Aboleths & Illithid Geopolitics, Explained

[@EricVulgaris]

What I love is the lore between these two. It's begging for a war. Aboleths predate the gods of the material plane. Illithids come from a different timeline. Imagine living since the dawn of creation only to find something *new* show up? That's the illithids to an aboleth. Two psychic hegemons utterly alien to one another competing for thralls!

[@JoelDowdell]

It gets better, they both can retreive memories from the brains of other creatures, often by eating. Since they both have different origins (mind flayers are pretty vague, but I do have to agree time shenanigans of some kind are a likely option), they have valuable information about the nature of the universe that the other would want. So not only are they fighting over thralls, they both want to eat eachother's brains.

[@Reddotzebra]

@@JoelDowdell Mind Flayers actually have ghost stories about victims with minds so powerful that they subsume the will of the tadpole they were infected with. Which is kind of hilarious. The resulting creature would still be an Illithid but would have **gasp** a possibly different ideology! Spooky!

[@themonolougist]

I absolutely love the lore about them that cumulated in the game's life. Aboleths hold themselves as superior to all as they remember the time before the arrival of the gods and they are eternal, yet fear only one thing. The only thing that they can't remember, the illithids. Even this one thought could make a very good campaign

[@SlinkDoink]

Iv'e done exactly that before, twice. The first time it was the case that the heroes stumbled upon this ancient rivelry and adventure ensued. The second time I had the players each play as an illithid or aboleth "hero" vieing for power over a coastal metropolis.

[@isaacs1052]

in my campaign the illithids were distant future evolutions of aboleths so they couldn't interact on a large scale without paradoxes.

[@mathmusicandlooks]

Now I want to run two separate campaigns: one party will be tasked in helping stabilize the government of an area, unknowingly fulfilling an elder brain’s phase two. The other party could be paladins and clerics carrying out the preaching and holy war for their leader who is an aboleth’s thrall. Both parties gain a reputation and strengthen and fortify their nations, until their pitted in a war against each other. Whichever party survives gets to discover the horrors controlling the enemy party. Who knows if they will ever discover the terrible creature pulling their own strings… bwahaha!

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

It's comments like these that keep me going

[@RandMantearTheDragon]

The dying party has dc 25 to inform the winners of the evil controlling them with their last breath.

[@Freekymoho]

@@RandMantearTheDragon how could they inform them, when they dont even know?

[@RandMantearTheDragon]

@@Freekymoho dm could make them have a final breath realization. Particularly if they already have suspicions. Ie last whisper from a divine entity since both space squids are enemies.

[@billvolk4236]

I like how some monsters are defined by their life cycle regardless of what their alignment might happen to be. Illithid need to victimize humanoids to both eat and reproduce. Aboleths don't need to have a culture because of their immortality and perfect ancestral memory, so they're practically all one individual. Beholders are solitary and especially hostile toward other beholders because they are literally born from each other's nightmares.

[@jlaw131985]

The regional effect you described for an elder brain is something that I had the party feeling in a cave underneath Sharn. That should be interesting.

[@Vante21]

So cool. I imagine two warring towns slaughtering each other for no known reason. While a group of adventurers are assigned to "check things out". They end up picking a side or trying to mediate things only to slowly find out there's something beneath the surface of this war. Or they figure it out too late and become thralls enlisting on either side.

[@krispalermo8133]

Another thing to bear in mind regard to illithids, they fall into three camps, psionics vs arcane wizards, psionic and arcane wizards vs multiclass psionic wizards. It is psionic or nothing or wizard or nothing, no in between purist mind set. Then you can start factoring in spelljammer campaign factions.

[@iamfilam2513]

Aboleth are one of my favorite DnD monsters. Excellent video as usual!

[@Nate-lq8jc]

One day, I plan to run Ravenloft in the middle of the desert where an Abolith living in subterranean caverns is forcing the town above to act like Barovia to lure in new thralls.

[@Oldkingcole1125]

Ethical Dilemma: Party fights their way into the Elder Brain boss room to finish off the Illithid colony only to discover that the Elder Brain is the only thing keeping the Tarrasque from waking up and going on a world wide rampage destroying civilization as we know it. Unfortunately, the Elder Brain cannot be left alone either since the Illithid colony is breaking through the Tarrasque’s carapace to transplant the Elder Brain into the Tarrasque as its brain making a Tarrasque controlled by an Elder Brain.

