Elder Brain

a DC 21 Will save or enter a trance, unable to attack or defend themselves until the moaning stops.

Fear: Anyone within a 30-foot spread must succeed on a DC 21 Will save or become panicked for 2 rounds.

Nausea: Anyone in a 30-foot cone must succeed on a DC 21 Fortitude save or fall prone and become nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds.

Stupor: A single creature within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 21 Fortitude save or be affected as if by a hold monster spell for 5 rounds. Even after a successful save, the creature must repeat the save if the shadowcloak elder uses this effect again.

Spells: This shadowcloak elder is a 7th-level sorcerer. Different shadowcloak elders might know different spells.

Typical Sorcerer Spells Known (6/8/8/5 per day; caster level 7th): 0 —daze (DC 16), detect magic, ghost sound (DC 17), mage hand, ray of frost (+11 ranged touch), read magic, touch of fatigue (+16 melee touch; DC 16); 1st—color spray (DC 18), mage armor* , magic missile, protection from good, ray of enfeeblement (+11 ranged touch); 2nd—minor image (DC 19), see invisibility, web (DC 18); 3rd—haste, lightning bolt (DC 19). * Already cast.

Plane Shift (Sp): 1/day, caster level 17th. A shadowcloak elder can plane shift only to or from the Plane of Shadow.

Save Bonus (Su): A shadowcloak elder gains a +2 luck bonus on all saving throws due to its shadow creature template. This is already included in the save modifi ers given above.

Shadow Blend (Su): In any conditions other than full daylight, a shadowcloak elder can disappear into the shadows, giving it total concealment. Artifi cial illumination, even a light or continual fl ame spell, does not negate this ability, but a daylight spell will.

Shadow Shift (Su): A shadowcloak elder can manipulate shadows. This ability is effective only in shadowy areas and has three possible effects.

Obscure Vision: The shadowcloak elder gains concealment (20% miss chance) for 1d4 rounds. Normally, a shadowcloak elder uses this ability only if its shadow blend is negated.

Dancing Images: This effect duplicates a mirror image spell (caster level 10th).

Silent Image: This effect duplicates a silent image spell (DC 17, caster level 10th). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Skills: The shadowcloak elder gains a +6 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.

ELDER BR AIN

Large Aberration Hit Dice: 26d8+364 plus 3 (484 hp) Initiative: +5 Speed: 10 ft. (2 squares), fl y 30 ft. (good), swim 30 ft. (Elder brains use their base speed only when they are relocating themselves to a new pool.) Armor Class: 30 (–1 size, +1 Dex, +20 natural), touch 10, fl at-footed 29 Base Attack/Grapple: +19/+24 Attack: Tendril +20 melee (1d6+1 plus extract) Full Attack: 4 tendrils +20 melee (1d6+1 plus extract) Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft. Special Attacks: Extract, improved grab, mind blast, psionics, spells Special Qualities: Blindsight 240 ft., bud brain golem, damage reduction 15/adamantine, regeneration 10, resistance to cold 10 and fi re 10, spell resistance 34, telepathic awareness Saves: Fort +24, Ref +11, Will +24 Abilities: Str 13, Dex 13, Con 38, Int 28, Wis 25, Cha 26 Skills: Bluff +37, Concentration +43, Diplomacy +41, Disguise +8 (+10 acting in character), Intimidate +41, Knowledge (arcana) +38, Knowledge (history) +38, Knowledge (the planes) +38, Listen +38, Sense Motive +36, Spellcraft +42,

Spot +36, Survival +7 (+9 on other planes) Feats: Alertness, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron

Will, Lightning Refl exes, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (charm monster), Quicken Spell-Like Ability (mass suggestion), Toughness, Weapon Focus (tendril) Environment: Underground Organization: Solitary Challenge Rating: 25 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Always lawful evil Advancement: 27–38 HD (Large); 39–78 HD (Huge)

Here lies a great, fi brous mass of fused brain tissue, covered in writhing tendrils. It pulsates and glows like an ember, releasing visible fl ares of psychic power.

An elder brain is the ultimate stage of the mind fl ayer life cycle. A malevolent being of godlike intellect, an elder brain serves as the center of any mind fl ayer city, guiding its host community toward the fulfi llment of its dark dreams of illithid dominion. An elder brain spends most of its existence fl oating within the depths of a briny pool in a protected cavern at the heart of a mind fl ayer city. Its visible psychic energy is a side effect of the power that allows it to remain active long after the bodily deaths of the individual mind fl ayers whose brains compose its form. An elder brain can speak telepathically with any creature within 350 feet that has a language (see Telepathic Awareness, below).

COMBAT

An elder brain uses its quickened spell-like abilities in the same round that it makes melee attacks with its tendrils, if possible. It begins a combat against multiple foes with a mind blast.

