A mind flayer using its mind blast to stun an opponent.
The mind blast was a psionic ability possessed by mind flayers, ulitharids, and elder brains to neutralize the cognitive abilities and psionic powers of other creatures.[1][2][3][4] Although most frequently used as an offensive ability, mind flayers used low-energy versions of mind blasts to slowly erode their victims' personality in order to produce more docile thralls.[5]
Effect[]
A typical mind blast affected all sentient creatures within a 60‑foot (18‑meter) cone emanating from the mind flayer. Anyone unable to resist suffered damage and was rendered stunned and unable to act for one minute.[2][6] Mind flayers could also use a version of mind blast specifically designed to drain the psionic powers of a single target.[1]
A low-power version of mind blast could be applied to a victim over a period of 24 hours. The effect was the complete destruction of the victim's personality, leaving only a partially empty shell behind that could be easily trained into a perfectly docile thrall to serve the illithid colony's purpose.[5] Once their minds were completely dissolved, the thralls became immune to the effects of the mind blast[6] so, in case of a large-scale fight, the mind flayers did not need to worry about hitting their own troops.[7]
History[]
Mind flayers typically used mind blasts to hunt, dragging off their stunned victims in order to feed on their brains.[8] Cerebral hoods sometimes lingered around their lairs to overpower the stunned victims of their mind blasts, forcing the creature to be a host, though otherwise cerebral hoods would rely upon their own comparatively weaker mind blasts.[9]
Appendix[]
See Also[]
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
Card Games
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bruce R. Cordell (April 1998). The Illithiad. Edited by Keith Francis Strohm. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-7869-1206-5.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins (2014-09-30). Monster Manual 5th edition. Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 222. ISBN 978-0786965614.
- ↑ Richard Baker, James Jacobs, and Steve Winter (April 2005). Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 145. ISBN 0-7869-3657-6.
- ↑ Mike Mearls, et al. (November 2016). Volo's Guide to Monsters. Edited by Jeremy Crawford, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 174–175. ISBN 978-0786966011.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Mike Mearls, et al. (November 2016). Volo's Guide to Monsters. Edited by Jeremy Crawford, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 76. ISBN 978-0786966011.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mike Mearls, Stephen Schubert, James Wyatt (June 2008). Monster Manual 4th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 188. ISBN 978-0-7869-4852-9.
- ↑ Richard Baker, James Jacobs, and Steve Winter (April 2005). Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 73. ISBN 0-7869-3657-6.
- ↑ Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 187. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.
- ↑ Eric Cagle, Jesse Decker, James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Matthew Sernett, Chris Thomasson, and James Wyatt (April 2003). Fiend Folio. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 216. ISBN 0-7869-2780-1.