Illithid
Contents
Stats:
| Strength | Intelligence | Wisdom | Dexterity | Constitution | Alignments | Size | Vulnerabilities | Resistances | Immunities | Extra |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 25 | 23 | 18 | 17 | Evil | Medium | Light | Lightning, Mental | Cone of Force, Leech, Shock |
Available Classes:
Recommended:
These are available upon creation.
Battlemage, Cleric, Invoker, Monk, Necromancer, Shaman,
Not Recommended:
These are not available upon creation, but can be converted to at any guildmaster by using the Guild command.
Assassin, Bard, Berserker, Blademaster, Dark-Knight, Ranger, Thief, Warrior
Not Available:
These are not valid guilds, due to alignment restrictions.
History:
The illithids, those malevolent beings of the Underdark, trace their origins to a dark and enigmatic Elder Brain, hidden in the farthest reaches of the subterranean abyss. The true origins of this Elder Brain remain shrouded in mystery, and some whisper it may no longer exist, but the continued existence of the illithids hints at its presence. Throughout history, the illithids have been locked in ceaseless conflict with the drow and duergar, their subterranean neighbors. These wars have raged beneath the earth, filled with treacherous schemes and insidious plots. Yet, in recent times, a curious development has taken place. The illithids have gained a foothold in the underground city of Caelwyn, where they maintain a tenuous relationship with the drow. This minihive within Caelwyn raises questions about the changing dynamics of the Underdark, where ancient enmities may be giving way to uneasy alliances, all under the eerie influence of the illithids' psychic mastery. This newfound colony in the Plaati Hivestate adds to the intrigue surrounding the illithids, leaving the surface world and the subterranean realms alike to ponder the implications of their ever-expanding reach.
Usual Height:
Taller than the average human at 7 or 8 feet tall, though often very thin and ethereal.
Hometown:
Caelwyn, Plaati Hivestate
Religion:
The illithid were old when the world itself was young. They likely existed before, or at least near the same time the invader gods came to Aelisus, and they almost certainly preexisted the sleeper gods, Azzaron, Wendr, Halla, and Navith. This is why, as a society, the illithid worship no gods at all, although they obey the Elder Brain of each Hive as though they were gods. True to their name, Elder Brains appear as gigantic brains which lie unmoving in gigantic tanks filled with a type of amniotic fluid. They are formed from the remnants of extremely ancient illithids who died, but were so psionically powerful that their minds reanimated their brains. Elder Brains are held in extremely high reverence by the illithid, and when an illithid dies, their brains are extracted and merged within the Elder Brain, with all of their experiences, knowledge, psionic power, and personalities transferred over. Consequently, Elder Brains are unbelievably intelligent and knowledgeable creatures, and it is said that the eldest of the Elder Brains have enough power to deserve the status of godhood which the illithid all but confer upon them.
Physical Features:
Illithids are tall, thin, genderless and asexual humanoid creatures with bald, slick, octopus-like heads. Due to living in the near-total darkness of the deep Underdark, illithid are exceptionally sensitive to light; their eyes appear as nothing more than flat, shining white spheres that allows them to see almost perfectly in the dark. Each illithid has a lamprey-like mouth, surrounded by four tentacles up to two or three feet long in length which serve as secondary appendages and can be used to grip or grasp. Some exceptionally powerful or old illithids may go so far as to grow two additional tentacles, giving them a total of six tentacles.
All illithids have two more long tentacles which serve as arms; each of these long tentacles end in thin, claw-like hands. These hands can be used to grip and hold items, but are too weak and spindly to be used to wield weapons. These tentacles can also be used as a last-resort melee weapon, as they can emit shocking electrical blasts from their tips. Illithids are also known to parry physical attacks with them. The rest of the illithid body is relatively humanoid, although their flesh has a translucent, watery quality to it, due to a form of ichor flowing through their body as opposed to blood.
Illithids have many unique and powerful traits. Their bizarre physiological structure allows them to shrug off lightning-based attacks like few other races, as their ichor-like blood absorbs electrical fields. Due to their exceptional mental prowess, illithid are highly resistant to mental spells and attacks. In addition, each day they are able to project a powerful cone of mental force that damages and stuns enemies in the same room with them. In dire emergencies, they can even instinctually redirect all of their mental powers into healing their bodies, allowing them to withstand wounds which would be fatal to any other creature. This does, however, dramatically tax their physical and mental resources for some time, causing them to recuperate at greatly slowed rates.
But even the illithids have at least one weakness; they are highly vulnerable to light-based attacks. The long ages which they spent deep within the earth has rendered their skin fragile and easily seared by powerful, concentrated bursts of light.
Society:
Unlike many other evil creatures, the illithid as a society have little interest in 'taking over the world'; in their arrogance, they actually believe doing so to be beneath them. Illithids congregate almost exclusively in small, hidden communities of a few dozen to a few hundred, which are known as 'Hives'. Hives are not the mere inanimate dwellings which all other creatures live in, but living and semi-sentient entities in their own right, with organ- like walls and fleshy floors. Each Hive is ruled over by an Elder Brain which resides deep within the Cerebral Cortex of each Hive. There, hidden within its fleshy folds, the Elder Brain wields its power over everything in the Hive. Each Elder Brain is mentally interconnected with each illithid, with the connection being especially powerful within the boundaries of the Hive itself. There, the Elder Brain can pick up thoughts and implant them as easily as other creatures might speak. In turn, each Elder Brain is part of a giant, interconnected mental web which it shares with every other Elder Brain, and so each illithid is quite literally connected in a mental web with every other illithid, to varying degrees.
Relationships with Other Races:
The only true use they have for members of other races is slavery. The members of each and every other race, in turn, fear and loathe the illithid as abominations and aberrations. The duergar, in particular, harbor an unabiding grudge against them. This is not to say that the illithid cannot work with other races; they often make alliances of convenience, especially with the drow, who are one of the few races that can stomach dealing with them. But an illithid knows, with every fiber of his existence and a racial memory that stretches back multiple Cataclysms, that their race is superior to all other races, and perhaps to the gods themselves. They know themselves to be the pinnacle of evolution and intelligence. It is this unshakeable certainty of their utter superiority that makes the illithid such an 'evil' race and which makes them feel no remorse for the misery of others whatsoever. As far as the illithid are concerned, they have evolved beyond petty ideas regarding morality, and operate solely on the basis of the logic of self interest and that is very much a cold, hard, cruel, and utterly unforgiving logic.
