Intellect Devourer Controller

Intellect Devourer Controller (CR 14)

Pure Evil - Small - Aberration

Lore:	K. (Dungeoneer)
28		43
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

23

Perception:
33	+23
Passive	Active

Ambush:

11+

on a d20

• Ambush Notes: Due to their clumsy movements, not good at ambushes

Senses:

• Blind to Vision
• Blind to Sound
• Blind to Smell
• Mindsense 120 ft.

Movement Types:

• Walk 50 ft.
• Vaulting 50 ft.

Defense

AC

36

Man Def

35

Monster Health
382	191	27
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+16
Refl:	+11
Will:	+16

Strong Against:

• Hardened (½ damage): Psychic damage

Weak Against:

Offense

Size:	Small
5 ft.		5 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+21

Man Off

+23

Action

0

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Claw Swipe +21 (3d8+13/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)

Full Attack (Melee):

• 3x Claw Swipe +21 (3d8+13/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)

Standard Attack (Ranged):

• 1x Mind Ray +25 vs. AC (always hits on a 17+ on the die) (3d8+13/19-20 x2)
  as psychic (energy, uncommon)
  (Increment: 80 ft.; Max Range: 80 ft.)
  plus Controlled Flesh

Full Attack (Ranged):

• 3x Mind Ray +25 vs. AC (always hits on a 17+ on the die) (3d8+13/19-20 x2)
  as psychic (energy, uncommon)
  (Increment: 80 ft.; Max Range: 80 ft.)
  plus Controlled Flesh

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

18

STR

16

DEX

22

CON

24

INT

12

WIS

8

CHA

Skills:

• Perception: 23
• All other skills: 18 (no ranks)

Languages: Gurahn'lloig, Krieg, Telepathy

Feats:

Special Abilities

Controlled Flesh (Su) Automatic after successful attack

Up to once per round, after a successful Mind Ray attack, the Intellect Controller may choose to over-ride the fabric of their target's very existence. The Intellect Devourer uses their Telepathy to drive home a simple command to the victim, usually along the lines of 'move away', 'walk to me', "drop your items', or 'attack your ally'. This is embodied as the Charmed condition placed by the Devourer. There is no saving throw against this ability. If a creature gets the Charmed condition twice, it does not stack, only the last command holds sway.

Body Thief (Ex) Full Round Action, see below.

At the GM's discretion, an Intellect Devourer can choose to begin an encounter while wearing the body of another creature. This can be any sort of monster, including Constituents, up to CR 16. Note that Intellect Devourers only take bodies for...personal reasons, and are not good at all at pretending to be other creatures. While driving a stolen body, an Intellect Devourer gains access to that body's abilities, senses, movement, defenses, AC, and saves. No one will ever mistake a stolen body for a 'normal' member of that species, except perhaps cursorily, or at a distance. If an Intellect Devourer using Body Thief is engaged in combat, it will typically attack aggressively using their stolen flesh's most damaging ranged attack. If the Intellect Devourer takes any damage to its hit points while using Body Thief, it loses control of its meat puppet and returns to full size, bursting messily from the head of the unfortunate victim in a shower of gore. Once driven out, it loses access to all the abilities of the thefted body and reverts to using their own abilities...which are formidable. If there are dead bodies of non-Intellect Devourers available (most corporeal monsters are eligible), then the Intellect Devourer may attempt to use Body Thief in combat to take over a new ride. This is a full round action, during which it shrinks itself down to size Fine, teleports up to 100 feet to the body it wants, and then clambers into its nose, ear, or mouth, pushing the existing brain matter out of the head in a messy display. At the beginning of its next action, it is now inside the new body and can act normally, using that body's abilities. Note that, despite the loss of a full round in combat, the long-distance teleport in this action means that sometimes Devourers will 'stage' battles with some convenient corpses in fairly distant locations, to allow themselves an escape route or some heavy-hitting abilities.

Selfless Scourge (Su) Standard Action

Once per encounter, as a standard action, an Intellect Devourer Contoller that has been forced out of a stolen body, or who never had one in this encounter, may blast forth a huge surge of psychic energy. This power affects all enemy creatures who are not currently Charmed (See above) in a 30 foot cone (a 6x6x6 square space that must share an edge or a corner with the Controller's space). Affected creatures suffer 3d10+21 points of psychic (energy, uncommon) and gain the Charmed condition. Embedded in the psychic power of the Selfless Scourge is the telepathic command, which must be the same command for all affected creatures. All affected creatures are allowed a Will save against a DC of 24. Those who make this save are not Charmed, and only suffer half the Psychic damage.

