Could Githyanki conquer Faerun?

[Pinjata]

FIXED THE TITLE! I meant Githyanki.

Are all D&D worlds Faerun-like? Each with its own set of zounds of goblins, orcs, crafty dwarves, powerful entities like ancient wizards, dragons, liches, demigods and finally - gods?

I'm asking because Gith are described as Ultimate trans-world badassess and if this is the case, they should be able to face world pantheons and crush them on many occasions. Which is silly strong.

Could Gith ever threaten Faerun?

[Kaptin Keen]

Only if you imagine them as a single, unified force, and if you also imagine they have the supply lines and so on necessary to launch a full, planet scale invasion. In short, no.

[Willie the Duck]

'Ultimate trans-world badassess' is kind of the most... giving description you would give the gith, something you'd tell them to butter them up. They are clearly treated as ass-kickers on their own turf, but not really the go and conquer other worlds type. Nor the sneaky rule them from within. Faerun, that somehow survives drow constantly scheming against the surface dwellers, illithid and beholders and aboleths apparently pulling the strings all over the place, Zhents and Thayans and various demigods and whatever else constantly trying to take over this and that, I just feel that Gith would set their sites on Faerun and get told to take a number.

Mind you, the whole damn thing holds together with bailing wire and chewing gum without the giths help at all, so if you wanted to make the Gith be the ones to find whatever keystone is keeping the whole thing together, why not. I just wouldn't peg anything about the Gith themselves to be the key feature which makes the powers that be finally collapse.

[Man_Over_Game]

'Ultimate trans-world badassess' is kind of the most... giving description you would give the gith, something you'd tell them to butter them up. They are clearly treated as ass-kickers on their own turf, but not really the go and conquer other worlds type. Nor the sneaky rule them from within. Faerun, that somehow survives drow constantly scheming against the surface dwellers, illithid and beholders and aboleths apparently pulling the strings all over the place, Zhents and Thayans and various demigods and whatever else constantly trying to take over this and that, I just feel that Gith would set their sites on Faerun and get told to take a number.

Mind you, the whole damn thing holds together with bailing wire and chewing gum without the giths help at all, so if you wanted to make the Gith be the ones to find whatever keystone is keeping the whole thing together, why not. I just wouldn't peg anything about the Gith themselves to be the key feature which makes the powers that be finally collapse.

Agreed. Part of the reason they were so strong in their home was because it was a place that was manipulated with your mind, and the Gith are experts in psionics.

But even if they are strong, they're busy dealing with infighting between inside of their own culture, or hunting down illithids, or just hating on other races, to really care about expanding and taking over. I feel like they don't really have any major long term plans that don't end at "Kill the Squids".

[GentlemanVoodoo]

Face world pantheon's no. Face sizable armies possibly. That depending if they can unite. In current cannon the Githyanki are war like and have even sided with Tiamant to gain the services of red dragons. This is abhorant to the more peaceful Githzerai. Only thing that really could bring them together is a threat that sees them become slaves again or if the underground movement to unite the two succeeds.

[RazorChain]

Are all D&D worlds Faerun-like? Each with its own set of zounds of goblins, orcs, crafty dwarves, powerful entities like ancient wizards, dragons, liches, demigods and finally - gods?

I'm asking because Gith are described as Ultimate trans-world badassess and if this is the case, they should be able to face world pantheons and crush them on many occasions. Which is silly strong.

Could Gith ever threaten Faerun?

Yes, just like my character, Commander Lemon could have easily defeated Napoleoen Bonaparte in warfare and taken down Captain Kirk in a bout of mudwrestling.

That is to say if you want the Gith to conquer Faerun then they can.

[BWR]

I believe the OP is referring to 'githyanki'.
The gith are degenerate githyanki descended morons in Dark Sun. Can in a pinch be used to refer to both gith- races (and possibly other races descended from the forerunners).
Gith (capital G) is the ancient character who trained her fellow human-descendants in the ways of psionics and warfare and lead to the overthrow of the Illithid empire.


FYI

[redwizard007]

Are all D&D worlds Faerun-like? Each with its own set of zounds of goblins, orcs, crafty dwarves, powerful entities like ancient wizards, dragons, liches, demigods and finally - gods?

