History Characters / DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesM

Forcibly-bred dwarf-human hybrids, inheriting the best characteristics of both races, but only so they can be subject to backbreaking labor or combat.

* CanonImmigrant: 4th Edition brought back muls for its ''Dark Sun'' update, but also featured suggestions for using them in settings beyond Athas, perhaps as the result of a drow breeding program.

* ServantRace: Muls exist to toil for others, whether on construction crews or in the arena. They have no real culture of their own, since most of them are enslaved, and their sterility keeps them from forming families and communities. Only about 20% of muls are free, and must still live with the threat of being captured and resold by slavers, as a single mul can be more profitable than a dozen human slaves.
* SlaveBrand: Enslaved muls' heads are tattooed to indicate who their owners are -- "the centered three-eyed skulls are the marks of the guard slaves of the templars of Urik, while swirling ram's horns indicate the Merchant House of Tsalaxa," and so on. They receive additional tattoos denoting their preferred weapons, allowing arena handlers to know what to equip them with at a glance, and will gain additional tattoos to celebrate victories. While enslaved muls accept their tattoos as a fact of life, the rare free muls hate them, so that even mentioning them can be a BerserkButton.

* CreepyCentipedes: They combine this trope with SandWorm, burying themselves beneath the sand and then attacking passing prey with their jaws and psionics. In their home setting, the only things more feared than megapedes are nightmare beasts and dragons.

* ServantRace: Muls exist to toil for others, whether on construction crews or in the arena.

* TrueBreedingHybrid: Explicitly averted in their original presentation, in which muls are sterile, true to their name. 4th Edition is mum on the matter.

[[folder:Murder Comet]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_murder_comet_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Elemental (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Stone heads wreathed in flame that scream through Wildspace, smashing any ships they come across.

* AntiStructure: They have the "Siege Monster" trait, letting them deal double damage to structures and objects like starships.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: When slain, murder comets explode in a 20-foot-radius ball of fire.
* ElementalEmbodiment: Murder comets are created when an evil spellcaster combines the essences of earth and fire elementals into a single destructive creature.
* FlyingFace: They're shaped like such, flying through space. A spellcaster who chooses to bind their spirit to a murder comet will cause it to take on their own likeness.
* PlayingWithFire: Murder comets are wreathed in flame, dealing extra fire damage to whatever they slam into, and they can also spit fire as a ranged attack.
* SuperSpeed: They have an incredible 120-foot fly speed, moving so fast they don't provoke attacks of opportunity as they blaze past opponents, which makes them perfectly suited for HitAndRunTactics.

[[folder:Myconid]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_myconids_5e.jpeg]]

->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E, 5E), Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (junior worker) to 7 (sovereign) (3E); 3 (guard) to 4 (sovereign); 0 (scout), 1/2 (adult), 2 (sovereign) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral, Unaligned (4E)

Also known as "fungus ones," these intelligent, mobile mushroom folk are distrustful of outsiders, but generally shy and nonviolent, making them a rarity among the Underdark's inhabitants.

* AnimateDead: One type of myconid spore infests corpses, causing them to rise as mindless servants. They do whatever work there aren't enough myconids to carry out.
* LargeAndInCharge: Myconids grow over the course of their lives, but the sovereign is always the tallest myconid (eleven feet). If it dies, another myconid will grow to eleven feet tall and take over.
* MushroomMan: Myconids are intelligent, ambulatory fungi that live in the Underdark.
* MushroomSamba: Pun aside, myconids structure their days into three parts: eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, and eight hours of a mind-melding hallucinatory state caused by their spores.
* {{Telepathy}}: One type of spore myconids can emit allows for telepathic communication, both between themselves and with outsiders.

[[folder:Mewling Troll]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mewling_troll_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Giant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Large but hunched humanoids known for the stupefying sounds they make.
----
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: To the extent that this one isn't in the "Troll" folder. Mewling trolls look nothing like "standard" trolls: they have horns and shaggy fur, a bulbous rather than proboscis-like nose, and most importantly have no HealingFactor. Mewling trolls can be just as savage in combat as non-mewling trolls, and have "pounce" and "rend" attacks, but despite their listed alignment are "far less likely to be wholly wicked," leading to surprises like a mewling troll leading a lost child back to their village. All this to say, there's debate among in-universe scholars over where the mewling trolls came from, with a few doubting they're related to "true" trolls at all.
* HypnoticCreature: Mewling trolls don't speak any languages, instead their muttering and babbling creates a ''hypnotism'' effect on other creatures within 60 feet.
* RunningOnAllFours: They're naturally bipedal, and always assume this position in combat, but can also run on all fours to reduce stress on their body.
* TheSymbiote: Like mundane sloths, mewling trolls' green hair is often entangled with living vines and leaves, giving them natural camouflage.
[[/folder]]

''[[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatures Creatures]]'': [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatureTypes Creature Types]] ([[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesA A]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesB B]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesC C]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesD D]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesE E]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesF F]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesG G]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesH H]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesIToL I to L]] | '''M''' | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesNtoQ N to Q]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesR R]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesS S]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesT T]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesUToZ U to Z]]) | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons Dragons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiends Fiends]] ([[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDemons Demons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDevils Devils]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsYugoloths Yugoloths]]) | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsMindFlayers Mind Flayers]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsUndead Undead]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsSettingSpecificCreatures Setting-Specific Creatures]]\\

This page covers general ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' monsters such as can be found in the ''Monster Manual'' or in setting-agnostic books such as ''Volo's Guide to Monsters'' or ''Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes''. The creatures on this page can be found in any world of the ''D&D'' multiverse and can be encountered in just about any campaign.

