What if a Mindflayer eats an Aboleth's brain...

[metalbear]

I was reading Lords of Madness the other day and I was wondering what would happen if the mindflayer ate an Aboleth's brain? I know that normally a mindflayer cannot successfully grapple a gargantuan creature (such as the aboleth) with it's tentacles, but when I was looking at what happens when an aboleth is out of the water for too long (its dex slowly dwindles down to 1 while it's natural armor climbs from it's slime hardening into some variety of a cocoon). Would a mindflayer be able to extract the aboleth's brain at this point? And if it could would it receive any extra benefits from eating this enormous, powerful, psionic, intelligent, and full of ancient memories brain?

[Draken]

Read the mind flayer's description in the same book. They don't learn anything from the brain. At best he will see a good movie of the creation of all that is then be forced to stop midway because the brain is way larger than he is.

[hamishspence]

More nutrition, maybe? They apparently favour brains of adventurers over slaves because of experience improving the nutrition from brain.

[kamikasei]

Divide by fhtagn error. Please restart the game world.

[arguskos]

Divide by fhtagn error. Please restart the game world.

This wins. Sorry, this thread is no longer accepting applications. Put the keyboard down and walk away.

-argus

[Lochar]

Divide by fhtagn error. Please restart the game world.

May I quote this?

[Fiendish_Dire_Moose]

I was reading Lords of Madness the other day and I was wondering what would happen if the mindflayer ate an Aboleth's brain? I know that normally a mindflayer cannot successfully grapple a gargantuan creature (such as the aboleth) with it's tentacles, but when I was looking at what happens when an aboleth is out of the water for too long (its dex slowly dwindles down to 1 while it's natural armor climbs from it's slime hardening into some variety of a cocoon). Would a mindflayer be able to extract the aboleth's brain at this point? And if it could would it receive any extra benefits from eating this enormous, powerful, psionic, intelligent, and full of ancient memories brain?

Well, whatever adventuring party witnesses this, immediately dies due to insantiy and the mindflayer gets a good meal.

[Hal]

Epic indigestion?

[LibraryOgre]

Divide by fhtagn error. Please restart the game world.

That's great. I agree, it winz at least 1 intarnetz.

[Person_Man]

Wow. A context appropriate coding-Cthulhu joke. Well played kamikasei.

[amanamana]

eeeeeeeeewwww...

[Jimp]

I think it would be like crystal meth for mindflayers.

[black dragoon]

They like to savor there meals experience So I guess it'd be the ultimate dining experience for a Flayer. I guess imagine the most awesome meal you've ever had and multiply by fhtgahn and add in a little meth...

[Fiendish_Dire_Moose]

They like to savor there meals experience So I guess it'd be the ultimate dining experience for a Flayer. I guess imagine the most awesome meal you've ever had and multiply by fhtgahn and add in a little meth...

Minflayergasm?

When a mindflayer orgasms, seven worlds are destroyed.

[Shadow_Elf]

More improtantly... what would happen if a renegade mind flayers ate the Elder Brain?. It is a brain. In its entirety. That's got to count for something...

[Flickerdart]

More improtantly... what would happen if a renegade mind flayers ate the Elder Brain?. It is a brain. In its entirety. That's got to count for something...

Its own brain grows to colossal sizes and its body deteriorates, making a new Elder Brain. I'm sure they have it all figured out.

[Shadow_Elf]

Problem is, the Elder Brain is, uh, huge. And the fact that the Mind Flayer would be eating its own consciousness is sort of paradoxical isn't it? Since, you know, the Elder Brain is what lets them go all "hive mind" all over everything. So therefore, it includes the current thoughts and memories of every mind flayer it is bonded to, simultaneously, in addition to its own thoughts. So the mind flayer would be consuming its own thoughts of consuming the brain as it was thinking them and consuming it... ugh.

[Inhuman Bot]

Not all mind flayers are connected to one brain. Also, they can survive without an elder brain, with alot of pain and difficulty. I belive he meant that this mind flayer was not a part of the elder brain it was eating's community.