I'm asking because Gith are described as Ultimate trans-world badassess and if this is the case, they should be able to face world pantheons and crush them on many occasions. Which is silly strong.

Could Gith ever threaten Faerun?

Short answer, probably not.

Long answer, if they can neutralize all the overpowered NPCs, isolate powerful nations, and gain local allys, there is a chance.

Dragon Magazine #309 had a rough sketch of the specifics.

[LibraryOgre]

Another part of the reason githyanki tend to be so scary in the astral is their Silver Swords have a chance to cut one's astral cord, which is an instant kill.

[Papa_Hewi]

Githyanki aren't really conquerers are they? From what I recall they're more akin to a pirate fleet relying on hit and run tactics. They can certainly do a lot of damage, but I don't see how, or even why they would even want to conquer a material plane.

[LibraryOgre]

Githyanki aren't really conquerers are they? From what I recall they're more akin to a pirate fleet relying on hit and run tactics. They can certainly do a lot of damage, but I don't see how, or even why they would even want to conquer a material plane.

Picture a world entirely subjugated by Mind Flayers. Human slaves, dominated and "free", all providing food and labor for their illithid overlords.

[Papa_Hewi]

Picture a world entirely subjugated by Mind Flayers. Human slaves, dominated and "free", all providing food and labor for their illithid overlords.

I can see them trying to nuke the world in that case, but I still don't think they'd go for a prolonged campaign.

[Eldan]

I can see them trying to nuke the world in that case, but I still don't think they'd go for a prolonged campaign.

No, that's their homeworld. The Githzerai and Githyanki were the slaves who secretly mastered enough psionics and weaponcraft that they rebelled. They conquered that world back from the Illithids.

[Man_Over_Game]

Picture a world entirely subjugated by Mind Flayers. Human slaves, dominated and "free", all providing food and labor for their illithid overlords.


I can see them trying to nuke the world in that case, but I still don't think they'd go for a prolonged campaign.


No, that's their homeworld. The Githzerai and Githyanki were the slaves who secretly mastered enough psionics and weaponcraft that they rebelled. They conquered that world back from the Illithids.

To be fair, I'd expect the Githyanki to do exactly that. It'd be deeply ironic that they would wipe out entire species just like theirs due to their zealous vindictiveness.

And then they'd get over it and move on to the next plane to hunt more squidface. Their job isn't to whine about collateral damage, that's what the Githzerai are for.

[The Jack]

Excellent raiders, but culturally I don't think they have it in them. It's not just that I imagine them small in number due to their extreme living condition (and they have one city), it's that they don't seem to have the mentality to really 'conquer' and then expand from there; they're too elitist and can't win people over. They're not really suited for open warfare. Even though they're apparently CR3 a mook, I imagine they'd lose out to hobgoblins (who've been really trying) and humans in that they're not practiced with fighting in formations and such.

[Lapak]

Excellent raiders, but culturally I don't think they have it in them. It's not just that I imagine them small in number due to their extreme living condition (and they have one city), it's that they don't seem to have the mentality to really 'conquer' and then expand from there; they're too elitist and can't win people over. They're not really suited for open warfare. Even though they're apparently CR3 a mook, I imagine they'd lose out to hobgoblins (who've been really trying) and humans in that they're not practiced with fighting in formations and such.
This. I'd say that the balance the fluff is going for is something along the lines of:

There are few cities/cultures on Faerun that could easily hold off a determined raiding party on a particular mission (for example, to steal back a Silver Sword that they lost)
There are few cities/cultures on Faerun that could not kick them out if they tried to capture and hold the territory instead of doing a smash-and-retreat raid

[Mechalich]

No, that's their homeworld. The Githzerai and Githyanki were the slaves who secretly mastered enough psionics and weaponcraft that they rebelled. They conquered that world back from the Illithids.

Technically the Githyanki and Githzerai are the descendants of the human slaves who rebelled against the Illithid Empire and then, rather than returning to Prime Material worlds, settled in the Astral Plane and limbo respectively, which caused them to evolve into separate species over time (planar energies being some pretty strong stuff). There's also a third branch, the Pirates of Gith, that chose to live in the open vastness of Wildspace.