[@rebbecawitt581]

Amazing idea, might use it ty

[@jamesm783]

Or, the potential enthrall-ee could make their will save. Seriously, the Aboleth's entire scheme could come tumbling down because one of it's thralls was a little clumsy, and burnt themselves while cooking breakfast. In fact, that could be how the party gets involved. A former thrall manages to snap out of it (rolling a 20 on their save) and runs off to find some adventurers

[@dans9097]

Reminds me a bit of the movie "Get Out," all it took was a bright flash of light at times to shock back the original personality.

[@druid_zephyrus]

It is 100% my firm belief that Aboleths evolve into Mind Flayers over a long enough time period. Look at an aboleth and then look at a illithid tadpole. Same exact entity just differently sized. Aboleths remember all things every previous Aboleth knew. The one thing that causes concern to Aboleths is that yesterday there were no Illithid in their collective memory. And then today Illithid fully exist with their own history. There is no memory of the evolution and spawn of Illithid. Aboleths remember the time before the gods, before the dragons, the giants, the Primordials. Everything. The Aboleths, according to themselves, were the first entities. Aboleths had an multiplanar empire that was overthrown and they lurk and plan for eternity until they return to their former glory. Illithid ALSO had an ancient multiplanar empire. Which is _not_ in the memory of Aboleths. All of these facts mean one of two things and possibly both. 1) Some Illithid time travel back in time at the collapse of their empire and appear, entering the current collective memory of the Aboleths and these Illithid create the empire that eventually collapses - closing the time loop. 2) Aboleths eventually realize that they need to alter their forms to return to the glory of the multiplanar empire. Some decide the best way to to continue their controlling if minds is to put their spawn in place of those minds. And to preserve their collective memory and order some become an Elder Brain. Creating the Illithid as we know them. Having _their_ empire rise and collapse. 2a) the empire that Illithid seek to reform is actually the same empire that the Aboleths originally had and they have forgotten their Aboleth roots and *only* remember the desire to reclaim the planes under their empire. -Your Friendly Neighborhood Druid

[@jgr7487]

the deeper you go in the Lore, more sense this theory makes

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

...... Huh....

[@doughnutboyo6922]

Illithid traveling back in time being the reason that the aboleth don't remember them isn't a theory. It's the actual published cannon. The Illithid empire also never declined. Illithid domination was so absolute and universal across the multiverse that it lasted to the end of time. A few escaped per the only option: Time travel

[@druid_zephyrus]

@@doughnutboyo6922do you mind citing. So I can learn. Please and thank you. Because then how did they lose the ability to time travel? -Your Friendly Neighborhood Druid

[@druid_zephyrus]

@@DungeonMasterpiece just go look at a fully grown Aboleth and an Illithid Tadpole and tell me they aren't basically the same creature. The rest is just putting together the lore of the two creatures and making sense of it. -Your Friendly Neighborhood Druid

[@10urion]

I was not expecting this! Really nice summary and giving nice ideas for eventual campaigns

[@Merlinstergandaldore]

I love this. I have been devising an Illithid villain for one of my games, and shall definitely be cribbing some of your ideas.

[@Uphold-your-Rights]

Search the spell jammer books from 1st edition for the Sargonne Prophecy. That is the main plot of my game and it's been great. The antagonist is a Ulitharid trying to fulfill the prophecy. The players hate him.

[@Merlinstergandaldore]

@@Uphold-your-Rights I do loves me a villain the players hate! 😁

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of Dungeon Masterpiece videos

[@NagikunX]

*Meanwhile, the 80 year old lady waiting on her estate planning advice:* _"Jesse, what the hell are you talking about??"_

[@robbylivaudais6390]

oh god thank you for doing this! My party is in the undermountain under waterdeep about to face off against an aboleth and the mindflayer colony on level 17 also has something they want. this will help me out tremendously!

[@Reddotzebra]

If they're morally flexible enough to consider diplomacy with an obviously evil creature, they might even join up with it after kicking its ass, since both groups are going to want to wreck the Illithids.

[@robbylivaudais6390]

@@Reddotzebra this is entirely possible! I doubt it though as the aboleth is a part of the abolethic sovereignty which has been plaguechanged and they want to kill Mystra to bring about another spellplague to further experiments and grow in power to kill the rest of the gods. They could, but as they learn more info I sincerely doubt they will lol

[@PyramKing]

I want to further comment - that these Geopolitics / strategy tactic videos you have created are gold. Really brining together elements about social, government, and interplay of creatures into the fantasy society as a whole is something missing in most content. I am really enjoying your videos. I would certainly suggest creating some basic PDF guides that go with videos as a value add for your Patreons, of which I would certainly become a subscriber and I believe there is a general need and interest in such material. Thank you again.

