Aklitan

Psychic Link. If Aklitan fails a saving throw, Aklitan can choose to sacrifice one of their connected allies to succeed instead. The ally immediately dies as Aklitan rips the life force out of them to protect themself. 

Regeneration. If Aklitan, has less than full hit points, they regain 15 Hit Points at the start of each of its turns. This ability persists even if Aklitan falls unconscious. This ability can only be disabled by an ability that prevents Aklitan from drawing energy from the Dreaming Dark.

Multiattack. The mind flayer makes two Arcane Tentacles attacks.

Arcane Tentacles. Melee or Ranged Attack Roll: +9, reach 5 ft. or range 120 ft. Hit: 21 (3d10 + 5) Psychic damage, and the mind flayer can teleport the target up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space the mind flayer can see on a surface or liquid large enough to support the target. If this damage reduces the target to 0 Hit Points, the mind flayer kills it and magically devours its brain.

Mind Burst (Recharge 5–6). Intelligence Saving Throw: DC 17, each creature in a 40-foot Emanation originating from the mind flayer. Failure: 32 (6d8 + 5) Psychic damage, and the target has the Dazed condition until the end of the mind flayer’s next turn. Success: Half damage only.

A dazed creature can only do one of the following things on their turn: move, use an action, or use a bonus action.

Spellcasting. The mind flayer casts one of the following spells, requiring no spell components and using Intelligence as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 17):

At Will: Detect Magic, Detect Thoughts, Disguise Self, Mage Hand (the hand is Invisible)
1/Day Each: Clairvoyance, Dimension Door, Fireball (level 5 version), Lightning Bolt (level 5 version), Sending

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Shield (2/Day). The mind flayer casts Shield in response to that spell’s trigger, using the same spellcasting ability as Spellcasting.

Villain Actions

Aklitan has three villain actions. He can take each action once during an encounter after an enemy’s turn. He can take these actions in any order but can use only one per round.

Action 1: Mindblind. Each enemy Aklitan can see within 60 feet of him must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature can’t see creatures other than Aklitan until the end of their next turn.

Action 2: Was I Ever Here? Aklitan becomes invisible, teleports 60 feet to an unoccupied space he can see, and can take the Hide action. At the same time, an illusory psionic image of Aklitan appears in the space he left, gesturing, speaking, and behaving as he chooses (no action required). Creatures within 60 feet of the illusion may make a DC 22 Perception check. Success means they can tell the illusion is fake. A creature who touches the image for the first time on a turn or makes a melee attack against it must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) psychic damage. Aklitan’s invisibility ends and his image disappears at the end of his next turn.

Action 3: Psychic Pulse. Aklitan channels a pulse of telekinetic energy to scour and harry their foes. Each enemy within 60 feet of Aklitan must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or take 18 (4d8) force damage and be moved up to 30 feet in any direction.