For the game's iconic dragons, see ''Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons''. For demons and devils, see ''Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiends''. For the various undead creatures, see ''Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsUndead''. For creatures found only in specific settings, see ''Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsSettingSpecificCreatures''.

''[[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatures Creatures]]'': [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesA A]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesB B]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesC C]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesD D]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesE E]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesF F]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesG G]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesH H]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesIToL I to L]] | '''M''' | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesNtoQ N to Q]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesR R]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesS S]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesT T]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesUToZ U to Z]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons Dragons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiends Fiends]] ([[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDemons Demons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDevils Devils]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsYugoloths Yugoloths]]) | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsUndead Undead]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsSettingSpecificCreatures Setting-Specific Creatures]]\\

!True Illithids
!!Illithid
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mind_flayer_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:5e]]

Humanoid creatures with tentacled faces, psionic powers, and a rather unique dietary requirement. They dwell in alien colonies within the Underdark, but regularly raid the surface world for captives, or send their agents to manipulate other civilizations.

* AliensAreBastards: The Illithids are the most iconic of D&D's evil aliens. They can only reproduce by turning humanoids into more Illithids and consume brains to live, and they are not particularly nice to each other either. Only the most evil of humanoids dare to trade or ally with them.
* AntiMagicalFaction: Mind Flayers despise arcane magic, and deviant arcanists are shunned. The reason for this is twofold; Firstly, Illithids already have innate psionics, and consider arcane magic, which requires long periods of study and practice, to be inferior. Secondly, elder brains discourage arcane magic because it works independently of the psionic network, and empowers individual illithids to strike out on their own.
* BizarreAlienReproduction: Illithid reproduction is two-part; first, an adult illithid vomits up or lays (it depends on the sourcebook) a mass of gelatinous eggs in the elder brain's pool, which hatch into tadpole-like illithid larvae. Assuming they aren't eaten by others in the pond or the elder brain itself before maturing, the tadpoles are then inserted into the ear of a helpless humanoid, whereupon they consume its brain and physically merge with its spinal column to become an adult illithid. Should the larva go for too long without implanting, which usually only happens if a mind flayer colony is destroyed and the larvae left to fend for themselves, it will grow into a massive, wormlike and largely mindless monster called a neothelid.
* BrainFood: An illithid needs to eat at least one humanoid brain per month, and ideally prefers one per week. ''Lords of Madness'' explains this as being due to ceremorphosis leaving illithids without a true brain integrated into the body -- instead, the skull is occupied by the original parasitic larva, which controls and is firmly rooted into the body but does not actually perform the metabolic functions of the organ it replaced. Thus, illithids cannot produce a number of important hormones, regulatory chemicals and psychic signals, and make do by consuming those of other beings.
* TheChessmaster: Illithids work to undermine the civilizations of the surface world, not because the mind flayers view them as a threat, but as a sort of political experiment. Every empire that collapses due to the illithids' machinations is providing them with data they can use to avoid making the same mistakes when they (re)establish their own empire.
* CoupDeGrace: In some rules, illithids can make an "extract brain" attack against a helpless or grappled foe, which for the vast majority of creatures is a OneHitKill. Combined with their ''mind blast'''s ability to stun targets for several rounds at a time, this makes mind flayers extremely dangerous even when they aren't using the rest of their psychic repertoire.
* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: Humanoid shape; skin colored in shades of dark green, blue, or purple; and four tentacles emerging from their face, with a lamprey-like mouth in between them.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: In a very twisted sense, but perhaps the only humanizing trait illithids have is their connection to their thralls, which is far more intimate than it would seem, as if their thrall dies their master will suffer in return, and having thralls around keeps them from [[GoMadFromTheIsolation going insane from loneliness]]. Each illithid also has a personal thrall whom they favor; going out of their way to not eat their brains in moments of hunger or anger, giving them toys and trinkets to entertain themselves with when not working, and even taking on pronounceable names for their benefit.
* HatesBeingAlone: Illithids' absolute desire to dominate is so ingrained into them that without minds to control they feel incomplete, and will put all other plans on hold to acquire more thralls lest they GoMadFromTheIsolation. Mind flayers are also used to having the background psychic presence of their colony's elder brain, and so on missions outside its influence, they might bring along a "brainmate," a crystal globe containing a walnut-sized bud from the elder brain, which is nominally sentient and can respond to the mind flayer's telepathic questions... as well as perfectly record everything its bearer experiences, information the elder brain can acquire by simply re-absorbing the brainmate.
