I don’t like the official origin story that illithids are transformed into brain-eating predators by some sort of brain worm. In my head canon, mind flayers have always instinctively fed on the brains of other sentient creatures. However, they could choose to eat animal brains or they could feed on colonies of brain mold, a nonsentient mold that mimics the human brain (this second part is actually from an official source but I don’t remember where); they’re just not as nutritious or tasty as human or demihuman brains.
Basically, my theory is that while mind flayers, like vampires, are naturally predators, they don’t have to be. They could choose another lifestyle, and a few do, but for the majority eating the brains of other sentient beings is easier and more pleasant than the alternative.
Also, I prefer the idea of illithids being creatures from the Far Realm (and possibly the spawn of the Great Old Ones) instead of mutated humans from the future because this supports the idea that they are actually enemies of the aboleth, another inhuman elder species from the Far Realm.
I think it's sort of a cool idea in itself, by all means go for it if you prefer. I happen to really like Illithids as monsters (only second to Rakshasa, probably) and I like the consistency of the lore about them. To be honest, I also liked the link to the Far Realm, and I'm not sure where the "mutated humans from the future" idea comes from, but maybe I have missed a publication about them (or is it a slightly deformed version of Volo's "they went into thr future to avoid the Gith" ?)
My only hiccup is about their feeding regime. I already don't like too much the "vampires can be nice if they feed on human blood", it smacks too much of Twilight for my taste, but would you do the same for mind flayers ?
Anyway, to each his own, and if your tastes run in this direction, I'm sure you will create a great game around them.
Thank you! I actually like Twilight, so... lol
I only heard the thing about the future on here, and I never read Volo’s Guide, so it might actually be a distorted reference. I’m not sure.
What do you know about Rakshasas? They sound really cool, but I know nothing about them.
The generic "brain feeder" thing IIRC is original AD&D monster as written. There was an old Dragon Magazine article that posited the relationship between Illithids and other humanoid races was more parasitic (the brain worm thing). Then with 2E came the Illithiad as well as a three module arc about an Illithid invasion and defeat. There was a "good" Illithid within that arc, or rather someone who had been turned into an Illithid but somehow "resisted" the general Illithid parasitic program and tried to aid in the the Illithid downfall. I don't know if in those books Illithids came from humanity, but rather I think humanity and other humanoid races came out Illithid work that produced the Gith. Of course you have a chicken-egg thing, if you have a parasitic race that ultimately created the beings the Illithid use as prey and reproduction, what did they do before that moment? Time travel (which I've also heard associated with the Illithid) either clears or muddles that depending on whether you can accept a paradox as a central tenet to life in your game's universe.
No one's going to stop you from having good/twilightesque Illithids, but the way I play them is as something utterly alien, the Far Realm being literally beyond the planar structure that is usually the "universe" of D&D. That said, the Lovecraft "cosmic horror" bent I go to when I go to the Far Realm has been reworked for "cute" (Carl Chthulu from Little Gloomy) or at least mutually sympathetic with "humanity" or "humanoidity" (Hellboy). If you want "good" Illithids, the Ood from Doctor Who are worth looking at too for characterization of a powerful psychic race (with I think a not unintentional physical resemblance).
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
The generic "brain feeder" thing IIRC is original AD&D monster as written. There was an old Dragon Magazine article that posited the relationship between Illithids and other humanoid races was more parasitic (the brain worm thing).
Note that this does not make men out of illithids, it just means that men are gestating meatbags... :D
Right, I mean the reproductive or generative process is pretty explicit, so to speak, in the cinematics found online advertising the Forgotten Realms cannon Baldur's Gate 3 game.
When I was talking about the chicken and the egg thing regarding the story that Illithids created humanoids as vessels to use for their parasitic breeding, I was saying it begged the question as to how the Illithids thrived before that moment. I want to say there's a sort of time travel loop paradox in "official" or "officially promoted" (like Dragon magazine) game cannon, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have a more benevolent faction of Illithids engaged in more harmonious psychic relations with sentience (whether they created it or not).
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
kay. you don't have to use the official lore for anything. If you're the DM, you can just... use your own lore, congratulations. I also want to point out that the "mutated humans from the future" is still a theory, it isn't official confirmed canon either.
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
This is also why I said "To each his own", my girlfriend likes twilight as well, it's just that it clashes against my classical Dracula education, just as the latter clashes against a lot of good friends like Anne Rice and Vampire the Masquerade, which I find a bit too emo for my taste. :D
I only heard the thing about the future on here, and I never read Volo’s Guide, so it might actually be a distorted reference. I’m not sure.
OK, what Volo says is that : "A few skeptics suggest that the entire narrative of the gith victory rings false. How could a slave race overpower the mind flayers? Where are the signs of this great struggle? Perhaps the gith didn’t actually win. Perhaps, instead, the mind flayers moved themselves and their works into the future to avoid being overrun. That theory would explain the mind flayers’ disappearance and the absence of any ruins from their empire."