That being said the Githyanki aren't interested in conquering Prime Material Worlds. They live in the Astral Plane, which is infinitely big their society is not under any spatial constraints. They do have resource limitations, and they chose to raid (usually through Color Pools, the natural way in and out of the Astral) soft targets for resources or to get their hate-murder on over the still despised Illithid oppressors. They also have plenty of defending of the Astral to do on their own, fighting off all kinds of nasty creatures like Psurlons who want to take it from them.

Could the Githyanki conquer Faerun? Sure, simply through sheer weight of numbers if nothing else - infinitely big planes after all - but it would cost immense resources and would surely trigger Githzerai retaliation (among others, probably), which would turn the planet into just another front in that conflict, one where the Githyanki do not have a terrain advantage.

In general, in D&D when an extraplanar faction invades a Prime Material world it suffers an immediate counter-invasion from that faction's opposite number(s) or at the very least faces opposition from the Rilmani/Aeons serving to maintain the balance. Or, if the faction lacks a naturally opposed counterweight as in the case of say, the Ethergaunts, the deities of a given Crystal Sphere will try to unify temporarily against the external threat. This doesn't always work - Crystal Spheres can be conquered (there was one old Spelljammer published campaign that involved an Empire that controlled like 12 Crystal Spheres or something) - but in general the nature of the D&D cosmos is strongly pro-status quo.

[Vhaidara]

Unless something changed in later editions, not a bloody chance. I forget the exact number, but their Lich Queen kills any Githyanki who gets above around level 15. Which means NONE of them have access to top level spells, much less Epic.

Then consider what setting you're invading. Faerun. Aka "You can't swing a cat without hitting an Epic level wizard". The ELH included a freaking GENERIC EPIC RED WIZARD. I'mnot even sure if the entire githyanki population, with Vlakith's aid, could beat just the population of FR presented in the ELH.

oh, and this

Are all D&D worlds Faerun-like?
No, not really. Faerun is very high power high magic kitchen sink.I do think the githyanki host would be able to give a lower power setting like Eberron or Athas a run for their money, where they aren't constantly having to deal with spellcasters who have literally twice as many levels as the strongest githyanki alive.

[Willie the Duck]

Could the Githyanki conquer Faerun? Sure, simply through sheer weight of numbers if nothing else - infinitely big planes after all.

Going back to my statement of, "I just wouldn't peg anything about the Gith themselves to be the key feature," --this is certainly true, but it's a general issue with the D&D universe. There are more than a few "infinites" in D&D that should make any of the finite sections untenable. Would Faerun be swamped by infinite Githyanki (assuming for the moment that the infinitely large Astral with a specified population density of Githyanki means that there are, in fact, infinite Githyanki)? Sure, unless the infinite demons, infinite devils, infinite interlopers from an infinite number of alternate prime materials don't do it first.

[Maloney]

I feel like Faerun is too full of unfathomable deities and heroes and adventuring parties. Think about it, every single cosmic problem in Faerun is generally solved by a couple of nobodies forming an adventuring party. People like Elminster running around could stomp out the Gith with a snap of his fingers, and the gods of Faerun seem pretty insistent that nobody invades.

[Keltest]

From my understanding, the Githyanki are sort of like magic space Vikings. Theyre brutal and horrifying and irreverent and kind of mysterious, but they aren't a conquering army and don't really have what it takes to become one against Faerun or other high magic settings. If they were determined to, they could cause a lot of damage, but they aren't going to be the ones in charge when the dust settles.

[Vhaidara]

Additional note: githyanki living on the astral + infinite astral != infinite githyanki. In fact, I'm pretty sure their numbers are fairly small on account of being entirely ruled by the aforementioned pre-epic lich queen. I think they'd be more on the order of a nation, not a planet, and certainly not infinite

[Willie the Duck]

Additional note: githyanki living on the astral + infinite astral != infinite githyanki. In fact, I'm pretty sure their numbers are fairly small on account of being entirely ruled by the aforementioned pre-epic lich queen. I think they'd be more on the order of a nation, not a planet, and certainly not infinite

Thanks for the clarification. I never know (without double checking) how each instance of infinite-ness is handled in this game. So, do they just inhabit some small corner of the astral?

