D4M0CLES's page

I've also been interested in the idea of SKR's "serial numbers filed off" concepts he posts on FB from time to time (now that i recall, i dont remember seeing them in quite a while..). A high level Human Aberrant or Arcane Sorcerer could fit as a "mind flayer" as well. I'm sure there's any number of ideas that would fit just as well. I love illithids just like the next guy, but I don't see the reason to convert it from 3.5 to PF. With all the monsters and classes and templates available to PF, you can mix and match to make what "feels" best as a "mind flayer".

Ya sorry for the whole IP stuff, thats only because I need a mind flayer for my game, underdark in Forgotten realms. Its not like im trying to sell it, its for house purpose only :)

Ooo and btw Kthulhu, no prob for the flag, they can delete it if they want. And you obviously never converted 3.5 monster to pathfinder if you think thats as easy to balance than just slapping CMD and CMB.

But anyway guys, thx for everyone that gave constructive feedback. :)
That's appreciated.

Gorbacz wrote:

75 HP is still way too low. You should take a look at the suggested monster values in the bestiary, they will give you a good guideline.

I disagree. The threat that a mind flayer presents does not rely on a ton of HP imho. I recall them being described as rather frail.

Yay im more inclined on Phazzle opinion. Mind Flayer always been frail creature but powerful psionic caster. They should not be on the front line of melee but more staying out of harm while levitating or with dimension door.

I don't think it would be correct to give him 18+ Con.
Especially if we consider the original 45 hp of 3.5 edition, 75 is a good buff without making it a melee creature akin to the Rakshasa.

I'm still hesitating, should i move its spell knwon to a Spell-like ability system like the original or do you guys think its better with sorcerer lvl? I even tought about forbidding it from nercomancy, evocation and conjuration school.

Here is the new buffed version! Its weird having higher Hit Dice than CR 9... guess its an old 3.5 bug :p
I think its nomral they get lower Hit point since mind flayer are pure caster, higher than their CR.

So whats your thinking about this second version? Here we go

Mind Flayer
XP 6,400 CR 9
LE Medium aberration
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; detect magic, Perception +16

Defense___________________________________________ AC 23, touch 14, flat-footed 15; (+4 Dex, +5 natural,+4 Shield)
hp 75 (10d8+30)
Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +12
SR 21

Offense___________________________________________
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 4 tentacles +11 (1d4+1 plus Grab)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Spells known : Psionic spell-like abilities (CL 10th)
5th— (4 per day) dominate person (DC 21)
4th— (6 per day) dimension door, charm monster (DC 20)
3rd— (7 per day) major image (DC 19) , hold person (DC 19), suggestion (DC 19)
2nd—(7 per day) touch of idiocy (DC 18), detect tought (DC 18), levitate, blur
1st— (7 per day) charm person (DC 17), hypnotism (DC 17), magic missile, shield, ventriloquism (DC 17)
(may Quicken 1st lvl spell using 5th lvl slot, like shield)
0— (At-will) detect magic, ghost sound (DC 16), read magic, mage hand

Statistics__________________________________________
Str 13, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 22, Wis 17, Cha 18
Base Atk +7; CMB +12; CMD 22
Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Combat Casting,
Weapon Finesse, Quicken Spell
Skills Bluff +13, Diplomacy +13, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (any) +16, Fly +17, Perception +16, Sense Motive +13, Spellcraft +19, Stealth +17,
Languages Mind Flayer, Aklo, Undercommon, Telepathy 100 ft

Ecology___________________________________________
Environment any underground
Organization solitary, pair or group (3-5) plus slaves (vary)
Treasure double
Special Abilities
Mind Blast (Sp) This psionic attack is a 60 ft long cone. Anyone caught by this psychic surge must succeed a DC 19 Will save or be stunned for 1d6+1 rounds. The save DC is charisma based. This ability is the equivalent of a 5th lvl spell.

Tentacle Grabbing (Ex) A mind flayer need to reach his foe’s head to grab him with his tentacles so it can’t grab if the opponent is Huge or larger and his head is out of reach. In addition, a mind flayer who begins his turn with at least one tentacle attached may try to attache his remaining tentacles in a single grapple action. The mind flayer gains a cumulative +2 per additionnal attached tentacles to his CMB while attempting a grapple if more than a single tentacle is attached at the beginning of his turn.

Extract (Ex) A mind flayer that begins its turn with all 4 tentacle attached and that makes a succesful grapple check may try to extract the opponent’s brain. The opponent must then succeed a DC 19 Fortitude save or instantly die, his brain consumed. This power is useless against contructs, elementals, oozes, plants and undeads. It is not instantly fatal to foes with multiple heads, such as ettins and hydras.

