Monsters: The Mind Flayer

A super intelligent mind power wielding humanoid not-octopi, also known as the Mind Flayer (or Illithid), I am not a fan, but why?

They have a great look. They are a thin frail humanoid with four tentacle octopus-like head and a lamprey mouth. They have these beady (or sometime large bulbous depending on the artwork) colorless eyes. Their skin is purple-grey and slimy. Yet they still wear crazy robes. They have a crazy alien appearance and also a sense of style. I can get behind that.

Their name does sound badass. That is a reason to want to use them, am I right?!

They possess super intelligence. They have all manner of mind powers. They are the Bond villains of the D&D universe. Another bonus to use them, am I right?!

There are multiple variations of the Mind Flayer; Alhoon the Lich version (or Illithilich if you are so inclined), Ulitharid the biggest and best of the group they have 6 tentacles, and the Vampric Illithid another undead version but with vampire abilities. Then there are all their little brain tadpoles, elder brain leaders, aberrations and such. There is a lot of Mind Flayer associated creatures out there. Wait….this is really kind of annoying.

They keep a stable or army of mind controlled thralls. They eat the brains of their victims. Hell, they even do this by latching onto a victim’s head with their face tentacles and then using them to pull out their victim’s brain. That is just so cool and gross!  Once again, just some great stuff here.

Then why are you not using them Ian?

First, is because they used to have all this psionic power crap back when I first started playing. I didn’t have the time, money or want to dive into another manual about psionic powers to use the mind flayer properly. Plus I was and still am a guy who avoids psy powers both as DM and player. I always found it a pain to use them or even want to use them. Without creepy mind powers what is the point of a mind flayer?

They have the Underdark stigmata. The late 90’s, for me, was a world of the Underdark. I read too many Drizzt novels. One gaming group I ran with had a lot of previous Underdark adventures and I was wrapped up in the fallout from that. I got burnt out on the world of the Mind Flayer/ Drow very quickly. Hell, even to this day I rarely use Drow and have still never sent a party into the world of the Underdark. I just have no want to deal with the dark under world of the Mind Flayer and their lairs.

If and when a few people get to grips with a mind flayer it is basically over. They are not really melee capable. This is another reason I avoid them. There are just so many villain creatures that fill this role better than a mind flayer. I mean I could use a beholder, dragon, some demon or a vampire lord. All four of these guys (right off the top of my head) are ugly if in melee and can have the whole stable of minions to deal with too. They can do the same job as a mind flayer and put up a good fight when cornered. The Mind Flayer is just outclassed as a boss monster.

Yes, I know the Mind Flayer is too smart and would never get cornered. BLERG! That whole smartest guy in the room act is just garbage. The mind flayer is a mind reader and so super smart, yet they eventually get cut down by every adventuring party that faces them. Wouldn’t they always just flee? Why would they ever get killed by an adventuring party? I mean with the whole mind reading and all the other powers, why fight? They could just mind wipe the party and stay hidden. They could mind control to get them to go somewhere else. Hell, with the ability to plane shift, why would they ever stick around when they can disappear to anywhere else? That is another reason I never use them. Their creepy mind powers (and making them constantly run away) can be too overpowered and annoying.

A final minor quibble, their back story is just drek. They come from another dimension. Nope! They come from space. Nope! They come from the Far Realm. Nope! They travelled 2000 years into the past from space. Nope! It is the Far Realm again. Just stop it. Pick a damn backstory already! This is just garbage to change it with various editions. A minor quibble I know.

Trying to make Mind Flayers sexy?
Just sp wrong!
Bad internet!
Bad!

The Mind Flayer. It sure looks, sounds and dresses like a Flash Gordon villain but I still don’t use them. They are too smart for their own good. They reek of the Underdark. They can’t really fight. There are better monsters that fill the army of minions/thrall better than they do. Plus psionic powers, even dumbed down, are still something I don’t deal with in D&D. Save that stuff for the Sci-Fi RPGs and keep it out of my fantasy games!

Next up Gnolls and Hobgoblins, the humanoids I can never find a place for.