- Detect Sentience. The Brain Collector can sense the presence and location of any creature within 300 feet of it that has an Intelligence of 3 or higher, regardless of interposing barriers, unless the creature is protected by a mind blank spell.
- Brain Collection. The Neh-Thalggu, or brain collector, can store up to ten humanoid brains and use them to enhance its knowledge and power. The destruction of these brains causes the brain collector to lose some of its magical power. Each brain can be attacked (AC 20: 15 hit points). Destroying a single brain deals no damage to the brain collector but causes it to lose special abilities. The number of brains determines its additional special attacks. It may use each of these abilities once per day. These abilities are psionic in nature (treat as spellcasting). Its psionic ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with these attacks). Some options are passive and are active so long as the Neh-Thalggu has the appropriate number of brains. It may also maintain as many concentration spells as it has brains.
- 1-4: Mind Worm. The Neh-Thalggu targets a creature it can see. The target creature must make an Intelligence save or have disadvantage on Intelligence saving throws until the Neh-Thalggu is dead or loses this trait. The target is also slowed (as the [spell]slow[s/pell] spell). The Neh-Thalggu may use this ability once per day per brain up to four times per day.
- 5: Whispers of Madness. The Neh-Thalggu makes a ranged spell attack against a target within 100 feet that it can see; on a hit, the target takes 16 (3d8 +4) psychic damage and must pass an Intelligence (DC 17) save or become slowed (as the spell slow). If already slowed the target is paralyzed
- 6: Cast Invisibility at will.
- 7: Bend Space (passive). The Neh-Thalggu gains a reaction. If the Neh-Thalggu would be hit by an attack, it can teleport up to 15 feet. This does not provoke an opportunity attack.
- 8: Distortion Blast. All creatures in a 100-foot long line that is 5 feet wide must make an Intelligence save or take 32 (8d6 +4) psychic damage. Aberrations have advantage on this save and only take half damage.
- 9: Venomous Mind. All creatures within 5 feet of the Neh-Thalggu must make an Intelligence save or take 8 (1d8 +4) psychic damage and become confused (as the confusion spell) until the end of the neh-thalggus next turn. The creature then uses its reaction to make a single melee attack against a random adjacent creature.
- 10: Celerity (passive). The Neh-Thalggu may make its normal attacks as well as use a psionic ability or attack listed on this table.
- Cerebral Power (Recharge 6). The Neh-Thalggu uses the power of its collected brains to supercharge its magic. The brain collector can use this ability as a bonus action to cause the target of one of its spells to make any saving throws against its brain collection trait with disadvantage.
- Magic Resistance. The brain collector has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
- Strange Knowledge. A Neh-Thalggu may add its proficiency bonus to all knowledge related ability checks.
- Spellcasting. The Neh thalggu is a 13th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 17, +8 to hit with spell attacks). The Neh thalggu has following sorcerer spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): friends, infestation, mage hand, message, minor illusion, prestidigitation
1st level (4 slots): chaos bolt, mage armor, ray of sickness
2nd level (3 slots): blindness/deafness, crown of madness, phantasmal force
3rd level (3 slots): clairvoyance, hypnotic pattern
4th level (3 slots): charm monster, dimension door
5th level (2 slots): dominate person, hold monster, synaptic static
6th level (1 slots): mental prison
7th level (1 slots): etherealness
- Multiattack. The Neh-Thalgaa makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.
- Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 5) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
- Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the Neh-Thalgaa can't use one of its claw attacks on another target. However, the grappled creature automatically takes 14 (2d6 + 7) bludgeoning damage at the start of the Neh-Thalggus turn. The Neh-Thalgaa has two claws it can use to grapple a target.
- Collect Brain. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one incapacitated, stunned or paralyzed humanoid grappled by the brain collector. Hit: The target takes 55 (10d10) piercing damage. If this damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the brain collector kills the target by extracting and devouring its brain.
Description
Known also as brain collectors, the alien Neh-Thalggus hail from distant worlds, traveling the gulfs of space on immense living ships that swiftly decay when they land upon a new world, leaving behind a deadly cargo of hungry monsters. Neh-Thalggus are crablike nightmare with lamprey-like mouths, twitching eyes on its legs, and several blisters along its back that hold human brains. Some speculate that Neh-Thalggus encountered in this reality may merely be juveniles of their kind, perhaps exiled from their home worlds by greater kin until they can prove their worth on other worlds.
Brain Collectors. Neh-thalggus are carnivores, but they do not digest humanoid brains they eat, rather, these brains lodge in one of several bulbous blisters on the creatures back and help to increase its intellect. Their brain collections may be a morbid form of currency in their home realm, or the thoughts in these brains may merely be fuel for a dark apotheosis into an even more sinister mature form.
Mind Masters. Neh-thalggu masters lord it over their lesser kin by applying the drained brainpower of their victims toward mastering psychic magic and mesmerism. They may inhabit elaborate mindscapes as their lairs or may subtly influence the thoughts and senses of creatures they lure into their lair in furtherance of convoluted plots to manipulate the societies around them while they dwell in secret. Some dwell alone or with mind-controlled slaves, while others organize clusters of their own kind to spread their sinister schemes and feed their insatiable alien hunger.
Lair and Lair Actions
Brain collectors make their lair in subterranean spaces such as the rocky depths of the ocean or deep within mines and caves, often surrounded by the ruins of an ancient or fallen city. A Brain collector spends most of its existence under ground, surfacing occasionally to fest upon visitors or deranged worshipers. They typically make their lairs underneath small settlements, aquatic or land based, as to fuel their need for intelligent minds.
When fighting inside its lair, a Brain Collector can invoke the ambient magic of its mind to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Brain Collector takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:
- The Brain Collector learn the surface thoughts of any creature within its lair--what is most on its mind in that moment.
- The Brain Collector consumes one of its stored brains, using its power to embolden the psionic shields to encompass its entire body. The Brain Collector gains 2d10 temporary health.
- Using its ability to read surface thoughts, the Brain Collector predicts hostile actions towards it. As long as the Brain Collector can detect the innate thoughts of a the creature making the action, it gains +2 AC until it takes damage or until next initiative count 20.
Previous Versions
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