Extract (Ex): An elder brain that begins its turn with a tendril attached to an opponent and makes a successful grapple check automatically extracts the opponent’s brain, instantly killing that creature. This power is useless against constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, and undead. Extraction is not instantly fatal to foes with multiple heads.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, an elder brain must hit a Small to Gargantuan creature with its tendril attack. If it gets a hold, it sinks the tendril into the opponent’s head

and can try to extract in the next round. The opponent can escape with a single successful grapple check or Escape Artist check, but the elder brain gets a +2 circumstance bonus for the deep attachment, and the opponent takes 1d6 points of damage from ripping the tendril free.

Mind Blast (Sp): This psionic attack is a cone 60 feet long. Anyone caught in this cone must succeed on a DC 31 Will save or be stunned for 3d4 rounds. An elder brain can use this ability once every 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Charismabased. This ability is the equivalent of a 4th-level spell.

Psionics (Sp): At will—astral projection, charm monster (DC 22), detect thoughts (DC 20), dominate monster (DC 27), mass suggestion (DC 24), plane shift. Caster or manifester level 20th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Spells: An elder brain casts spells as a 20th-level sorcerer.

Typical Sorcerer Spells Known (6/8/8/8/8/7/7/7/7/6 per day; caster level 20th): 0—acid splash (+19 ranged touch), daze (DC 18), detect magic, detect poison, fl are (DC 18), mage hand, ray of frost (+19 ranged touch), read magic, touch of fatigue (+19 melee touch; DC 18); 1st—comprehend languages, identify, ray of enfeeblement (+19 ranged touch), shield, true strike; 2nd—locate object, obscure object (DC 20), resist energy, scorching ray (+19 ranged

Elder brain touch), touch of idiocy (+19 melee touch); 3rd—clairaudience/clairvoyance, dispel magic, displacement, nondetection; 4th—detect scrying, dimensional anchor (+19 ranged touch), Evard’s black tentacles, scrying (DC 22); 5th—dismissal (DC 23), sending, telekinesis (DC 23), teleport; 6th—analyze dweomer, chain lightning (DC 24), greater dispel magic; 7th—insanity (DC 25), summon monster VII, vision; 8th— discern location, maze, screen (DC 26); 9th—energy drain (+19 ranged touch), Mordenkainen’s disjunction, prismatic sphere (DC 27). If you use the Expanded Psionics Handbook in your campaign, alter the creature as described in the Psionic Elder Brain sidebar. Blindsight (Ex): An elder brain has no visual organs but can “see” by using psychic energ y to ascertain objects and creatures within 240 feet. Bud Brain Golem (Ex): Once per day, an elder brain can bud a portion of its fl esh, forming a golemlike creature composed of fused and hardened brains. An elder brain can never have more than three active brain golems at a time. Brain golems are discussed on page 65.

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PSIONIC ELDER BRAIN

If you use the Expanded Psionics Handbook in your game, alter the elder brain as follows:

Large Aberration (Psionic) Hit Dice: 26d8+364 plus 3 (484 hp) Special Attacks: Extract, improved grab, mind blast, psionic powers Skills: Bluff +37, Concentration +43, Diplomacy +41, Disguise +8 (+10 acting in character), Intimidate +41, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +38, Knowledge (the planes) +38, Knowledge (psionics) +38, Listen +38, Psicraft +42, Sense Motive +36, Spot +36, Survival +7 (+9 on other planes) Feats: Alertness, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Ref lexes, Psionic Meditation, Quicken Power, Toughness, Weapon Focus (tendril)

A psionic elder brain does not cast spells or possess the spelllike abilities described as “psionics” in the main entry. Instead,

it manifests psionic powers as a 20th-level psion (telepath). The save DCs are Intelligence-based. Typical Psion Powers Known (power points 423): 1st— defensive precognition, detect psionics, mind thrust (DC 20 ), psionic charm (DC 20 ), vigor; 2nd —body equilibrium, ego whip (DC 21), id insinuation (DC 21), psionic levitate, psionic suggestion (DC 21), read thoughts (DC 21); 3rd —body adjustment, body purif ication, dispel psionics, false sensor y input (DC 22), mental barrier; 4th —intellect for tress, personality parasite (DC 23), psionic dimension door, psionic divination, psionic dominate (DC 23), schism; 5th —adapt body, mind probe (DC 24), psionic plane shif t, psychic crush (DC 20 ), shatter mind blank (DC 24); 6th —energ y wave (DC 25), mass cloud mind (DC 25), psionic disintegrate (DC 25), psionic true seeing; 7th —crisis of life (DC 26), insanity (DC 26), personal mind blank; 8th —mind seed (DC 27), psionic greater telepor t, true metabolism; 9th —apopsi (DC 28), assimilate (DC 28), microcosm, psychic chirurger y (DC 28). pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs

Illus. by W. England