How to Run an Elder Brain in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... We discuss the mastermind of monsters, the Elder Brain. We look at roleplaying ideas, battlefield tactics, minions, and adventures that you can use to bring this interesting and intelligent iconic monster to life in your games.
This video is sponsored by the Sunken Isles. Make sure to check it out here!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
TIME STAMPS
0:00 - Sponsor
0:43 - Intro
1:44 - What is an Elder Brain?
3:27 - Roleplaying an Elder Brain
15:26 - Elder Brain Battle Tactics
20:31 - Elder Brain Minions
24:12 - Elder Brain Variations
27:05 - Elder Brain Adventures
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[@ryanpeters3812]

I love the several minute diatribe of Monty instilling fear and dread of the Elder Brian... completely undone by Kelly's 'I was simply gonna say a brain in a pool.'

[@nekonokenshi4450]

I don't feel that it was undone, just more showing that both are valid ways to describe the environment and Elder brain.

[@snazzyfeathers]

It was perfect and I could just feel Kelly about to say something snarky right after!

[@nicolaeorengo20]

@@nekonokenshi4450 I think he means undone purely in a creative sense, not to suggest the description doesn't stand at all. The delivery was golden.

[@friendly3swordwielder341]

Ay yes the Elder Brian much more wise and fearsome then the rest of the regular Brian’s

[@ryanpeters3812]

@@friendly3swordwielder341 Well, he had a rough life. People kept thinking he was the messiah

[@macdd7257]

Imagine a campaign that begins like a classical D&D adventure: - PC meet in a tavern. During their adventures, they share weird dreams of a forgotten world. - They become local heroes and they meet a really cool ally. - Ally dies during a fight against a powerful assassin, revealing he was controled by an Intellect Devourer. The assassin flees the scene. - PC investigate on assassin and Intellect Devourer controled ally. - They find a Mind Flayer Colony. - They meet an Elder Brain who says "Welcome home, child". - TWIST: the PC are not their character, they're sentient Intellect Devourer that have developped a sense of self and now believes their host memories are their own. The weird dreams they keep having are the Intellect Devourer memories. - Assassin was part of their former party and just wanted revenge for his dead friends. PC are not remembering him because he's not controlled by an Intellect Devourer. - Welcome in the Twilight Zone

[@TheTim44]

This idea is amazing

[@ikaemos]

Out of experience, I'd like to caution that, while this sounds like a neat idea, I believe it would kill most campaigns. Sixth-Sense-like twists are for books. The minute you say, "You've secretly been slimy brain-parasites all along!", half of your players will go, "That's so cool!", and the other half will rip their sheet, leave, and make an r/rpghorrorstories post about how you sacrificed their agency at the altar of plot twists. I have a friend who routinely tries to sell me on campaign premises like these (first it's "this fantasy world is not what it seems," and then after prying I discover that "this fantasy world is _actually_ an orbital VR resort, and its warring demigods are the resort's guests, paying handsomely to roleplay fantasy heroes") and they always make me gag. I get mystery campaigns - hell, I'm running one right now - but those in which fundamental aspects of the world are expected to flip halfway through feel like a betrayal of the social contract to me. When was I asked if I wanted to play a sci-fi game? There are players who drive their characters like stolen cars, and they might love crazy twists like that. But if even one or two people at a table feel betrayed by your DM-ing, you've failed to set proper expectations. The only way this works for everyone involved is if the twist is spoiled beforehand ("In this campaign, you're playing intellect devourers who think they're people"). However, notice that, with the mystery gone, the premise is now toothless, and getting people to buy-in is harder - that's because most of the impact was in the shocking revelation. And shocking revelations are crutches for hack writers.

[@dylanwyatt1786]

You're right about being cautious, but I think what follow is what matters. In your example, your friend is more falling for the trap of "it was just a dream", which is a huge let down, especially in an rpg. MAC would do this if the elder brain instantly regained control and their characters were enslaved. Story over, and it's not even the player's fault. But, if they've just gone through this long journey together as a free party of heroes and want to keep doing that, they still have the player agency to say "screw my original purpose" and fight the elder brain, starting a redemption arc where they in a way "earn" their bodies. Some players might take it as an opportunity to change characters, and they could choose to join the Brain, leaving those characters behind. Even have one or two who actually knew the truth and have secretly been helping lead them to this trap, if a player could handle it. If not, you could make an npc that fits that role, like the ally. Overall, I think my advice is to make the twist about having a secret become known, opening a new door for adventure without undoing everything the players have already done.

[@macdd7257]

@@dylanwyatt1786 Yup, that's about it. Thanks for writing down m'y thoughts ;)

[@rosascreativeworks5403]

Sweet. I'm writing this one down. 😎

[@Narcemus]

I don't know why, but this video made me fall in love with the idea of a kind of flipping the expectation sort of scenario where an Elder Brain is the leader and main repository of information in an empire. It runs a vast library where young men and women work hard to be selected to recieve the blessing of a tadpole to become the Elder Brain's servants within the library and those who are near death come to the library to be joined with the brain in order to reach a form of immortality.

