I'm trying to gather all the information on illithids I can both for a campaign I'm running and for a PDF I'm working on. I came across a reference to Eaters of Knowledge, servants of Ilsensine described in Planescape Monstrous Compendium II. I do not have this book, would anyone who does be willing to copy its entry (minus the stats) and post it up here?
Eaters of Knowledge
Wed, 2007-01-10 14:27
#1
Eaters of Knowledge
Thu, 2007-01-11 21:36
#3
Eaters of Knowledge
That looks like an interesting monster. One thing to watch for though, it's abillity to consume class features should never be available for PC consumption (this gets abused more than enough by Illithid Savant already). If PC's try to shapechange into or even just summon a Brain Eater, tell them no, and if they use some trick to gain that ability another way, I recomend giving them a kick to the teeth.
Oh, and for plenty of info on Illithids (did you know that they came back in time from the end of the Multiverse?) you should look through Lords of Madness. They made Elder Brains too powerful, and the Illithid Savant and Beholder Mage classes are both extremely broken, but it's a pretty good book.
Fri, 2007-01-12 01:02
#4
Eaters of Knowledge
Rip, well I appreciate the link I am looking more for background information beyond a brief description (which I am pretty sure is included in Planescape Compendium II) as opposed to stats; I plan to create new stats for them with a considerably higher CR.
Duckluck, I've already read "Lords of Madness". What I'm trying to do is get together all the material written on the illithids put it together in a coherent whole and expand on it from there. The Illithids coming from the future is incompatible with some previous works, removes the illithids connection to the Far Realm, and it doesn't mesh as nicely with the ancient illithid empire and Gith's rebellion as the authors of "Lords of Madness" seem to think it does. From a cosmological perspective, an elder brain's power is just what it should be. If you don't play epic you just accept that there are some enemies beyond your power; if you do it would make an illithid city the challenge that it should be.
Fri, 2007-01-12 01:37
#5
Eaters of Knowledge
One of the powers residing in the Land is Ilsensine, the illithid god-brain. Ilsensine doesn't leave his Caverns of Thought, preferring to watch and wait from its immobile form in the center of the Caverns, but it does have agents it can send into the Outlands on its errands. These creatures are called eaters of knowledge.
The eaters are charged with a variety of tasks, but one of their principal missions is to add to Ilsensine's knowledge by venturing into realms the god-brain cannot perceive and recording their observations. An eater of knowledge does this by devouring the brains of creatures it comes across. The memories and experiences of its victims become its own as it digests their brains. In addition to their role as knowledge-seekers, eaters of knowledge serve Ilsensine as instruments of its vengeance against those that have defied or displeased it; it may even loan an eater to another power in payment for some service or other.
An eater of knowledge is a hideous thing. It resembles a humanoid heap of leathery hide and exposed ganglia, with naked brain matter oozing from openings in its distended skull. A reek of rot and decay surrounds it. Eaters are slow, shambling creatures that move with ponderous, awkward steps. They're speechless, but occasionally moan or gurgle when agitated. Despite their repulsive, clumsy appearance, eaters of knowledge are extremely intelligent and remorseless beings with an array of dangerous powers.
The eaters of knowledge were created by Ilsensine as its servants. They have no role or purpose other than to do its will. They can be found as guardians of the Caverns of Thought, emissaries or messengers bearing Ilsensine's words, or stealthy hunters and brain-takers in the wilds of the Outlands.
In addition to their tasks on the Outer Planes, eaters of knowledge're occasionally sent to the Prime Material Plane for missions among the illithid worshipers of Ilsensine. Even mind flayers must be careful of the eaters of knowledge.
Bleakers say that the eaters of knowledge are made from the living corpses of Ilsensine's zombies. The god-brain selects osme of these empty husks, removes their burned-out brains, and replaces them with a small portion of its own gray matter. This vile material causes the host body to swell and change, as noted above.
Eaters of knowledge subsist on the brains they devour, but also crave the memories and experiences of the minds housed in those brains. Animal brains are of no interest to them; only the mind of a sentient creature can provide them with the nourishment they require.
Eaters of knowledge have no definite life span or method of reproduction; Ilsensine creates a new eater of knowledge whenever it requires one, and cares little whether an individual eater survives a year or a millennium before dying in its service.
Fri, 2007-01-12 01:40
#6
Eaters of Knowledge
The Illithids coming from the future is incompatible with some previous works, removes the illithids connection to the Far Realm...
Not necessarily. One interpretation is that the illithids started out in the future and migrated to the Far Realm, which lies outside time (before time began and after it ended), then reentered the known cosmos at a previous point in history. I definitely wouldn't make it merely 2000 years ago, though.
"Zadara the Titan" had a theory like that which I very much like, detailed further here.
Fri, 2007-01-12 10:52
#7
Eaters of Knowledge
Rip, thanks for the post.
