Re: Mind Flayer Player Characters

On Mon, 1 Jun 1998, John McCloud wrote:

> 	In addition to the Charisma modifier, Illithids should have a 
> further penalty when dealing with Human-type beings as mind flayers are 
> alien in appearance and like to suck brains to boot.  Thus, they should 
> have a further penalty of, say, -2 on their reaction adjustment when 
> dealing with non-illithids (or anyone who wouldn't really care, such as 
> Vrock). 

That does seem like a good idea.  

> 	Having high magic resistance is dangerous.  MR is much more 
> powerful than simply giving save bonuses.  I'd at least cut the starting 
> amount to 25% with 2% at each new level and max out at "name level" (this 
> is 10th for mages, 9th for priests, 9th for warriors, and I think 10th for 
> psionicists).

I wouldn't do it myself.  The idea here was to allow them to reach their
racial Magic Resistance level at 9th level, which is about where a
non-classed Illithid is (in terms of hit dice, etc).  

If you feel that the magic resistance is too unbalancing, assume that it
applies to any magic that could affect them, not just hostile magic.
Perhaps it affects magical items they use as well (I don't like that one
myself, but it is an idea).

Personally, I prefer to penalize things like this socially (as you
discussed above).  In a campaign with a lot of role playing (as opposed to
combat), this can be a real penalty.

> 	What is meant by "cannot see in the normal spectrum?"  This is 
> especiailly confusing considering the sight ranges given.
> > 
> > Illithid posess infravision, but cannot see into the normal spectrum.
> > Their range of vision is as follows:
> > Light Conditions            Visual Range
> > Darkness/starlight               480'
> > Candle/moonlight                 240'
> > Torch light                      120'
> > Lantern/magical light             60'
> > Light on a cloudy day             30'
> > Direct sunlight                   15'

All right.  The Illithid do not see the part of the EM spectrum that we
see.  We see the wavelengths red through violet.  Illithid cannot.  They
see infrared and higher, causing them to perceive heat the way we see
light.  The unusual visual ranges are an attempt (from the Illithiad) to
reflect this.  In cooler environments/times (underground, at night, etc),
they can see farther because heat stands out more from the background.  

Richard Gant