I think that having the Intellect Devourer as Paizo’s replacement for the non OGL tentacle mouthed Lovecraftian horror that is the Ithilid was a good move.
There can be nothing that could induce more sphincter prolapsing fear than an alien being forcing its self into your mouth, devouring your brain, then using your rotting husk as a meat puppet to indulge in fetid and unnatural acts for its pure pleasure.
Unfortunately my terror is rudely dispatched when I see a picture of an Intellect Devourer. All I can think of is a Chihuahua, those small vermin hold no fear for me at all….mostly just irritation and contempt for a rodent trying to pass itself off as a dog.
I think we need to give the Intellect Devourer a make over. Make it look less like a comical brain with chicken legs and more like the skittering, mucus oozing, brain sucking aberration that it is. Think HR Giger if he decided to get really nasty....
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There can be nothing that could induce more sphincter prolapsing fear than an alien being forcing its self into your mouth,
...
Think HR Giger if he decided to get really nasty....
Well, my suggestion suddenly become unsafe for posting.
Purging that idea, I'm kind of thinking of them a little like a critter I'm working on for something else: If the legs seem goofy, what about having the "brain" sitting in a scuttling "chassis" similar to the bottom portion of Half-Life's headcrabs?
I think that having the Intellect Devourer as Paizo’s replacement for the non OGL tentacle mouthed Lovecraftian horror that is the Ithilid was a good move.
Hmm - isn't that a step BACKWARD though? We used to have both back in the day...
I think that having the Intellect Devourer as Paizo’s replacement for the non OGL tentacle mouthed Lovecraftian horror that is the Ithilid was a good move.Hmm - isn't that a step BACKWARD though? We used to have both back in the day...
While you can still use them , Paizo can not.
Creative Director
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The illustration from Into the Darklands is pretty nifty, I think. As for WHY they look like brains... well, they're replacement brains, after all, so it's kind of natural that they would look like brains.
For a pretty nifty line of reasoning as to why a monster might look like a mobile brain, check out the old movie, "Fiend Without A Face." Good stuff, that movie!
I've wondered if size works against the I.D. Would it be scarier is it was a tiny creature instead of a small one? (On the principle that some things are scarier when made bigger, some when made smaller.) Of maybe it would simply be better if it were brain-sized to begin with.
In any event, brains are freaky looking and make good monsters.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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Small size ID could be the adults who have to have a giant sized creature to crawl up inside of to infest. But the smaller ones coudl be youths that have fun snacking on humans and halflings for the really young. Maybe we need a template for infected people?
When they inhabit a body they kill the host, so no template is really necessary.
I love that the ID is the new MF... I love the description of their city in the Darklands.
Those brainiacal freaks have a city!?
You always torture me when I haven't picked up something yet!
The illustration from Into the Darklands is pretty nifty, I think. As for WHY they look like brains... well, they're replacement brains, after all, so it's kind of natural that they would look like brains.
For a pretty nifty line of reasoning as to why a monster might look like a mobile brain, check out the old movie, "Fiend Without A Face." Good stuff, that movie!
I like the mobile brain, I just want them to look more terrifying. Chitinous brains with insect like legs, that ooze a mucus that softens bone and relaxes muscles to help it slide its way into a victims mouth.
If I were to run a homebrew I would make the players Drow stuck in the middle of a genocidal war between the Mind Flayers and the Intellect Devourers.
And with the Intellect Devourers (IDs), powers like ID INSINUATION make more sense! ;-)
Those brainiacal freaks have a city!?Yup. "Into the Darklands" has the majority of Golarion's details on them so far, but they do indeed have at least one city deep in the Darklands below.
Mairkurion - its well worth the cash... very well written. I just wish that it was longer. (Edit)It left me wanting more (not saying it was too short).
I held up the picture of the ID to my wife and asked do you think that this looks creepy, she said "everything in that book is creepy".
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And with the Intellect Devourers (IDs), powers like ID INSINUATION make more sense! ;-)Yeah...'cause "ID insertion" just sounds...wrong. I mean, it's technically accurate, but...really, really wrong. ;-)
Well the young ones coudl be creatures that attatch to the spine and crawl up the..... You know never mind.
ID insertion...heh-heh.