[Fiendish_Dire_Moose]

When a mindflayer eats an Elder Brain the DM rolls a percentile.

1-25: The Univierse implodes due to such a paradox.
26-50: An Angel gets its wings.
51-75: It creates Chuck Norris
76-99: It becomes an Elder Brain.
100: Absolutely nothing happens and the mindflayer goes to bed with a stomach ache.

[Siosilvar]

Divide by fhtagn error. Please restart the game world.

Sig'd for excessive amounts of win.

[Sinfire Titan]

OP: You asked the wrong question. In SS, there is a PrC that allows a Mind Flayer to gain some of the abilities of the mind it just consumed. Consuming an Aboleth's mind would grant a benefit based on the level of the Savant who ate it.

@ kamikasei: Imagine that on Zanzibar's gate control console. Now laugh at the thought of the Gravemind and Cthulhu having dinner over the human race.

[EvilElitest]

if we want to be honest for some reason, then i don't think anything will happen if the mindflayer eats the Aboleth's brain, however if things happened visa versa...........
from
EE

[LibraryOgre]

More improtantly... what would happen if a renegade mind flayers ate the Elder Brain?. It is a brain. In its entirety. That's got to count for something...

Sales of Pepto-Bismol that dwarf the GNP of many nations?

[LongVin]

What we need to do is cross an Aboleth with a Mindflayer to develop a hybrid of the two.

[Ascension]

What we need to do is cross an Aboleth with a Mindflayer to develop a hybrid of the two.

Yes, yes, yes! This needs to be done.

And we need to get Thoon involved. A Thoon Abolethflayer. The end of the world is at hand.

[revolver kobold]

More improtantly... what would happen if a renegade mind flayers ate the Elder Brain?. It is a brain. In its entirety. That's got to count for something...

I think that would cause some kind of reality-feed loopback.

[Collin152]

This reminds me of somethign I'd been meaning to ask:
Suppose a Mindflayer grappled an Ettin or Hydra with all them tentacles. It only gets the one Brain, right? So the thing is still alive?
And a Hydra could... not heal off losing a brain?

[AslanCross]

Problem is, the Elder Brain is, uh, huge. And the fact that the Mind Flayer would be eating its own consciousness is sort of paradoxical isn't it? Since, you know, the Elder Brain is what lets them go all "hive mind" all over everything. So therefore, it includes the current thoughts and memories of every mind flayer it is bonded to, simultaneously, in addition to its own thoughts. So the mind flayer would be consuming its own thoughts of consuming the brain as it was thinking them and consuming it... ugh.

The Elder Brain isn't a hive mind. It's more of a psionic Big Brother that's constantly reading your mind, but it's definitely not the mind flayer's own consciousness. Mind Flayers aren't simply extensions of the Elder Brain. Besides, good luck to the hostile mind flayers on trying to get even close. That's a 20th level Sorcerer (or Psion depending on what version you use).

Or maybe that's what the Elder Brain wants us to think.

Regarding the Multi-headed creature losing a brain to an illithid: It's still alive. The Extract ability explicitly says it's not an instakill against a multi-headed creature. I don't know about an Ettin, but a hydra will probably grow back the brain.

[Colmarr]

Divide by fhtagn error. Please restart the game world.

Ok, I admit it. I just don't get it.

I gather from later posts that it's a Cthulhu reference but is there more to it?

[Thrud]

Ok, I admit it. I just don't get it.

I gather from later posts that it's a Cthulhu reference but is there more to it?

IA! IA! Cthulhu ftaghn!

If you didn't understand that, then by all means pay no attention to the tapping slithering sound that seems to be coming from outside your window.

And that is not a tentacle, it is just a figment of your imagination.

(and no, there isn't really a way to explain it beyond that, I am afraid, other than to say pick up some of the works of HP Lovecraft. There are some good anthologies out there.)