* HeelFaceTurn: In ''exceptionally'' rare cases, individual illithids have been known to overcome their inherent desires and become morally neutral, and in extreme case even ''good,'' questioning the need to dominate others and consume brains. These individuals who think differently would quickly be rooted out and killed by other illithids if discovered, and as such most need to live in isolation from their kind, proving that they're NotAlwaysEvil.
* OneHitKill: If a mind flayer manages to extract an enemy's brain, the creature dies instantly, unless it has multiple heads or is undead.
* OutsideContextProblem: As per their ''Lords of Madness'' background, the illithids originate from the far future, when their empire of dead and dying suns was facing catastrophe at the hands of an unknown aggressor. Using a psionic ritual, the mind flayers cast themselves back through the aeons to a relatively short period of time before the ''D&D'' "present" time. This is why aboleths, who can remember things from ''before'' the dawn of time, are [[HorrifyingTheHorror creeped out by the illithids]], which as far as they can tell just came out of nowhere.
* PeopleFarms: Downplayed. Illithids can and do keep and breed humanoid slaves in order to have ready access to brains to consume, but there are a number of issues that make this scheme impractical. Firstly, illithids thrive best on humanoid brains, and humanoids breed and mature slowly, requiring disproportionately large farms to compensate -- some illithids minimize this issue by farming quick-breeding and quick-growing species like goblins, orcs and grimlocks, but these still require a decade or more to grow to reproductive age and aren't actually as nutritious as slower-growing humans, dwarves or elves. Secondly, the "flavor" and nutrition of a brain are directly related to the complexity of its mind's experiences and emotions, which psychic thralldom strongly inhibits. Thus, while illithids keep some slaves as future food and even breed them, they chiefly rely on raiding independent settlements for food.
* PickyPeopleEater: Besides just eating brains, illithids are extremely discriminating about their food. Firstly, they prefer complex minds, packed with knowledge and experiences and as intelligent and emotionally rich as can be achieved -- typical peasants may just make do, experienced leaders and adventurers are relished, a sage or wizard is a rare treat. Secondly, they also have strong opinions about which species they most enjoy eating. Troglodytes are repulsive, and only eaten to avoid starvation. Goblinoids, orcs and ogres are acceptable, with surface-dwelling ones being preferred to their subterranean cousins, but are never a first choice. Humans, elves, drow, duergar and dwarves, being generally more intelligent and emotionally developed, are favored staples of the illithid diet. Grimlocks are a treat due to their lack of sight giving their brains a unique flavor. The long-lived, elusive and highly emotive fey are rare delicacies.
* PsychicPowers: Illithids have many psionic powers, the most infamous of which is their ''mind blast'', a cone-shaped psychic assault that stuns intelligent creatures long enough for the illithid to eat their brains.
* {{Retcon}}: Illithid lore underwent a number of changes during the 2nd-3rd Edition transition.
** In 2nd Edition, illithids reproduce asexually instead of requiring an elder brain to produce larvae. In addition, instead of converting an implanted victim into a new illithid, the larva feeds on the dead body it's planted into while maturing before bursting out as newborn illithid.
** Before and during 2nd Edition, illithids are atheist, as they believe themselves the only beings deserving of worship. Starting with 3rd, they worship Ilsensine.
** Pre-3rd Edition illithids are much more omnivorous than their later incarnations, and can subsist on a wide variety of foods. The eating of brains is primarily a symbolic gesture of dominance over other beings -- illithids believe the mind to be all-important and superior to the physical body, and so enjoy humiliating defeated opponents by devouring the most important part of their bodies.
* SlaveRace:
** Mind Flayers are fond of using these.
** In a way, they are these themselves, albeit a higher caste of one. They spend their entire lives under the influence of the Elder Brains. Any Mind Flayer that the Elder Brains can't control is made outcast and hunted down. And the Elder Brains are themselves made of the memories of the minds of the Mind Flayers they brainwashed. In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate3'', you can get a NonstandardGameOver where you turn into a Mind Flayer, and the Elder Brain addresses you as "Thrall" in the cutscene after you transform.
* TheUnpronounceable: Illithids identify themselves to other illithids through strains of thoughts and images too complex to be spoken or expressed by other races, so any spoken names are actually rough translations that use descriptive words to get the general idea across. Occasionally an illithid will adopt a pronounceable name themselves, be it for the benifit of their thralls or to terrifiy enemies.
* WeakenedByTheLight: Downplayed; illithids don't take damage or suffer any penalties from being in natural light, but they find the experience as repellent as a normal human would being immersed in blood. Some of the more ambitious elder brains thus scheme toward the goal of [[StarKilling extinguishing the sun.]]
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes:
** Purple worms are one of the only creatures that the mind flayers outright fear universally.
** Illithids also have trouble with the undead, since they have no minds to dominate, can evade psionic detection, and aren't inconvenienced by having their brains bitten out of their skulls.

!!Ulitharid
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ulitharid.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (3E), 9 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Very rarely, an implanted tadpole transforms an individual into an ulitharid, a larger and more potent mind flayer that boasts six tentacles. In 5th Edition, they're revealed to be nascent elder brains.