I tried a "let me read to you from my new AP issue's bestiary and show you the illustrations" each night during bedtime reading with my wife, and her reaction to the monsters was pretty much the same. Go figure.
Ya know, just replace the chicken legs with tentacles--workshop, done!
ID insertion...heh-heh.
I tried a "let me read to you from my new AP issue's bestiary and show you the illustrations" each night during bedtime reading with my wife, and her reaction to the monsters was pretty much the same. Go figure.
My wife reads all my books, she was a gaming GF but she played because she wanted to be with me mostly... (Now that we have kids she hasn't played in years... I miss her at the table). She likes to be creeped out.... and the talented guys at Paizo do a good job.
Aw, got ya.
Mrs. M does NOT like to be creeped out. Mrs. M puts up with a LOT, God love her.
I like the mobile brain, I just want them to look more terrifying. Chitinous brains with insect like legs, that ooze a mucus that softens bone and relaxes muscles to help it slide its way into a victims mouth.
*blinks*
I like the way you think...
For a pretty nifty line of reasoning as to why a monster might look like a mobile brain, check out the old movie, "Fiend Without A Face." Good stuff, that movie!
Found a clip of it here.
Hey, thanks for the clip. Looks like that thing has tentacles to me!
Hey, thanks for the clip. Looks like that thing has tentacles to me!
That it does (helps it leap thru the air with "the greatest of ease"), and antennas to boot. ;)
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Creative Director
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Hey, thanks for the clip. Looks like that thing has tentacles to me!
It does.
But it's worth noting that there's already plenty of things in the Darklands that already have tentacles (ropers, seugathi, neothleids, aboleths, etc...), so just giving the intellect devourer tentacles for legs isn't gonna set it apart. And in my opinion, it robs the creature of an iconic look that I already like. That said, our illustration of an intellect devourer does have a short little tentacle at the front. I think it's probably its tongue.
I'm tellin' ya, there's something down there that makes things sprout tentacles!
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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Hey, thanks for the clip. Looks like that thing has tentacles to me!
I like the look there better. I'd still slim it out a bit. It doesn't need a fully formed brain but a network of tendrils that can insert themselves into an existing brain and transform it. That will also help it to insert itself into mouths and nostrils or other orifices.
I kinda like the existing ID, however, how about;
A brain, with a short spine curled in under it, and protuding from the gaps of vertebrae are spidery leg, at the first, third and fifth junction from the end. The brain is slightly off-pink/grey with a greenish slimey film, and trailing from the tip of the spine, just under the very fron of the brain are a load of little sticky red cords/hairs, that twitch occasionally.
I could draw it.
The fact that the ID won't go down easy is a part of what makes it creepy.
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Using four spider or crab-like legs, that end in sharp spines, would be neat.
Imagine the brain-sized critter paralyzing a foe (either with mental attacks or poison) or dominating it, then flipping it over onto it's stomach, and scuttling onto it's back, sliding it's sharp leg spines into the creatures back (and a flexible feeding tube / nerve stalk into the base of it's neck) and 'riding' it's new 'mount' around as a mobile fighting platform. Once fused to the victims back, it would be able to hide itself under a cloak (appearing as a hunch or backback) and use the victim's physical form to do whatever it wants.
Specialist 'riders' would use psionics to tap into the creatures mind, gaining at least a little bit of access to it's skills, feats and / or class abilities, but the average devourer would simply pretend to be the victim, occasionally to poor or even amusing affect, due to the average devourer's thought processes being spectacularly alien, and ill-suited to such charades. (The specialists would be highly trained at pretending to be humans, elves, dwarves, etc. and would learn Bluff, Gather Information, Sense Motive and similar skills, to assist in their infiltrations.) While mounted devourers can and do tap into the senses of their host, inexperienced riders occasionally send an eyestalk peering around the shoulder of the mount, 'to take a closer look at something,' as they are not entirely comfortable yet with relying on the sensory input of their host. Unspecialized devourers stick to small to large sized humanoids, but the specialists may be found 'mounting' umber hulks, giant cave lizards and stranger beasts indeed, including animals, vermin and magical beasts. While mounted, the devourer gets any nutrition, moisture or oxygen required from it's mount, which means that a devourer can mount an aquatic creature, such as a shark or giant squid, and function just fine underwater for extended periods. A mounted devourer can choose to attack with it's host bodies abilities (if it can access them), or have it flail around ineffectually like a zombie (if it can't), or use it's own psionic abilities from the safety of it's mount.
