Human to Mind Flayer Conversion

[veers559]

A player's character (lvl 12 human samurai) got turned into a Mind Flayer samurai. How can the player convert his human samurai into a mind flayer samurai?

Got 3 weeks to convert the character...

[PraxisVetli]

If nothing else, Savage Species does have a Mind Flayer monster class, but it's 15 levels.
Not terribly practical.

[Ashtagon]

As a RP note, canon has meandered a bit, but the latest fluff is that it is no longer the same "mind" that is in control; the illithid tadpole has eaten the character's brain and is operating their body as a man-sized flesh puppet.

[veers559]

Human samurai was turned into the Mind Flayer due to a side effect of a spell by a magic user.

[Yuki Akuma]

Instead of turning him into an Illithid I would give him the Half-Illithid template, if i was completely sold on having the transformation stick.

And then remember that the level adjustment is +5 and he's not gonna be leveling up for a while.

Edit: I can't give you a link to the template but a Google search for "D&D 3.5 half-illithid" should turn up something.

[PraxisVetli]

There's also the Voidmind Creature out of MM3, if that helps.
Doesn't make you an Illithid, but it's probably one of the few options that doesn't render you completely unplayable.
This thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23826221&postcount=544
suggested bringing the LA to +2.

[Remuko]

if he was human he had no stat mods from race. Just find out the mind flayer stat mods and apply them?

[Quertus]

He has now been upgraded to the superior race. He can get out of Samurai, and join the ranks of the great as an Illithid Savant.

What was your question?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

What about fashioning a homebrew major illithid bloodline (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/bloodlines.htm) so he slowly warps more and more towards being an illithid? Grant some of the CPsi Illithid Heritage feats as bonus feats and alter his physical form as appropriate. Make him count as both humanoid and aberration, human and illithid, whichever would be most beneficial towards any given effect. He's still himself inside, but he'd have some personality changes to make him more mindflayer-like.

[Psyren]

Genuinely have no idea how you'd do this as that is an epic character. 12 samurai levels + 8 HD + LA 7 = ECL 27. He's basically never leveling up again unless your campaign goes that high, and he'll be super-weak against level 27 challenges, especially if he's only working with 12th-level WBL. If on the other hand he's up against level 12 challenges he'll curbstomp.

[Yuki Akuma]

Genuinely have no idea how you'd do this as that is an epic character. 12 samurai levels + 8 HD + LA 7 = ECL 27. He's basically never leveling up again unless your campaign goes that high, and he'll be super-weak against level 27 challenges, especially if he's only working with 12th-level WBL. If on the other hand he's up against level 12 challenges he'll curbstomp.

This is the primary reason I suggested half-illithid. Still an illithid, but without the extra eight hit dice and a lower level adjustment.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Here's an example of something you could use for a major illithid bloodline:


1st +2 on Intimidate checks
2nd Illithid Heritage feat
3rd Intelligence +1
4th Illithid Grapple feat (1 face tentacle)
5th Illithid affinity +2*
6th Illithid Grapple feat (2 face tentacles)
7th +2 on Concentration checks
8th Illithid Grapple feat (3 face tentacles)
9th Intelligence +1
10th Illithid Grapple feat (4 face tentacles)
11th Illithid affinity +4*
12th Illithid Extraction
13th +2 on Psicraft checks
14th Illithid Legacy feat**
15th Intelligence +1
16th Greater Illithid Legacy feat***
17th Illithid affinity +6*
18th Illithid Enthusiast feat
19th +2 on Knowledge (Psionics) checks
20th Illithid Compulsion feat, aberrant ascension****

*You gain the indicated bonus on all Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, and Perform checks made to interact with mind flayers, elder brains, and other illithid-kin.
**If a caster and not a manifester, add charm person and detect thoughts to your list of spells known; if not a caster or a manifester, manifest psionic charm and read thoughts as psi-like abilities 1/day (ML = HD; use Int or Cha to determine DCs, whichever is higher)
**If a caster and not a manifester, add dispel magic and dominate person to your list of spells known; if not a caster or a manifester, manifest dispel psionics and psionic dominate as psi-like abilities 1/day (ML = HD; use Int or Cha to determine DCs, whichever is higher).
****Your type changes to aberration (illithid), and you gain the augmented subtype. You still count as your previous type and any subtypes you may have for the purposes of utilizing magic items, casting spells on yourself, and for feat and prestige class prerequisites if it benefits you to do so.

[AlexanderRM]

Human samurai was turned into the Mind Flayer due to a side effect of a spell by a magic user.

Personally I'd stat that as a Polymorph except permanent, so he gains no HD or spell-like/supernatural/psionic abilities, which should be balanced enough that gaining no HD will be fine (the downsides are bigger than the upsides, IMO). Keep his hit points and physical stats the same or replace his racial ability modifiers with the Mind Flayer ones, rather than replacing them outright.
Genuinely turning into a Mind Flayer with a magic ritual that keeps your own mind is extremely advanced magic and probably not going to happen as a side effect of magic, and Polymorph is easier to handle in terms of LA/HD anyway.

[Crake]

Personally I'd stat that as a Polymorph except permanent, so he gains no HD or spell-like/supernatural/psionic abilities, which should be balanced enough that gaining no HD will be fine (the downsides are bigger than the upsides, IMO). Keep his hit points and physical stats the same or replace his racial ability modifiers with the Mind Flayer ones, rather than replacing them outright.
Genuinely turning into a Mind Flayer with a magic ritual that keeps your own mind is extremely advanced magic and probably not going to happen as a side effect of magic, and Polymorph is easier to handle in terms of LA/HD anyway.

Yeah, I was gonna suggest this as well. If it's the side effect of a spell, treating it as just shapechanging magic would probably be the best way to handle it. Probably treat it as a permanent polymorph any object, which would give him the int and physical abilities of a mindflayer, plus it's grab and extract abilities, but nothing else.

[Eldan]

Yeah, do it as polymorph. Some stat bonuses, tentacles, but no psionics or HD, so not overpowered. In fact, a nice boost for a weak class. Allow him to gain skill points retroactively too.

[Thac0 Redeye]

yes to the last couple of posts and possibly add for flavor: and intense desire to eat brain, but only as a mental compulsion. He would know that it's wrong.