[@TheTroygarg]

This just solved a problem in my game. Thank you!

[@euansmith3699]

I'd imagine that the Elder Brain will have piles of Lair Actions to batter the PCs with; crushing portals, trapdoors, energy discharges, etc. I like Kelly's idea of the Dwarf Town.

[@kylejohnson423]

Yeah, in fact. I was just thinking that and Elder Brain, more than any other BBEG should have a dungeon attached to it (as in the OG D&D sense). The Elder brain knows its number is up if it ever goes into direct combat, so perhaps it gets their minions to craft this elaborate, confusing, seemingly illogical maze of traps, monsters, and puzzles to drain the party's resources. Finally, once the party reaches the Brain they barely have any resources left to even put a dent in the jar.

[@kylejohnson423]

in fact, if you wanna be super annoying, put a fire alarm in the dungeon, and every time they try to long rest, it goes off.

[@lunamoth34]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned Mother Brain from the Metroid series. It may be a little on the nose but I think it's a perfect fit.

[@SeiaiAnkoku]

Yeah! I'm designing something similar to Mother Brain for an Elder Brain encounter. I'm still working over how to include the lava, turrets, Rinka, and Zebetites into it as the lair, minions, and obstacles, with a possible Golem/mech version like Mother Brain's second form in Super Metroid.

[@krikorajemian8524]

Another inspiration for a mind flayer colony is the Borg from Star Trek, with the Elder Brain played as the Borg Queen.

[@mattdodson1272]

This was one reference that I was really surprised they didn't bring up. The whole video, I was just thinking, WE ARE THE BORG, PREPARE TO BE ASSIMILATED, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!

[@fightingfalcon777]

I was thinking the exact same thing

[@Timmy_The_P.O.G]

That's a good one

[@isaacgraff8288]

NO! kill it! Kill it with more fire!

[@psoren423]

Really like this concept for a campaign.

[@lacidar3752]

I think of the elder brain like gravemind. It feels no desire to gloat about its alien nature and intelligence. It speaks and acts at its own pace and while its goals are easy to figure out that’s cold comfort. The horror is figuring out how far ahead it thinks and needing to deal with it.

[@Joshher117]

You could even run it as an “infestation” where the worms are rapidly spreading across an area and your staring to notice significant changes in the people and culture. Only to realize the elder brain is building itself up and building an army to consume the world. And you have to stop it before it spreads too far and wide

[@chiepah2]

When you mentioned the matrix I had the idea for a campaign where you have the PC's start at something like 10th level and you start them in the middle of an adventure. They can be exploring a dungeon or a castle or something, but every few minutes you have them roll a mental resistance check. The first few checks have some ridiculous DC like 50 but every time the check gets lower and lower. As they start to get within 10 of the check they start to feel uneasy about their situation. Maybe those that roll really well get the feeling that this is all wrong they shouldn't be here. Then as they start passing the check their character just disappears. So maybe they are in the middle of a hoard of enemies then the cleric just vanishes, then the wizard, and one by one they vanish until it's just one left. The last PC is standing there, surrounded, out numbered and alone, when all of a sudden everything goes black. All of the PC's wake up in matrix like vats with warning lights flashing and a single message on repeat. "Containment Trance Failed, System Shutdown" Looking around they may see dozens of other pods, or maybe it's only the other PC's pods. The idea here is that they are harvesting thoughts and experiences from sentient creatures to use in the same way we would use drugs and this elder brain is a dealer to other brains and Illithid. And the more extreme the experience the more valuable it is, so Adventures might be more valuable and they might try to take the PC's alive which might make up for them not having equipment. From here it might be a standard prison break adventure.

[@slimee8841]

"PUNY CREATURES, WE ARE THE COLLECTIVE OF SUPERIOR MINDS, WE WILL DESTR.." "DM I cast Fireball"

[@jeremybosworth2275]

I'm tempted to run an elder brain comedically, like the brains from Futurama.

[@BlitzkriegBryce]

The big brain am winning again! I am the greetest! Now I am leaving Earth for no raisin!

[@paxtenebrae]

At first I thought the title said "How to RUIN an Elder Brain" And in my head I was imagining "THESE ARE THE TOP TEN SECRET STRATEGIES TO WRECK THOSE PARASITIC CREEPS!!!"

[@jasonfurumetarualkemisto5917]

10 TRICKS THE GITH WON'T TELL YOU!!!

[@Spark_Chaser]

Grabbing from Sci-Fi for the Elder Brain idea made me think of "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison. The computer AM as an Elder Brain would be vicious, cruel, callous, and perfectly in keeping with the idea they are talking about.