But if you plan on running Illithid, I would definitely advise reading Volo.
What do you know about Rakshasas? They sound really cool, but I know nothing about them.
Rakshasa are cool, been in love with them ever since AD&D1, and my players are stressed as soon as they smell a pipe being smoked. They are supposed to be the demons of India, spirits of evil in the flesh, master manipulators, masters of illusions, deadly assassins, and very resistant to magic. What I like about them is that they are Lawful Evil, so you can make deal with them (at your own peril of course). The 5e version is not too bad, but I really liked the extra types that were introduced in 3e.
I ran a complete India themed campaign a long time ago which was a sort of retelling of the Ramayana where the main adversary was Ravanna, the king of the Rakshasa. And also they featured prominently in my biggest campaign ever, with the players even visiting the Rakshasa court for a long spell of deadly intrigue. :D
I definitely will read Volo before I run any illithids. And I like the utterly alien being from the Far Realm concept. I would make Twilight illithids few and far between (maybe even unique).
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
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I don’t like the official origin story that illithids are transformed into brain-eating predators by some sort of brain worm. In my head canon, mind flayers have always instinctively fed on the brains of other sentient creatures. However, they could choose to eat animal brains or they could feed on colonies of brain mold, a nonsentient mold that mimics the human brain (this second part is actually from an official source but I don’t remember where); they’re just not as nutritious or tasty as human or demihuman brains.
Basically, my theory is that while mind flayers, like vampires, are naturally predators, they don’t have to be. They could choose another lifestyle, and a few do, but for the majority eating the brains of other sentient beings is easier and more pleasant than the alternative.
Also, I prefer the idea of illithids being creatures from the Far Realm (and possibly the spawn of the Great Old Ones) instead of mutated humans from the future because this supports the idea that they are actually enemies of the aboleth, another inhuman elder species from the Far Realm.
Please let me know what you think.
Thank you! I actually like Twilight, so... lol
I only heard the thing about the future on here, and I never read Volo’s Guide, so it might actually be a distorted reference. I’m not sure.
What do you know about Rakshasas? They sound really cool, but I know nothing about them.
The generic "brain feeder" thing IIRC is original AD&D monster as written. There was an old Dragon Magazine article that posited the relationship between Illithids and other humanoid races was more parasitic (the brain worm thing). Then with 2E came the Illithiad as well as a three module arc about an Illithid invasion and defeat. There was a "good" Illithid within that arc, or rather someone who had been turned into an Illithid but somehow "resisted" the general Illithid parasitic program and tried to aid in the the Illithid downfall. I don't know if in those books Illithids came from humanity, but rather I think humanity and other humanoid races came out Illithid work that produced the Gith. Of course you have a chicken-egg thing, if you have a parasitic race that ultimately created the beings the Illithid use as prey and reproduction, what did they do before that moment? Time travel (which I've also heard associated with the Illithid) either clears or muddles that depending on whether you can accept a paradox as a central tenet to life in your game's universe.
No one's going to stop you from having good/twilightesque Illithids, but the way I play them is as something utterly alien, the Far Realm being literally beyond the planar structure that is usually the "universe" of D&D. That said, the Lovecraft "cosmic horror" bent I go to when I go to the Far Realm has been reworked for "cute" (Carl Chthulu from Little Gloomy) or at least mutually sympathetic with "humanity" or "humanoidity" (Hellboy). If you want "good" Illithids, the Ood from Doctor Who are worth looking at too for characterization of a powerful psychic race (with I think a not unintentional physical resemblance).
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Right, I mean the reproductive or generative process is pretty explicit, so to speak, in the cinematics found online advertising the Forgotten Realms cannon Baldur's Gate 3 game.
When I was talking about the chicken and the egg thing regarding the story that Illithids created humanoids as vessels to use for their parasitic breeding, I was saying it begged the question as to how the Illithids thrived before that moment. I want to say there's a sort of time travel loop paradox in "official" or "officially promoted" (like Dragon magazine) game cannon, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have a more benevolent faction of Illithids engaged in more harmonious psychic relations with sentience (whether they created it or not).
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
kay. you don't have to use the official lore for anything. If you're the DM, you can just... use your own lore, congratulations. I also want to point out that the "mutated humans from the future" is still a theory, it isn't official confirmed canon either.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Darn. I like all those things precisely BECAUSE they’re a little emo lol.
Are you familiar with Arijani the rakshasa lord from Ravenloft?
I definitely will read Volo before I run any illithids. And I like the utterly alien being from the Far Realm concept. I would make Twilight illithids few and far between (maybe even unique).
My (not yet eaten) brain says that there's a mention somewhere
werewhere Illithids go off-script and break from an Elder Brain colony.D&D is pretty open to exceptions.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.