Abnormally awesome aberrations?

[Tvtyrant]

For a project I am working on I need 12 types of aberrations that are capable of making complex societies and are abnormally awesome. My list so far is Aboleths, Beholders, Ithiliads, Grell, Phaerimm, Sharn, Naga and Neogi.

My list of rejected creatures is Tsochari, Umber Hulks, Chuuls, and Balhannoths due to being either too parasitical or brutish to make sense to me. Anyone have ideas for the rest?

[CTrees]

Intellect devourers and driders seem like obvious choices. A society of mimics would be HILARIOUS.

Edit: from planescape: torment, there were the cranium rats. Were those ever released officially? They have a very abherrant feel (even if they're not officially) and they form a nice societal structure automatically.

[Honest Tiefling]

Hrm. ..Avolakia from Monster Manual II Might be a possible contender. They're pretty smart. Angullians from Seawrack might be a bit too primitive.

[Urpriest]

Avolakia most definitely. Love those guys. And are Ixitzachitls (sp?) aberrations?

I also really like the idea of Sithilar, but you seem to be going for an evil theme.

[Honest Tiefling]

Yes, Ixitxachitls are aberrations, also from Monster Manual II. Just don't require anyone to spell their name for the love of all that is holy.

[Tvtyrant]

Well the basic premise behind it is that each type of aberration is kept in a ghetto/prison underground, separate from each other or the outside world. They were mistakes made in the creation of the universe, but the gods do not condone extinction and simply locked them up. Sithilar actually would work pretty well; I can always make them evil if need be.

Avolakia are totally in! Why didn't I think of them??

[FMArthur]

Psurlons (LoM) are fairly wierd aberrations that form societies and try to take control of other societies through trickery and telepathy. Overall they appear to be like illithids as far as campaign hooks go but have smaller societies and go for comparatively small-time operations. They're not as dangerous in combat either. Really all they have going for them is creepy art, but not every villain race needs to be a big player: goblins exist to make orcs scarier.

[mootoall]

Flumphs. Fluuuuuuuuuuumphs.

[hivedragon]

naga, yuan-ti, Chuds, molemen, morlocks (time machine), trafmaldorians (slaughterhouse 5), tripods

the lesser races (hp lovecraft)
http://members.shaw.ca/csstrowbridge/Tulzscha/Information.htm

Monsters of Faerun
Chitine+choldrith
Deep spwan/clusterfang
Sharn
Malaugrym

[sonofzeal]

I'd totally bring in the Tsochari. I mean they'd be pretty alien, but... well, Far Realms. They're par for the course there.

Picture a Garter Snake Mating Ball (http://vertebrateblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Anaconda-mating-ball.jpg), but scaled up many orders of magnitude. Communication is via a complex mix of chemical secretions and telepathy. While capable of communicating with humans, they'll generally completely ignore them unless there's profit in it somehow, and any human attempting to tap into their telepathy grid is going to get their mind just about shredded. If necessary, a single Tsochar will detach from the mass to communicate with the PCs, but they're always going to be far more of a Starfish Race (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StarfishAliens) than Rubber Forehead Race (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RubberForeheadAliens). And honestly, I think that's a good thing. The game needs more entities that are truly alien to us.

[Makiru]

I almost went to my PDFs, but then I remembered Ethergaunts exist. The society as presented in FF is almost the same as the one you described for your game...at least if my memory isn't faulty.

The mindshredders in MMIII might also work, to a degree. They might be a bit too feral for your needs, though.

Also, the daelkyr out of Eberron could be useful as a "creator" race or just patient planners.

Apart from that, I can't think of anything that hasn't already been said.

[Tvtyrant]

My issue with the Tsochari is I don't see them making anything; its hard to explore a city when its a ball of razor-clawed beasts! I might add them in someone else's environment; like having them be a creature that live in the Grell habitat.

Psurlons are a good suggestion. I forgot about them almost entirely. Are those things that look like the Queen from Alien aberrations by any chance?

[Lateral]

Flumphs. Fluuuuuuuuuuumphs.

Definitely this. Ever seen the Scooby-Doo movie? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo_(film)) Make it like that. :smalltongue:

[sonofzeal]

My issue with the Tsochari is I don't see them making anything; its hard to explore a city when its a ball of razor-clawed beasts! I might add them in someone else's environment; like having them be a creature that live in the Grell habitat.
Tsochari collect magic and magical lore; their "zone" would look very little like a city, but might have truly shocking and bizarre displays of magical energy. You're right though, there wouldn't be as much exploring as with other areas. Again, I don't see that as much of a bad thing; variety is good, and not every facet of the game world should be designed for ease of use by the players. I think it's good to have a few things that are simply out of their territory. The more bizarre aberrations might get less focus in your sessions, but their presence makes the game richer and might give some interesting RP moments.

