Homebrew Ilithibrains Species Details

Ilithibrains are human-born anomalies created by a failed ceremorphosis that was forcibly altered through warped mana. The ritual interrupts the transformation and causes the host to become immaculately pregnant. The child is not “half-illithid” in the usual sense, but rather the result of the tadpole’s attempted rewrite of a human body, condensed into a developing mind and nervous system.

The outcome is always unnerving in the same way, an Ilithibrain is born looking exactly like someone that already existed.

• If the child is female, she is an exact clone of her mother at birth.
• If the child is male, he is an exact clone of his maternal grandfather at birth.

Ilithibrains bleed purple, tend to develop violet or amethyst irises, and carry a quiet, constant “pressure” behind their thoughts that psionically sensitive folk can feel in the same way they feel a storm coming.

Ilithibrain Traits

Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium (about 4–7 feet tall) or Small (about 2–4 feet tall), chosen when you select this species
Speed: 30 feet
Life Span: Ilithibrains mature at the same rate as humans. Many live human-length lives, but some show strange variance: a few age slowly after adolescence, while others burn bright and short.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.
Aberrant Cognition: You gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Arcana, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Religion, or Survival.
Telepathic Whisper: You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see within 60 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic meaning, but the creature must understand at least one language. A creature can reply to you telepathically only if it shares a language with you.
Thought Probe: You can cast Detect Thoughts without requiring verbal, somatic, or material components. Once you cast it this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a Long Rest.
Your spellcasting ability for this spell is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (choose when you select this species). If you later gain spell slots, you can also cast Detect Thoughts using those spell slots.
Psionic Aptitude: If your campaign uses the Optional Leveling Feat rule in Forgossa’s Map of Telorn, you are considered an eligible candidate for the Psion option. (You still must follow whatever restrictions that rule uses; this trait simply flags Ilithibrains as valid for it.)

As a Ilithibrain, you have these special traits.

Psionic Aptitude

If your campaign uses the Optional Leveling Feat rule in Forgossa’s Map of Telorn, you are considered an eligible candidate for the Psion option.

Aberrant Cognition

You gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Arcana, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Religion, or Survival.

Telepathic Whisper

You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see within 60 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic meaning, but the creature must understand at least one language. A creature can reply to you telepathically only if it shares a language with you.

Thought Probe

You can cast Detect Thoughts without requiring verbal, somatic, or material components. Once you cast it this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a Long Rest.

Your spellcasting ability for this spell is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (choose when you select this species). If you later gain spell slots, you can also cast Detect Thoughts using those spell slots.