[@edamommy]

The Elder Brain is so scary in its atmosphere and effects, but man does it get eaten alive by Animate Objects. Our wizard managed to sneak the Animated Objects behind its Wall of Force after it used up its AoE and it was basically like a Magic Bullet Blender. Still a very rough fight because there were 5 other mindflayers, but the whole time it was like BRRRRRRR

[@jasonfurumetarualkemisto5917]

To be fair, Animate Objects is pretty OP.

[@agentchaos9332]

/\ right if done correctly Animate objects just has a really high damage output, it'll shred anything

[@adamharrison5286]

I'd like to see one inside a beholder...like the central eye is removed and replaced with a glass eye containing the Elder Brain.

[@willieoelkers5568]

There's actually a mindflayer/beholder hybrid. It's called a "mindwitness". It's a downgrade from a beholder power wise, but it's got a great suite of mind affecting eye rays to spice up a mindflayer encounter. The "replace the eye with an elder brain" idea doesn't work because the elder brain is far too big. However, if they get very, very lucky, they can capture a dragon and fuse themselves to it to create an abomination that literally uses mindflayer tadpoles as its breath weapon.

[@adamharrison5286]

@@willieoelkers5568 I saw that too when I was reading through the book...but the idea of merging them would be awesome.

[@varthalgamekiin4931]

Okay. Hear me out. Elder Brain reaches out to a bunch of adventurers saying "I am injured, I'm the chosen one, please help me," they end up helping it out, BUT during the course of the quests, the adventurers come across a greater evil or maybe even another Elder Brain, at which point the Elder Brain basically goes "oh shit, I need to start actually helping these guys out otherwise I'm f***ed!" And through more regular conversations, the Elder Brain grown more and more attached to the party and what starts as a simple necessity grows into something more. tl;dr: What if the Elder Brain turned good?

[@natashasurvivallady8021]

Or at least turned neutral, where the good of the world outweighs the good of the self.

[@willieoelkers5568]

Pretty sure elder brains and illithids are too sociopathic to really connect with an adventuring party at that level. At best, they'll dominate them as useful pawns. Obviously a DM can ultimately decide to run them however they want, but per the lore they're pretty thoroughly disconnected from other humanoids.

[@dudeist_priest]

@@willieoelkers5568 I just introduced my group to Delerium, what does madness look like to an ilithid? Maybe it looks like humanoid empathy. That's where I'm going with it, anyway.

[@varthalgamekiin4931]

@@willieoelkers5568 Rule of cool, baby! If it makes a good story, go for it!

[@mrbean3470]

Kind of like the Venom symbiote with Eddie Brock.

[@annahamilton2664]

I have this idea for an Elder Brain in a Spelljammer-esque science fantasy setting. This Elder Brain had a fascination with pirates that eventually turned into an obsession. So it lured pirates to its domain in search of a pirate captain it found suitable. When it drew in a legendary pirate captain, it captured him, absorbed his personality into it, and then built a ship to carry it through the universe and crewed it with Mind Flayers. I think that would be an absolutely terrifying villain. Kinda drawing some inspiration from Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean series, too.

[@rosascreativeworks5403]

Nice!

[@tylerflaumitsch1368]

Hi dudes, love your work. My favourite use of an Elder Brain was to place it in a setting where a “city state” had just exited a protracted war with another state. In this setting the Elder Brains minions were elected to office offering a better life, etc. The intellect that is the Elder Brain over the span of 50 years built the city state up to being successful as a trading partner, industrial powerhouse and over all near utopia. The humanoid residents of the city had the best of healthcare(within limits that I will go into), living conditions etc. The key here is that the Elder Brain and it’s small illithid community had built a system in which the terminally ill would be in hospital and palliative care settings….insert “Doc Illithid” who would come around to visit the patient and would devour their brain. Thus giving the illithid community what it needed and establishing a type of symbiotic relationship with the humanoids but the humanoids had no idea that they were being used as cattle in this way.

[@attilahodi2933]

I think the Borg Queen is also a good inspiration for how an elder brain works.

[@tonyhunt7967]

The Elder Brain always reminds me of the Kree Supreme Intelligence that makes far more malevolent decisions.

[@yocean14]

I'm also thinking there could be similar scenario/attitude to Dune's Bene Gesserit with Elder Brain/ Mindflayer cult; for the betterment of humanity and evolution of your kind.

[@yocean14]

I'm thinking of presenting vampire Elder Brain that is working for an cult of evil shadow serpent in the campaign I run, or EB that is in partnership with the cult.

[@isaacgraff8288]

Here is an interesting thought: The EB eats the body and mind, what about the soul? Someone may be haunted by an individual who was killed by the EB. Now we may get Necro VS Illithid battle.

[@rosascreativeworks5403]

Interesting...

[@georgecook83]

Damn it Monty! I never cared for the Mindflayers and all their assorted minions before...but your last point about a lone scared Elder Brain...so good.

[@TheLokiel]

I always thought that there could be an interesting relationship between Illithids and Fiends: they could sell the souls of their slaves in exchange for ressources then eat the brains of the slaves whose souls they sold.