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: The ulitharids' power over common illithids is rooted in two factors -- their great rarity, and their much greater physical strength and psychic powers.
* LargeAndInCharge: Ulitharids tower over common illithids, typically standing between seven and eight feet in height.
* {{Metamorphosis}}: In 5th Edition, after an ulitharid establishes a new illithid colony, it ritually opens its own skull to expose its brain. Its illithid servants then plant its brain in its body, which rapidly dissolves into a pool of ichor to sustain the ulitharid's development into an embryonic elder brain.
* MonsterLord: Ulitharids are large, strong and psychically powerful illithids who arise to be natural leaders over their lesser kin.
* MookLieutenant: Ulitharids are typically seconds-in-command in their cities, obeying the elder brain but commanding the smaller and weaker illithids.
* StaffOfAuthority: An ulitharid's status and authority are symbolized by the twisted black staff which it carries at all time.

!!Elder Brain
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elder_brain.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E), Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 25 (3E), 23 (4E), 14 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil, Evil (4E)

The undisputed rulers of illithid colonies, the elder brains use their prodigious intellects to guide their subjects, and their formidable psychic powers to defend against any threats, whether external or internal.

* BigBrotherIsWatching: An elder brain provides constant psychic surveillance of a mind flayer colony. In addition to making it very difficult for enemies to infiltrate it, this allows the elder brain to detect any dissent among its illithid subordinates.
* BizarreAlienReproduction: Elder brains are the final stage of the mind flayer life cycle. Once an ulitharid reaches the end of its life, it removes its brain, which grows into an elder brain.
* BrainMonster: Illithid elder brains float in large brine pools in illithid cities. Each is made up of the combined brain matter of old illithids that sacrificed themselves to join it.
* {{Golem}}: Elder brains can "bud" a roughly-humanoid lump of gray matter simply called a brain golem, which they use as a last line of defense or to accomplish physical tasks that they don't trust to their illithid subjects. As such, mind flayers view the silent brain golems with some degree of awe as they go about their inscrutable work.
* HiveQueen: Their role in illithid communities is comparable to that of a queen in an eusocial insect hive -- that is, a vast, immobile specimen that sits in the center of the colony, producing endless swarms of larvae that grow into non-reproducing "workers", and periodically popping out a new "queen" in the form of an ulitharid.
* MindHive: Illithids have no fear of death, as a dead mind flayer's brain can be removed from its body and placed into the elder brain's pool to be absorbed by the greater brain, thus allowing the mind flayer to join the mental gestalt of past illithids. At least, in theory -- a secret that elder brains jealously guard is that they only keep the information within the brains, not the consciousnesses.
* ScamReligion: While an elder brain does absorb information from illithid brains it absorbs, and feeds off their psionic energy, no part of the original mind flayers' consciousness survives the elder brain's consumption. The elder brains are careful to keep the truth about this secret, to better manipulate and ensure the loyalty of the mind flayers.
* StrongerWithAge: Elder brains are immortal unless killed, and never enfeeble or grow senile -- they simply become wiser and stronger, their psychic power slowly but steadily increasing.

!Ceremorphs

Generally speaking, only Medium-sized, mammalian humanoids produce "true" illithids through ceremorphosis, but the mind flayers are willing to experiment by implanting their tadpoles in other creatures. In most cases these efforts are unsuccessful, but in others, the result is a new creature that blends its original and illithid heritages to varying degrees, and typically inherits the mind flayers' brain-based diet and some portion of their psychic ability.

!!Brainstealer Dragon
[[quoteright:274:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brainstealer_dragon.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:274:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies with age category (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Horrors produced from the thankfully rare implantation of an illithid tadpole inside a dragon.

* BrainFood: If a brainstealer dragon can hold an enemy with its tentacles for five consecutive rounds, it extracts and eats the victim's brain.
* TheChessmaster: Brainstealer dragons combine draconic hubris with illithid manipulativeness, and thus "view life as a game that they intend to win."
* CombatTentacles: Instead of a head, the brainstealer dragon has four tentacles which it uses to grab enemies and extract their brains.
* NoSell: They're immune to acid attacks and other mind flayers' ''mind blast''.
* PsychicPowers: Brainstealer dragons possess various psionic powers, including a cone-shaped ''mind blast'' that serves as its equivalent of a BreathWeapon.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: The main reason for brainstealer dragons' rarity is that the elder brains can't control them, and some of their great wyrms have taken over mind flayer colonies.

!!Gnome Ceremorph
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_gnome_ceremorph_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Any

In the rare cases a ceremorphosis attempt on a gnome doesn't fail outright, the result can be a Small illithid that, even more unusually, retains much of its past life's personality.

* DeathOfPersonality: As mentioned, averted. Gnome ceremorphs retain at least partial memories of their previous lives, and maintain most of their original personality. They still need to eat brains, and gain an illithid's desire to control and experiment, but are otherwise free to follow their original character alignment.
* GadgeteerGenius: They retain their gnomish inclination towards tinkering, hence why the sample gnome ceremorph has a fantastic laser pistol.
* {{Telepathy}}: While gnome ceremorphs are natural telepaths, they prefer to vocalize out loud, though their tentacles give them a "gooey" accent.

!!Gnome Squidling
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_gnome_squidling_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Other attempts to implant an illithid tadpole within a gnome result in these "squidlings," deformed and mentally-stunted creatures with limited psychic power, but a true illithid's hunger for brains.

