I'm trying to come up with a cool story arc for my campaign, and one idea I had was an elder brain that had mutated into being able to control and communicate with dragons rather than mind flayers. Just wanted to see what you guys thought of the idea, if it is something that is even somewhat plausible .
According to Volo's Guide to Monsters, mind flayers reproduce by getting their tadpoles to eat humanoids' brains; the victim then transforms into a mind flayer over the course of a week. Occasionally, this process produces a more powerful mind flayer called an ulitharid, which then takes half the colony with it to start a new colony at least 100 miles away, where it will transform into an elder brain. Perhaps they tried to convert a dragon, got an ulitharid, and that's why and how your elder brain mutated. The PCs might even have to track down the old mind flayer colony to find out what they're up against.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I mean, I don't see how that would work as far as an illithid society goes, but I don't see why an elder brain couldn't have corrupted a dragon and its brood.
The best example of this in modern gaming is probably the lore from Warcraft (and World of Warcraft). The elder gods (basically Cthulhu and his ilk) corrupted an ancient black dragon who was a guardian of the earth.
You could just say that the elder brain slowly drove the dragon to madness and once insane she abandoned her eggs in her lair. Using the same rituals that create Mind Flayers (or more importantly 4e "Thoon Hulks") they manipulated the eggs to be dark beasts of destruction. Once they hatched, they were manipulated into doing the Brain's bidding. Perhaps the mother dragon went so insane that they were able to turn her into an illithid dragon (like a Neothelid/Dragon combination). You could convert the neothelid to have a fly/swim/burrow speed (like the dragon type you chose) for the mother dragon, and then give the baby dragons the same attacks as the mind flayer: with Tentacles replacing Bite and Mind Blast in place of their breath weapon (or have their breath weapon do psychic damage instead of the normal damage type and add the 1 minute stun).
Linked below is the Thoon Hulk entry from the 4th Edition Monsters Manual 3. It's about manipulating themselves to create stronger more obedient forces, but could easily be an explanation for how the dragon was manipulated/changed:
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
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Hello everyone,
I'm trying to come up with a cool story arc for my campaign, and one idea I had was an elder brain that had mutated into being able to control and communicate with dragons rather than mind flayers. Just wanted to see what you guys thought of the idea, if it is something that is even somewhat plausible .
Thanks in advance!
it's a good idea bro ;) . I like
According to Volo's Guide to Monsters, mind flayers reproduce by getting their tadpoles to eat humanoids' brains; the victim then transforms into a mind flayer over the course of a week. Occasionally, this process produces a more powerful mind flayer called an ulitharid, which then takes half the colony with it to start a new colony at least 100 miles away, where it will transform into an elder brain. Perhaps they tried to convert a dragon, got an ulitharid, and that's why and how your elder brain mutated. The PCs might even have to track down the old mind flayer colony to find out what they're up against.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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I mean, I don't see how that would work as far as an illithid society goes, but I don't see why an elder brain couldn't have corrupted a dragon and its brood.
The best example of this in modern gaming is probably the lore from Warcraft (and World of Warcraft). The elder gods (basically Cthulhu and his ilk) corrupted an ancient black dragon who was a guardian of the earth.
http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Deathwing
You could just say that the elder brain slowly drove the dragon to madness and once insane she abandoned her eggs in her lair. Using the same rituals that create Mind Flayers (or more importantly 4e "Thoon Hulks") they manipulated the eggs to be dark beasts of destruction. Once they hatched, they were manipulated into doing the Brain's bidding. Perhaps the mother dragon went so insane that they were able to turn her into an illithid dragon (like a Neothelid/Dragon combination). You could convert the neothelid to have a fly/swim/burrow speed (like the dragon type you chose) for the mother dragon, and then give the baby dragons the same attacks as the mind flayer: with Tentacles replacing Bite and Mind Blast in place of their breath weapon (or have their breath weapon do psychic damage instead of the normal damage type and add the 1 minute stun).
Linked below is the Thoon Hulk entry from the 4th Edition Monsters Manual 3. It's about manipulating themselves to create stronger more obedient forces, but could easily be an explanation for how the dragon was manipulated/changed:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5YGMVp0ERYhZm5wUkVnZGVaWmc
Click Here to Download my Lancer Class w/ Dragoon and Legionnaire Archetypes via DM's Guild - Pay What You Want
Click Here to Download the Mind Flayer: Thoon Hulk converted from 4e via DM's Guild
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.