[@Tuariq1]

Love this series! Honestly, you are like a colour salesman for us painters. You create magical settings for us to individualise and enable us to create our own intricate scenarios. So many thanks

[@Jamesdalf]

I absolutely fist pumped in real life seeing this. My party started a campaign in a valley between 2 mountain ranges and I want the BBEG to be Mind Flayers trying to make a Elder Brain Dragon. And the group patron be an Abolith. So this was absolutely perfect

[@nsideddice]

Elder Brain Dragon sounds scary.

[@Arkume8Beltz]

I love the lovecraftian Far Realms creatures.. :D

[@jessel9626]

Love your stuff, wish the videos were a bit longer, but that's just because the content is great!

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

It's great because they are only as long as they need to be and not a fraction of a second longer!

[@jessel9626]

@@DungeonMasterpiece fully agree. Do you have any plans for the geopolitics of planes? Id love to see what you've got about how the structure of dnd planes and their makeup says about how cultures and nations form in things like the elemental planes, City of Brass kinda stuff, yknow?

[@PiiskaJesusFreak]

Already liked the video before I watched it, since it is one I had asked for. Love your content!

[@LecherousCthulhu]

Love it and have an idea on how to turn this into an entire campaign

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

If a campaign goes a certain way this is a good tool for installing your party as rulers of a particular region or city in tier 3 and 4 level ranges. If they have to clear out a mind flayer colony or remove a couple aboleths from the sewers and the aberrations take a few of their thralls with them that creates a power vacuum. You might have a situation where the highest ranking religious authority is the party cleric, the highest military authority is the fighter, the local wizard academy needs a new headmaster, and there's no one left to stop the rogue from stepping in and taking over the smuggling operation run by the previous thieves guild. Hell, if the mayor, king, or governor was a thrall and the public saw them "betray" the town to the aberrations there might be general demand for, or at the least no one saying no to, the fighter or party face walking into the now empty throne room and declaring themselves the new king. This sounds like a fun wrap up to most published adventures. Pick a city the party heads to after they're done with Avernus, Candlekeep, Saltmarsh, Barovia, Ten Towns and the frozen north, Chult, or anything else. They get there and if more than one of them picked a subclass that grants water breathing and a swim speed they notice signs of at least 3 aboleths ruling behind the scenes. If half the party picked subclasses that grant resistance to psychic damage then there's a mindflayer colony beneath the town. Figure it out, cast mind shield and nondetection, track the thralls to their tentacle daddy, "accidentally" behead the previous ruler with that awesome sword they got in the published adventure, slay all the aberrations, go back to the surface and declare yourselves the new government. This sounds like a fun "retirement party" adventure you could insert in just about any setting other than Spelljammer, Planescape, MtG, or Radiant Citadel. Planet and plane hopping campaigns lend themselves less to "Okay you all decide to stay here forever now" endings. Theros and Saltmarsh set island hopping campaigns are an easier fit. Find a massive island nation that runs a globe spanning naval force or trade empire clear out the 5 or 6 aboleths that were dominating the merchant guild, the admiralty board, and the ship wrights union, and suddenly your party are the new lords of the however many seas. Drag or magic the ship your party has been sailing around the world in up to the highest cliff or mountain overlooking the sea, build your keep/mansion out of the ship and around it, and step into whatever job used to be filled by the prior enthralled rulers of your new nautical empire.

[@zacharyhawley1693]

Imagine all that effort just to be undone by random strangers just passing through. Your thralls exposed for the puppets they are and then they come for you like a relentless beast.

[@lepthymo]

My party helped out a random githzerai being attacked by mindflayers as a Mcguffin. They decided to interrogate the mind flayers using command spells about the location of their colony. Imagine the last thoughts before you die being that you just doomed your colony because some adventurers decided to get ambitious and that githzerai will 100% inform their superiors of the location. Yikes.

[@PyramKing]

A thoughtful and helpful explanation of how to adopt these two amazing monsters into an adventure. Thank you.

[@tulisotilas]

Glad I clicked on this. This way of thinking and speaking of fictitious lands and worlds as if they were completely real is really fun to listen to.

[@MKempICI]

Campaign Idea: The town's vice-ruler comes to the PC's and recruits them to fight an Aboleth. The players are only available because they are the least threatening people in the region. Choose from amongst the following classes: Old Lady, Disabled Farmhand, Unskilled Flautist, five year-old girl, and Particularly Stupid Dog.

