind flayer. it close, and extract its brain.
Because of its fascination with arcane magic, a typical alhoon Intellectually, urophions are on par with any other illithid,
possesses no more psionic power than an average mind flayer. and their psionic abilities are nearly as powerful. Nevertheless,

Its frightful mastery of magic more than makes up for its lack they are viewed by the community as a whole as inferior and
of psionic prowess. suited only for lives of dreary service. Their one honor is to
Mind flayers universally shun alhoons, considering them be offered to the elder brain upon their deaths.

abominable because the undead creatures have sacrificed Brilliant but isolated, urophions live lives of desperate

any hope of joining with the elder brain. An alhoon residing loneliness and frustration. While most remain loyal to their
near an illithid community or outpost will be hunted and creators, some wander away in pursuit of their own inscrutable
exterminated if its presence is discovered. objectives.
For alhoon statistics, see Chapter 8. For urophion statistics, see Chapter 8.
Mind Flayer Vampires Neothelids
Even stranger than illithid sorcerers are illithid vampires. How Among the strongest taboos in illithid society is the idea of
they come to be is unknown. Unlike other vampires, they do not implanting a mature tadpole into a donor brain. While
not create spawn or propagate their kind by leaving victims some tadpoles are implanted experimentally, with death the
wounded but not yet undead. almost certain outcome, none are intentionally kept back

A vampiric mind flayer bears little resemblance to its kin. from implantation.

Where mind flayers favor rich, luxurious robes, a vampiric
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