But even if they do so, they've burned their action which could otherwise have been used for multiple attacks. If the elder brain fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead. Challenge 14 (11500 XP) Proficiency Bonus +5. This only targets a single creature that the dragon is already grappling. The AGD gets one Bite and two Claw attacks. [1][2], Due to their mobility, elder brain dragons often served as generals to mind flayer armies. What positional accuracy (ie, arc seconds) is necessary to view Saturn, Uranus, beyond? Feedback is desired and welcome! Still, the Green comes out a little bit ahead here as the tail attack has a longer reach (20 ft vs 15 ft) and does more damage (17 bludgeoning vs 12 psychic). If we assume that the party has some form of poison resistance, but not psychic resistance, then I think 4 points of damage is close enough to call this a draw. It can either create difficult terrain, a mini-wall of thorns, or charm one creature. The elder brain has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Typically Lawful evil Legendary Resistance (3/Day). And then there's the I can haz tadpole? If the target is a Huge or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC: 15) and takes 9 (1d8 + 5) psychic damage at the start of each of its turns until the grapple ends. The Green has a bit more HP, but the big stand-out for me is the Armor Class. The aberration regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn. Give a east one or two quick hour long session or something alike that. Cranium rat For how this might look in a campaign from the DMs/players perspective, I'll share a bit of how I've executed it thus far: The first Mindflayer the players came across was a singular rogue Mindflayer on the surface, who was fleeing the "restructuring" of his colony under a new, at that time unnamed, Elder Brain. Unfortunately, it's a 3.5e book, but still a useful reference. : The elder brain targets one incapacitated creature it can perceive with its Creature Sense trait and establishes a psychic link with that creature. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Life Support. Nevertheless, Green wins in survivability -- compellingly so, I'd say. (Note that the period of unconsciousness will usually be long enough for the party to take a long rest and get spell slots back. Tentacle. Could an ulitharid lich become an elder brain lich? Senses blindsight 120 ft., passive Perception 14. What's wrong are knee-jerk reactions like this. Sev. You can throw a powerful monster that you dont think they can defeat at a party and simply make it so they don't have to defeat it. Any creature with which the elder brain has formed a psychic link hears faint, incomprehensible whispers in the deepest recesses of its mind. If the target is a Huge or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC 15) and takes 9 (ld8 + 5) psychic damage at the start of each of its turns until the grapple ends. Having its breath as a line and not a cone is the only saving grace it has as a stat block. The elder brain is aware of the presence of creatures within 5 miles of it that have an Intelligence score of 4 or higher. The target has a flash of inspiration and gains advantage on one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes before the end of its next turn. It knows the distance and direction to each creature, as well as each one's intelligence score, but can't sense anything else about it. The target can use an action on its turn to attempt to break the psychic link, doing so with a successful DC: 18 Charisma saving throw. Official stats will be coming soon, in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, which releases on on October 17th. Boggle Would it be right to throw an Elder Brain Dragon at a 14th level party for a one shot. A creature protected by a mind blank spell, a nondetection spell, or similar magic cant be perceived in this manner. Would you ever say "eat pig" instead of "eat pork"? The elder brain dragon is terrifying as it grants mobility to a creature that is usually immobile. Assuming anyone in the party can cast wish in the first place.). In the magazine, project lead James Wyatt explained how the creature was created and previewed some of its awful abilities. Please enable JavaScript to get the best experience from this site. It is the right and obligation of every illithid to merge with the elder brain after death living in exalted mentality while guiding and shepherding its erstwhile community. The elder brain can let those creatures telepathically hear each other while connected in this way. Hit: 20 (4d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage. Its not just humanoids that have to fear the True EBD as well. Elder Brain Dragon has a lot of unique things to it compared to normal dragons. They were not constrained by the physiological limitations of having to remain within a brine pool, protected by their mind flayer servants and thralls. Thank you again for your time and have a great day! "The elder