Elder Brain

D&D 2024 monster: Elder Brain. Source: Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. challenge rating 14, creature type Aberration (Mind Flayer), Large... The ultimate expression of mind flayer domination, an elder brain sprawls within a vat of viscous brine, cared for by mind flayer minions as it touches the thoughts of creatures near and far. It scrawls upon the canvas of the creatures' minds, rewriting their thoughts and authoring their dreams. An elder brain sustains itself by consuming the brains of other creatures. If its mind flayer servants don't bring meals directly to it, the elder brain reaches out with tendrils of thought, compelling creatures to come to it so that it can feed on them. When a mind flayer perishes, the elder brain's servants feed its brain to their master, which then absorbs the knowledge and experience contained therein. Mind flayers conceive of this oneness with the elder brain as a sacred state akin to an afterlife. Hive Mind Elder brains are so-called among non-illithids because they act as the central communication hub for an entire mind flayer colony, just as a brain does for a living body. Linked to the elder brain, the colony acts like a single organism, acting in concert as if each illithid were the digit of a hand. An elder brain considers itself and its desires the most important things in the multiverse, and the mind flayers in its colony nothing more than extensions of its will. Each presides over its colony according to its own unique personality and storehouse of collected knowledge and experience. Some elder brains reign as tyrants, while others serve as sages, counselors, and repositories of information and lore for the mind flayers that protect and nourish them. An Elder Brain's Lair The lair of an elder brain lies deep in the heart of a mind flayer colony. The brain dwells in a dimly glowing brine pool filled with brackish water infused with its vital fluids and psionic energy. An elder brain's ambitions are alw...