[@ThomasBD]

Loved the video! But at first I thought it was going to be about the story of Aboliths and Ilithids. I don't remember where, but I recall reading that Aboliths feared nothing BUT the Ilithids, because the Ilithids came from the future and the Aboliths didn't knew anything about them, unlike all other things in the material plane.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

That's been their backstory since at least 3rd edition. If you can find it the 3e or 3.5 Lords of Madness book is a good read for all your aberration needs. It has large chapters on aboleths, beholders, mind flayers, neogi, and a race of tentacle monsters they made up for that book. Aboleths were here first. They predate the dawn of time so they know where everything in the multiverse came from. Except mind flayers who just showed up one day with a bunch of gith hunting them. Mind flayers were the last star spanning aberration slave empire in existence near the heat death of the universe. After the last stars had burned out and the universe was winding down to die they lost control of their gith slaves. Around that time they figured out a way to send their entire empire back in time. The mind flayers, what was left of their space faring empire, and the rebels hunting them all ended up in the relatively recent past of the various D&D settings. Planet bound mind flayers busy themselves with minor league evil like dominating townsfolk, while squid ship illithids flying through space are actively trying to recreate the cosmos they came from by extinguishing stars. And all the while the aboleths have no idea where these upstarts came from. That's where their fear comes from.

[@KaelinGoff]

This is fantastic content. Edit :Ok. Thats not enough. I would watch this sort of analysis for every feature of dnd you can think of. Monsters of course, but also dungeons, magic items of great power, places of supernatural power, specific cities, Faiths and diety worship, and events like monster invasion or spellplague. This is one of my favorite parts of world building and listening to analysis makes my day.

[@steakknives]

Both these ideas have a very "Shadow over Innsmouth" vibe.

[@ChaosLierLen]

I would love to explore how the Gith would react when discovering a conflict between Illithids and Aboleths. Would they side with the Aboleths or see them as something abhorrently similar to their former masters?

[@alexandrub8786]

I think that would depend on what kind of gith you are talking about no?

[@KnarbMakes]

I ran an aboleth dungeon once, it TPKed the party and made them turn on each other. This was after they had defeated an adult red dragon earlier in the campaign. Don't mess with aboleths.

[@jonathangodin4775]

The video bellow this one was a video on Middle East geopolitics! I chose this one to avoid a headache today

[@adrianmillard6598]

It took me a moment to grasp how cool a guy in a suit is talking about D&D. You radiate class.

[@jm25ro]

Mmmm yes more material to add for my home brew campaign. I'm thinking of a 3 way competition between aboleth, illiths, and maybe false Hydra for the soul of a town.

[@MichaelRainey]

With a population of wererats, goblins, and/or kobolds living under the city as a third side to fight or even recruit.

[@krispalermo8133]

@@MichaelRainey Goblins run up into the village screaming for help cause there are monster invading.

[@durifennefirud892]

I first found your channel through the DnDiablo video (great stuff!). Your content, especially the geopolitics "series", as well as the stronghold/court/royalty videos have been tremendously inspiring to me, even though I don't play 5E. Thanks a lot for your contribution to the hobby :)

[@danielcarrasquillo9613]

That was really well put together, and classy. Thank you for the content ❤

[@WouldbeSage]

this just gave me an idea for two formerly allied communities going to war as a proxy for a fight between an aboleth and an elder brain. awesome.

[@PossumMedic]

Eldamon looks like fever dream Pokemon 😂

[@arcadiantv]

I created a hybrid called "The Abolithid" as the BBEG for my module "The Secret of Black Lake". Quite a nasty Lovecraftian villain.

[@robbylivaudais6390]

Would you mind sharing? In my campaign, aboleths and mind flayers are pseudo allies thinking they are the ones really in control and the Abolethic Sovereignty, having been altered by the spellplague, are ultimately the BBEG in my campaign. There are also experiments the party has heard about/witnessed of one species being combined with another, so this would fit PERFECTLY as a creature for me! :D

[@arcadiantv]

@@robbylivaudais6390 It's currently only in my Roll20 campaign, but I will add it as a homebrew monster on D&D Beyond and share the link here.

[@arcadiantv]

www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2665485-abolithid

[@LikeTheBirb]

​@@arcadiantv where is that link buddy I need it Remember to put spaces and stuff to avoid the filters

[@Mae-hx2ml]

I can tell you write your own closed captions and it is very much appreciated. Thank you.

[@vaibhavguptawho]

I've needed this video so badly! Thank you very much.