* BizarreAlienLocomotion: Gnome squidlings "walk" on two of their oversized face-tentacles, while using their psionics to ''levitate'' the rest of their bodies.
* ClippedWingAngel: They're dumber than either of their parent species, having the intellectual and emotional capacity of toddlers, and their psychic powers are limited to levitation and a weak "mind tickle" attack. As such, most gnome squidlings are killed off by their illithid creators as failed experiments.
* {{Telepathy}}: Gnome squidlings are telepathic, but limitedly so -- at best they can communicate a single word at a time, accompanied by a burst of emotion.

!!Mindwitness
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mindwitness.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 16 (3E), 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Mindwitnesses are the result of a beholder being brought safely to the brine pool of the elder brain and converted through ceremorphosis.

* ClippedWingAngel: You'd think a ceremorphosed beholder would be absolutely ''terrifying'', but they are actually docile beasts of burden, and the illithid transformation robs the beholder of its most dangerous eye rays and AntiMagic cone. Justified, since an immensely powerful, intelligent and insane RealityWarper is the ''last'' thing a mind flayer colony would want running around.
* HappinessInSlavery: They're actually fairly docile, and if the mind flayers are removed from the equation they will just drift around looking for new masters.
* {{Oculothorax}}: A mindwitnesses resembles a fleshy, tentacled orb dominated by a single central eye.
* PsychicLink: A mindwitness is basically a psychic relay, and they have the ability to transmit any psionic message they receive to a number of other entitites within the mindwitness' sight.

!!Tzakandi
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_tzakandi_fix_3e.png]]

->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Ceremorphosized lizardfolk, these creatures are prized servants and bodyguards for their mind flayer masters, being loyal, sturdy, and intelligent enough to use their combat abilities to their fullest potential.

* AcidAttack: Some tzakandi are capable of firing a glob of acid from their tentacles once per day.
* ArtEvolution: Their 2nd Edition art depicts them as lizardfolk with a pair of tentacles extending out of the back of their skulls and down their necks, while 3rd Edition gives them a conventional illithid head upon a lizardfolk body. Though with the note that no two tzakandi look exactly alike, neither interpretation of them is inaccurate.
* BloodKnight: While intelligent, tzakandi are also constantly on edge, looking forward to their next fight.
* {{Imprinting}}: Newly "born" tzakandi attach themselves to the first illithid they see, obeying their orders without question.
* LizardFolk: They look like base lizardfolk to varying degrees, though their eyes are more intelligent.
* PsychicPowers: Some tzakandi have access to psionics from the disciplines of psychokinesis and psychometabolism, while others can make a ''mind blast'' once per day.

!!Uchuulon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_uchuulon_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Also known as "slime chuuls," these creatures are technically failed ceremorphs since the illithid tadpole doesn't survive the implantation attempt, but the process reduces the chuul to a creature the illithids find a more tractable slave.

* ClippedWingAngel: The failed ceremorphosis makes uchuulons more sluggish than chuuls, and renders their carapace translucent.
* CoveredInGunge: The thick slime that uchuulons ooze gives them additional physical protection, and has even odds of negating a CriticalHit.
* TheParalyzer: An uchuulon's tentacles exude a paralytic secretion that renders prey helpless, allowing the illithids to easily take them captive, or for the uchuulon to feed.

!!Urophion
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_urophion_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]

'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

A surprisingly viable roper ceremorph, these creatures are relegated to perimeter defense duty by their home colony.

* AndIMustScream: Urophions are thoroughly miserable creatures, with the intelligence of a mind flayer trapped in a nearly-immobile roper body, and are described as living lives of "desperate loneliness and frustration."
* PetTheDog: About the only thing a urophion can look forward to after a life of FantasticRacism and lonely servitude is the "honor" of joining the elder brain's pool upon death.
* PsychicPowers: They possess a base illithid's ''Mind Blast'' ability, and can use ''detect thoughts'' and ''suggestion'' at will.
* ThatsNoMoon: Like a standard roper, urophions are hard to distinguish from a normal stalagmite, but their improved tentacles and psychic powers make them even more dangerous when the ruse is up.
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Urophions have the same tentacles and drag attack as a base roper, but can combine it with an "Extract Brain" attack once they reel prey in.

!Illithidae
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_illithidae_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A kigrid, embrac and saltor (3e)]]
Illithidae are an order of animal-minded aberrations related to illithids in the same manner in which common mammals are related to humans. They originate from the same alien future as the mind flayers and congregate around their cities, although the nature of their modern relationship remains unclear. Illithidae reproduce by depositing larvae within their bodies of slain victims, which incubate there until ready to metamorphose into adults.

* FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Illithidae often resemble, and occupy ecological niches largely equivalent to, more familiar animals. Cessirids look and act like much like wolves, kigrids fill niches equivalent to those of aggressive omnivores and scavengers such as boars, hyenas and bears, and saltors are similar to baboons. Embracs are the only exception, as the closest analogy to their niche would be an animal that acts like a carnivorous plant.
* PsychicPowers: These creature are also latent psions, with powers ranging from ''[[HolographicDisguise blur]]'' and ''[[{{Intangibility}} blink]]'' to ''[[EmotionBomb crushing despair]]'', depending on species.