Specialists also have the ability to deplete it's host of energy even faster than normal, by draining it's mount to power the use of an ability that it could normally only use X times / day. An incautious (or desperate) devourer could kill a host in less than a minute, drawing upon it's vital reserves every round to power a new psychic assault, with the effects being visibly devitalizing to the host creature as it is literally 'burned out.'
Humanoids 'ridden' or serving as 'mounts' lose attribute points every day (at least 2, so that even overnight healing wouldn't allow them to 'break even,' most likely Con and Int, Wis and/or Cha), and need to eat and drink more than normal, to sustain the devourer, which parasitically feeds off of the host. In their home communities, the devourers have 'stables' of 'mounts,' who sit enchained, recovering from the damage done by their parasitic masters, until they are healthy enough to 'ride again.' Unpopular mounts are simply 'ridden to death' and their withered corpses, appearing artificially aged, fed to the other mounts...
A devourer can 'dismount' as a standard action, and usually does so only in a safe place. A dismounted host is nauseated for 1 round, then sickened from withdrawal-like symptoms until all lost ability damage is recovered.
The fact that the ID won't go down easy is a part of what makes it creepy.
"Hold still, I guarantee you that this will hurt."
If going in hurts, just think of the what it's like when it makes the turn upward?! Yikes.
I've never been a fan of the intellect devourer. I'm game for making it "Paizo's mind-flayer" though.
How open are you to changing the appearance of it? My big hang-up is that it looks more like a pet to an evil race, rather than the evil race itself, if you know what I mean.
Also, I don't think tentacles or spider legs is quite the way to go, simply because they're overdone. I like the spine idea.
Also, I think, whatever its incarnation, the "brain part" should glow.
These must be just the spawn we're seeing. I wonder what an adult queen looks like...
I was thinking something like that too.
My preference is that they should have the texture of greymatter, but not be shaped like a brain. Something a little longer and more snakelike, that looks like it could wriggle in there. It can still have claws, but not so distinctly mammalian.
No accounting for taste, I suppose.
Contributor
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I've been doing some brainstorming on this. I think I've got a pretty good backstory that explains why I'm plaguing my PCs with these guys. One question, though...what the heck would intellect devourers call themselves? Would they even have names? Just a curiosity, really. I've already made one up, but I thought I'd raise the question, here.
Oh, and just to share:
Suddenly, a creature I never gave a second thought to has become a focal point for my latest homebrew campaign! This is too much fun! ;-)
Using four spider or crab-like legs, that end in sharp spines, would be neat.
Well, it is the Darklands after all; I would imagine the magic "background count" could lead to all sorts of mutations. Maybe they'd even seek out high "radiation" areas to promote mutation in their offspring?
Specialist 'riders' would use psionics to tap into the creatures mind, gaining at least a little bit of access to it's skills, feats and / or class abilities,...
Maybe they take feats or a PRC to gain use of supernatural abilities of still fresh mounts? With mind flayers gone, I always figured they'd be the top psionic predator and would have developed techniques to eat a doppleganger's brain and retain the Change Shape ability (at least until the body starts to rot).
And personally, I've never had any problems finding ids creepy/scary after I saw the headcrabs in Half Life.
I think it's probably its tongue.
I just assumed it was a bit of spinal cord.
Hm... that makes me remember the old StarCraft ads.
Brain....STORMING!
If going in hurts, just think of the what it's like when it makes the turn upward?! Yikes.
Uuhhhhhh.
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Using four spider or crab-like legs, that end in sharp spines, would be neat.
Imagine the brain-sized critter paralyzing a foe (either with mental attacks or poison) or dominating it, then flipping it over onto it's stomach, and scuttling onto it's back, sliding it's sharp leg spines into the creatures back (and a flexible feeding tube / nerve stalk into the base of it's neck) and 'riding' it's new 'mount' around as a mobile fighting platform. Once fused to the victims back, it would be able to hide itself under a cloak (appearing as a hunch or backback) and use the victim's physical form to do whatever it wants.
Sick... I like the way you think. I was going to suggest ditching the legs and going for a 'brain on a spinal column' kind of serpent feel, but I like what you did here.