[@fakenatehoover]

Instant subscribe. Thank you, algorithm.

[@Coffee_Nutz]

This makes me wonder about the Neogi and also The Mad Mage of Undermountain. Heck the effects of grand wizards/sorcerers type influences seems designed of double protection riddled with red tape. He would know of these creatures so wouldnt there be a litter of spells and glyphs warding against those creatures... the back and forth seems nightmare fueled.

[@jeffscrungle6179]

Good luck charming the high priest with a +12 to their wisdom save.

[@km1dash6]

I think this would also lead cities and well established churches to have magic items to protect people on the top of the "food chain." The crown of a king or queen might be a magic item that protects against charm effects, for example.

[@Frolmaster]

Very inspiring!

[@givemeanaxe]

My homebrew has two nations Directly influenced by these. One, an aboleth, worshipped as a living God by a culture of titans, seaelves, etc. . . And the other, a land empire ruled by a man, who is 100% the thrall of a rogue Mind Flayer. My current campaign, is nigh complete. I really want to have a "post credit button" ala mcu films where one of the characters is led to, and introduced to the "true throne" of the empire as a reward. - - - ok. Maybe not an award for the character.. but the player. Lol.

[@mmardh799]

interesting, thank you!

[@krinkrin5982]

I want to make an Innsmouth-style scenario using an Aboleth. They would be perfect for this.

[@edstevens1503]

I love when adventurers enter a port town to find everyone seems kinda sweaty and slimy.

[@andrewjohnson6716]

Thanks, you just inspired me to an entire new quest line.

[@noahdoyle6780]

I seem to remember that the Illithids and Aboleth had been at war forever, and that the Gith (-yanki and -zerai) were two strains of humans from an illithid and aboleth dominated future that had fled into the past (and the Astral plane) to escape/foil their plans. No idea where I read this.

[@-Big_Big]

I always wondered if a cleric who has been charmed/dominated can rest to regain spells. would a deity allow a dominated cleric to regain spells?.

[@Reddotzebra]

Depends on the setting. In the Forgotten Realms? Probably not. In Eberron? Definitely!

[@Hrafnskald]

Very timely now, with Baldur's Gate 3 fully released now, featuring some of these enemies :)

[@keithvanboskirk7327]

Could you expand with example of time period and phases from start to complete takeover of a town, city, or region. Maybe pair with group challenges for party to sniff out what is going on? results dependent on what phase of domination, then let the PC's develop a plan to rescue the city or get invited to dinner?

[@nerdaccount]

Fantastic video as always!

[@Cuttingtorch]

The monsters I liked he most in the setting is Beholders and Illithids. Aboleths will now have to fill that third slot. I wish I could find a 3.5 group that would run this type of campaign.

[@woodwwad]

Interesting video.

[@southron_d1349]

I became tired of a player continually comparing Mindflayers with Dr Zoidberg of Futurama, ruining any suspense. Illithids need to be scary. So I altered the attacks slightly and replaced the description with the Elder Things from Call of Cthulhu. The Elder Brain doesn't need to change much, simply couched in terms of "a pallid, rugose, pseudopodic blasphemy".

[@lvramire]

This came at such a good time. I've been mulling running Night Below which is an older storyline which heavily involves these two baddies

[@krispalermo8133]

Bough that box set when it came out around twenty five years ago, played it with both AD&D and 3rdE rules. To switch it up, we ran it as a WotC 3.5e Star Wars game. " A legion of imperial storm troops lead by Lord Vader chasing down rebel leadership into ancient ruins on a rustic world." The DM was very creative, each of my storm trooper's death just got more horrific the farer we went underground. A good dose of body horror was added it, .. AD&D 4th-level spell Polymorph Other was later renamed in 3rdE as Baneful Polymorph, and in the Psionic hand book it is named Metamorph Another. Instead drinking it as a potion, it was high tech regarded as an injection fired from an air compression rifle. Treat the aboleth scouts as plague zombies, any imperial officers without breathing masks gets infected when the zombies get vapid by blaster fire. A blaster bolt turns a puss sack on a zombies' body into an aerosol cloud that can get breathed in. 2.) Since it is a campaign box set, you can set the players' PCs down at any point into the adventure. Run a few locations involving villages over the caverns as Call of Cthulhu one shots.

[@cmleibenguth]

Have you considered the geopolitics of Beholders and Beholder cults? Excepting the case of Waterdeep (one there runs a crime syndicate if I recall but is also insane) That could be an interesting video!

