Some misc Kruessakts, I love the fin “ears”

-Please do not reupload/edit/use.-

Ulitharid, or as I keep remembering, "UItra-lithid." They're a person-sized rare form of illithid. These are the elite, the mindflayers that can become elder brains one day. They see near everyone else as a lesser, HOWEVER. They're nearly as strong as an orc, miles of telepathy range, and can grapple. They have the psychic power to read or control minds, levitate, drop your intelligence to that of an animal, or stun you! Plus unbelievable confidence, like they become an elder brain by ripping out thier own. You have to have ABSURD confidence in yourself to do that and expect to survive.

smiles. mind flayer oc

Another illithid Bebe! I’m happy with how this one turned out UwU

(ORIGINALLY POSTED ON NOVEMBER 30th, 2023)

This was supposed to be just a normal squid but then I forgot and added the brain and now I guess I just made a very well-fed Ulitharid =w=

///////////////////////////////////////////

You can buy this on Redbubble!

💎 To see the HD version, get your hands on the Photoshop file or just support me: https://www.patreon.com/bludermaus 💎

Mind Flayer, General Information

"Elder Brain Variant" © Wizards of the Coast, by Nino Is. Accessed at Art of MtG here

[While the OGL 1.1 debacle was going on, I said that I was going to keep my distance with Wizards' IP for a while. Why the change? Well, Wizards accidentally (on purpose?) released a bunch of previously Product Identity monsters into the Creative Commons, including the mind flayers. And I had been contemplating the illithidae as my next D&D monster project for a while, since I was commissioning art for the modron hierarchs.

My take on the mind flayers is going to be, like many of my versions of D&D monsters, somewhat iconoclastic. Namely, I don't like the elder brain very much. At least, not as they are typically interpreted, as the masters of a hivemind of unquestioningly obeying illithids. That makes the basic illithid into a minion and a drone. The combination of controlled by elder brains and the ever-increasing emphasis on ceremorphosis makes the mind flayers feel like the Borg. Which is less interesting than the original 70s and 80s version, where it was a species made up entirely of evil masterminds. I want to re-inject some of the respect for the normal illithids into this version.

My flavor text draws inspiration from all of the various mind flayer interpretations that have come before. A major source of inspiration was "The Sunset World", an article from Dragon 150. The various creeds were a big deal in 2e, as illithids played major roles in both Planescape and Spelljammer, but have been all but forgotten since them. I'm ignoring the time travel element from 3.5's Lords of Madness, but I am using their interpretation of mind flayer emotions. I am also finally giving them a mechanical weakness to bright lights, which somehow has been flavor only for the last 47 years.]

Mind Flayer The mind flayers are a species of hyper-intelligent, imperialist aliens that view other creatures as slaves and cattle. Their empire spans over dozens of planets, but is currently in something of a declining period due to slave revolts, conflict with the Dominion of the Black and other misfortune. Mind flayers are known for their decentralized organization and various means of travel and conquest. Some use spaceships, but most travel from planet to planet using the Astral and Shadow Planes as corridors. The mind flayers hate bright light, and the late stages of their planetary conquests include changing the atmosphere or stars of planets in order to reduce their illumination to a comforting red hue. The hub of their empire, although it is likely not their home world, is Ssirik-Akuar, the Sunset World.

As the name suggests, mind flayers use mind-influencing magic to control their enemies and allies alike. But they are also avid consumers of brains. A mind flayer can survive on an omnivorous diet of meat, fungi and plants, but grows listless and unhealthy if it does not regularly consume the brains of sapient creatures. A mind flayer can inject its tentacles straight into the brains of its victims, pithing them. Most of the time, this brain-dead individual’s brain is consumed by that mind flayer, but pithed victims are required for the mind flayer’s bizarre reproductive cycle.

What are thought by some to be different species of mind flayers are in fact different stages in a complex life cycle. The most commonly encountered mind flayers, illithids, are the equivalent of males. The elder brains that illithid colonies gather around are the equivalent of females. Illithids periodically fertilize the elder brain’s eggs, and the elder brain lives in a pool of slime crawling with mind flayer tadpoles. Illithids insert these tadpoles into the pithed body of a Medium-sized, mammalian humanoid in order to allow their young to reach maturity. Inside a host body, the tadpole insinuates into the remaining nervous system and eventually replaces its tissues like a cancer, transforming the body into an illithid. A few tadpoles, fed special enzymes by the elder brain, grow into ulitharids instead. An ulitharid is essentially an immature elder brain that spends decades learning as much as it can and coordinating the efforts of illithids before metamorphosing into a new elder brain. Most mind flayers do not concern themselves with matters of gender, and most of their bodies have lost the secondary sexual characteristics of their former lives.