Psionic spell-like abilities (Sp) Mind flayers spells known does not represent standard arcane spellcasting ability.They are pure expression of absolute mind power, thus they are treated exactly as spell-like ability for rule purposes.

Most stats seem quite low for that CR. I know they weren't that high to begin with, but some of the stats in 3e were way out of whack for their CR, so drastic measures might have to be taken. Plus, you increased the CR.

I'd generally increase its HD to 15 and add a bit of dex and con, to get near to what the charts recommend for a CR 10 critter (which, for example, is twice as many HP)

Use the Rakshasa (also CR 10, and worth it in Pathfinder) as a guideline.

Thx im working on it.

Do you guys think i should go with a Spell-like ability version or should i keep it on a sorcerer lvl spellcasting to mimic psionic ability??

I'll buff its stats a little, and i tought lowering the CR to 9 too.

i like it though a couple of things

1) AC seems a little low
2)stats also seem a little low
3) tentacle grabbing: shouldn't it be huge or smaller?
4) rather than group (3-5) it should be inquisition (3-5) no?

1) Yes thats something i noticed too. But the original Mind Flayer had AC 15... +2 dex, +3 natural. I could upgrade his natural, but dont want to be way farther than +4.

2) Still, they're higher than the original stats (15 con from 12, 21 int from 19, 18 cha from 17) Could maybe up the dex to 16+ which would correct the AC (to 21 with the +4 natural fix)

3) thanks for the typo, its right but not clear enough. I'll fix it with : A mind flayer need to reach his foe’s head to grab him with his tentacles so it can’t grab if the opponent is Huge or larger and his head is out of reach.

4) hmm yes in the original but i removed the inquisition part from ecology and basically its a group : )

Oooo and Omega9999, if you look carefully there's 5 feats : P

Thx for the feedback, keep it coming.

Hi everyone, i've converted a mind flayer from 3.5 for house use and i would like to know what the community think.

As you'll notice, i moved his spell-like ability to a sorcerer based spell-list (akind to the 3.5 psionic version), i removed plane shift too.

I upped his CR to 10, and Mind Blast is 1d6+1 rnds now, not 3d4. I added a Fort DC to extract too.

So here we go, waiting your comments : )

Mind Flayer

XP 9,600 CR 10
LE Medium aberration, sorcerer 10 equivalent
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; detect magic, Perception +16
Defense___________________________________________
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 13; (+2 Dex, +3 natural,+4 Shield)
hp 65 (10d8+20)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +12
SR 21

Offense___________________________________________
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 4 tentacles +9 (1d4+1 plus Grab)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Spells known : Psionic-like ability (CL 10th)
5th— (4 per day) dominate person (DC 20)
4th— (6 per day) dimension door, charm monster (DC 19)
3rd— (7 per day) major image (DC 18) , hold person (DC 18), suggestion (DC 18)
2nd—(7 per day) touch of idiocy (DC 17), detect tought (DC 17), levitate, blur
1st— (7 per day) charm person (DC 16), hypnotism (DC 16), magic missile, shield, ventriloquism (DC 16)
(may Quicken 1st lvl spell using 5th lvl slot, like shield)
0— (At-will) detect magic, ghost sound (DC 15), read magic, mage hand

Statistics__________________________________________
Str 12, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 21, Wis 17, Cha 18
Base Atk +7; CMB +12; CMD 20
Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Combat Casting,
Weapon Finesse, Quicken Spell
Skills Bluff +13, Diplomacy +13, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (any) +15, Fly +15, Perception +16, Sense Motive +13, Spellcraft +18, Stealth +15,
Languages Mind Flayer, Aklo, Undercommon, Telepathy 100 ft

Ecology___________________________________________
Environment any underground
Organization solitary, pair or group (3-5) plus slaves (vary)
Treasure double

Special Abilities
Mind Blast (Sp) This psionic attack is a 60 ft long cone. Anyone caught by the psychic surge must succed a DC 19 Will save or be stunned for 1d6+1 rounds. The save DC is charisma based. This ability is the equivalent of a 5th lvl spell.

Tentacle Grabbing (Ex) A mind flayer need to reach his foe’s head to grab him with his tentacles if the opponent is Huge or larger. In addition, a mind flayer who begins his turn with at least one tentacle attached may try to attache his remaining tentacles in a single grapple action. The mind flayer gains a cumulative +1 per additionnal attached tentacles to his CMB while attempting a grapple if more than a single tentacle is attached at the beginning of his turn.

Extract (Ex) A mind flayer that begins its turn with all 4 tentacle attached and that makes a succesful grapple check may try to extract the opponent’s brain. The opponent must then succeed a DC 17 Fortitude save or instantly die, his brain consumed. This power is useless against contructs, elementals, oozes, plants and undeads. It is not instantly fatal to foes with multiple heads, such as ettins and hydras.