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Masters of the Mind: The Book of Illithid (A Manual on Mind Flayers)

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Masters of the Mind is now available for Virtual Tabletop.

If you want both PDF and VTT, we've made bundles for you at a discount!

A lumpy looking gnome based ceremorph that emits shadows from it.

Masters of the Mind: The book of Illithid expands your roster of stat blocks that you can make available for your favourite family of psychic monsters that have an appetite for brains; the mind flayers. Masters of the Mind is a living document. This supplement is starting off small but will grow and expand over time. Currently, there are 3 player races, 8 feats, 16 monster stat blocks, 1 vehicle, 24 magic items, and 2 equipment included in the book. However, intend on continuing to expand the book with content such as additional equipment, and monsters.

We're an incredibly small team but are ambitious and this book is a passion project. Here is a summary of the content within:

  • Playable Mind Flayer, Mozgriken and Tzakandi
  • 8 unique feats for ceremorph players
  • Brainstealer Dragon (4 ages)
  • Brain Golem
  • Nyraala Golem
  • Grey Weaver (Illen'Gka)
  • Mozgriken
  • Skimlexis
  • Tzakandi (3 varieties)
  • Uchuulon
  • Urophion
  • Mind Flayer Priest of Ilsensine
  • Mind Flayer Assassin
  • 1 vehicle stat block of a Nautiloid (Variant)
  • 19 mind flayer themed items
  • 1 map for a nautiloid Spelljammer

You'll find that some of the names are familiar from older editions and have been given shiny new art along with 5e interpretations, but there are some new things as well that we think you'll like.

Q & A

Q.You mention this is a living document. What are some of the things you want to do to expand on it?

A. One big goal is to upgrade this to be in full colour. The black and white have a great mood to it, but my hope is to be able to print this available for print on demand and to make it worth people's time and money, it should really be in full colour.

Q. You mentioned a player race? Wouldn't playing as a mind flayer be OP?

A. If you were to play a mind flayer as written in the monster manual then yes, absolutely. However, that stat block isn't designed for player use. The player race option here is balanced for player use and more akin to a dragonborn. Players are encouraged to come up with reasons why their mind flayer might be nerfed. For example, maybe it's an outcast that has had to learn how to fend for itself, and so is no longer as strong.

Content Warning: There are some themes that are referenced that may be some content that readers may find unpleasant that includes but is not limited to the following:

  • Parasites
  • Abuse
  • Dead bodies
  • Eating people
  • Manipulation
  • Brainwashing

Do you like miniatures? If so scroll to the bottom for more details.

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We have miniatures!

Well, good news for you! We've started producing STL's for 3D printing the monsters we give stat blocks to! If this interests you, you can find the Brain Golem STL's at My Mini Factory:

 - https://www.myminifactory.com/users/black%20Crown%20Games/collection/masters-of-the-mind

Each purchase of the Masters of the Mind now includes a 25% off coupon for the STL's that are part of our Masters of the Mind collection.

BRING YOUR GAME TO LIFE. Files available for printing at myminifactory.com. Pictured is a digital render of the brain golem miniature and the skimlexis miniature side by side.

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Reviews (5)
Discussions (12)
Customer avatar
Josie K August 24, 2023 2:15 pm UTC
The Full-Size preview doesn't seem to be working. Also any update on this getting a POD version?
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Customer avatar
Christopher S August 29, 2023 11:19 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hey, thanks for letting me know! I'll get into that right now. As for POD, there is plans to enable it, however it's not eligible until Black Crown Games has at least 1 gold title.
Customer avatar
Samuel G August 19, 2022 11:37 am UTC
Is there any chance of this becoming a physical volume?
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Customer avatar
Christopher S August 19, 2022 4:53 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hey Samuel, thanks for reaching out. I absolutely intend on this being available for print, however at this time that' snot available to me due to me not yet having a gold title (which looks like won't be the case for too much longer).

With that said, there's still a lot of content I want to add to the book which is in the 1st draft and testing phases. Once those are all added, and this is a gold title it will be available for print :)
Customer avatar
James B August 15, 2022 11:33 pm UTC
PURCHASER
What CR range do the stats entail? I'm trying to come up with a low level encounter for my players, powerful enough to terrorize them but not bad enough to kill them as they try and escape.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S August 16, 2022 12:33 am UTC
CREATOR
Hey James! We designed the monsters to cover a wide range of CR's. Low ones so that low level parties can experience a mind flayer themed adventure, and high ones as well so that level 20 characters can have a good fight.

The lowest CR monster (currently) is the Mozgriken at CR 3. It's mostly a stealthy, infiltration monster. Here's a spread of most of the CR ladder afterwards:

- CR 4: Tzakandi, and the Uchuulon
- CR 5: Skimlexis
- CR 6: Brainstealer Dragon Wyrmling
- CR 7: Tzakandi Captain
- CR 8: Nyraala Golem
- CR 9: 6 monsters
- CR 10: Grey Weaver, Brain Golem
Customer avatar
Tim B July 31, 2022 4:12 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I know this is a "living document" however the item "Wine of Eternity" cuts off near the end of the description where if they sleep for 7 days the creature adds their STR, CON, INT, and WIS ability scores and rolls a d100 and then...

What's next? Lol, love the pdf btw. Mind Flayers have been my favorite creature for ages now and it's nice to see them have more options
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S August 01, 2022 8:08 am UTC
CREATOR
Oh dear! Not sure how that happened. Here's the rest of the item description. I hope that'll do until the next update. I might just have to do an emergency patch for that. So sorry for the inconvenience!

Thank you for bringing it to my attention!!!