Mind flayers are supremely arrogant, and their interactions with other species are usually exploitative and predatory. They present themselves as being without emotion, but in truth they are capable of regulating their emotions more directly than other creatures by consciously releasing chemicals. An illithid’s emotions are typically disdain, spite, arrogance and a lust for power. They rationalize their fears as concern and self-preservation. Almost all mind flayers consider themselves part of one or more “creeds”, which are philosophical callings that influence how mind flayers pursue their goals of conquest and consumption. Mind flayers do not discriminate between sources of power, and arcane, divine and occult magic, as well as alchemy, are common pursuits.

Mind Flayer Deities The primary god of the mind flayers is Ilsensine, the God Brain. Mind flayers consider Ilsensine to have been the first elder brain. According to the Venerator Creed, Ilsensine’s priesthood, when an elder brain dies, its knowledge passes to Ilsensine. Ilsensine’s unholy symbol is a green brain with two tentacles, and its favored weapon is the tentacle. Those few worshipers of Ilsensine that aren’t mind flayers treat unarmed strikes as their favored weapon. Ilsensine is lawful evil, and their domains are Charm, Evil, Knowledge, Law and Magic. Ilsensine’s subdomains are Hatred, Memory, Slavery, Thought and Tyranny. A cleric of Ilsensine can use the Hatred subdomain to modify the Evil domain.

A recent emergence in mind flayer culture is the rise of the Creed of Thoon. Thoon is a mysterious entity associated with the Plateau of Leng. Thoon’s followers are devoted to violent expansion, extracting vital essences from their victims along with brains and harnessing them into strange constructs that blur the line between living and non-living. Thoon’s unholy symbol is a complex rune made of tentacles, and its favored weapon is a heavy flail. Thoon is neutral evil, and its domains are Artifice, Evil, Madness and War. Thoon’s subdomains are Alchemy, Construct, Nightmare and Tactics.

Mind Flayer Mechanics “Mind flayer” is a subtype of the aberration type, with the following characteristics:

Spell resistance equal to 15 + the mind flayer’s CR

Affectless (Ex) A mind flayer gains a +4 racial bonus on all saving throws against emotion effects

Light blindness

Sunlight Sickness (Ex) A mind flayer in direct sunlight is sickened, as well as suffering penalties from its light blindness

Pith (Ex) A mind flayer can make a coup de grace attempt as a full round action without provoking attacks of opportunity against a helpless or pinned opponent. The coup de grace must be made with a specific natural weapon, listed in the mind flayer’s entry. This coup de grace does not function against creatures that have no head or no brain, and creatures with multiple heads are not killed if they fail the save (although that head is no longer functional).

plant repotting - illithid style!

had to do @laitiel 's handsome squiddy boi C:

Commission for @facetiousfanboy!

M I N D B L A S T

Sometimes a colony is an independent mind flayer, an ulitharid who nobody from his followed him, and their multitude of intellect devourers in an abandoned tower in the Underdark

Their bed is moss on netting and in general it is VERY damp

-Please do not reupload, edit, or use.-

Horrible squid guy! Yhathuh! I haven't drawn him in a while! He sucks! I love him!

Having a lazy Friday so today's

Totally Good illithid: Xilat!

Xilat is my joke dnd oc. They're just a child. Anxiety noodle. Got pushed down the stairs probably despite being able to levitate.

Have a low quality doodle of mine.

If you'd like to have your own illithid oc featured, just lmk! Asks and submissions should be open.

if eddie asks you if his cape makes him look like cthulhu do NOT answer, it is a trick question.

Mind Flayer, Ulitharid

Image by Jim Nelson, © Wizards of the Coast

[The ulitharid was one of the first monsters written by James Jacobs to get published; it first appeared in Dungeon Magazine when he was a teenager. That original 2e ulitharid has a particularly nasty trick that has been abandoned by later versions--victims of its mind blast are also feebleminded. That's a little too mean for me, but I did take inspiration from it for a lesser version. I'm planning on giving full on feeblemind to the elder brain, though.

The idea of an ulitharid as an immature female mind flayer is, as far as I know, unique to me. I was inspired by the Volo's Guide to Monsters 5e take that makes ulitharids the psychic hubs of a full-on hivemind, and when they die, they become "seeder brains" for a composite elder brain. I'm not making the elder brain a full composite monster, but I liked linking the ulitharid more closely to the elder brain.

Again, see my article about mind flayers in general for information about the subtype and some of their unique abilities]

Mind Flayer, Ulitharid CR 11 LE Aberration This purple-skinned humanoid is tall and lean, concealing much of its form with robes and cloaks. It has six tentacles growing from its face, two of which are especially long and flexible.

