Interest in Starting or Ressurecting a Freeform Game?

Rei, your avatar is adorable.

braiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinsssssssssssssssss...

I don't wanna be a DM type, though. Too much work.

Thank you Zim I like the Avatar two. I am fairly new to the idea of free form but I really don’t feel like working on a real campaign. Please send me a PM or post here when someone wants to start the tread. We have 3 or 4 people interested right? Getting at lest one more person on board would help setup a "stable" inquisition with dynamic squids; in my opinion.

Wouldn't Outer Planar-flavored brains taste funny? Like tieflings, aasimar, etc. You are what you eat, you know.

Illithid Creeds: Short version

Creeds are a combination of illithid job roles and philosophies. They're not diametrically opposed like the Sigil factions often are, but different creeds may well compete for power and influence. A flayer doesn't need to have a creed, and may be sympathetic to the philosophy of more than one creed, but won't be a member of more than one.

Abysmal Creed - specialize in instilling Fear and Terror (tm) in the lesser races, and figuring out new and better ways to do so.

Awaiter Creed -- the most careful long-term planners among the illithids. Do not like hasty action.

Creative Creed -- 'inventor' illithids, focus on learning new psionic powers, new technology, etc. Illithid R&D.

Darkener Creed -- 'Darken the Sun.' Make the nasty burning sun go away. Research ways to accomplish this.

Ariser Creed -- 'Maybe the evil burning sun won't go away as soon as we'd like, but we'll learn how to get by on the surface anyway.' Have some physical equipment that allows illithids to survive longer in sunlight.

Gatherer Creed -- Tries to promote more unity and communication between illithid communities; is usually involved when several illithid communities get together for some project.

Possessor Creed -- focused on material wealth. They manage the material wealth of the community as well as trade with other species. Likely to be accountants, merchants, etc.

Thorough Biters -- "learn from your failures." Elder Brains tend to listen to these guys.

Tamer Creed -- defense. Of all Creeds, these guys are the most likely to be skilled in physical combat. In particular, they defend against githyanki/zerai attackers. Some of them use oddball weapons and equipment specialized for illithids (psychic swords, tentacle extensions, exoskeletons) that are basically very creepy and sci-fi action-movie-like. (A few of these actually 'abstain' from use of their psionic powers whenever possible, gaining nutty physical abilities by doing so; this is the Illithid Body Tamer prestige class.)
Nourisher Creed -- care of thralls. Illithids who are masters of 'performance eating' are often Nourishers.

Influencer Creed -- information. Intelligence, learning secrets. Infiltration.

Venerator Creed -- priests of Ilsensine.

Nothing prevents new, different, or obscure creeds from popping up; these are merely the most common ones on the Prime. (The Git'riban campaign has the 'Poolers,' that group trying to design a spellcasting Elder Brain.) It would be unusual for all the Creeds listed to be present in a single illithid community on the Prime. Renegade 'thids may have no Creed identification at all, or be part of really wacky creeds (like one trying to resurrect Maanzecorian).

That works for me. Some combat is fine, but I'd prefer it not be combat-heavy. Of course, lovingly devouring the brains of mooks and thralls does not count as combat.

The section in the Illithiad on flayer names is strangely worded. Here's my guess on what it actually means:

True illithid names are elaborate telepathic thought-structures that don't translate well into non-telepathic languages. For example, 'Knowledge,' 'Sight,' and 'Will' are virtually guaranteed to be extremely shorthand versions of their real names. For example, Will's real name might describe its iron-fisted exercise of will over inferior thrall races, its vast psionic strength and mastery compared to other illithids, and/or extreme resolve toward some chosen goal or goals, complete with associated imagery and emotional nuances.

That said, illithids tend to have some sort of (pronounceable) name that is usually weird-sounding, usually multisyllabic, often sibiliant, and vaguely Lovecraftian. The Illithiad uses the term "psionic referencing," whatever the heck that means. It sounds like a 'thid's spoken name is just a verbal shorthand for the real, telepathic name. The question is, when did the flayers map telepathic concepts to verbal syllables, given that they don't have a spoken language?

I stumbled on this: http://www.dmnet.de/hobbies/names.php (it's in German, but still pretty easy to use), although I think this one is quite limited in the variety of the names it can generate. You also have names like Estriss ('Thought Taker' from the Spelljammer books), Arlathii (Zerthimon's evil master), and El-Viddenvelp (Salvatore novels).

Hmmm.

I'm a big fan of "Psionics are different" myself. Also, if one is an illithid who doesn't have psionic powers beyond the standard ones for flayers (i.e., no psion levels) it's easier to manage.

Because psionics is the magic of thought and inanimate objects can't think. If personality shards only work because a psion puts a bit of their own minds into them, then creating even the simplest psionic item would require giving up a significant part of yourself and creating a psionic artifact should be equivalent to a lobotomy. Besides, by that logic, all psionic items would be partially sentient, which strikes me as being more of a headache than it's worth.