After being asleep for seven days from the wine, the creature makes a special saving throw. Combine the creature's Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom ability scores and roll a d100. If the creature rolls equal to or under the combined ability scores, it wakes up. Otherwise, the creature will sleep for a hundred years. A creature may repeat this special saving throw at the end of every hundred year period. After successfully saving against the wine, the creature is immune to its magical effects.
While a creature is magically asleep due to the wine, they do not require food water, or air to survive.
A creature can drink the wine as a bonus action. If a beholder of mind flayer drinks the vintage, they do not fall asleep...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S August 01, 2022 4:21 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hey Tim, I've updated the file last night (1.12.4). Added a few extra magic items in there as well.

If anything else comes up please don't hesitate to let me know! Enjoy!
Customer avatar
Sebastien M July 19, 2022 4:22 am UTC
PURCHASER
You guys have been doing fantastic work keeping this book updated. Love the colour artworks.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S July 19, 2022 5:34 am UTC
CREATOR
Thank you so much! I'm glad you're getting to enjoy the progression of the book as it happens!

The timeline for updating the B&W images to colour is slow, but we have a bunch of statblocks getting ready for playtesting soon as we speak so hopefully we'll have even more for you in the hopefully near future!
Customer avatar
Rafael T July 13, 2022 11:38 pm UTC
Any chance you'll be making a VTT (fantasy grounds) version? I could use this in an Underdark campaign.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S July 13, 2022 11:41 pm UTC
CREATOR
We'd absolutely love to! At this time a lot of time is being put into adding additional content to the book.

With that said, we do intend to, but will need someone to help show us the ropes on how to create content for Fantasy Grounds.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S July 14, 2022 1:06 am UTC
CREATOR
Good news! Looks like we're getting a VTT for Fantasy Grounds started right now. This will be our first VTT, but if we can have things our way we should have it close to ready in a week or two.
Reply
Customer avatar
Rafael T July 17, 2022 11:52 am UTC
Awesome! I can't wait to see it. I'll surely keep an eye out for it when it comes out.

Thank you so very much for taking your time to look into it.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S July 19, 2022 2:37 am UTC
CREATOR
Just published it. We're pretty new to Fantasy Grounds so if there's any issues at all, please let me know right away.

That said, this helped a lot. Helped us find a few things we needed to touch up, as well as make some great maps using the nautiloid ship layout.

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/403340/Masters-of-the-Mind-The-Book-of-Illithid-A-Manual-on-Mind-Flayers-Fantasy-Grounds
Customer avatar
Calvin B June 02, 2022 3:16 am UTC
PURCHASER
I’d love to help out with rooting out typos. I don’t believe this would be the place to discuss everything
Reply
Customer avatar
Calvin B June 02, 2022 3:58 am UTC
PURCHASER
I’d love to help out with rooting out typos. I don’t believe this would be the place to discuss everything, so I’d prefer an email address or something
Reply
Customer avatar
Calvin B June 02, 2022 3:58 am UTC
PURCHASER
I’d love to help out with rooting out typos. I don’t believe this would be the place to discuss everything, so I’d prefer an email address or something
Customer avatar
Samuel G February 02, 2022 7:02 am UTC
Any chance of this making it into a physical format??
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S February 02, 2022 8:40 am UTC
CREATOR
There is! A physical printable book is our ultimate goal. However, at present, the DM's Guild requires creators to have at least one gold metal title (ie a title that has sold +501 copies) for us to be eligible for print on demand.

So the answer is yes, but not without the help of this community! Until then, we're going to be adding more content to the book to make it all the better of a printed title. We're hoping to have the next update out by the end of the week which will add an additional 4 pages of Mind Flayer ecology and culture for DM's to have more tools at their hands.

We'll also be offering previous buyers a discount when POD is available.
Customer avatar
Kaela B January 31, 2022 4:31 am UTC
I love pulling old monsters from previous editions my players might not be familiar with. I love when someone else does the hard part of making stat blocks 5e compatible even more. It's a huge time saver. My players love illithid, so I'm excited for some additional creatures they'll love.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S January 31, 2022 4:37 am UTC
CREATOR
We're so happy to help with that! Currently, we're working on getting minis to match the art of our monsters as well.

We're limited to only using 3D printing at this moment, but if you or a friend have access to one the Brain Golem and Skimlexis both have models at this time.

We also have a new update for the booklet coming up shortly which should add another 2-4 pages of lore, ecology and mind flayer culture, so be sure to look out for updates :)

And of course, if you have any questions please do let us know, we're very fast to respond to any questions to help!
Customer avatar
Michael W January 28, 2022 10:56 pm UTC
You lost me at "living document".
Customer avatar
Tessa A January 26, 2022 10:13 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Fascinating! I look forward to reviewing this once I've read through and had a chance to process the material! I can imagine many of my players would be intrigued by playing as a mind flayer.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S January 26, 2022 10:17 pm UTC
CREATOR
Why thank you so much! Please do share how it goes and let me know what your favourite monster is! Mine just might be the Skimlexis and Grey Weaver. The art for them is just so captivating for me.
Customer avatar
Shane M January 02, 2022 2:18 am UTC
Where's the POD?
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S January 02, 2022 2:30 am UTC
CREATOR
I would love nothing more than to have this available for print on demand. However, at this time DM's Guild's policy for print on demand has been updated and I have to have had at least one gold metal title for my products to be eligible.

So I don't know how long it will take to get there. However, once it is available, to all who purchased the PDF, on request, I'll be offering discounts for the POD.
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Product Information
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Pages
61
Publisher Stock #
BCG22001
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File Last Updated:
August 01, 2022
This title was added to our catalog on December 22, 2021.