Ulitharids are sometimes called “illithid nobles” by outsiders. They are ennobled not by rank, but by birth; each ulitharid is a juvenile elder brain, and will metamorphose into a new elder brain if they survive long enough. Ulitharid births are rare—only one in every twenty-five mind flayer tadpoles are ulitharids. Few ulitharids live alone; they are found almost always in mind flayer colonies. There, they lead the activities of circles, commune with the elder brain, and direct scouting expeditions to find new victims and resources. Most ulitharids will participate in the activities of multiple creeds, the better to have a broad perspective of philosophy and tools for acquiring power. When they near the end of their two hundred and fifty year lifespans, they leave the colony and travel to a safe location with a handful of illithids. Once in their new homes, they metamorphose into an elder brain and found a new colony.

An ulitharid acts much like an illithid in combat, but is more dangerous and capable in melee. Their longest tentacles can stretch to great lengths, pulling victims close enough to grab and tear away at their brains. The mind blast of an ulitharid has lingering consequences, leaving their enemies in a fugue state long enough to prevent them from fighting back effectively. Perhaps their most dangerous spell-like ability is their ability to project themselves and their allies into the Astral Plane. A fight with an ulitharid, unless it is within the colony to which it belongs, is usually with an astral form, giving the ulitharid the ability to test out tactics without danger of permanent harm, and leaving them free to plot revenge if defeated.

Ulitharids are larger than illithids, standing an average of 7 feet tall and being more muscular.

Ulitharid             CR 11 XP 12,800 LE Medium aberration (mind flayer) Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect magic, low-light vision, Perception +20 Defense AC 25, touch 14, flat-footed 21 (+4 Dex, +3 natural, +2 armor, +6 shield) hp 126 (12d8+72) Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +13; +4 vs. emotions SR 26 Defensive Abilities affectless; Weakness light blindness, sun sickness Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee 2 slams +12 (1d8+4 plus pull), tentacles +10 (4d4+2 plus grab) or masterwork heavy mace +13/+8 (1d8+6), 2 slams +10 (1d8+2 plus pull), tentacles +10 (4d4+2) Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. for slam) Special Attacks mind blast, pith (tentacles), pull (slam, 5 ft.) Spell-like Abilities CL 12th, concentration +18 (+22 casting defensively) Constant—detect magic, mental barrier II At will—charm monster (DC 20), detect thoughts (DC 18), dimension door, levitate, mind thrust III (DC 19), suggestion (DC 19) 3/day—confusion (DC 20), dominate person (DC 21), fly, plane shift (DC 21), telekinesis (DC 21) 1/day—astral projection, feeblemind (DC 21), scrying (DC 20), true seeing Statistics Str 18, Dex 18, Con 22, Int 23, Wis 21, Cha 23 Base Atk +8; CMB +12 (+16 grapple); CMD 30 Feats Combat Casting,Combat Reflexes, Defensive Combat Training, Improved Initiative, Magical Aptitude, Multiattack Skills Bluff +18, Diplomacy +18, Fly +19, Intimidate +21, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, planes) +21, Perception +20, Sense Motive +17, Spellcraft +25, Stealth +19, Use Magic Device +22; Racial Modifiers +4 Knowledge (all) Languages Aklo, Common, Elven, Qualith, Undercommon, telepathy 200 ft. SQ endless knowledge Ecology Environment underground Organization solitary, circle (1 plus 5-12 illithids) or colony (1-20 plus 10 illithids per ulitharid plus 1 elder brain) Treasure double standard (masterwork heavy mace, masterwork leather armor, other treasure) Special Abilities Endless Knowledge (Ex) All Knowledge skills are class skills for an ulitharid. Mind Blast (Su) As a standard action, an ulitharid can create a 60 foot cone of mental energy. All creatures in the area must succeed a DC 22 Will save or be stunned for 3d4 rounds. A creature that is stunned may attempt to recover from this condition as a full-round action with an additional DC 22 Will save. A creature that fails its save cannot use its skill ranks, spells, activated feats and abilities for 1 minute after recovering from the stunning effect, as per the mental block spell.  A creature suffering from a mental block can remove it if it succeeds a DC 22 Will save on its turn as a swift action. Mind flayers are immune to the effects of a mind blast. An ulitharid can use a mind blast at will, but must wait 1d4 rounds between uses. This is a mind-influencing effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Tentacles (Ex) An ulitharid’s long tentacles are treated as slam attacks, and its four smaller tentacles attack as a single secondary natural weapon.

Omg I love my sweet squid (proceeds to doodle its evil au where its an even worse version of the very thing it hates)