[MW Expedition 33] Mimeflayer - CR 9 Large Aberration - $5 Reward (Patreon)

Psiophage “Wandering Thoughts has been freaking out all day! It keeps projecting horrible images of greyscale clowns. I don’t think I want t

Psiophage

“Wandering Thoughts has been freaking out all day! It keeps projecting horrible images of greyscale clowns. I don’t think I want to meet whatever spooked it.”

— Heliana, Emotional Support Orc

Once thought to be some kind of madness-inducing illness or mental condition afflicting psionic creatures, psiophages are incorporeal, parasitic predators whose prey comprise the telepathic and empathic. A psiophage unravels every shred of personality and intelligence and replaces its victim’s psyche with its own.

Thought Parasite. While gifted arcanists and hiveminds are their favourite prey, a psiophage can sink its vicious teeth into any creature with telepathic abilities (note: they don’t actually have teeth). It can sniff out potential victims by following the trail of their telepathic waves; the stronger the psychic ability is, the more delicious the scent (note: they can’t actually smell). After latching onto its host, a psiophage devours its mind, replacing all thoughts, personality, and emotions with its own, eventually twisting the physical form to its own warped interpretation of a person (note: this one isn’t metaphorical, it actually does this).

Mimeflayers

Many denizens of The Low, with their natural prowess in the telepathic arts, make prime prey for a psiophage. The parasite’s grasp of anatomy is already poor, and the additional tentacles of a mind flayer are no easier for it to comprehend. The psiophage twists the tentacled visage into an approximation of something more human or elvish, occasionally causing the head to detach and form a grotesque, mask-like creature that uses tentacles for locomotion. The parasitic mind is given a taste of its own medicine, and the body, now the victim of two transformative invasions, becomes even less recognizable.

Puppet Master. An uncontained psiophage can go from living rent-free in an intellect devourer’s head to becoming the landlord of an entire colony. Able to jump from host to host and leave a trail of catatonic victims in its wake, a single psiophage can, if it reaches an elder brain, turn the entire colony into its own personal puppet show. Only one case of this has been documented, but the reports describe an entirely invisible fortress of winding, nonsensical halls wandered by pasty, expressionless tentacle marionettes. The heroes who destroyed it spent the entire sum of their reward money on therapy afterwards.

Imitation of Life. Mimeflayers demonstrate a bizarre curiosity for creatures and objects on the physical planes and spend most of their time mimicking things they’ve seen. They manifest their imitations as invisible, psychic echos, and observers have noted boxes, ropes, doors, and even weapons formed from pure thought. Though possession is no threat to a creature void of psychic talents, a mimeflayer’s curiosity can extend to the macabre and grotesque. It is not unusual for a seemingly innocuous and friendly individual to suddenly want to see what happens when an elf is crushed inside a shrinking invisible box.

----------------------------------------------------

Get the stats for this fearsome foe in the ATTACHED FILES!

Enjoy the gorgeous rendered art for it HERE;

----------------------------------------------------