[@asaenvolk]

The issues that Aboleths and Illithid have, is that the gods are real, they have truly vast power, they like to meddle, and the Aboleth and Illithid are stepping into their domain. Even if the gods don't directly interfere, other gods (even ones that normally oppose one another) may interfere, after all, a god giving a priest/druid/paladin/psionic/or Gold Dragon (heck even a blue dragon that thinks itself a lord of an area) a vision of a the threat, things can kick into gear fast. Side note, I like to think that the Ethergaunts are the race that created the Illithids.

[@michaelfoye1135]

The scary thing is just how well this would explain the lunacy of contemporary politics.

[@CloseingStraw97]

Will you be doing space maps soon? I would love to see you tackle the Battletech map.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

I've been holding off on fantasy maps till I finish my Geopolitical certification in August. I have a feeling I'll come away from that with a very refined perspective on making great content

[@CloseingStraw97]

@@DungeonMasterpiece HAHA! But it is sci fi so you totally can do that right now. Jokes aside good luck with that and I hope you succeed.

[@LochlannForde]

this dude is just nailing that suit

[@alexshortall5237]

I don't see where it's stated that an aboleth can use its Enthrall ability with a thrall as the conduit. From what I can tell any targets of Enslave have to be within 30 feet of the aboleth.

[@abelsampaio389]

I was thinking of running my next campaign featuring Ilithids. Now I'll put Aboleths in the mix and make them fight with the PCs in the middle!

[@PyrotechNick77]

The quads groups here is insane. CR1: vex, Keyleth, pike, and Percy CR2: jester, Beau, yasha, and Molly/Kingsley/Caduces. CR3: Imogen, Laudna, Fearne (the Witchy Bitches) and Ashton.

[@lightsweping955]

love the geopolitics videos great work

[@abelsampaio389]

Being curious, where is the bit where an aboleth can enthrall a target through another thrall?

[@mindripperful]

This was the nerd mastication i wanted THANKING YOU

[@billberndtson]

This was fascinating. Thank you. 😁

[@destonlee2838]

They've joined forces abollithids.

[@lepthymo]

How would a mindflayer city of about 8000 illithids and assorted thralls and constructs fare against a relatively high-magic city of 250000? The starting conditions are; the city found out they'd been infiltrated and removed the threat with some difficulty, leading to widespread destruction and temporary destabilization. Now they want revenges since they see the illithid as an existential threat (rightly so). The city has access to a few archmages and can produce magic items. If you think the illithid are at too much of a disadvantage, you can rule they have a portal to the 4th moon of the planet which has an even larger colony and some spelljamming resources. If you think the city is at too much of a disadvantage, assume they are on distant but decent terms with the githzerai.

[@O4C209]

So Aboleths are Kevin Bacon.

[@Zr0din]

Please paint the picture of a regional effect overlap of a aboleth vs illithid vs dragon or other thing. How is it different with a dragon effecting a force of nature vs the impact on thralls and stuff.

[@jeffreykoch4673]

How is this channel just legal eagle for dungeon masters instead of lawyers.

[@kalsaari4670]

Hey Sandpoint map, i played that pathfinder campaign! :P

[@natezabinski5615]

Brb, going to review the folk horror part of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

[@damnedwhale]

Man, you might’ve made these scarier than any other depiction or explanation just by implication alone, eeeesh.

[@12oshinko]

Aboleth, Illithid, Neogi team up? Plus minions?

[@sadius24]

Where does it say that an aboleth can charm a creature its thrall can see? I've read the MM entry and googled but haven't found anything to support this. MM says range for enslavement is 30 ft.

[@nicholascarter9158]

The illusory image of the aboleth in it's regional power, which may be projected anywhere the aboleth has a thrall, says the aboleth's telepathy and vision function as if the image was the aboleth's current physical location. You combine that with the wording of the Enslave ability to get. Enslave anything it can see within 30 feet of it's location The image's location *is* it's location. Enslave anything within 30 feet of the image.

[@sadius24]

@@nicholascarter9158 Thanks for your answer. I did consider that line of reasoning but the premise I can't see support for is taht "the images location is it's location." Maybe I just missed it. But even if it isn't RAW, I can totally see the appeal of homebrewing that to be the case. It makes for some very cool storyline potential.

[@Kakkarot211]

excellent video

[@drow_Lilith9940]

i have a warlock in my game who is an aboleth soul in a human body and great old one warlock and their whole thing trying is they are their own patron trying to use their old power while inside this human woman body

[@chaoticwriting6304]

6:05 uhhh... what do you mean? It can do telepathy for sure, but theyre farther than 30ft from it, so they cant use Enslave.