[@jasonfurumetarualkemisto5917]

That's pretty cool actually! Best part is that Devils can't just bullshit them to damn their souls, cause Illithids don't have those!

[@rosascreativeworks5403]

Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!

[@alexandrejesus8709]

Oh my!!!!! Thank you

[@TheLokiel]

It’s nothing special, guys, just mutualism: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_(biology)?wprov=sfti1 Plenty of examples in nature.

[@kylienielsen6975]

​@@TheLokiel yeah but thinking of was to incorporate that sort of realistic idea into dnd makes the world feel more real

[@tomasherrera9069]

I like the synergy the Elder Brain might have with the Star Spawn from MtoF. An Elder Brain using them as a Royal Guard type would make it a much tougher and interesting encounter.

[@reedster222]

Oh boy the hulks would be super dirty with their psychic mirror ability and you could totally re-flavor them as ogres that have had a disturbing experiment preformed on them, or something along those lines.

[@tomasherrera9069]

@@reedster222 yeah they are absolutely a threat when used with something with big AOE Psychic dmg. The grue are also really nasty giving disadvantage on all saves to the PCs vs some intellect devourers.

[@utopia2112]

Adventure idea: A mind-flayer colony that revealed to be deceiving humans by it's Elder Brain portraying a god of agriculture that provides information about how to domesticate plants and animals. "We taught the food how to grow its own food - it's saved us SO much work!" - Elder Brain

[@bernardgillis1500]

Zordon from power rangers, we had a campaign where we had a zordon like guy guiding us and empowering our team to protect the kingdom. Little did we know that it was an elder brain using us to keep its food source safe. It was really cool

[@captainthorrek262]

Love the examples for elder brain personalities. I would love to run one like Pree from Red Dwaf, Skynet, or maybe even Rod Serling as a one shot, where the adventure is run entirely through the Rod Serlimg Persona. "Imagine if you will..."

[@keeblercon9786]

...you brought this out at the perfect time, I have been running a campaign for a little over 2 months now that deal with mindflayers and elderbrains. And the whole plotline is based off fallout with the mindflayer and the elderbrains trying to make the perfect mindflayer to protect them from a gith invasion.

[@ancientdarkmagic1409]

I think it be pretty cool of the Elder Brain just has multiple lairs that it can teleport so that way it is always escaping. So the party must go to each of these laird in order to destroy the portal it uses to teleport. Once they manage to destroy all the portals the Elder Brain hides in its final lair that is the place it crashed landed. And when the party goes to confront it. The elder brain creates either this Mecha suit that the player need to damage in order to start attacking the elder brain or have multiple giant jars that it could use as cover to protect it self while using the lair to activate traps or summon minions or both. Also I love the idea of the elder brain taking direct control from one of its mind flayers. I would also add that at least the controled body not only gets the mental stats of the elder brain but also it gets access to some spellcasting from the elder brain. So making fighter and casters based host more leathal towards the party.

[@clodguida5056]

The last part is really on point. Why would an elder brain die? It has plane shift, so unless the party has counterspell, there is no way that it doesn't escape. I am wondering how you could make it reasonable that it stays to fight and dies, but it makes no sense to me. You can destroy its colony, but the brain will probably start over somewhere else.

[@Phourc]

Is there no cannonical way to block plane shift? Maybe your DM can homebrew you a dimensional anchor, haha.

[@clodguida5056]

@@Phourc you could cast private sanctum in the area, but it takes 10 minutes and the brain is surely aware of you presence

[@Phourc]

@@clodguida5056 True, but that one's a pretty small effect - no more than 100 feet on a side. You'd basically have to be in the next room over casting for ten minutes...

[@clodguida5056]

@@Phourc got it, you can use wish to cast private sanctum. Takes effect with one action and it's done. It's pretty expensive though.

[@Phourc]

@@clodguida5056 Ooh! That's not bad. Tho if you can cast 9th level magic you're probably too high level for a CR14 elder brain, haha.

[@jordansolis3824]

This has been by far my favorite video you both have done in a long time! This was amazing from the very first segment to the end. I love how thoroughly you both break down such an awesome creature and sprinkle in some dramatic reading and creative approaches. Keep on doing your amazing work!!

[@shanebrowne4642]

You guys really posted this THE DAY my party entered a dwarven city destroyed by a mind flayer colony and its Elder Brain. Perfect timing, as usual

[@Heritage367]

Thank you for renewing my interest in running a D&D Modern game set in a Washington DC under the thrall of an Elder Brain.

[@jacobwest9413]

You guys are awesome, as usual. Just listening to the different concepts really helped me finalize and connect exactly what I have been trying to do. Thank you.

[@GreatswordDude]

Your video has been truly inspiring and incredible. I didn't think I could be so satisfied with just one video, but you have filled my head with ideas and I was surprised to know that some of your examples I have already used and put into practice. Thank you very much for your content!

