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A brainstealer dragon was a mix of illithid and dragon. They sometimes ruled illithid settlements that did not have an elder brain or escaped elder brain control and surpassed their creators.[1]
Description
Like most illithids and their creations, brainstealer dragons had squid-like heads and brain-devouring maws. They possessed white bloated eyes above the four tentacles drooping from their heads. Their draconic bodies were covered in small purple scales and their wings reduced to fleshy flaps of eldritch skin.[1]
Personality
Brainstealers adopted the conniving personalities and manipulative minds of their mind flayer creators. They would dominate the minds of Underdark denizens, with even illithids joining the ranks of their minions. They were more skilled in deception and intelligence gathering than their normal dragon counterparts.[1]
Abilities
The brainstealer's powerful draconic build was aided by its diverse array of mental abilities. Like their illithid kin, they could use a mind blast to mentally debilitate their prey. Depending on their stage of development, they had all conventional illithid psionics, capable of detecting thoughts, levitation, shifting between planes, and charming their enemies. All but newborn brainstealers (if they were newborn at the time of their ceremorphosis) were capable of telepathic communication.[1]
Their skin was immune to acid, and grew in resistance to non-magical means of attack as they grew older. The downside to their transformation was that their "wings" were far less powerful, and so their flight was clumsy and more difficult.[1]
Combat
Brainstealer dragons used their mind blasts to stun their prey for ease of consumption. Then they would commence brain extraction, killing one-headed creatures as they hungrily swallowed their brains.[1]
Appendix
Notes
As illithids are parasitic creatures that take over their host, this is likely the result of an illithid tadpole being implanted into a dragon.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Kevin Baase, Eric Jansing, Oliver Frank, and Bill Halliar (November 2005). “Monsters of the Mind – Minions of the Mindflayers”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #337 (Paizo Publishing), pp. 25–35.
Connections
Ceremorphs
Brainstealer dragon • Gnome ceremorph • Gnome squidling • Illithiderro • Mindwitness • Mozgriken • Tzakandi • Uchuulon • Urophion • Yuan-tillithid
Related Creatures
Brain golem • Cranium rat • Nyraala golem • Illithidae • Illithocyte • Intellect devourer • Mind worm • Neothelid • Nerve swimmer • Oblex • Oortling • Ustilagor
Chromatic dragons: Black • Blue • Brown • Gray • Green • Orange • Pink • Purple • Red • Salt • White • Yellow
Gem dragons: Amethyst • Beljuril • Crystal • Emerald • Obsidian • Sapphire • Topaz • Ruby
Neutral dragons: Amber • Jacinth • Moonstone • Pearl
Lung dragons: Chiang lung • Li lung • Lung wang • Pan lung • Shen lung • T'ien lung • Tun mi lung • Yu lung
Ferrous dragons: • Cobalt • Iron
Planar dragons: Adamantine • Astral • Battle • Blight • Chaos • Ethereal • Hellfire wyrm • Howling • Mirage • Oceanus • Pyroclastic • Radiant • Rust • Shadow • Styx • Tarterian
Spelljamming dragons: Moon/lunar • Radiant • Sun/solar
Epic dragons: Force • Prismatic • Time
Catastrophic dragons: Blizzard • Earthquake • Volcanic
Miscellaneous dragons: Cobra • Dzalmus • Mist • Rattelyr • Song • Vishap
Linnorms: Corpse tearer • Dread • Stygian
Drakes: Ambush • Black firedrake • Dragonne • Elemental (Earth • Fire • Ice • Magma • Ooze • Smoke • Water) • Felldrake (Crested • Spitting) • Greater • Guard • Mind • Portal • Rage • Space • Storm • Vulture
Dragonbloods: Draconic creature • Dragonborn of Bahamut • Dragonspawn
Drow-dragon (shadow) • Drow-dragon (deep) • Half-dragon • Kobold (Dragonwrought • Urd) • Weredragon • Zar'ithra • Zekyl
Hybrid monsters: Dracimera • Dracolisk • Mantidrake • Wyvern drake