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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12020 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Mar 2021 : 01:00:39
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So, my wife recently had me binge iZombie with her... which was goofy (I only half paid attention), but it had some interesting bits. One was the idea (somewhat like greater doppelgangers mind you) of them being able to absorb the identity of someone by killing them. Something occurred to me "what if an elder brain could overwrite the memories of the illithids attached to become someone they ate?". To my knowledge, we've never seen this though (maybe they did do it somewhere?). So, then I thought... is there any special elder brains out there?
It occurred to me that there's two that I know of. One is Oryndoll, City of Loretakers, which I recalled from the other day. The other was Ioulaum becoming an undead elder brain known as the Oracle of Ellyn'taal.
So, this Oracle elder brain apparently killed most of his mind flayers, and they still reside near him as ghosts of a sort. It occurred to me then, what if he can "replace" or "possess" these illithid ghosts with his own knowledge. What if these ghost illithids can "possess" other illithids and consume brains in order to bring new knowledge to Ioulaum? What if he can produce new tadpoles that can create some kind of illithid zombie or ceremorph zombie that can crave brains and deliver their memories to him? Might he be able to "overwrite" these zombies to give them the skills of a lich?
Just curious has anything even remotely like this ever been discussed in relation to illithids? It kind of reminds me of that old tv show "dollhouse" in which women were being "overwritten" with the skills needed to accomplish missions by some big computer.
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Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3746 Posts |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12020 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2021 : 12:44:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
-Never watched the show, so basically something akin to Agent Smith in The Matrix?
Yes, that's a good comparison. Basically, eat the brains of someone, get "flashes" of their memories that come as you interact with things.
Mechanically, it probably shouldn't be something where "hey, we ate the brain of a 17th lvl wizard so now everyone can be that". But, perhaps the elder brain can push knowledge of a spell into an illithid ghost's head. Perhaps he can download knowledge of a skill such that a person can act as though they had proficiency. Perhaps they have a chance of "recalling" facts that they have absolutely no chance of being able to do.
Not sure what mechanically to do with it. It might be somewhat similar to the spellpool idea that was used with Waterdeep's wizard's guild back in 3e. However, I know they've hinted around this idea in the past, but not sure if they've ever applied any kind of mechanism to it. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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The Arcanamach
Master of Realmslore
1882 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2021 : 17:20:04
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| Consider this idea stolen. Since it would entirely be a DM thing, I see no reason not to have the full (or near full) personality and abilities of a consumed brain transferred into another mind, illithid or otherwise (so, yes, 17th-level mages and all that goes with it). I like the idea of the group vanquishing an enemy and having to beat a hasty retreat from an illithid sanctum only to find the enemy returned in the form of a mind flayer with an upgrade in power. |
I have a dream that one day, all game worlds will exist as one. |
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TBeholder
Great Reader
2475 Posts |
Posted - 22 Mar 2021 : 23:25:11
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There was an illithid legend of "The Adversary". A ceremorph that gone horribly (for the illithids) wrong.
They often have tiny fragments of memories and personality retained, but this time the larva was overwhelmed by its host's mind, who continued to secretly live as an illithid this way.
And being very... unhappy about the incident, sabotaged them in numerous sneaky ways.
Apparently it actually existed, and pulled some tricks in Illithiad.
Psionic circuitry is a great tool for shenanigans that must not be traced back to you...
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People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch |
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iZombie as Oracle of Ellyn'taal/ Ioulaum
