Large Aberration, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 14 breastplate
Hit Points 133 (14d10 + 56)
Speed 40 ft.
STR
19 (+4)
DEX
10 (+0)
CON
18 (+4)
INT
13 (+1)
WIS
12 (+1)
CHA
13 (+1)
Saving Throws INT +5, WIS +5, CHA +5
Skills Athletics +12, Insight +5, Perception +9, Stealth +4
Senses Darkvision 120 ft., Passive Perception 19
Languages Deep Speech, Giant, Telepathy 120 ft., Undercommon
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +4

Spellcasting. The cephalid's innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 13). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:

At will: detect thoughts, levitate, thunderwave (force damage)
1/day each: dominate monster, plane shift (self only), telekinesis 

Magic Resistance. The cephalod has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 26 (4d10 + 4) psychic damage. If the target is Large or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 16) and must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence saving throw or become stunned until the grapple ends.

Extract Brain. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one incapacitated humanoid or giant grappled by the cephalid. Hit: 82 (15d10) piercing damage. If this damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the cephalid kills the target by extracting and devouring its brain. 

Ego Pulse (Recharge 5-6). The cephalid magically emits psychic energy in a 30 ft. radius sphere centered on itself. Each creature of the cephalid's choice in the area must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence saving throw or take 27 (4d12+1) psychic damage and become stunned for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Description

When an ogre has a mind flayer tadpole implanted in its brain, due to the genetic differences between typical host creatures and the brains of ogres, the transformation into an illithid is warped. If a weak tadpole is implanted, the process of ceremorphosis will often go awry, causing the death of both creatures involved in the metamorphosis. To get this difficult transformation to take place, the tadpole often has to be the strongest and healthiest of the brine pool, or complications are almost bound to occur. In the best of scenarios, the ogre is transformed into a towering muscular mind flayer with a purple ogre-ish body from its shoulders to its feet, with slight differences anatomical differences. This is an ogre cephalid. 

Like all mind flayers, an ogre cephalid gains telepathy and other psionic abilities, as well as the need to devour brains. Due to the structure of an ogre's brain, a mind flayer tadpole cannot properly develop in mental capacity, giving it slight variations in psychic power, and causing the cephalid to be significantly lacking in mental capacity when compared to other illithids, while still being very mentally adept compared to normal ogres and humanoid commoners. 

The brutish cephalid is noticeably taller than the average ogre, as the process of transforming into a mind flayer straightens out its spine, causing its posture to become far better than an ogre's. With long and muscular tentacles, a cephalid uses its psychic powers to stun enemies and devour the brains of giants and humanoids alike. Most of them prefer the brains of fellow ogres, but individual tastes may differ from cephalid to cephalid.

Due to their somewhat lesser mental capacity and the necessity for a strong and healthy illithid causes cephalids to be fairly rare in mind flayer colonies, and only when ogres are easily accessible. Very rarely does a mind flayer colony will go out of their way to capture an ogre to transform into a cephalid. Prowess for psionic powers is revered in mind flayer colonies, so cephalids are looked down on as "weaklings," even if their physical might is far greater than a typical illithid's. When a mind flayer colony does possess one or more cephalids, they are often used for moving  heavy objects and other actions that require more heavy lifting than intellectual capabilities.

Because of their treatment in the societal structure of mind flayer colonies, cephalids are more likely than the average mind flayer to abandon the colony. They are often more aligned with their personal goals than the "greater good" of the colony, causing them to often leave the colony when they have the opportunity. When doing so, they occasionally will leave to an ogre tribe and turn them into their thralls and devour all the brains it needs to survive, or attack a nearby humanoid settlement to feed, inevitably being taken down by adventurers, a dragon, or by the very colony that they fled. 

No matter how oppressed they are in mind flayer colonies or how horrified ogres and humanoids are when they come across this frightening creature, cephalids are special creatures. They are a extremely uncommon, very powerful in combat, and quite useful if someone manages to befriend one. 

Monster Tags: Mind Flayer

Environment: Underdark

The_Leviathan_of_Levistus

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