[@nicholascarter9158]

The illusory image of the aboleth in it's regional power, which may be projected anywhere the aboleth has a thrall, says the aboleth's telepathy and vision function as if the image was the aboleth's current physical location. You combine that with the wording of the Enslave ability to get. Enslave anything it can see within 30 feet of it's location The image's location *is* it's location. Enslave anything within 30 feet of the image.

[@chaoticwriting6304]

@@nicholascarter9158 only its telepathy and vision function as if the image was the current physical location. Doesnt say so for Enslave

[@nicholascarter9158]

@@chaoticwriting6304 An obvious problem with simple language rules: Enslave is a telepathic attack, and so it is ambiguous whether you can Enslave anything you can contact telepathically.

[@chaoticwriting6304]

@@nicholascarter9158 while that's certainly a houserule, that's kinda stretching the wording of "The aboleth can sense, speak, and use telepathy from the image's position as if present at that position." There's nothing about the Enslave feature that states it's a telepathic attack either. It just states that it's a charm and you can telepathically speak from those whom you charm. Now a DM can just choose to give the Aboleth that power, but that's basically homebrewing the monster and that's a different solution from just using the written down abilities of the creature from the statblock.

[@ArvelDreth]

There's nothing anywhere in any book I could find, including the stat block, the Forgotten Realms wiki, or the Lords of Madness 3.5 sourcebook, saying elder brains inspire paranoia in surrounding wildlife en masse. Only that it can potentially target a single incapacitated creature of 4 intelligence or greater within 5 miles to change their emotional state for up to 1 hour. Although, they'd be situated so far underground that the only wildlife they'd affect are what's in the Underdark anyway. I think you're massively overstating what an elder brain can do, and misusing the term "geopolitics" as nothing about affecting wildlife has to do with influencing geographical features in the landscape.

[@deannatheos4471]

Very good as alway have a nice day 😊😊 .

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

My players will regret that I watched this video 😂

[@VioletIgnitus]

The four degrees of Kevin Bacon is surpassed by the three degrees of Aboleth power grab.

[@Abornarazine]

I liked this video but it did feel a bit surface level compared to your other geopolitical videos. Honestly, you could have spent 7 mins on each of these without issue. Still wish you would.

[@juhel5531]

A good illithid and/or aboleth would be great. Imagine if a particularly introspective illithid went "we are all we have. Every sapient creature is the entirety of all existence experiencing itself. The clockwork of the world cares not for us. All I have and ever will have will be the companionship of other sapients..." And then they break away from the elder brain. Heck, a good aligned illithid would be great. Imagine if they only ate sapients at the end of their lives. That would mean maximum memories and satiation. They would also tattle on their species and affect nation states and other groups. Heck, a good aligned aboleth would probably destroy the planet they're in. Imagine the sheer destabilizijg force of discoverinf aboleths exist and the outright wars that might ensue as factions fight to get aboleths on their side or exterminate them.

[@edwardg8912]

Little thrown off by using St. Thomas More as the image of a mentally controlled noble lol.

[@brentdonoho5151]

No kidding! He was NOT a thrall. Just about the opposite of one, really.

[@edwardg8912]

@@brentdonoho5151 Too true.

[@mikegould6590]

An Aboleth/Illithid civil war....hmmmmm

[@Uphold-your-Rights]

Yes, they do not get along as the aboleths have a difficult time controlling them.

[@johnsimonson1207]

I would love to see your reaction on another race well known for manipulating politics (although not aberations like the Illithid or Aboleths). What are your impressions on the D&D 3.5 Illumian race as a plot hooks or campaign themes? How would you flesh out their culture and society?

[@whisped8145]

4:35 Good to know, then I can play it with PF1 instead.

[@askingwhy123]

Ok, here's a terrible suggestion for you: start a biweekly "I fix a movie script" channel. You can start with Fantastic Beasts 3, which event I could make 50% better.

[@pumplesdorskiner]

Sorry to be that guy, I don't understand the "geopolitics" framing of this. There are good ideas here that are definitely intriguing, but not anything I couldn't get from "The Monsters Know What They're Doing." What's described here are tactics based on the move-sets, which help in the generation of adventures for sure, but aren't particularly unique. I would expect that reframing a monster in terms of the political theory surrounding it would give cool new ways of approaching said monster. I mean, we're talking about monsters older than gods and completely alien societies with entirely foreign values to our own. Illithids are carnivorous, meaning they can't survive on agriculture. So they have to live in some kind of stasis with their ONLY food source, humanoids that can fall under their sway, (and god forbid they revolt like the Gith) which makes them a shepherding society that sometimes loses their flock. A shepherding society that has somehow advanced above most other civilizations in the 'verse. How does that work? What must be true in order to arrive at that conclusion with a society that has progressed without the need for agriculture? There are many questions available here that the word "geopolitics" promises but doesn't answer.

