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 Illithid as a PC
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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe

USA
666 Posts

Posted - 06 Jul 2011 :  23:19:10  Show Profile Send Aryalómë a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Any idea about going on with this? I find them incredibly interesting. Does anyone know of any Illithid settlements in the Underdark?

Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 07 Jul 2011 :  00:59:33  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
It's an intriguing idea to be sure. The only thing I'd worry about is where you'd get motivation to help other beings as a typical adventurer usually does. Illithids tend to be pretty alien in their thoughts, and in how they organize societies, not to mention thinking of most other beings as "lesser" things worthy only of being food or slave labor.

Perhaps go with a unique illithid, one that is either a "throwback" or an advancement in illithid evolution, where the mutant (your character) can care about individuals, personal development, and other sentient beings. Or at least one that doesn't rely on the illithid community for safety/power, and has no need (or a limited desire) to connect to an elder hive brain.

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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
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Posted - 07 Jul 2011 :  01:30:07  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I would seek out a copy of the 2e The Illithiad tome. It has some respective info for illithid-characters that you may just find particularly useful.

As for illithid-settlements in the Underdark, there are indeed several referenced in both Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark and the 3e Underdark tome.

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Kno
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452 Posts

Posted - 07 Jul 2011 :  07:10:20  Show Profile Send Kno a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Erendriel Durothil

Any idea about going on with this? I find them incredibly interesting. Does anyone know of any Illithid settlements in the Underdark?



Oryndoll.

Illithids are NPC's, Drizztillid is not an option, instead take heritage feats and prestige classes from Lords of Madness and the psionic books.

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Ayrik
Great Reader

Canada
7966 Posts

Posted - 07 Jul 2011 :  07:39:54  Show Profile Send Ayrik a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I agree with the Illithiad, there is just no better source for information about mind flayers. Having said that, there are likely all sorts of d20/OGL products which include illegal illithid clones, especially since they're ideal (even iconic) tentacled adversaries in any Cthulhu-horror-abomination sort of D&D gaming.

Scattered details about illithids can be found in almost every module or product involving the Gith races; illithids receive a fair amount of attention in Spelljammer lore, and even some special attention in Ravenloft lore, yet they are surprisingly sparse in Planescape lore.

[/Ayrik]

Edited by - Ayrik on 07 Jul 2011 07:46:39
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 07 Jul 2011 :  08:37:33  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Arik

Having said that, there are likely all sorts of d20/OGL products which include illegal illithid clones ...
Indeed. I've discussed content from one particular tome at length, previously, during prior illithid-based discussions here at Candlekeep. The book, titled Unveiled Masters: The Essential Guide to Mind Flayers, is published by Paradigm Concepts. It takes the core concept of the mind flayer race, and runs with it into completely new and unexpected territory.

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Edited by - The Sage on 07 Jul 2011 08:38:43
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Farrel
Learned Scribe

United Kingdom
239 Posts

Posted - 07 Jul 2011 :  13:24:31  Show Profile Send Farrel a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I've always loved Illithids.

There are a couple of examples of "non-conforming" Illithids in the realms that I can think of and they have both originated in Ch'Chitl.

1) Sangalor of the Secrets (LN Mind Flayer Cleric 11 of Oghma). Detailed in City of Splendors Campaign Guide; Skullport; Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark. An outcast from Ch'Chitl.

2) Nurr'Korzahg (LN Mind Flayer Wizard 7). Detailed in Underdark. A resident of Ch'Chitl but an Illithid that has grown ever more distant from its kin. It ponders what life would be like not dominating others and eating their brains.

Edited by - Farrel on 07 Jul 2011 13:25:39
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Hawkins
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Posted - 07 Jul 2011 :  15:58:25  Show Profile  Visit Hawkins's Homepage Send Hawkins a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Also, in the Complete Psionic, there is the Flayerspawn Psychic PRC, which is a very similar (IMO) analog for Psions as the Dragon Disciple PRC is for Sorcerers. There are also Illithid Heritage feats that allow to gain many Illithid abilities and features.

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Lord Karsus
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USA
3736 Posts

Posted - 07 Jul 2011 :  17:35:37  Show Profile Send Lord Karsus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
-I'll third checking out The Ilithiad, because it doesn't get better than that.

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Fellfire
Master of Realmslore

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Posted - 08 Jul 2011 :  00:11:53  Show Profile Send Fellfire a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I toyed with the idea of a 'Flayer Monk as a PC, but decided twas better off in the realm of an NPC. Potentially broken. All of the sources already listed are great! I have them all.

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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe

USA
666 Posts

Posted - 10 Jul 2011 :  21:38:30  Show Profile Send Aryalómë a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Uhm, I want to play an Illithid that really only cares for itself, so it's not terribly an Drizzt clone. But why not an Illithid that cares about other things? There's always an exception, otherwise where would Drizzt be?

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Illithids are beautiful, in their own alien way. (not as in romanticaly beautiful, but you catch my drift)
I tend to picture Illithids as more smooth as opposed to the rougher looking older ones.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 11 Jul 2011 :  04:19:58  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Erendriel Durothil


Is it just me, or does anyone else think Illithids are beautiful, in their own alien way. (not as in romanticaly beautiful, but you catch my drift)


It's just you.

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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 11 Jul 2011 :  05:30:57  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Erendriel Durothil

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Illithids are beautiful, in their own alien way. (not as in romanticaly beautiful, but you catch my drift)
I'd consider them beautiful purely on the basis of their inherent "alien" characteristics and natures. They're certainly a wonderfully physical expression of a creature type that isn't immediately acknowledged as "terrestial" by the humanoid brain.

And I admire their forms because of that.

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Ayrik
Great Reader

Canada
7966 Posts

Posted - 12 Jul 2011 :  07:09:04  Show Profile Send Ayrik a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I like my illithids slimy, squirmy, gross, and very hungry, covered in repulsive strands of sticky ichor and unblinkingly glaring outward through sickening milky-white eyes. I want my players to experience the feel of jellyfish-like slime dripping off feverishly warm sandpaper, I want them to smell the nausea of seaweed left cooking in the sun, I want them to hear rasping wet noises as tentacles slither and wave about with no apparent purpose. The more disgustingly abhorrent, disturbingly humanlike, frighteningly alien, and hungrily intimidating the better. Imagine Davy Jones from Pirates of the Carribean, except with oversized dead-looking cataracts and his squirming tentacles wrapped around your face.

The beauty of illithids to me is similar to that of sharks, their form elegantly mirrors their function, I admire them only as perfectly refined predators instinctively capable of dangerously maleficent efficiency.

[/Ayrik]
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