[Vhaidara]

Thanks for the clarification. I never know (without double checking) how each instance of infinite-ness is handled in this game. So, do they just inhabit some small corner of the astral?

I don't think a lot of detail is given with regards to their numbers or territory, I'm more guessing based on the fact that they are ruled with enough precision that Vlakith can eliminate any githyanki who grows strong enough to pose a threat to her before they can splinter off into their own faction

[Kaptin Keen]

Additional note: githyanki living on the astral + infinite astral != infinite githyanki. In fact, I'm pretty sure their numbers are fairly small on account of being entirely ruled by the aforementioned pre-epic lich queen. I think they'd be more on the order of a nation, not a planet, and certainly not infinite

I couldn't agree any less with this. There are as close as makes any difference to infinite numbers of githyanki - an infinite number, scattered across an infinite expanse. Travel for as many lifetimes as you like, in any directions: Right there, the githyanki will be.

In the race for most numerous infinite number race in the multiverse, they're far from the top - the devils and demons and so on are more numerous, but I'd say there's likely some third grouping that takes the prize, some sort of universal roach more numerous than anything else in existance.

[Mordar]

'Ultimate trans-world badassess' is kind of the most... giving description you would give the gith, something you'd tell them to butter them up. They are clearly treated as ass-kickers on their own turf, but not really the go and conquer other worlds type. Nor the sneaky rule them from within. Faerun, that somehow survives drow constantly scheming against the surface dwellers, illithid and beholders and aboleths apparently pulling the strings all over the place, Zhents and Thayans and various demigods and whatever else constantly trying to take over this and that, I just feel that Gith would set their sites on Faerun and get told to take a number.

Mind you, the whole damn thing holds together with bailing wire and chewing gum without the giths help at all, so if you wanted to make the Gith be the ones to find whatever keystone is keeping the whole thing together, why not. I just wouldn't peg anything about the Gith themselves to be the key feature which makes the powers that be finally collapse.

I mostly agree with this, with one exception...I don't believe it is quite right to say "...somehow survives..." as indicated in bold above. I believe the list of struggles after that statement are the reason why Faerun could handle Githyanki invaders (if such a group ever wanted to be invaders instead of raiders). They have been made strong by the constant struggles against all of the internal would-be overlords and doomsday bringers. Competition and struggle has bred the strongest of populations, and that's why there's no cat-swinging there without hitting a demigod. At least that's my take:smallwink:

- M

[Vhaidara]

I couldn't agree any less with this. There are as close as makes any difference to infinite numbers of githyanki - an infinite number, scattered across an infinite expanse. Travel for as many lifetimes as you like, in any directions: Right there, the githyanki will be.

Citation that living on an infinite plane means there's an infinite number of githyanki? Or even a large number? Because you seem to be making a very large assumption there with no basis in reality. Either that or the basis is basically that because the DM will throw an ogre at you whichever direction you go from town then the material plane has infinite ogres.The infinite astral plane is home to the githyanki, it is not made of githyanki.

[Kaptin Keen]

Citation that living on an infinite plane means there's an infinite number of githyanki? Or even a large number? Because you seem to be making a very large assumption there with no basis in reality. Either that or the basis is basically that because the DM will throw an ogre at you whichever direction you go from town then the material plane has infinite ogres.The infinite astral plane is home to the githyanki, it is not made of githyanki.

Are you ... like, actually serious? Do you think this is an equation? Is this a wiki entry? Are you some sort of official fluff police?

Githyanki are the de-facto masters of the astral plane - like humans are the de-facto masters of the prime, or the githzerai are the defacto masters of Limbo, and modrones are the masters of their plane. And you can't make a Tower of Babel statement, 'well, with what we know about the spread of species, the world is at most 6000 years old.' They have teleport, and magical spaceships.

But you can chose to disagree, and you're welcome to it. What I really don't agree with is the condescending tone when someone has a different point of view than yours. So as far as I'm concerned, this conversation ends here.