And if each race has their own territory, not every territory needs to be the same shape and size.

[Tvtyrant]

Tsochari collect magic and magical lore; their "zone" would look very little like a city, but might have truly shocking and bizarre displays of magical energy. You're right though, there wouldn't be as much exploring as with other areas. Again, I don't see that as much of a bad thing; variety is good, and not every facet of the game world should be designed for ease of use by the players. I think it's good to have a few things that are simply out of their territory. The more bizarre aberrations might get less focus in your sessions, but their presence makes the game richer and might give some interesting RP moments.

And if each race has their own territory, not every territory needs to be the same shape and size.

Hmmm, what if I made their particular area a museum? As in a series of short columns with magical items/spellbooks/toms of forbidden knowledge on them, and the Tsochari reach up and grab them when they need to use them. Then the whole area looks like a giant mass of tsochari, with each member doing their own thing within the larger mass.

[sonofzeal]

Hmmm, what if I made their particular area a museum? As in a series of short columns with magical items/spellbooks/toms of forbidden knowledge on them, and the Tsochari reach up and grab them when they need to use them. Then the whole area looks like a giant mass of tsochari, with each member doing their own thing within the larger mass.
A museum sounds entirely appropriate and kind of fun!

Remember that they're pretty amourphous and have a climb speed just as fast as their ground speed, so their museum is probably Escher-esque, with exhibits halfway up the walls and on the ceilings too.

They also have two "original" spells which they developed themselves, but anyone can learn with access to them - Whipsercast, an alternative to Still+Eschew for the mage in a pinch, and Permeable Form, which is amazingly useful. If the party has a Wizard I might have these available as scrolls; a Sorcerer might be able to get a Knowstone, but only if they earn it somehow, either by convincing the Tsochari to give them such a precious item, or taking it by force. Either way will probably end with at least one party member Inhabited, if they're not careful. But that can be fun too, especially if you don't tell them right away... :smallcool:

[Tvtyrant]

Aboleths, Beholders, Ithiliads, Grell, Phaerimm, Sharn, Naga, Neogi, Tsochari, Avolakia, Psurlons, and Ethergaunts for the main prisoners (each has a unique territory/civilizations).

All the other ones will probably be secondaries in one of their territories; Ixitzachitls in the Aboleth territories.

[The-Mage-King]

As Makiru said, Daelkyr. They may be a little stronger than most, but hey, they work!

Alternatively, Daelkyr Half-bloods from Magic of Eberron. What happens when a pregnant human lives too close to a sealed Daelkyr. Comes with it's own symbiot, too.


Oh, and Elans (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicRaces.htm#elans). Because, really.

[LOTRfan]

Umber Hulks were closely tied to the Neogi in older editions. I second Flumphs!

[Urpriest]

Umber Hulks were closely tied to the Neogi in older editions. I second Flumphs!

Still are. The statblocks even give typical numbers of Umber Hulk slaves.

[LOTRfan]

Oh. I've never checked the organization blocks for the Neogi, I was just going off of the SRD Core Umber Hulk statblock. Its good to know that connection wasn't lost, though. :smallsmile:

[Tvtyrant]

I don't have a lot of Eberron stuff, or I would use Daelkyr and Quori instead of Grell (who would make a decent backup group).

[The-Mage-King]

Do you have the campaign setting? because that's where Daeklyr stats show up.

No, really. That's the only place. Magic of Eberron has symbiots and the Half-blood, as well as a few more type of Quori.

[Tvtyrant]

Do you have the campaign setting? because that's where Daeklyr stats show up.

No, really. That's the only place. Magic of Eberron has symbiots and the Half-blood, as well as a few more type of Quori.

I do not unfortunately. I could get one but it would not be sane due to costs.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Wall of quotes incoming. I'm just sort of running with this as I read it right now. Apologies. Also text, and lots of it, by me.:smallredface:

As an idea I've been rather interested in for a long while (Aberration focused campaign) this is one idea I'm tempted to use as a bait for either another campaign idea (City falls literally to a layer of Baator/heroes+devils return to the prime when it returns) or maybe a blend of the two in an all out evil versus evil game.


I'd totally bring in the Tsochari. I mean they'd be pretty alien, but... well, Far Realms. They're par for the course there.