[@codyvandal2860]

True. Although 'sheparding society' is a bit too benign (if technically true) of a characertization for what the Illithids do - considering the enslavement and torture of sentient humanoids is a part of their way of life.

[@pumplesdorskiner]

@@codyvandal2860 Not if you ask the sheep! 😄. Agreed though. It's a label that gives us a comparison point in human history, but a label is rarely a perfect match, especially when talking about aliens. And I guess the fact that this is interesting makes me frustrated about all the places you could go with this subject. I mean, the illithids have orgasms whenever they eat their only food source. How difficult would it be for them to moderate food supply? Is there a weird culture around not eating, like no nut November for tentacle people? So many more weird quandaries here!

[@codyvandal2860]

@@pumplesdorskiner whats the source for them having orgasms when eating

[@nicholascarter9158]

@@pumplesdorskiner Some earlier texts suggest Elder brains create a sort of psionic facist panopticon in which Illithid's must earn the right to eat and 'watching' other illithid's eat is a kind of psychic pornography.

[@krispalermo8133]

I started with AD&D back in the late 1980's in junior high school, then played AD&D in the late 1990's as a young adult in my first game shop for adults stay up to 2am or coming out of the store basement at sun rise. The own just let us sleep on the concrete floor sometimes. Then WotC 3rdE came out and we more or less switched over to that. Points to make, .. a.) We first started off with AD&D2ndE for around ten years and had the Complete Psionic hand book, and illithids were regarded to use .. psionics. Problem was 1stE psionic rules didn't really carry over well and 2ndE psionic were unbalance and at times as written way over powering, then we had AD&D2ndE " Skills & Powers," which had it's own revise Psionic rules. Which was still hair pulling for most people where they just did not want psionics in game. First game shop had enough players and DM groups we would player group vs player group, everyone pulled a card and see if they are playing stander human/elf/dwarf troop or if they were Role playing the monsters in a given game. Which late became their later PCs in other games. To get pass the old school gate keeping I just had my wizard once at 9th-level Polymorph himself into an illthid and ate a few people. More or less a F-ck you to the other players in their late 20's or 30's, .. well I had attitude at 21 years old and was tired of being f-cked with. The shop owner let me ran with it. If you won't let me or That Other Guy role play an illithid, then we will run a wizard as an illithid. b.) Due to the illithid HD and special ability Planeshift we broke illithid down to being a slightly broken 13th-level wizard base on spell like abilities. As a lose rule we ran illithid as a 13th-level wizard or a 13th-level psionist. If you are familiar with AD&D2ndE DMG section of " Create your own Character Class," we just used that to modify a wizard/psionic till it reflected an illithid of level. Then 3rdE came out .. c.) Spell or psionic use, ... 4th-level AD&D spell Polymorph Other is used to mutate and breed monsters, .. the psionist has Meta-Morphosis as a power then follow with arguing effects of a given spell/power. Point being the illithid psionic of caster level can create their own protein growths such our current science creating synthetic meat. The illithid Needs one human brain per month to stay Healthy active, ever hear how humans get Rickets if they don't have the vitamins found in fish oil ? Honestly due to how dim witted some people can be, the illithid could get more nutrition from a chimpanzee brain. d.) If you listen to those Green Earthers which they may or may not be right, humans use more farmland to feed our cattle meat industry then to grow the non-meat produce to feed ourselves. In point humans use more water/land/ agriculture to feed livestock then to grain, bean, vegetable feed humans. Also it has been stated in the old books along with all the current ones, the illithid Needs one sapient brain a month, they Still need other food to power their bodies. They need the proteins from sapient/ape brains to remain functioning themselves. e.) With 3rdE, we had a house rule where illithid also had to feed off of people's physic energy through dreams and do temporary int/wis/cha dmg each week. We just regarded it as the spell Vampiric Touch. Maybe later I cover some bits of different illithid factions and how they war against each other, Hope you could get some ideals from this and please do have a good weekend.

[@guyfromdubai]

5:23 ah yes, sandpoint

[@Limjahey7]

so BG3