[@tadious9415]

Gotta say I'm really enjoying this series! Cool idea for tips, I'll definitely be revisiting all of these when next going to use them for bosses!

[@SatoThe]

The timing of your videos are absolutely impeccable, currently i have a soul knife rouge player in Dragon Heist who was contacted by the mind flayer via psyonics. Last session he had his brain devoured and replaced by an intellect devourer and has been added to the hive mind, this video is amazing food for thought for what to do moving forward, thanks!

[@Hadex79]

You might be able to make an entire campaign on trying to pin down an elder brain for a final confrontation. Otherwise, unless it is vital for the brain's plans, it would just run, probably to a prearranged location.

[@dddawson]

Running with the idea that coming within 5 miles of it opens your thoughts to it, then clearly the thing to do is not have anyone who knows anything come close to it, which means that you could use an elder brain as the background villain in a campaign where the PCs are getting sent on mysterious missions by a patron who is very deliberately not telling them what's going on so that the EB doesn't pull that information out of them. That sort of mysterious patron is usually a setup for "our boss is the bad guy? quelle surprise!" but this is a very good reason for the patron to be that way. The EB will know all about them, but won't understand that they're being set up to take it out. It lets you have the PCs take actions that will be very effective without them being within the PC's capabilities, like emplacing magic components that will create a mile-wide dimensional anchor around the EB's base, or have the boss give them specifically useful items at the right moment ("Here, the boss said you'd want this about now." "Ring of Mind Shielding? Don't mind if I do!"), or just send them the right direction at the right moment to catch the EB off-guard.

[@natashasurvivallady8021]

I love the idea of a patron instructing a party to go and place these specific artifacts at these specific locations at these specific times. Oh, don't worry about why, it's just something I want to do for... reasons. That just screams "I'm a bad guy please stop me at your earliest convenience," while actually being something hugely important to protect the area from an Elder Brain.

[@dddawson]

@@natashasurvivallady8021 Yes, exactly! I'm running a game right now where the party's patron is up to something dubious (though admittedly something the party *might* not disagree with), and they've been suspicious since session zero. It would be fun to play that up the whole game only to reveal they were on the side of the angels the whole time. (Bonus if they subtly sabotage the tasks along the way!)

[@mikecarson7769]

thank you for sharing another fun, informative, and inspiring video! your review is even better when comparing with the related episodes in your live show

[@dillonlaney1520]

Another Elder Brain like reference I instantly think of is the Spider Mastermind from Doom

[@Seraphim_MTG]

This gave me so many ideas for the 1-shot I'm about to run where the end boss is an elder brain, and the description in the beginning was soooo good. I want to comment on monty's notion that how come an incomprehendible intelligence loses to "plucky adventurers": 1. Cosmic Heroes: This is the most common, but the PCs aren't plucky adventurers, their are cosmic heroes. They can kill an Elder Brain or a dragon where no one else can. With this you take it at face value that a wizard PC with 20 INT after level is on par with an elder brain. 2. Fatal Flaw: Just because you are super smart doesn't mean you're un-exploitable. Arrogance is common, sure, but also paranoia, hesitation, over-planning, slow reaction or other flaws can bring an ancient intellect down. 3. Enemies Abound: 5 miles of telepathy is nice, but a Gith raiding party might plane shift directly to the brine pool and slaughter everyone in the colony before their Intellect Fortress spell fades. So a master intellect must be extremely careful not to be found, which means slow, which means random idiots might disrupt your plans with a +1 sword and bloodlust. 4. Magic Items! : If you're an elder brain, what scares you more? A moron with a Vorpal Sword , or someone with Ring of Mind Shielding and Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location? Just uncommon magic items and suddenly you are just a lump of flesh

[@danboud8135]

Can I just say, I'm loving the little bit of theatre at the start. Magnifique!

[@techknight3753]

My favorite way to see an elder brain run *personally.* Is represented in the idea; "it knows everything about everything that it knows of," and it can read your mind... Which is to say, you are only viable to combat an elder brain if you have never come within a 5 mile radius of it, and have some way to psychically lock your mind *VERY* strongly and for 24h/day

[@mke3053]

Mind blank

[@dudeist_priest]

Great timing, I just introduced Delerium to my group in the Underdark with the intent that its corruption affects illithids differently. I really want a "corrupted" Elderbrain to have a rebel faction of Mindflayers.

[@SymbioteMullet]

The best elder brain encounter i ever ran was one where they never met the thing face to face at all. The brain has a 5 mile range of telepathy, so if your brain is a mere 3 miles underground in the underdark, there's a significant chunk of surface world within its range of effect. The players never figured out what the mysteries voice they could sometimes hear in that area was, and the small town partially within the area of the telepathy kept having mysterious disappearances, as the brain just dominated people slowly and convinced them to walk themselves into the dark, to suffer whatever fate the mind flayer colony had planned... It was almost a symbiotic relationship, the brain protected it's food. Could have been an interesting thread if it had been followed up on.