brain also takes over the dragon's breath weapon mechanism and spews a stream of brine filled with tadpoles, to begin performing ceremorphosis as it transforms the humanoids around it," Wyatt said. The elder brain can form psychic links with up to ten creatures at a time. You can try these options: [link]. The EBD's corresponding attack is Shatter Concentration. Monstrous Compendium Vol 3: Minecraft Creatures. Hit: 20 (4d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage. The elder brain ends the link, causing the creature to have disadvantage on all ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws until the end of the creatures next turn. Unusual Nature. The illithids of Bluetspur toil to save their, The God-Brains Powers and Dominion The God-, Aberrations Balhannoth Since the release of Volo's Guide to Monsters, this is now The Correct Answer. It's not them. It can also scry through the eyes of any willing (or psionically dominated) individual within its telepathic radius, although its worldview is biased towards the mental plane. Better than violating copyright at least. (And that might be mostly an advantage for DMs to not have to try and portray believable flight behaviors.) There's more than enough information to give some surface level assessments. There are detailed descriptions of the Illithid society, as well as stat blocks. However, Im a tiny bit scared that when I put it to play that it would a blood bath for my Players. The elder brain can form psychic links with up to ten creatures at a time. [1][2], They could not be frightened or charmed by magical means and were immune any form of psychic assaults. During an episode of Critical Role, the PCs battle an Illithid Elder Brain. [1], If an elder brain dragon was slain, it was possible to set free the spirit of the dragon whose body was taken over. Bite is 19 piercing + 11 psychic, Claw is 11 slashing, and Tentacle is 12 psychic. For an interesting idea, of how to use one in a . If the elder brain succeeds, the mind believes the deception for 1 hour or until evidence of the lie is presented to the target. Elder brain dragon (22) Ancient amethyst (23) Ancient dragon turtle (24) Gem greatwyrm (26) Chromatic greatwyrm (27) Metallic greatwyrm (28) Apects of Bahamut and Tiamat (30) Interestingly, it appears that the great wyrm category is divided into three -- gem, chromatic, metallic -- rather than by each dragon type. Volo's Guide to Monsters (released November 2016) includes many additional Illithid variants and related creatures. Just as other dragons could breath bursts of flame or jets of acid, elder brain dragons exhaled streams of brine filled with illithid tadpoles that easily transformed victims into new mind flayers in short time. Privacy Policy. Skill Bonuses: Deception +12, Intimidation +12, Persuasion +12Passives: Creature Sense, Innate Spellcasting (Psionics), Telepathic Hub, Magic ResistanceActions: Mind Blast, Psychic Link, Sense ThoughtsLegendary Actions: Break Concentration, Psychic Pulse, Sever Psychic LinkLair: Elder Brain Lair Actions and Regional EffectsEstimated CR: 26-28. Magic Resistance. It breaks concentration with no save and deals 19 psychic damage. One of the coolest monsters we get coming out of Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is the Elder Brain Dragon. However, when we take a look at the rest its statblock, it really only exists as a threat comparable to other Ancient Dragons, and although a campaign can be built around its current statblock as a BBEG, I just doesn't exist as the kind of threat that is implied by such a union, even by the book itself: One of the few consolations available to those who must contend with mind flayer colony is the limit of its reach, which spreads only as far as the influence of the colonys Elder Brain. The elder brains innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 18). Vision I'm excited to see this things actual stat block next month. But this small solace withers away when a colony manages to capture a dragon. (Or dying and reincarnating as a dwarf. Using the Chassis of the EBD, we strap a real Live Elderbrain on the back of it, with all the bells and whistles. An Elder Brain that has latched onto a dragon somehow? Berbalang The elder brain is aware of the presence of creatures within 5 miles of it that have an Intelligence score of 4 or higher. 2023 Wizards. Matt Mercer's Elder Brain appeared well before the publication of Volo's Guide, and thus is distinctly homebrewed. DNDWiki may use the trademarks and other intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast LLC, which is permitted under Wizards', Message | Spell Guide for D&D 5th Edition, Gnoll Hunter: Powerful Monster Guide for D&D, Giant Strider | Dungeon & Dragon Monster Guide, Summer Eladrin | 5th Edition Monster Guide for D&D. Eventually, a mind flayer thus separated from the hive turns to the path of lichdom. A druid with Anti-life shell is basically immune to everything your Elder brain dragon can do. Hi everyone, Im currently making a one shot for some friends who play with me weekly and adding a new player into the mix after I show her the basics of Dnd 5e. So in a lot of cases, the Mean Green Poison Machine is going to be doing 38 points of damage with its signature ability. This vitality allows it to remain active long after the bodily deaths of the individualmind flayerswhose brains were harvested to engender it. Moving on.). Language(s) Again, I say all this not having run an Elder Brain Dragon, so if you are somehow still reading and have run one of these, let me know how it went! Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You know what level, magic item allocation, and the fact that it's a one shot. The True EBD can quickly move from city to city, town to town without ever needing to step foot on the surface, spreading its influence and coercing humanoids into the Underdark with its Sense Thoughts ability (+12 Deception!) A quick search didn't turn up any exact stats for his Elder Brain, only a meager collection from the third party critical role stats site which has the following information: The Out of the Abyss Module makes reference to an Elder brain named Cyrog, and the D+ App will make have a story about Orcus and Cyrog at some point. The Elder Brain has 550 (20d12 + 420) PSPs and can use the following psionic powers, mental attacks and mental defenses: Telepathic Hub. Psychic Link. Darkling. Skill Bonuses: Deception +12, Intimidation +12, Persuasion +12. Search by name on the left, click monster name to display on the right. and our Spellcasting (Psionics): The elder brain casts one of the following spells, requiring no spell components and using Intelligence as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 18): 1/day each: dominate monster, plane shift (self only). EBD wins. Elder brains sense the world via an innate telepathy with a radius of up to 5 miles (in the oldest specimens). but as you're just pointing to it as an example of how there's no official, only homebrew stats, probably there isn't much more to say about the link itself. Blindsight up to 120ft (37m) Dungeons & Dragons Reveals Its Grossest Dragons Yet, Biggest Video Games Releasing in May 2023, GTA Online Update May Be Hiding GTA 6 Tease, Steam Indie Game Has Triple the Number of Active Players of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Xbox Live Gold Subscribers Get First Free Game of May, Pokemon Go Fest 2023 Might Bring Back Extremely Rare Mythical Pokemon, Unreleased Tetris Game Footage Leaks Online, Pokemon Horizons Synopsis Teases Roy's First Mission, Star Wars Games Get Big Discounts on Nintendo Switch. Somewhat fitting, I suppose. The tail attack does less damage than bite or claw, and the Green can't use it as part of a multiattack, so it only makes sense as an extra attack to do as a legendary action -- and the EBD can make a tentacle attack as a legendary action. Elder brains emit psychic energy magically. Is this a creature with an official 5e stat block, or something houseruled? 5e That said, it's not a big advantage IMO. So my 14th-level party are currently on a mind flayer nautiloid ship and have just killed some filthy illithid and their eladrin thralls. report. All other mindflayers would be seen as nothing more than more extentions to the might of the True EBD, and all Elderbrains nothing more than an obstacle in the way. This includes stats, backstory, and other pertinent information around dragons players already know about, as well as on new creatures. From its pool, an, Mind Flayers Deep in the Underdark, a githyanki vanguard force attacked a large colony of mind flayers controlled by an, about its own future has forced Extremiton to hold off on transforming into an, -willed individuals of the clan survived this brutal campaign. The elder brain dragon is even scarier. The, this manner. Then smack them upside the dice with this horror. An elder brain dragon spewing forth brine. Legendary Resistance(4/Day). When a creature is within 60 feet of the elder brain, the creature must make a DC 18 Intelligence saving throw or it will be stunned for one minute and receive 32 (5d10+5) psychic damage. It also extends its tentacles into the dragon's brain to take control of its body. Not me planning to throw this at a 9th level party. Until the psychic link ends, the elder brain can perceive everything the target senses. The elder brain targets a creature with which it has a psychic link. "It really is the breath weapon of a dragon with an antimagic cone of a beholdertwo great tastes that taste great together.". 17 seems low for a CR 22 creature, so I checked around the few others in the source books I have. It scrawls upon the canvas of the creatures minds, rewriting their thoughts and authoring their dreams. Elder Brain Dragon ( pointer) [1] Gargantuan Aberration ( Mind Flayers ), Lawful Evil Armor Class: 17 Hit Point s: 350 Speed: Sense s: passive Perception Language s: Deep Speech, Draconic, telepathy 5 miles Challenge: 22 (41,000 xp) Proficiency Bonus (PB): +7 Features Legendary Resistance (4/Day). The damage is lower -- 55 instead of 77 -- but it's psychic damage, which is much less likely to be resisted. The official Elder Brain description can be found on pages 173 and 174 of Volo's Guide and includes lair actions, regional effects, a full stat block, and lore on the nature of the Elder Brain. 