The theory I'm working with is very similar to and was inspired by Zadara's. In brief, in the distant future the illithid race reaches an omega point and all of the elder brains merge into Ilsensine who then transcends the bounds of the multiverse and ends up in the Far Realm. It reemerges in the distant past of our multiverse (in the Astral Plane) and eventually (after countless millenia) subtly manipulates a mortal race into opening a portal/rift into the Far Realm. The horrors that emerge from the rift destroy the planet the portal was opened on, but among the creatures that emerged were what can be considered pseudonatural neothelids. Ilsensine makes use of the neothelids to subjugate the distant ancestors of the Gith races on the world that would become Penumbra and then manipulates the neothelids to become the parasitic creatures that transform humanoids into illithids (thus creating the illithids). The illithids are instructed in creating Elder Brains and soon after begin their great empire that causes even the armies of the Blood War to give pause. From there on out there is the more or less standard account of the Illithid empire and its collapse from the rebellion of the Gith (which is possible since the Illithids overextended themselves by fighting an ill conceived war of conquest in the Outer Planes that is born of their hubris). After the fall of the Illithid Empire, Ilsensine takes up residence in the Caverns of Thought and the Illithids set to work more subtly creating a new empire that will eventually eclipse the first. The illithid's eventual victory (even it is only temporary, I don't support any notions of an "end" of the multiverse) is destined and proven by the existence of Ilsensine. There are no paradoxes, no temporal anomolies, or alternative futures; just an endless temporal loop that is sustained by Ilsensine by the creation and "leading" (in a very loose sense of the word) of the illithids to allow itself to exist.
Fri, 2007-01-12 11:10
#8
Eaters of Knowledge
Rip, is the reference to Ilsensine's zombies in the write up on the Eaters of Knowledge refering to a specific type of zombie, the cranium zombie? If it is and the stats for this creature are in any Planescape book you have, could you post its ecology and similar information.
3e stats for cranium zombies and eaters of knowledge created by Ulitharid_Lord can be found here: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=202922
I'm working with him on an Illithid PDF, and I'm really going to need to look into his rational on making eaters of knowledge colossal and giving them a CR 33 (which seems miscalculated, that being as stated in that link seem considerably more powerful than that).
Fri, 2007-01-12 13:34
#9
Eaters of Knowledge
Rip, is the reference to Ilsensine's zombies in the write up on the Eaters of Knowledge refering to a specific type of zombie, the cranium zombie? If it is and the stats for this creature are in any Planescape book you have, could you post its ecology and similar information.
The name "cranium zombie" seems to be the invention of Ulitharid Lord. The description and stats for Ilsensine's zombies are in the Planescape boxed set, Sigil and Beyond, page 33.
Fri, 2007-01-12 12:08
#10
Eaters of Knowledge
CR 33? That's absurd. Honestly, if you want a race to see use ever as anything other than deus ex machina, it needs to have a CR of less than 25. By the time PCs would be able to fight a CR 33 monster, the Epic system will have imploded upon them and piddly little things like CR won't matter anyway.
Fri, 2007-01-12 17:22
#11
Eaters of Knowledge
Duckluck, I largely agree. If the eaters of knowledge are intended to be the favored servants of Ilsensine it would make sense for them to be more powerful than elder brains and thus have a CR above 25 (I know CR doesn't directly translate into comparable power but it is as useful of a mode of comparison as any); but as previously said a CR of 33 is not readily justifiable and the colossal size needs to be changed.
I haven't played epic but I've read the epic level handbook and considerable fan made epic material; it does seem playable until you get above level 30. With 30 as a limit, a CR 33 creature would be defeatable. But in any case the purpose of creatures is of course not merely fodder for adventurers; and even if a creature is unfightable stats are still useful for knowing what they are capable of. Unfortunately, the nature of the eaters of knowledge really limit any other form of interaction.
Sat, 2007-01-13 13:51
#12
Eaters of Knowledge
I think CR 25 might still be too high. I'd give Eaters of Knowledge a base CR in the 15-20 range and have their CR increase with the number of brains they eat.
Fri, 2007-01-19 00:07
#13
Eaters of Knowledge
Mak, that's an interesting idea regarding the creation of the Illithids by Ilsensine. Now how would that square with the fact that Ilsensine was killed by Tenebrous in the Dead Gods adventure? Did that become an official part of 3E deity canon or was it retconned out of existence?
Fri, 2007-01-19 07:49
#14
Eaters of Knowledge
Wasn't it Maanzecorian who got himself a nice little floating isle in the Astral?
Fri, 2007-01-19 08:38
#15
Eaters of Knowledge
Oops, you're right. I may have believed my own propaganda, since I also killed off Ilsensine in my version of Dead Gods.
Fri, 2007-01-19 14:11
#16
Eaters of Knowledge
Krypter, what lead you to kill off Ilsensine?
Sat, 2007-01-20 10:40
#17
Eaters of Knowledge
Tenebrous was looking for the Last Word and killing gods of knowledge and secrets to get it. Ilsensine is basically a giant hoover of secrets from across the multiverse, so I figured it would be a prime target. Also, I wanted to kill one major evil and one major good god to highlight how powerful Tenebrous had become. Probably for continuity reasons the designers could only select minor gods like Bwimb and Camaxtli for the sacrificial altar, but in my game I didn't have that problem and went for the big guys too.
Actually, both description and 3rd edition stats can be found here, courtesy of Seraph of Babel.