[@kingmasterlord]

A Wrinkle in Time is a good reference. also the dragon ball movie world's strongest. and I was just thinking about how the psychic field of a mind flayer colony is kind of like Wi-Fi where the mind flayers are routers and the elder brain is a server in a cooling pool of electrolytic brine

[@jasonfurumetarualkemisto5917]

What would MindWitnesses and Ultitharids be? They both increase the signal and link it to other Mindflayers.

[@kingmasterlord]

@@jasonfurumetarualkemisto5917 well a mind witness is clearly a cell phone with hotspot on it, I'mma have to look up on that other

[@aaronwhite1882]

I like the Krang idea. Would you put your Elder Brain in a robot body?

[@norsewarrior859]

Love the mass effect reference. One of my favorite game trilogies. I even liked Andromeda just wish they wouldn't have released it too early. But the big bad in my campaign is an elder brain. Loved the description. Set the scene perfectly.

[@timbrittain7213]

I have run a long story with much of these ideas, (well...similar,) previously, and had a blast playing on character fears. The story "ended" on a great high, taking on an "elder brain", sat in its pool, surrounded by other nasty aberrations. When the force wall covered it, they grew nervous. When the pool STEPPED out of the ground.....well.....great looks on all the faces. Custom figure, designed and painted ahead of time, just made it spectacular. A really great bad guy. (If they ever face the real one. )

[@JagoTFC]

This makes me think of Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2, with the heart of the dungeon.

[@darksev.6468]

Just decided to put in an Elder Brain/Aboleth teamup arc, and this video immediately shows up in my recommendations. Haven't looked up anything on either yet, KZbin just knew. This is awesome. Thank you; it's mad useful.

[@michaelbergenhenegouwen9770]

That scene of Sovereign was so good, i remember it vividly.

[@kellylynch5113]

I couldn’t stop thinking of the borg as you guys were talking about this

[@TiamosLoren]

The timing of this one is impressive, because not only is it talking about an Elder Brain that I was planning to use in my next homebrew setting, but the ad for the Sunken Isles was a curious thing as I was also planning to run a flooded world scenario as well. Are you in my head? 🤣 Definitely wanting to play on this intelligent and observant mastermind, though. Will be watching this one over several times when I come to planning the closing dungeon area (though it might not even end up being the end of the campaign!), cheers for your awesome work and inspiration!

[@Spac3_Duck]

Dudes, you just bringing all the videos ive been needing to hear for my own game with these "How to run x's" Absolutely fantastic stuff!

[@arthurmarques6191]

this was one of the best videos I watched from you folks. wish you made more DM centered content

[@RagerRagerRagerRager]

Just had an Elder Brain adventure where one of my players willingly converted and got backstabbed by the party. This was an Elder Brain that came from a Wizard Ulithid. Thus when it transformed it actually started a mindflayer Wizard cult. It even had willing student and became almost a creepy Hogwarts where it would purchase slaves to infect and eat whilst students were perfectly protected. It sort of clicked onto the fact that people would willing fight for it if it offered some benefit (aka being the best Wizard teacher in the continent). I love twisting my party with moral dilemmas (we are two for two of campaigns where a party members has organically betrayed the party). Eventually Hamlet willingly went over to Headmaster S’venchen and was stabbed in the back by our oath of vengeance Paladin :)

[@jonnymazzola7124]

Thank you, amazong video and you give me a lot of inspirations. I love the idea of mind Flayers and older brain!

[@darkness_visible7227]

You mention Krang, but no Super Metroid inspiration? Seems a gimme with all the buried space ship stuff. At ~50% HP, the glass shatters but the brain rises up on a heretofore unseen construct body and starts letting loose. You can go with a mechanical construct - and iron golem, a mechanical T-Rex is you really want to make the inspiration clear - or you can go from some real body horror elements with a twisted, partially completed body made from processed carcasses that are of no further use to grow it's army.

[@BlitzkriegBryce]

Also the DBZ movie “The World’s Strongest” is good inspiration for a brain controlled robot.

[@captdrastic]

Great video. I love Kelly's dwarf city idea. I'm imagining the city as slightly further than five miles from the elder brain. But the dwarven miners dig too deep and start to hear whispers in the dark. At first it's a few of them, but they lure more and more of their comrades into the depths where they too fall prey to the dark mind below.