I like it a lot.
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Contributor
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Set, usually I love your ideas, but I have to disagree with you on this one. It's not that your idea isn't cool...in fact, it's really cool.
The problem is that it doesn't allow for the same level of masquerading that occupying a creature's skull does.
Personally, I think your suggestion would be great as the Pathfinder version of the puppetmaster creatures. Neck-riding slugs aren't all that interesting, really. Your idea is much better.
I do have a few, minor problems with the way intellect devourers "work" as they are currently written, though. There's a good bit of hand-waving when it comes to taking over a body. The creature "magically" changes size and claws its way into the victim's mouth. Then, it somehow gets through the lower portion of the skull (can you imagine the hideous sounds that would make?...wet, bloody wrenching of bone...ghastly...anyway). Once it gets to the brain it "magically" absorbs the old brain and slides in as the replacement.
A large part of my problem is the magical size change. I think I'm going to re-envision these things as being smaller all the time...about the size of normal brains. They're kind of squishy, anyway, so it wouldn't be much different from the way a rat or similar creature can get into spaces that might seem too small for them.
Their claws will have to be incredibly strong and sharp...maybe they even look metallic...like little steel saw-blades that allow them to dig easily through the skull bone. Once inside the skull, the intellect devourer secretes digestive fluids that liquify the old brain, which it then slurps up with that feeding tube/tongue before it moves into its new home.
This process doesn't happen instantly, either. The victim will spent a few moments thrashing wildly while the ID opens up its skull, then it will look dead for about ten or fifteen minutes while the ID consumes the old brain and settles in. After that, the person suddenly sits up and looks around, trying very hard to act as though nothing has happened...or grinning cruelly at the other IDs in the room. ;)
I'm also going to add a tell-tale sign of invasion: The trauma of having your skull clawed open and your brain devoured would probably give the victim some pretty badly bloodshot eyes...like serious hemoraging in the sclera (the white part of your eye). This would be a good reason for intellect devourers to prefer hiding inside elves, I'd think...their peculiar eyes would hide one of the more prominent signs of the ID's presence.
That's my take on it. I think a lot of the ideas here are cool, but I prefer to keep the brain creatures on the inside of the victim.
Has anyone noticed that what you are basically coming up with, through trial and error, is a Goa'uld/Tokra from Stargate?
LOL
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Creative Director
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Has anyone noticed that what you are basically coming up with, through trial and error, is a Goa'uld/Tokra from Stargate?
LOL
All I've seen of Stargate is the original movie, and all I can remember about THAT was that it was a pretty cool first 20 minutes and then every minute that followed made the movie progressively less fun and enjoyable. I've never seen any of Stargate TV shows, but since the intellect devourer predates the first Stargate movie by about 15 years or so, I think the question is "Did Stargate rip off the intellect devourer from D&D?"
All I've seen of Stargate is the original movie, and all I can remember about THAT was that it was a pretty cool first 20 minutes and then every minute that followed made the movie progressively less fun and enjoyable. I've never seen any of Stargate TV shows, but since the intellect devourer predates the first Stargate movie by about 15 years or so, I think the question is "Did Stargate rip off the intellect devourer from D&D?"Has anyone noticed that what you are basically coming up with, through trial and error, is a Goa'uld/Tokra from Stargate?
LOL
Not really, I don't think. Here's a link to it. It's basically a snake/eel type creature that enters via the mouth and worms it's way around your spine and up into your brain.
However, the way the discussion was going, with the 'sink into the spine on the back', well, that's a pretty close approximation to the goa'uld snaking around the spine and up into the skull.
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Contributor
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In fairness, IDs can "magically" change size even when they aren't taking over bodies. They have an at-will compression power at ML 7th, so they can change from Small to Diminutive and back again whenever they want.
You're right. I didn't word that well, and I kind of smashed together the two things that I don't like about the creature.
1) Changing size. I agree with you that they should be smaller, but have the ability to expand to small (or even medium?) size, still allowing for the exploding out of the skull grossness and allowing them to physically attack something on their own.
2) The "magical" absorption of the victim's brain. I just don't like the concept there. If the creatures actually eat the brain, then perhaps they still eat brains, even when they're in a body. I can see the PCs stumbling on a macabre scene (spoilerized for those who might not want to read gross stuff):