I definitely support this and the general starfish-alien idea. A recent thread somewhere on the homebrew thread recommended having an "Unnatural" Alignment option instead of God/Evil. If you feel like expanding it, you could also just make it a 3rd (cubic) axis, scaling from unnatural (ALL aberrations, maybe excluding elans and half-bloods, because they are VASTLY human in nature, going to "neutral" in regards to most PCs/PC races, letting them pick it at either random or obvious character choice, which means FotF, Druid, and similar "I love nature!" classes all gain mandatory Alignment restrictions, which I dislike, but, well, death is a part of nature, too. Just look to the sample Walker in the Waste!:smalltongue:


I almost went to my PDFs, but then I remembered Ethergaunts exist. The society as presented in FF is almost the same as the one you described for your game...at least if my memory isn't faulty.

The mindshredders in MMIII might also work, to a degree. They might be a bit too feral for your needs, though.

Also, the daelkyr out of Eberron could be useful as a "creator" race or just patient planners.

Apart from that, I can't think of anything that hasn't already been said.

This is a solid bit. To me, the campaign becomes less "Banned weird thingies in ghetto-prison and more "well, we/nature/"the start of reality" derped on these... things. They are not "right," so we'll ban the easy ones to the under-realms, the more powerful ones scattered across the planes.

This works especially well for the Ethergaunts, as they are very, very big into the whole idea of "The Prime is ours! We shall reclaim it from these Ethereal Realms! By force, when needed!" This lets you hint at them if the PCs simply bust into the "museum," probably via Drow/Driders and more of evil gods' creations/accidents.

Mindshredders can fill a similar niche. You could have them be a more recent "mistake," meaning that their section is really another section or extremely close to the Drow breach, where there are some freshly hatched eggs with nearly transforming larva (that is to say, assuming you have MM3, about 2 to up to I'd say 4 or 6 WIS-damage left to eat before transforming via chrysalis.

Daelkyr could also be used as the creator gods of these mistakes, making them the primal foes of most if not all deities by virtue of either birthrate or simply the old gods subsuming them into their "pantheon(s)." Considering Lords of Madness, however, I'd say that it would make more sense if the four-ish Aberration gods are also similarly banished, either there directly with powers drained or locked away on a subplane from the Ethereal Plane, due to another deity's Genesis where something silly like 1 year of real time is only 1 day on that plane. Depending on how far back creation is, this could still be an annoying counter sense these godlike beings either have no worshipers or are so old and distant that they can barely grant spells to their few Aberration worshipers.


And if each race has their own territory, not every territory needs to be the same shape and size.

If every section/subsection is to be a zoo like trip (maybe), then each should have so much "food" for each Aberration present. In cases like the mindshredders, this does mean some areas may have to open up to natural Underdark caverns where either drow or similar snacks live. This could also be used as the hook, in that a service dweller is wondering why his "secret contacts" have all suddenly disappeared, requesting brave souls to track one their last route.


*snip*


A museum sounds entirely appropriate and kind of fun!

Remember that they're pretty amourphous and have a climb speed just as fast as their ground speed, so their museum is probably Escher-esque, with exhibits halfway up the walls and on the ceilings too.

They also have two "original" spells which they developed themselves, but anyone can learn with access to them - Whipsercast, an alternative to Still+Eschew for the mage in a pinch, and Permeable Form, which is amazingly useful. If the party has a Wizard I might have these available as scrolls; a Sorcerer might be able to get a Knowstone, but only if they earn it somehow, either by convincing the Tsochari to give them such a precious item, or taking it by force. Either way will probably end with at least one party member Inhabited, if they're not careful. But that can be fun too, especially if you don't tell them right away... :smallcool:

Props, sonofzeal! I am easily stealing this for my summer campaign! I also like the idea of the tsochari being mating balls separately compared to a tentacled mass. Obviously, some of the elder tsochari can become just a self-reproducing batch of tentacles, but the obvious option is to let a set of tentacles be, well, just sex organs, so as to better procreate the species until enough food stuffs become available for all strands.

That or it's like 2-X tsochari elder strands with the occasional dead husk of strands bred "too soon." This also helps solidify the "Alien Alignment" idea I highlighted earlier. They still breed, because it is so innate to them, most of the "elders" have been able to converse or at least evesdrop on outsiders via their telepathy and mindsight, then body snatching victims to better learn about a society by literally becoming that body person, if only temporarily.


Aboleths, Beholders, Ithiliads, Grell, Phaerimm, Sharn, Naga, Neogi, Tsochari, Avolakia, Psurlons, and Ethergaunts for the main prisoners (each has a unique territory/civilizations).

All the other ones will probably be secondaries in one of their territories; Ixitzachitls in the Aboleth territories.

That's not a bad idea. Considering that some of the psurlons are INT 3 and thus either "sign-language gorilla" or something like a 30-45 IQ'd (and thus extreme learning disability) person. As such, they could be the breeding stalk for some inhabitants, probably the more "bodysnatcher" typed aberrations like the Ilithiads, Tsochari, Neogi, and I think Avolakia. The former basically three thrive on intelligent creatures as a specialty, either due to needs of food (Mind Flayers), the need for a host body shell (Tsochari), the need for schmuks to either sell ill-gained slaves or maybe an Umber Hulk to (Neogi), or something else (Avolakia).