[LibraryOgre]

Githyanki are the de-facto masters of the astral plane - like humans are the de-facto masters of the prime, or the githzerai are the defacto masters of Limbo, and modrones are the masters of their plane.


I wouldn't say that, really, ANY of that is true, except for the modrons.

Humans are a populous mortal species on the Prime, but they're not the masters of it. The Githzerai are no where NEAR the masters of Limbo... the closest thing to that is the slaad. And the Githyanki are not the masters of the Astral Plane... they're a populous species, but they're a mote in the vastness. I mean, there are dead gods floating out there, unknown by any... the githyanki are powerful in their numbers, but they're not the Masters of the Astral Plane in any sense of the word.

[Beleriphon]

Are you ... like, actually serious? Do you think this is an equation? Is this a wiki entry? Are you some sort of official fluff police?

Githyanki are the de-facto masters of the astral plane - like humans are the de-facto masters of the prime, or the githzerai are the defacto masters of Limbo, and modrones are the masters of their plane. And you can't make a Tower of Babel statement, 'well, with what we know about the spread of species, the world is at most 6000 years old.' They have teleport, and magical spaceships.

But you can chose to disagree, and you're welcome to it. What I really don't agree with is the condescending tone when someone has a different point of view than yours. So as far as I'm concerned, this conversation ends here.

I think its more that the going lore bits for the Githyanki since late AD&D 1E has been they are ruled from the body of a dead god floating in the Astral. Their rule is a the Vlakith the Lich Queen that kills any Githyanki that ever gets powerful enough to potentially usurp her rule. I've always read that as a large, but not infinite, number of Githyanki. In theory our own universe is infinite, that doesn't mean that there are an infinite number of humans.

[Kaptin Keen]

I wouldn't say that, really, ANY of that is true, except for the modrons.

Humans are a populous mortal species on the Prime, but they're not the masters of it. The Githzerai are no where NEAR the masters of Limbo... the closest thing to that is the slaad. And the Githyanki are not the masters of the Astral Plane... they're a populous species, but they're a mote in the vastness. I mean, there are dead gods floating out there, unknown by any... the githyanki are powerful in their numbers, but they're not the Masters of the Astral Plane in any sense of the word.

I do not agree.

To explain, I'm fairly sure you wouldn't argue that humans aren't the masters of Earth. Of course in a fantasy setting, generally there are other, major sentient races - but I've yet to see a setting that wasn't robustly dominated by humans.

One could argue that the prime isn't just filled with parallel Earths, dominated by humans - but really, looking at the publications, it is. There's mention of all sorts of homeworlds for all sorts of races, but pretty much every planet ever described in any sort of detail ... is dominated by humans.

So humans are the masters of the prime. That's not the same as saying they run the show in every detail - but they're the most populous and most powerful race, by far.

Same principle applies to the githyanki, and the modrones. You are right about Limbo, though - I forgot the githzerai share it with the slaad.

[BWR]

Keen is almost right, though it appears to be a case of broken clocks being right twice a day. "A Guide to the Astral Plane" notes that while there are a handful of 'large' yanki cities that have about 8000 inhabitants each (the capital is bigger, but we aren't given numbers), the Astral littered with "virtually countless" smaller fortresses and communities of githyanki. That is obviously notoriously vague, and considering the author thought cities of 8000 were big, he might well be talking about tens of thousands as well as millions or larger numbers. The sheer logistics of numbers greater than the hundreds of thousands spread over a conceptually infinite area calls into question the idea of Vlaakith bein the undisputed ruler of the 'yanki. Could there be societies with their own rulers and traditions that are not beholden to Vlaakith? It seems likely, if the numbers and distances get too big.
Masters of the Astral? I guess, if you assume that mere numbers and some knowledge suffice for mastery.