Intellect Devourer Controller

Intellect Devourers look like a rounded fleshy mass, usually a glistening grey-pink, with four powerfully clawed legs holding it up. Savants who know such things claim that they look exactly like large human brains, torn from their skulls, with legs. They have no evident heads or eyes, no muscles or ribs or evidence of breath. It is obvious that they are very alien indeed.

Intellect Devourers are suspected of being from another Plane, although which it might be is speculative at best. What is known, is that Intellect Devourers possess weird, eldritch abilities, able to shrink and grow in size, project shimmering attacks like heat-waves in the air, and they are known for crawling into the dead and 'wearing' their bodies in a manner most horrid.

Intellect Devourers are inimical to all life, but they particularly target sentient beings. They greatly relish those with the Spark, but they will attack and inhabit anything intelligent. In a pinch, they have even been known to attack and wear animals, but such things are apparently rare.

If an Intellect Devourer attacks, kill it with sword and fire, because if you are defeated, your flesh will become the property of the...thing.

Intellect Devourer Controllers are much larger and more dangerous than lesser Intellect Devourers, not least because of their ability to bind others to their awful alien will. They haunt ruins and wildernesses, dungeons and caves and swamps, all manner of semi-deserted places, where intelligent creatures go, but not often, and often alone. The size of a man, Controllers can attack in a massive wave of eldritch rays, or they can sneakily cause all manner of havoc by forcing others to act. If they are victorious in battle, they wear the bodies of their victims like horrific trophies, and revel in them in ways most unwholesome.

Like other Intellect Devourers, Controllers delight in all manner of debauchery, and will frequently use their meat, when it is ending its useful fun, to attack settlements or outposts in search of more flesh to wear.

Combat Tactics

Intellect Devourer Controllers are a bit awkward and clumsy, but capable of astonishing leaps, due to their powerfully clawed legs. They will bound about in combat, staying out of melee if at all possible, if they are caught outside of a thefted body. They are far better at ranged attacks than melee, and will do their best to begin combat at range, and will strive to keep enemies at bay by using their Controlled Flesh charming power to make the closest attackers run away, drop their weapons, or attack their friends. They can use Controlled Flesh only once round, so they will often begin an attack with one or several of them using their terrible 'Selfless Scourge' power to gain as many Charms as they can manage as early as they can. They will seek to 'spread around' their Mind Rays to the Un-Charmed, making close attackers move away, and distant attackers drop their weapons or attack their friends. That's about the limits of their combat prowess.

However, if they begin a fight inside the body of another creature, all bets are off as regards tactics, except, they always work to stay at range. They will recklessly use up their most potent abilities and often will seek to flee immediately, as they have no wish to take damage and thus, lose their ride. The variety of encounters that can be made with Intellect Devourer Controllers is almost without limit, and GM's are encouraged to be creative, always with an eye to fun and challenge. Note that Intellect Devourers gain no defensive advantage from Body Thief: All damage they take is suffered upon their normal base hit points, and any damage whatsoever ends that ability immediately.

Out of Combat

Intellect Devourers are extremely alien, but their most common motivation appears to boil down to sheer hedonism. Intellect Devourers are utterly blind, and deaf, and apparently have no sense of smell or touch or...anything else. They seem driven to take other creatures bodies to attain a full sensorium.

Intellect Devourers are, frankly, bad at pretending they are something else. In a meat ride, they act in an utterly alien fashion, and their behavior, honestly, is revolting, as they indulge their every urge with little in the way of limits or boundaries. The horrors they inflict upon themselves and all around them do not bear mention in polite company.

Intellect Devourers, as a result of their bad habits with the flesh of others, are hard-pressed to find much in the way of allies. They have been known to work with Aboleths, as far as outsiders can determine what those fiends are up to. Doppelgangers and Intellect Devourers have some commonality, but they seem to be both hostile to each other and allies of convenience, and Devourers have been known to hijack the bodies of victims of Doppelgangers, which Doppelgangers seem to find very irritating. Hobgoblins and Aranea, unsurprisingly, may find Intellect Devourers among their customers for slaves, and those fiends take their coin just as they take everyone elses.

Rewards

XP: 38,400

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 23,625 gp.

Weight: 140 lbs.     Volume: 5.6 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10	Nothing Found
11 - 14	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10	3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8	3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11	3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14	3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)