14th level characters can be quite complex, learning curve for figuring out exactly what you're doing probably exceeds the duration of a one-shot for even an experienced player let alone a new one. The sheer danger of the Elder Brain lies in the chaos and disruption that can be caused by its Creature Sense, Psychic Link, and Sense Thoughts abilities. More dragons are 60. The target and enemies of the elder brain within 30 feet of target take 10 (3d6) psychic damage. Its unique capability to be motile with its disruptive abilities like Sense Thoughts and Psychic Link, paired with its brutal and devastatingly deadly stat block as a dragon allows it to stand apart from other campaign level threats, which often resort to the ability to cause catastrophic destruction, or are just Demons/Devils - often too far removed from the Prime Material to have such a direct, hands on threat. (Edit for minor formatting, and to strike-out maze from the list of spells that LR could help with, because maze doesn't grant a saving throw. The creature also takes 2 (ld4) psychic damage per level of the spell. The elder brain breaks the creatures concentration on a spell it has cast. Flight This psychic detritus consists of the elder brain's stray thoughts commingled with those of other creatures to which it is linked. Once it transports itself in this way, an elder brain loses its anchor to the prime and becomes trapped on the Astral Plane a rogue creature without ties to its community. We discuss the mastermind of monsters, the Elder Brain. Related: Fizban's Treasury Of Dragons: Best New D&D Spells What are the consequences for an illithid rejecting his brain diet? Psychic Link: The elder brain targets one incapacitated creature it senses with its Creature Sense trait and establishes a psychic link with the target. Categories: 5e. On the dragon: CR 22 for a 14th level party isn't a big deal, and it's a one-shot, nothing wrong with a TPK as long as it's fun. The elder brain dragon is even scarier. The psychic link also ends if the target and the elder brain are more than 5 miles apart, with no consequences to the target. rev2023.4.21.43403. That copy-paste was done without following the. Fizban's Elder Brain Dragon for Dungeons and Dragons 4,049 views Oct 12, 2021 172 Dislike Share Save GameMasters 955 subscribers Tonight we take a look at the Elder Brain Dragon from. Just answer the question and move on. It is crafted from mind flayer skulls and extremities, and the cushion she sits on is made of leather produced from the cured remains of an, Whispers, which is located deep inside the floating city. The elder brain is aware of the presence of creatures within 5 miles of it that have an Intelligence score of 4 or higher. Returning 35 results for 'Elder Brain Dragon'. One of the most dangerous monsters introduced in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is an Elder Brain Dragon the result of an Elder Brain being forcibly incorporated into the anatomy of a Dragon. Can the game be left in an invalid state if all state-based actions are replaced? I tried to find out more about this creature for possible inclusion in a campaign, but it barely has a mention in the Illithid section of the Monster Manual (just a sentence stating that it exists), and I can't find any stat blocks for it. 6 comments. A 90-foot cone is huge, y'all. The elder brain is the leader of each mind flayer colony, and what it lacks in movement, it makes up for with powerful psionic abilities and spells. Armor Class10Hit Points210 (20d10 + 100)Speed5 ft., swim 10 ft. Proficiency Bonus +5Proficiency Bonus +8 (5th Edition Advanced Mode), Saving ThrowsInt +10, Wis +9, Cha +12SkillsArcana +10, Deception +12, Insight +14, Intimidation +12, Persuasion +12Sensesblindsight 120 ft., passive Perception 14Languagesunderstands Common, Deep Speech, and Undercommon but cant speak, telepathy 5 milesChallenge14 (11500 XP). Good catch. The EBD's lack of lair actions is a bit surprising to me since the Elder Brain has some awesome ones. ', referring to the nuclear power plant in Ignalina, mean? The elder brain gains insight into the target's reasoning, its emotional state, and thoughts that loom large in its mind (including things the target worries about, loves, or hates). It knows the distance and direction to each creature, as this manner. The other monster previewed by Dragon+ is the eyedrake, a new kind of beholder-kin. A goliaths nickname is a description that can change on the whim of a chieftain or tribal, Challenge Ratings Creatures by Challenge Rating CR Creature 1/8 Hoard scarab 1/4 Metallic warbler 1/2 Draconian foot soldier 1 Deep, underground, and within easy reach of humanoids and their succulent brains.