[Mechalich]

Keen is almost right, though it appears to be a case of broken clocks being right twice a day. "A Guide to the Astral Plane" notes that while there are a handful of 'large' yanki cities that have about 8000 inhabitants each (the capital is bigger, but we aren't given numbers), the Astral littered with "virtually countless" smaller fortresses and communities of githyanki. That is obviously notoriously vague, and considering the author thought cities of 8000 were big, he might well be talking about tens of thousands as well as millions or larger numbers. The sheer logistics of numbers greater than the hundreds of thousands spread over a conceptually infinite area calls into question the idea of Vlaakith bein the undisputed ruler of the 'yanki. Could there be societies with their own rulers and traditions that are not beholden to Vlaakith? It seems likely, if the numbers and distances get too big.
Masters of the Astral? I guess, if you assume that mere numbers and some knowledge suffice for mastery.

Well, an 8000 person isn't exactly small in a pre-industrial context, but it does seem that the Githyanki population was extremely widely distributed. There's a basic spatial reason for this: the Astral Plane doesn't have a lot of matter in it. So the Githyanki are mostly living on small bits of rocky detritus that drifted into the plane over the eons and also the occasional dead god. The average Githyanki settlement size is tiny, probably only a few dozen individuals (though they would all be adults of prime age due to weirdness with regard to the Astral and time flow), but there are probably billions of such settlements.

As for Vlaakith's ability to maintain control, it's important to not that the Astral Plane doesn't technically have any spatial dimensions, so all distances are a matter of mental trickery. Meaning that her ability to reach out to any location in the plane is not hindered by distance. That means keeping control is all about vigilance and organization, since it only takes a small force of ultra-loyal knights to enforce her edicts in case of rebellion. The planes are weird that way.

[Malifice]

Additional note: githyanki living on the astral + infinite astral != infinite githyanki. In fact, I'm pretty sure their numbers are fairly small on account of being entirely ruled by the aforementioned pre-epic lich queen. I think they'd be more on the order of a nation, not a planet, and certainly not infinite

Plus you dont age on the Astral plane, meaning their eggs never hatch on there either. They have to use guarded locations on the Prime to hatch the bastards, and then raise them to adulthood there.

Added to a life of constant reaving, and a Queen who murders those who get too powerful, and there really isnt many of them at all.

As for conquering Faerun, not a chance in hell.

Nor would they want to. It's not what they're about.

[Kaptin Keen]

Keen is almost right, though it appears to be a case of broken clocks being right twice a day.

Oh thank you. I love how you manage to be condescending while having the precise same argument I do. That's impressively hypocritical. Good job.

Vlaakith is a lich demi-goddess (at least in the sources I've read on her). She can choose to be literally wherever she wants, so in that regard running a planar empire is more a question of management than the distances involved. Though keeping taps on each individual githyanki's class level has always been more than a little suspect. None of this has any bearing, of course. We could assume that the githyanki are ruled by The Marmot King, for all the difference it makes.

[Malphegor]

I believe the OP is referring to 'githyanki'.
The gith are degenerate githyanki descended morons in Dark Sun. Can in a pinch be used to refer to both gith- races (and possibly other races descended from the forerunners).
Gith (capital G) is the ancient character who trained her fellow human-descendants in the ways of psionics and warfare and lead to the overthrow of the Illithid empire.


FYI

Ooooh. I was thinking of the Giff, which are Spelljammer hippo people, and was confused why so many in this thread were acting like they weren't capable of taking over the world. Giff are awesome. They can easily take out these... what are they, space elf-goblin Yankees? Meh. Hippos are the superior Giff.

[Hackulator]

Short answer: No

Long Answer: No, definitely not

Longer Answer: The Githyanki Lich queen eats Githyanki who get over a certain level, so they lack enough superheroes. Hell, Elminster could probably deal with the on his own.

[OmSwaOperations]

I mean, Faerun has survived so much stuff in the Lore. In the "Out of the Abyss" campaign, nearly a dozen demon lords got summoned into it **at once**, and still got defeated. I'm sure Faerun could beat the Githyanki.

Also... not to be too meta, but Faerun is where all the murder-hobos are. In all my time DMing, I've never met something they couldn't deal with :P.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

And let's not forget Neverwinter Nights 2, where they are the primary antagonists for the game's first act!

