Brain in a jar / Brain cylinder

[Wheldrake]

FWIW, don't read this if you're one of my players - Eric, this means you! <g>:

Has anyone statted up a Brain in a Jar / Brain Cylinder with psychic powers?

I've seen this one on d20pfsrd.

And I suppose I *could* simply use the one from Libris Mortis statted up as-is.

Or try to find a pre-statted psychic NPC and mash its psychic spells together with the d20pfsrd listing.

In my current homebrew campaign the players are currently 2nd level and exploring tombs, and I wanted to add a cruel twist, having a brain in a jar controlling some low-level undead, awakening when its tomb is opened after several centuries of abandonment.

A psychic undead-controlling brain in a fragile jar will be a cool challenge, I think.

Suggestions?

[Wheldrake]

Ooooh, no love for brains, eh?

[Douglas Muir 406]

I had one in the background of one of my campaign. A powerful evil NPC had an alchemist henchman who developed a super-powered BIAJ that (of course) broke free of his control, began to snowball in power dramatically, and attempted to become a god. X-51 was shut down -- with great difficulty -- and the alchemist was ever after forbidden by his boss from doing anything brain-related. His whining about this became a running gag.

-- Anyway. It seems like there are a number of ways you could go with this. My first suggestion would be to port the 5e BIAJ, which is actually better than anything comparable from Paizo. (Shock horror, I know.) That's a CR 4 creature that would be a fun challenge for a 2nd level party.

Failing that, okay, you can build a BIAJ from this version. Undead controlling is fine. There are a bunch of ways you could go. Here's a thought just for fun: build a 6th level Mesmerist with the Psychic Inception Stare. Mesmerist because Mesmerists are psychic and are also cool and underused. Inception because this allows the brain to affect undead (while still being plenty dangerous to the PCs). You can reskin the stare as a creepy distortion field projected by the BIAJ. And 6th level because now he's CR 5 -- a good boss for a 2nd level party -- and also because at 7th level, he'd have access to 3rd level Mesmerist spells, and there are some real killers in there.

I'd be curious to see a build.

Doug M.

[Wheldrake]

OK, a build. Well, I didn't build it from the ground up, just a quick & dirty solution for a game session tomorrow. I took the brain cylinder chassis and bolted on some ballpark figures from a 6th level sorcerer NPC, and gave him a mish-mash of sorcerer and psychic spells.

Here is the stat block.:

Necromantic Brain Cylinder CR 5 XP 1600

Human brain cylinder sorcerer 6 LN Tiny construct
Init –5; Senses Perception +8

DEFENSE
AC 5, touch 5, flat-footed 5 (–5 Dex, –2 object, +2 size)
hp 21 (4d8)
Fort +2, Ref –3, Will +6
Defensive Abilities half damage from sonic, fire, and ranged attacks, hardness 10; Immune cold, construct traits, critical hits, nonlethal damage; Weaknesses immobile

OFFENSE
Speed 0 ft.
Special Attacks channel negative energy (DC 14, 6/day)
Mind Thrust 1 (DC 15, 5d6, will half)

Psychic/Sorcerer Spells (CL 6th; concentration +10)
3rd (3/day)—hold person (DC 17)
2nd(5/day)—Ego whip 2 (DC 16, -4 WIS 5 rnd, stagg 1 rnd),
Inflict pain (DC 16, -4 att, skill, ability checks, 5 rnds),
Command undead
1st(7/day)—cause fear (DC 15), Magic missile (2d4+2),
Mind Thrust 1 (DC 15, 5d6, will half)
0th (at will)— detect magic, light, read magic, mage hand

STATISTICS: Str —, Dex 0, Con —, Int 15, Wis 8, Cha 10
Base Atk +3, CMB +1; CMD 6 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Alertness, Iron Will, Eschew materials, Command undead (as channel negative energy)

Skills Appraise +9, Diplomacy +7, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Knowledge (geography) +9, Knowledge (history) +9, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nature) +9, Knowledge (religion) +9, Perception +8, Sense Motive +8
Languages Aklo, Common, Abyssal
Gear Amulet of Zon-Kuthon (protection +1 to saves, constantly whispering in Abyssal about world domination).

Of course, it'll be surrounded by regular zombies, skeletons, a few flaming skulls and maybe a skeleton champion or two.

I'll have 4 2nd level pirates facing off tomorrow, but I figure that pretty quick they'll realize that they need to close with the brain and smash it fast.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Okay, that looks like fun! Immobile and AC 5, but Hardness 10 should keep it alive for a bit. Giving it damage spells is good, as it should dissuade too-clever PCs from trying to capture it alive.

This can be a one-off, or you can have it ranting about... well, anything, really. You can connect it to the greater plot arc, or not.

Let us know how it works out!

Doug M.

[JDLPF]

As an addition to shielding it with minions, there's the option of giving it an Aura to increase the risk of getting close to it. Something like DC 10+1/2 HD+Cha, about DC 12 for the above stat block. Occult Bestiary has the Emotion Aura or Mental Static Aura as thematic psychic options.

Alternatively you could give it a Fear Aura (it's always fun when the front line fighters run away mid-combat), or some type of damaging aura out to 10 ft. range. Perhaps a negative energy aura for 1d6 damage per round, Will save for half? Doubles to heal the undead guarding it too.

[Wheldrake]

Cool ideas, but the brain already has negative energy bursts available, not to mention 3 shots at hold person. Each is a standard action, though, and my experience is that boss critters rarely get more than 2-3 actions before players intervene. It should be enough to scare them a bit, though.

At first level they fought several groups of skeletons led by ghouls. The ghouls' paralysis powers almost - almost - brought on a TPK both times. Good stuff.

Campaign notes can be read here, in French (though with translation tools, you should get the gist).
https://dragontoothgrognard.blogspot.com/

[un-X-pected]

Dot for interest

[Ravingdork]

These already exist. They're either statted out in one of the Iron Gods adventure paths, and perhaps in one of the later Bestiaries too.

[Wheldrake]

Ravingdork, I didn't find any at all, aside from the one I linked to in the initial post.

In our Thursday session, the Brain in a Jar immobilised one PC, two others ran away to the previous room where there was a hundred-foot-deep pit with a four-inch ledge around the edge, which the PCs managed to balance over, but the dozen zombies and skeletons on their heels almost all fell in.

Meanwhile, the fourth PC, a goblin of all things, had an amulet to Zon-Kuthon that rendered him invisible to all the undead, and he managed to remove the speech, hearing and sight modules from the Brain in a Jar, rendering it incapable of spellcasting. It was a close thing, but the PCs came out triumphant, with only one death.

It was very close to a TPK, but the goblin saved the day.

Pics and play-by-play (in French) can be read here: https://dragontoothgrognard.blogspot.com/
Use your translation tools if French isn't one of your languages. And think about investing a point in linguistics next time you level up! <g>

[Ravingdork]

Maybe it was in the Numeria splatbook then? I know I saw it somewhere.

[Xenocrat]

I think it’s associated with Mi-Go. Probably in the Iron Gods dark tapestry article. Also in the Starfinder Alien Archive entry.

[blahpers]

AROO!

...Wait, you said "brain", not "head". Nevermind.