ILLITHID HUNGER OF THE MIND

Illithids subsist on the brains of humanoids. The

Mind fayers, also called illithids, are the scourge of brains provide enzymes, hormones, and psychic
sentient creatures across countless worlds. Psionic energy necessary for their survival. An illithid
tyrants, slavers, and interdimensional voyagers, they healthy from a brain-rich diet secretes a thin glaze
are insidious masterminds that harvest entire races of mucus that coats its mauve skin.
for their own twisted ends. Four tentacles snake An illithid experiences euphoria as it devours
from their octopus-like heads, fexing in hungry the brain of a humanoid, along with its memories,
anticipation when sentient creatures come near. personality, and innermost fears. Mind fayers will
In eons past, illithids controlled empires that sometimes harvest a brain rather than devour it,
spanned many worlds. They subjugated and using it as part of some alien experiment or
consequently warped whole races of humanoid transforming it into an intellect devourer.
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.

PSIONIC COMMANDERS
Mind fayers possess psionic powers that
enable them to control the minds of
creatures such as troglodytes, grimlocks,
quaggoths, and ogres. Illithids prefer to
communicate via telepathy and use their
telepathy when issuing commands to their thralls.
When an illithid meets strong resistance, it avoids
initial combat as it orders its thralls to attack. Like
physical extensions of the illithid's thoughts, these
thralls interpose themselves between the mind fayer
and its foes, sacrifcing their lives so that their master
can escape.

HIVE MIND COLONIES

Solitary mind fayers are likely rogues and
outcasts. Most illithids belong to a colony of
sibling mind fayers devoted to an elder brain- a
massive brain-like being that resides in a briny
pool near the center of a mind fayer community.
From its pool, an elder brain telepathically dictates
its desires to each individual mind fayer within 5
miles of it, for it is able to hold multiple mental
conversations at once.

.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score
increases by 2, and your Charisma score
increases by 1.
Age. Illithids fully complete ceremorphosis by the
age of 9, and have become fully mature by age 15.
Illithids live longer than humans, but rarely past
150 years.
Alignment. Illithids normally have a natural
tendency towards hierarchy, discipline, and
cruelty, and most have an alignment of lawful evil.
Size. Most illithids are at least as tall as humans,
most standing a few inches over six feet, but their
bodies very slender and emaciated, weighing
much less than an average being of their stature.
Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You have darkvision up to a range of
60 feet. You can see in dim light as if it were
bright light, but can't see colors, only shades of
gray.
Lesser Magic Resistance. Whenever you are
profcient in a saving throw against a magical spell
or efect you gain advantage on it.
Mind Blast. Though signifcantly weaker without
the full power of the mind fayers' collective
networked intelligence behind them, lone illithids'
mental assaults are still dangerous. You can loose
a wave of psionic energy against a creature you
can see as an action. The target must make a
Intelligence saving throw with a DC equal to 8 +
your Intelligence modifer + your profciency
bonus or take 1d8 psychic damage. At 6th level
this damage increases to 2d8 and at 11th level the
target is stunned for one round. Once you use this
feature you must fnish a short or long rest to use
it again.
Tentacles. You can use your powerful tentacles to
pull a foe's head closer to your mouth. If a
creature starts its turn grappled by you, it takes
1d4 psychic damage. If a humanoid grappled by
you is reduced to 0 hit points, you may kill it by
extracting and devouring its brain. When eating a
creatures brain, you learn some of its memories or
recent thoughts of the DM's choosing.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write
Common and Undercommon, and can write
Qualith. You can also communicate telepathically
with any creature you can see within 120 feet of
you, and prefer to do so as speaking aloud is
unnatural and difcult for you.
QUALITH
On the rare occasion that mind fayers need to
write something down, they do so in Qualith. This
system of tactile writing (similar to braille) is read
by an illithid's tentacles. Qualith is written in four-
line stanzas and is so alien in construction that
non-illithids must resort to magic to discern its
meaning. Though Qualith can be used to keep
records, illithids most often use it to mark portals
or other surfaces with warnings or instructions.