Considering that by the end of said act you've killed so many of them that they decide to bug out and leave Faerun to deal with the King of Shadows on its own, I'd say it's a safe bet that they likely don't have the resources for more than the small organization the Kalach-Cha and company thoroughly wrecks the face of, or at least don't think full-scale invasion and occupation is worth the effort.

Plus, I think I remember a reference somewhere that states another reason the githyanki don't go conquering is because if they were to invade another plane, their githzerai cousins would intervene to aid whoever they're attacking, which would make the conflict much more costly, especially with the potential for their mutual illithid enemies to take advantage of the infighting to re-subjugate them, so they mostly stick to what they already have to avoid triggering a Planar "World War."

[DrKerosene]

The Githyanki capital city is Tu’narath, and has a population of 100,000 (96% gith, 4% other). Since this is from Dungeon Magazine #100, for 3.5e days, you can also get other details like the “500,000,000 gold in assets” info, or names of other high-level Githyanki like any level 15 Fighters or level 14 Wizards.

Vlakith was pegged as a level 25 Wizard, so I’d just give a 5e Lich some of the racial abilities of a Gith and call it a day for approximating her build.

I don’t think Vlakith could take over any given DnD world forever. Especially not with most of the offical settings (I don’t think Eberon would be that easy either), IMO. But since I’ve always wanted to run the Gith Invasion simultaneously with The Red Hand Of Doom (red dragon connection) I’d probably enjoy the idea of theory crafting a Gith planetary occupation in 5e.

[AceOfFools]

Honestly, I think most DnD players would be down for a "Githyanki invade the Forgotten Realms" campaign.

Sounds like a good time.

[Kalashak]

The Githyanki capital city is Tu’narath, and has a population of 100,000 (96% gith, 4% other). Since this is from Dungeon Magazine #100, for 3.5e days, you can also get other details like the “500,000,000 gold in assets” info, or names of other high-level Githyanki like any level 15 Fighters or level 14 Wizards.

Vlakith was pegged as a level 25 Wizard, so I’d just give a 5e Lich some of the racial abilities of a Gith and call it a day for approximating her build.

I don’t think Vlakith could take over any given DnD world forever. Especially not with most of the offical settings (I don’t think Eberon would be that easy either), IMO. But since I’ve always wanted to run the Gith Invasion simultaneously with The Red Hand Of Doom (red dragon connection) I’d probably enjoy the idea of theory crafting a Gith planetary occupation in 5e.
Vlakith was actually statted up for 5th edition in one of the Dragon+ issues, I forget which one it is.

[LibraryOgre]

Honestly, I think most DnD players would be down for a "Githyanki invade the Forgotten Realms" campaign.

Sounds like a good time.

Hmmmm... might do that for the summer game at the library.

[Constructman]

Vlakith was actually statted up for 5th edition in one of the Dragon+ issues, I forget which one it is.

Issue 19, from April 2018.

Does anybody even read that magazine or listen to the podcast? I hear nobody talk about it. Like, there could be all sorts of goodies put there that nobody knows about because nobody reads/listens/watches it. Like, I didn't even know Vlaakith had a 5e statblock until I went looking for the Dragon+ issue. Why wasn't she in MToF?

[That House]

Honestly, I think most DnD players would be down for a "Githyanki invade the Forgotten Realms" campaign.

Sounds like a good time.

You’re right, that does sound lit. :smallsmile: I’ve gotta do that sometime.

[Quertus]

Are all D&D worlds Faerun-like?

No - although Quertus (my signature academia mage, for whom this account is named) has noticed that a great many aren't just "Faerun-like", but actually are Faerun, with the same cities, major players, etc. He finds this proliferation of realms duplication quite… disturbing.


Gith are described as Ultimate trans-world badassess

Clearly, you meant to say "Illithid". Or "Mind Flayer", if you prefer. It's an easy mistake to make, for those inferior species (such as yourselves) forced to interact with the universe through "words", rather than utilizing the purity of "ideas" directly, as we do. Of course, we are not just "trans-world", but "trans-temporal" masters. We came back in time from the future that we dominated to both bring order and enlightenment to the chaotic past, and to provide ourselves with the much-needed diversion of an actual challenge.

