Page 70 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

subject by means of the telepathy special ability or a spell or When scribed on an object, a psionic seal can be set to
psionic power serving the same purpose. activate in response to one of three events: when touched and
The needles are thought conductors made from an organic willed to activate (useful for helpful spells or powers), when
material specially developed by illithid alchemists. They touched at all (useful for traps), or when a creature with specific

enable the operator to read whatever is in the subject’s mind. observable characteristics moves within 5 feet of the psionic
The process is slow; the operator can ask only one question seal (useful for trapping doorways, for example). In the latter
per minute, but receives a complete, truthful answer. case, the seal must be in plain view—it can’t be hidden inside
With each question, the victim makes a DC 20 Fortitude an object, for example.
save. Each failure permanently drains its Intelligence, Wisdom, A harmful psionic seal is considered a magic trap. It is rarely
and Charisma scores by 1. When the illithids are done asking hard to find, since it must be in plain view to function, but

questions, the victim makes a Will save using its current disarming the trap requires a Disable Device check (DC 25 +

Wisdom modifier. Failure leaves it permanently insane, as the spell level of the spell or power used to make the seal). FLAYERS CHAPTER 4
spell insanity. In any case, a psionic seal fades away after it is triggered THE MIND
Moderate divination; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, Rary’s once.
telepathic bond or telepathy special ability; Price 45,000 gp.
Craft Psionic Seal
NAUTILOID A creature with this feat can create psionic glyphs or symbols
It is rumored that not all mind flayers live beneath the surface. that hold spells or psionic powers until triggered.

Some tales speak of ships shaped like the shell of a nautilus that Prerequisites: Int 15, psionic ability (spell-like abilities

are capable of flying through the spaces between worlds. Most described as psionics, psi-like abilities, or psionic powers),
serious scholars discount these tales as pure fantasy, despite caster level or manifester level 7th.

those who claim to have seen such ships first-hand. Benefit: A creature can cast or manifest any arcane spell or
The illithids themselves know that the tales are true. The psionic power it has access to as a psionic seal. If it is creating a
great ships are remnants of their glorious future, when their psionic seal of an arcane spell, it must have prepared the spell
empire will span not just worlds but the entire universe (see to be scribed and must provide any material components or
The Whispering Shadow, below). The knowledge of how to focuses the spell requires. If casting the spell or manifesting
build these stunning vessels is lost—or, more correctly, hasn’t the power would reduce the creature’s XP total, it pays that
been discovered yet. Until it is, the remaining ships ply the cost upon beginning the seal in addition to the XP cost for
great gulfs of the night skies cautiously, seeking evidence of making the seal itself. Likewise, material components are
lost mind-flayer colonies and hidden githyanki outposts. consumed when the creature begins scribing the seal, but

focuses are not.
PSIONIC SEAL A single object of Medium size or smaller can hold only one

Some mind flayers know how to create a special type of magic psionic seal. A larger object can hold one seal per 100 square
item known as a psionic seal. These are similar to psionic tat- feet of surface area. A creature can also scribe a psionic seal
toos (see the Expanded Psionics Handbook), although the design on a willing creature, but a creature can hold only one psionic
is created purely by psionic power; no ink is involved. seal at a time; any additional seals inscribed on that creature
Creating a psionic seal requires the Craft Psionic Seal feat. automatically fail.
(If you are using the Expanded Psionics Handbook, you might A psionic seal has a price equal to its spell or power level

decide that mind flayers that have the Scribe Tattoo feat can × caster or manifester level × 50 gp. (A 0-level spell or power
choose to make both psionic tattoos and psionic seals.) counts as 1/2 level.) The creature crafting the seal must spend

Psionic seals can be inscribed on flesh or on just about 1/25 of the price in XP and use up raw materials costing one-
anything else, including doors, hallways, chests, articles of half the price to inscribe the seal.
clothing, weapons, or pages of a book. Creatures can wear no
more than one psionic seal at a time; additional seals scribed RESONANCE STONE
onto them simply fail. Resonance stones play an important role in mind flayer society.

The caster level or manifester level of a psionic seal is the Very few mind flayers do not own at least one, and many of

minimum level required to cast or manifest the power. A them own several.
psionic seal can hold spells or powers of 3rd level or lower. The best description of a resonance stone would be “emo-

When worn on a creature, a psionic seal activates when its tion transmitter.” Each stone stores a specific emotion and
wearer touches it and wills it to activate. This is a standard broadcasts that emotion over a small area. The typical range
action that provokes attacks of opportunity. The wearer doesn’t is 30 feet; more powerful stones can have larger areas of effect,
get to make any decisions about the seal’s effect—the person while very small stones might be so weak that they must be in
who scribed the seal has already done so. contact with the skin to be perceived.

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