!!Cessirid
->'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral, sometimes LawfulEvil

Wolflike pack hunters with four stinging tentacles around their mouths.

* AnimalJingoism: Cessirids and kaoulgrim, the hounds of the githyanki, despise each other and will always attempt to fight to the death when they meet.
* SavageWolves: Cessirids are essentially monstrous alien wolves, and are characterized as wily, treacherous and dangerous pack predators who, while capable of communication, typically only view other intelligent creatures as food and have distinct tendency towards the evil end of the alignment scale.

!!Embrac
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (2E), TrueNeutral (3E)

Hulking predators resembling bloated sacks mounted on eight armored legs, adorned with a saw-edged beaks, and topped with eight tentacles bristling with hooks. Embracs are ambush predators that prefer to attack their prey from hiding.

* ArtEvolution: The 2nd Edition embrac is a bearlike creature with a beak, slanted eyes, and four tentacles growing from around its mouth. The 3rd Edition version is a giant sac of flesh with segmented, arthropod-like legs, no visible eyes, and tentacles growing in a ring all around its upper body.
* CombatTentacles: An embrac's main weapons are its muscular, hook-lined tentacles.
* HealingFactor: If an embrac's tentacles are severed, they grow back within a couple weeks.

!!Kigrid
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Squat, feline predators that stalk prey in the tunnels of the Underdark.

* ItCanThink: Kigrids aren't just cunning enough to drive prey towards dead-end tunnels or cliffs, they can also understand most spoken languages and respond in Undercommon.
* PoisonousPerson: Their bite attacks deliver a [[NonHealthDamage Dexterity-damaging]] poison.

!!Saltor
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (2E), NeutralEvil (3E)

Baboonlike in shape and behavior, saltors are intelligent but very primitive and live as scavengers and opportunistic predators. Saltors are fairly close kin of illithids, and like them reproduce by planting their larvae in the skulls of prey to convert them into new members of their species.

* ItCanThink: They're intelligent enough to made crude tools to make their lives easier, and can speak Undercommon. This means parties who treat them well can trade metal tools for information about the region, though they would be wise to negotiate with the saltors from a position of strength.
* SuperScream: A saltor's main offensive tool is a loud screech capable of inflicting sonic damage.

!Other Related Creatures
!!Cranium Rat
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_cranium_rats_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Beast (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (small pack), 5 (medium pack), 11 (large pack) (3E); 0 (individual), 5 (swarm) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (4E), LawfulEvil (5E)

Rats imbued with psionic powers by the mind flayers. Individually they are no smarter than a normal rat, but swarms of cranium rats pool their powers to gain enhanced intelligence and dangerous abilities.

* AnimalEspionage: Illithids use cranium rats as spies, disseminating them in humanoid settlements and counting on the fact that humans don't generally pay much attention to rats to allow them to get anywhere and listen in to secret conversations.
* HiveMind: While an individual cranium rat is only as smart as a mundane rat, if enough cranium rats come together, they merge their minds into a single one with the accumulated memories of all constituents.
* PsychicPowers: Cranium rats are implanted with psychic powers by their mind flayer creators.
* SwarmOfRats: Cranium rats are at their most dangerous when in large swarms, as they can combine their intellects and coordinate very effectively with one another.

!!Eater of Knowledge
[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_eater_of_knowledge_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:301:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Servitors of the illithid god-brain Ilsensine, these horrors can be found guarding its demense in the Caverns of Thought beneath the Outlands, or traveling the planes, accumulating knowledge for their master.

* BrainFood: Eaters of knowledge don't have a neat "extract brain" attack, instead they can grapple victims and, in an agonizing process, tunnel nerve tendrils into the victim's skull, dealing both physical as well as [[NonHealthDamage Intelligence, Wisdom and Dexterity damage]] each round. After one to four rounds of boring, the nerve tendrils are in position and begin extracting chunks of gray matter, leading to death in at most three rounds with NoSavingThrow.
* EatBrainForMemories: The whole purpose behind their existence. Not only does this increase Ilsensine's knowledge, it also gives the eaters of knowledge access to the abilities of their victims, allowing them to potentially cast spells as a priest or wizard, sneak and backstab foes like a thief, or any combination of the above.
* MyBrainIsBig: Exaggerated to BodyHorror levels. Eaters of knowledge are bloated, reeking things with leathery hides stretched over their distended skulls, trailing ganglia and leaking brain matter.
* PsychicPowers: They know abilities from the telepathy, psychoportation and psychokinesis disciplines, such as ''disintegrate'', ''dimension door'' and ''invisibility''.
* WasOnceAMan: One theory on eaters of knowledge's creation is that Ilsensine removes the burnt-out brains of some of its servants and replaces them with a piece of its own gray matter.

!!Elder Brain Dragon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_elder_brain_dragon_5e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 22 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

A live dragon that has been captured by a mind flayer colony and parasitized by the local elder brain.