[@deansmires3412]

I was completely inspired by your comparisons between the Elder Brain and Harbinger from Mass Effect. I made my Elder Brain a 20th level psionic caster and gave it this ability: Assume Direct Control (Recharge 5-6) The elder brain targets a willing creature with which it has a psychic link and assumes control of its mind and body, psionically empowering it. The elder brain cannot take normal actions on its turn while this ability is active, except as detailed below. It may still use its Legendary Actions. The elder brain may end this control as a bonus action on its turn, instantly killing the controlled creature. A controlled creature gains several benefits. The creature immediately gains 50 temporary hit points and deals an extra 2d6 psychic damage with its melee and ranged attacks. The creature begins to emit bright light out to a radius of 10 feet, and dim light for an additional 10 feet. Finally, it has advantage on all attack rolls and saving throws. On its turn, the elder brain can speak through the creature and use its at-will spells through it. Whenever it casts a spell, the controlled creature takes necrotic damage equal to 1d8 per level of the spell cast. When the creature dies, it explodes in a burst of psionic force. All creatures within 10 feet of the dying creature must make a DC 18 Intelligence saving throw, taking 3d6 psychic damage on a failed save or half as much on a success. I also wrote a script into Roll20 to play a random Harbinger quote whenever I use this ability.

[@VGFlash]

When the intellect devour gives control of a new creature to an elder brain made me think of DIO using flesh buds to control stand users in JoJo.

[@XXPURPLEDUDEXX]

I haven’t t clicked on a video so fast before, super excited for this one!

[@singletona082]

I love your idea of subverting the tried and true 'help me obi wan, you are my only hope' call to adventure/the 'zordon' mentor last of their kind offering to bestow great power at the cost of great responsibility and twist it into lowly gaining the party's trust to be its hands and eyes in the world while it is weak andthe party could actually kill it.... and at the last the party having to make a choice. Now imagine the shifty party member deciding to 'oh hey i've been making a killing off this guy might as well' And the illithid that spawns as a result takes a piece of rebar and rams it into the elder brain. 'Deal's off. you took my customers. MY customers and ate them. squidthings don't pay the bills bucko so now i'm taking it out of your goopy hide!' And then the next campaign dealing with the fact there is an illithid colony to deal with and while many are embracing the evil. for a few the lives of their hosts has swayed them enough to want to try ... NOT being horrible squid monsters insofar as they can.

[@Chetthew21]

Love the editing on this one

[@jriggan]

It was a lot of fun to watch Monte glom onto the real potential of the illithid hive-monstrosity! Good one!

[@tompadfoot3065]

Excellent video guys! I was wondering if you guys had ever considered doing a subclass video but using fan-submitted classes? I think it would be cool to do like a contest or even a series on fan-brewed subclasses, and critiques on how to improve them. Cheers!

[@Psychoginjaaa73]

The video i needed. Thank you guys so much. Now im off to write a campaign

[@VibroBrian]

In our game when we took on the a elder brain used it followers to mind control my character, who at the time was the group main healer

[@Cheddarcheesemonkey]

The music really made the description even better

[@natediederich8979]

Great video, absolutely love the comic book reference lol

[@highbronze6769]

Now I have to make a campaign about an elder brain inspired by Mother Brain from Metroid. Thanks for another wonderful monster guide.

[@edvingjervaldsaeter3659]

You forgot the biggest hurdle with being a DM and running an elderbrain or any intellegent creature: you as your normal, real life self, has an int of 8.

[@Xabtiz15]

The cinematic zoom into Monty pierced my soul.

[@SgtWicket]

This could not have come at a better time, as I’ve been looking through creatures trying to find things to rip for a homebrew underground eldritch great one.

[@rantdmc]

thank you for the awesome slow zoom on monty as we were totally creeped out by his epic description of an elder brain! the only thing i missed as the camera focussed on Monty was watching Kelly's complete attention and mounting horror... just as a suggestion, i've always wanted to run the elder brain / mind flayer connection as if it was the relationship between Davros and the Daleks in Doctor Who. Or how about an elder brain like V-ger from the first OS Star Trek film, who believes that human bodies are a parasite ("carbon units"), preventing brains from communicating through pure thought, and creating a world of machines and technology?

[@rosascreativeworks5403]

What about something like the "Skyline" movies... where they're collecting human brains to power their robots and tools? ewewwwww 😜

[@WynneL]

Love these ideas and references. "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" is also a great inspiration. Additionally, seems Baldur's Gate 3 is doing some interesting things with the mind flayer plot thread from the previous games. I won't say any more than that to avoid spoiling anyone.

[@thedeaderer8791]

Damn it I was going to come here and say that. Such a good representation

[@hunterwilson9415]

One time for a high level campaign I created a home brewed Elder Brain/ Kraken combination with the Mind Flayers being Marrow born so they were bigger and had aquatic attributes as well. Super fun! Because of the nature of Elder brains and Mindflayers you can mix it with so much. Highly recommend 👌🏽

[@harrywhiteley89]

On the Astral Plane you can use your INT Score to move around so that can be quite interesting for the Elder Brain

[@middlekiff2663]

Problem is that I think the gith people live there, and they actively seek and destroy mind flayer colonies. The elder brain would probably regard the astral plane as way too dangerous just because of their presence.

[@harrywhiteley89]

@@middlekiff2663 True but that could be interesting as the fight could be less about winning and more about allowing the githyanki turn up or if that is not what you're after you could have there be a pocket of astral plane in the lair of the elder brain which would be interesting or just use the same rules for the area and name it something different.

