Favorite Monster overall
I've tried many things over the years to instill the correct level of fear in players. Zombies, Giant Spiders, Once I even tried an unstoppable boogey man like Michael Meyers. Nothing will make your PCs scream like little girls and run for it like MIND FLAYERS. It gets better if none of the party members is psionic.
Mind Flayers are the nastier relatives of Stargate's Goa'uld. They implant hosts with a parasite. The parasite completely takes over the host, effectively killing off the personality of the host. Don't forget the face tentacles.
So.. You say your players are filled with "Meh" at the prospect of Mind Flayers? There is nothing saying other creatures can't be taken over by an Illithid parasite. I haven't statted it out or anything yet, but the Underdark cavern with the Illithid Nautiloid Spelljammer ship and the Illithoid Beholder, I really hope someone springs that on their party and tells me how it went. How about an army of Illithoid dinosaurs? That sounds like fun. :-D
I wonder what would happen if Mind Flayers subdued and caught an Intellect Devourer, and implanted it with an Illithid parasite? Here's a nightmare for ya... An Illithid Sahuagin. Do you like apples? How about an Illithoid Doppleganger? And if you're going to go totally over the top? Illithoid Tarrasque! (and you thought a Tarrasqualich was gruesome)
What about a campaign where the players start as recently freed slaves on an Illithid slave planet. Are they going to wage war, or wander off in search of something else? How about combining Mind Flayers with future tech? Somewhere there is an article about Greyhawk 2000. So advance all the Spelljammer races to World War II technology levels. Now that's a game I want to play in!I wanna see Spelljammer battleships. Arcane Amplification lenses boosting a Magic Users fireball to planet killing proportions. Sounds like fun to me, yes it does.
Hey remember Daleks? or the Slayers from Krull? Illithoid attempts at an artificial body. And while we're ripping off Science Fiction, Day if the Triffids is just the organic terraforming of planet earth by Illithid advance forces. Brainwipe the populace before the invasion and look at the host bodies just waiting around... Scary ain't it.
I haven't given this a lot thought, not really No. ;-) Mind Flayers are my favorite monsters overall. I can adapt them to just about any game. Once the players figure it out, I'm smiling and it's already too late. I'm signing off for now. You guys should go out and play games.
Happy Gaming!
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