* BodyHorror: The dragon is mutated horrifically beyond its nature, with tentacles digging into its brain and elder brain slime running out of its mouth. The artwork further shows that the elder brain has burrowed under the skin of the dragon's back and replaced the dragon's tongue with an ovipositor.
* BreathWeapon: It breathes out ''illithid tadpoles''.
* DispelMagic: A variant. Elder brain dragons can use a legendary action to shatter an enemy spellcaster's concentration, instantly ending any spell the caster was concentrating on.
* NoSavingThrow: There is no way to prevent an elder brain dragon from breaking your concentration once it has gotten hold of you. If you can't stay out of its reach, then say goodbye to whatever spells you were maintaining and brace yourself for the imminent psychic damage.
* PuppeteerParasite: When a mind flayer colony manages to capture a dragon, the elder brain latches onto the dragon's back and digs its tentacles into the dragon's brain, creating an elder brain dragon.
* WeaponizedOffspring: The elder brain dragon can release a stream of briny liquid roiling with illithid tadpoles, which can swiftly transform foes into mind flayers, allowing the elder brain dragon to grow its own roving colony.

!!Illithocyte
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_illithocyte_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

These four-foot-long, squirming, tentacled, sluglike creatures were mind flayer tadpoles who survived the fall of their civilization and were forced to evolve into a form capable of existing outside a host.

* HiveMind: Illithocytes share a communal consciousness, and any within 100 feet of one other are in constant psychic contact.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: They have a "lifesense" ability that lets them pinpoint living creatures within 30 feet.
* TheSwarm: They're usually encountered in groups of three to 30 creatures.
* ZergRush: Illithocytes spend most of their time in large family masses, and are adept at fighting side-by-side in close quarters and coordinating their attacks against a single target.

!!Intellect Devourer
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_intellect_devourer_5e.png]]

->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E), Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (ustilagor), 7 (intellect devourer) (3E); 2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (3E, 4E), LawfulEvil (5E)

Brain-like monsters created as guards by the illithids.

* BrainMonster: An intellect devourer is basically a brain running around on four little legs. Its modus operandi is to crack a victim's skull open, remove the brain and take its place.
* PuppeteerParasite: Intellect devourers operate by killing victims, crawling inside their craniums and pupating their bodies to either exploit their size and strength or to impersonate them.

!!Mind Worm
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mind_worm_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 17 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Dripping, 60-foot-long, worm-like monsters that the illithids use to assassinate specific foes.
----
* CombatTentacles: Mind worms can create up to four "probe worms," tentacles composed of crackling red energy they extend not from their bodies, but any pool of fluid or reflective surface the mind worm can see. These tentacles have a 15-foot reach, deal [[NonHealthDamage Constitution drain]] with their attacks, and on a critical hit subject a victim to the mind worm's "Far Swallow" ability. What's frightening is that the mind worm can use its psionic scrying ability to potentially make these tentacles form remotely, even across planar boundaries. Fortunately, these probe worms can be targeted and destroyed, forcing the mind worm to regenerate them over a week.
* GeoEffects: When immersed in water, mind worms are totally aware of their surroundings, and so cannot be flanked or subject to critical hits.
* PsychicPowers: They share the illithids' signature ''mind blast'', on top of some other abilities.
* {{Seers}}: Mind worms can use ''greater scrying'' at will, which combined with their probe worms lets them replicate the infamous "scry and die" strategy against the illithids' enemies.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Living creatures struck by a mind worm's probe must succeed on a Will save or be shaken.
* SwallowedWhole: While mind worms have a bite attack, their "Far Swallow" ability triggers when their probe worms score a CriticalHit, at which point their target is instantly teleported into the mind worm's gizzard and subjected to crushing and acid damage.

!!Neothelid
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_neothelid_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 15 (3E), 13 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Extremely rare, dangerous creatures created when the mind flayer life cycle goes horribly wrong.
----
* BrainFood: Neothelids first develop intelligence when they consume a thinking being's brain, and afterwards constantly hunger for more.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Illithids consider neothelids to be abhorrent abominations and a taboo subject.
* MonstrousCannibalism: Not only did each neothelid survive by feeding upon their fellow tadpoles, but they are oblivious of their mind flayer heritage and will happily feast upon illithid brains.
* SoleSurvivor: Neothelids never arise intentionally, instead they're the result of some enemy wiping out a mind flayer community, leaving only the pool of mind flayer tadpoles at its heart. The untended illithid tadpoles, free of the elder brain's predations, eventually turn on each other for lack of food until only a single tadpole remains. Desperation will force this survivor onto land where it hunts what it can, but should it ever devour an intelligent being, eating its brain triggers ceremorphosis, except without a host body to fuse with -- the new neothelid becomes self-aware and its psionic powers awaken, but it remains a tentacled, worm-like monster, brilliant but savage, concerned only with consuming more brains.
* SuperSpit: Neothelids can spray tissue-dissolving enzymes from their tentacle ducts that reduce prey to a puddle of slime but leaving the brain intact.