For the Flayers, having it centered around a dead/dying Elder brain is a good idea, as it gives motivation for their escape in the very near future. The Tsochari will simply just want to steal a spellcaster's body for access to their repertoire of spells to either craft into scrolls and learn rather forcibly or in a "mutual" bid of "trust." Neogi fluff is heavily tied to them being swindling merchants and outright thieves, but use spelljammer-type tech to jump worlds to get the most out of their deals. If you make it a la a delayed planeshift, then that could also tie in the Ethergaunts, too.

For the brain munchers, depending on time, they may grow to believe that their Elderbrain is a god, an avatar of the Ilithid god, or something that simply needs a flayer's brain that consumed a fresh, "tasty" brain. If you give them comprehend language and/or one of the weird quills that lets you write in the weird four line tentacle text via thought, then Flayer's could go back to a more standardized fluff represented via Lords of Madness, mixing in whichever Forgotten Realms city state that had a either a dead, dying, or even undead Elder Brain as its leader as far as fluff for "museum" or "generic place holding flavor" fits.



*Eberron is awesome for more cerebral, if extra planar aberrations while also providing a solid "fightan'" unit or two via the half-bloods*

Got lazy after the wall of spoilered text, so I'm basically done here.

Condensed for ease of use.

[Tvtyrant]

One thing that would work really interestingly with the "devils brought to the prime" theme is to introduce Kytons. As an attempt by fiends to reproduce on the prime they would fit into the aberrations/devils, and you could even have them be specifically drawn to eating aberration flesh.

[Callos_DeTerran]

This works especially well for the Ethergaunts, as they are very, very big into the whole idea of "The Prime is ours! We shall reclaim it from these Ethereal Realms! By force, when needed!" This lets you hint at them if the PCs simply bust into the "museum," probably via Drow/Driders and more of evil gods'

When needed? :smalltongue: Their entire take on diplomacy is 'we're going to kill you all anyway, why put off the inevitable and waste resources?'

[TurtleKing]

The Grells and Cloakers can form communities from LOM. Those could work.

[Tvtyrant]

When needed? :smalltongue: Their entire take on diplomacy is 'we're going to kill you all anyway, why put off the inevitable and waste resources?'

Maybe they ran into something they couldn't take and are learning caution :P

[The-Mage-King]

Maybe they ran into something they couldn't take and are learning caution :P

"Basically? Run."


Really, if I ever wind up using Ethergaunts, that's why they'd be being cautious. Makes sense, right?

[Tvtyrant]

"Basically? Run."


Really, if I ever wind up using Ethergaunts, that's why they'd be being cautious. Makes sense, right?

True, but on the other hand maybe they ran into Thoon or Yog-Sothoth and are currently trying to find a way not to be coterminous with them. "We were so arrogant, spinning our webs to kill the gods. Little did we realize that we were just a thought in the mind of another; and when we did.... Like spiders caught by sparrows our thoughts turned from eating flies to escaping the greater predator."

[Makiru]

True, but on the other hand maybe they ran into Thoon or Yog-Sothoth and are currently trying to find a way not to be coterminous with them. "We were so arrogant, spinning our webs to kill the gods. Little did we realize that we were just a thought in the mind of another; and when we did.... Like spiders caught by sparrows our thoughts turned from eating flies to escaping the greater predator."

Okay, this I like. Faced with insurmountable, physical proof that divinity exists, the cold veneer that the ethergaunts normally project just shatters, leaving them gibbering and disorganized, allowing them to be sealed away in the first place. Now they have to plan for literally every contingency before they feel comfortable putting any more schemes into motion.

Their stubborn adherence to science and blatant refusal of the gods has failed them. There is no longer room for mistakes.

[hamishspence]

Edit: from planescape: torment, there were the cranium rats. Were those ever released officially? They have a very abherrant feel (even if they're not officially) and they form a nice societal structure automatically.

They're in Fiend Folio for 3.0/3.5, and I suspect they existed in editions before that.

[hewhosaysfish]

Awakened rust monsters!

[/almost serious]

[cagemarrow]

Stonesinger's from MM III could make an interesting low-mid level threat as a society. They're large size tentacle covered scorpion things with earth moving magic and a sonic shriek. They are known to captures adventurers and even raid towns to imprison them in stone, with only their heads exposed, so they can "perform" for their new audience.


Cranium rats were reprinted in the Expedition to the Demonweb Pits as well.