And, let me just say, you chaotic rabble have done an excellent job of providing a challenge. You have wet our appetite for conquest. Should we turn our tentacles to Faerun, we would, of course, conquer it, as we have already done so in the future that is our past. But, for now, we are content to savor our smaller victories, as we wet our appetites for the taste of our inevitable ultimate victory.


Picture a world entirely subjugated by Mind Flayers. Human slaves, dominated and "free", all providing food and labor for their illithid overlords.

Delicious thought. Yes, please picture how you will adapt to the inevitable future.


Faerun is where all the murder-hobos are. In all my time DMing, I've never met something they couldn't deal with :P.

I mean, just the sheer number of parties I've been in on "Faerun" could hold off an invasion, even without all the crazy OP NPCs.

[Lapak]

This doesn't always work - Crystal Spheres can be conquered (there was one old Spelljammer published campaign that involved an Empire that controlled like 12 Crystal Spheres or something) - but in general the nature of the D&D cosmos is strongly pro-status quo.

Calling back to this because Under the Dark Fist is my go-to module for discussions of max-level D&D play and how rarely it was ever anticipated to exist / how little the developers designed for it. This module, which involves rallying all the fleets of three Crystal Spheres (FR, Krynn, Greyhawk) AND the Elven Armada AND the Illithids AND as many beholder ships as you can get AND the free ships and pirates of the spheres AND the combined might of the Neogi to go up against a 12-sphere empire whose core army is millions of berzerking super-werewolves by doing an alpha strike on the Emperor and his wizard High Vizier (both 20th level, natch,) in the throne room of his palace while the space battle plays out above...

... is meant for 4-6 characters of level 10-14.


Honestly, I think most DnD players would be down for a "Githyanki invade the Forgotten Realms" campaign.

Sounds like a good time.
This does sound like fun, but it would be hard to make the PCs a focus just because a reasonable effort would either mean:
- the Gith focus everything on one kingdom, establish a toehold, and expand from there (the PCs either end this before it starts or lose)
- the Gith hit a dozen nations at once to establish a planetwide power base (the PCs can at best frustrate one strike.

I guess option B there would make a better campaign; foil one strike and then work to clean up the rest.

[redwizard007]

Calling back to this because Under the Dark Fist is my go-to module for discussions of max-level D&D play and how rarely it was ever anticipated to exist / how little the developers designed for it. This module, which involves rallying all the fleets of three Crystal Spheres (FR, Krynn, Greyhawk) AND the Elven Armada AND the Illithids AND as many beholder ships as you can get AND the free ships and pirates of the spheres AND the combined might of the Neogi to go up against a 12-sphere empire whose core army is millions of berzerking super-werewolves by doing an alpha strike on the Emperor and his wizard High Vizier (both 20th level, natch,) in the throne room of his palace while the space battle plays out above...

... is meant for 4-6 characters of level 10-14.


This does sound like fun, but it would be hard to make the PCs a focus just because a reasonable effort would either mean:
- the Gith focus everything on one kingdom, establish a toehold, and expand from there (the PCs either end this before it starts or lose)
- the Gith hit a dozen nations at once to establish a planetwide power base (the PCs can at best frustrate one strike.

I guess option B there would make a better campaign; foil one strike and then work to clean up the rest.

I've misplaced my old copies of Dungeon & Dragon, but if memory serves...

The Githyanki plan was to scout out the major powers pre invasion. They would seek alliances with likely factions/nation's, and stir up trouble within the group's most likely to stand against them. Blackmail, extortion, assassination, piracy, banditry, spreading famine, pestilence, and general discord anywhere they could to undermine even the best that the realms could muster.

The actual invasion would begin with forces native to Faerun. An allied kingdom would begin marshalling their forces and marching into the target kingdom. The defenders would be expected to move to defend their borders. Once the capital was undefended, the Githyanki would open a Gate directly to it and swarm out unopposed. From there it would be textbook imperialism. Divide and conquer using natives as fodder and reinforcements. There was some built in flexibility, but that was the gist of it.

The key was always going to be isolating and neutralizing the OP NPCs. That seems like it would be far easier using 5e than in earlier editions.