[@middlekiff2663]

@@harrywhiteley89 Those are both really interesting ideas. I might actually steal the first one and use it in my campaign, thanks!

[@kylienielsen6975]

Zooooom

[@yamato9753]

I would design a spell list for the elder brain of 50% Spells like Synaptic static and mind whip, but also 50% spells like Haste or even foresight. When it asserts control over, let's say a warlord, the warlord now can cast the elder brains spells and uses it's ability-scores for intelligence, wisdom and charisma. A hasted or foresight'ed warlord is a tough battle, but i think it's within the strategies of an elder brain. It combines brain with brawn. Would be an awesome high-level encounter. And a bunch of neothelids ( mind-flayer tadpoles getting out of control) could be the aftermath of that. Tl:dr, elder-brains are awesome. An amazing video, like always! Edit: the dungeon dudes did enough for the flavour, i thought i could bring in my more crunchy ideas for a hard encounter. But i say one thing about flavour: Foresight could be roleplayed less as an divination and more as calculative thinking and mental overload of the creature. Psychic scream would also be cool, as it inplants all memories at once into the party, going beyond the limited capacity of humanoid brains.

[@matthiasaw7706]

I really appreciate watching this after finishing BG3.

[@BlackShadow1991]

Thanks for the guide, Dudes :D

[@mjbuffalo716]

I am running Call From the Deep (on DMs Guild) for my table now, and we’re getting into the elder brain part of the narrative, so this is a huge help! 🍻🧠

[@stevebellhouse1869]

Kelly’s story idea is basically the origin of the entire Duergar race. The best mass backstory in dnd 😍

[@marks6928]

HAL 9000 is my favourite movie character of all time. The idea of running an Elder Brain with HALs voice and calm nature is amazing. Bravo 👏

[@williamlazenby314]

Seriously. I was wondering how to integrate Illithids into a campaign that I'm running. I've always loved the creatures and this video gave me so many ideas. This video is going to get so many rewatches from me 😂 Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[@williamlazenby314]

I've been wondering how to integrate the Ulitharid and Alhoon within both plot and combat. My dudes, I can now run the cosmic horror campaign I've always dreamed of.

[@OwlCatStudios]

Bazil Broketail has a great example of this kind of creature: the Doom, "a black rock imbued with an evil intelligence"

[@gobbygames]

I love the idea of the Elder Brain talking to the party and the voice being similar to the master from fallout 1

[@braddalrymple8615]

OK guys this might have been one of the coolest videos ever I was like I don't plan to ever have an elder brain in my game but I suddenly have changed my mind a little bit Especially with the cake is a lie part

[@peasedustin]

really great ideas! love it!

[@rene9adekni9ht97]

How ironic that I'm planning an adventure solely with an elder brain as the main villain and this came out today! Thanks guys!

[@BrianWalker93]

1:28 Dude that look Kelly gave.. sold that pun so well. But also, once again, reminds me Kelly fits that archetype of Swashbuckler so damn well. Even if he no longer has that glorious mane.

[@trukien1]

Rime of the frostmaiden is perfect as a setup to run a campaign to have an Elderbrain be the final boss. This has given me so many good ideas!

[@TyanFH]

Such good stuff. Thank you.

[@thewiseguy9864]

Another great game to get inspiration from is System Shock 2. A combination of both Shodan and The Many would be perfect for an Elder Brain!

[@gh8565]

Don't forget the willing supplicants. Maybe the brain and mindflayers can't cast a fireball, but the wizard who has been promised the secrets of the far realms certainly can! The way I like to give my elder brains the "assuming direct control" ability is by giving them a psionic-flavored Magic Jar and a few living, powerful creature bodies whose minds have been broken (auto fail charisma/int saves). If players do manage to destroy the jar or body the brain isn't killed but does suffer some serious damage. The brain can use the possession ability to either give itself one of the big bulky bodies, control one of its minions, or basically become a super supped-up intellect devourer and try to possess a PC.

[@mikemarshmallow216]

Aboleth next please! I’m currently running a Campaign w 4 level 8 characters that are about to start their Dungeon Crawl to an Aboleth. I’m veeeeery interested to hear your thoughts on if you think the Aboleth is worth it’s salt as a CR10 Big Boss Monster at the End of a 15 Room Dungeon. (Granted the dungeon isn’t linear so they might not explore 15 rooms, but still.)

[@jasonfurumetarualkemisto5917]

The soul really doesn't matter to them, mainly cause they don't have one. Dead Mindflayers simply cease to exist, and an Elder Brain acts as a repository of consciousness to them (instead of burials, dying Illithids just dump their brain into its vat) It's basically their concept of Heaven.

[@Cassapphic]

Its really fun watching videos like this about mind flayers and elder brains and someone just independent coevolution writes baldur's gate 3

[@haggler]

What?