!!Nerve Swimmer
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_nerve_swimmer_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Creatures derived from immature illithid tadpoles, used to torture, interrogate or puppet other creatures. Whether the mind flayers created them is unknown, as they can be found serving various evil beings, or their own ambitions.
----
* ColdBloodedTorture: While inhabiting a host creature, a nerve swimmer swarm can, three times per day, inflict wracking pain, forcing the host to save or take [[NonHealthDamage Strength, Dexterity and Constitution damage.]]
* HiveMind: They're a swarm of bug-sized creatures that share a single consciousness, even as individuals die and are replaced.
* LivingLieDetector: A nerve swimmer swarm can use ''discern lies'' while inside another creature, three times per day.
* PuppeteerParasite: Nerve swimmers burrow into the flesh and nerves of their victims, and once per day can force them to obey the swarm's commands similar to a ''dominate monster'' spell, except since the nerve swimmers are directly controlling the victim's body it isn't considered a mind-affecting ability. They can also use a "Nerve Strike" ability to block the victim's nerve impulses, replicating a ''hold monster'' effect that again isn't considered a mind-affecting ability.

!!Voidmind Creature
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_voidmind_grimlock_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A voidmind grimlock (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' As base creature (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' +1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil while enslaved

Illithid servitors who have had most of their brains consumed and replaced with psionically-charged goo, leaving them intelligent minions able to infiltrate their home settlements, while their mind flayer masters spy through their eyes.
----
* AcidAttack: Once per day, a voidmind creature can spray a cone of slime from their skulls, which deals acid damage, stuns victims, and causes them to take penalties to Will saves.
* CombatTentacles: They can extend a slimy tentacle from their skulls, which attacks of its own accord without interfering in the voidmind creature's actions
* GlamourFailure: Voidmind creatures can often pass for normal members of their races, but close exception will reveal the four wax plugs in its skull that occasionally leak greenish fluid, the sign of the creation process. Thus, voidmind creatures are prone to wearing hats, helmets or other head coverings.
* NoOntologicalInertia: The good news is that killing the three mind flayers who created the voidmind creature frees it from their control, the bad news is that this doesn't undo the physical changes made to the creature, which require magic like ''wish'' or ''miracle''.
* NoSell: They're immune to ability damage or drain, as well as any mind-affecting spells or abilities (since their minds are already enslaved, thank you very much).
* PsychicLink: A voidmind creature is bound to the three illithids who created it, and each of them can perceive the world through its senses, take control of their puppet as per ''dominate monster'', and most dangerously, utilize their psionic powers through the voidmind creature.
* WhoEvenNeedsABrain: Voidmind creatures only have a tiny bit of their brains intact, the part necessary to preserve the motor functions of their bodies. The psionic goo that fills their skulls not only takes up the function of the missing gray matter, it leaves the creature smarter than it was originally.

!Mind Flayers of Thoon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mind_flayers_of_thoon_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (shadow flayer), 10 (Thoon disciple), 15 (elder brain) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

A century ago, an illithid nautiloid attempting to explore the outer reaches of the Astral Plane instead found itself in the Far Realm. The ship's crew returned with a fanatical devotion to something they call Thoon, and are obsessed with gathering "quintessence," a substance they use to create bizarre bio-mechanical constructs and power their own unnatural abilities.
----
* CastFromHitPoints: "Shadow flayers" can draw upon their internal quintessence reserves to benefit from an improved ''{{invisibility}}'' effect, but doing so deals damage to the shadow flayer, suggesting that the breeding program that produced them hasn't been perfected yet.
* MacGuffin: Quintessence has a physical existence, appearing under a modified ''detect magic'' effect as a black, coruscating aura, which can be refined and stored in lattice-like matrices as a green, glowing fluid. It can manifest in things as varied as rare ores or plants or even in individuals, and Thoon's followers draw upon it to create new monsters or trigger their special abilities. But a sidebar explains that there's no need to track these illithids' quintessence harvesting operations, and the most important thing about quintessence is that it "proceeds at the pace of the plot," driving Thoon's followers to take an interest in an iron mine, an NPC's daughter, or the [=PCs=] themselves, as an adventure dictates.
* MagicKnight: As clerics, Thoon disciples are sturdier in combat than normal illithids, while possessing both a mind flayer's normal psionics as well as divine magic.
* {{Magitek}}: The Thoon-worshiping illithids have an array of constructs powered by quintessence, giving them a greater semblance of life than others -- they aren't quite classified as living constructs, but all Thoon constructs other than Thoon soldiers will very slowly heal damage if given time to stay inert.
* RenegadeSplinterFaction: They're such to illithids in general, who are thoroughly evil, yet rational, brain-eating monsters. The mind flayers of Thoon, in contrast, have been twisted by the Far Realm, and follow erratic "visions from Thoon" that don't demonstrate any long-term purpose. The fact that Thoon's followers are dedicated to something other than Ilsensine makes them [[TheHeretic heretics]] as well.
* RiddleForTheAges: The nature of Thoon is unclear, whether it's a philosophy, powerful outsider, or full-fledged deity. Thoon's disciples respond to any questions about it with [[MadnessMantra "Thoon is Thoon, and Thoon is all!"]]
* SneakySpySpecies: As mentioned, the shadow flayers are the product of a program to develop this. While they're sneakier than normal illithids, this has come at the cost of their psionic abilities beyond the signature ''mind blast''. The Thoon disciples aren't troubled by this, as it makes the shadow flayers easier to manipulate with magic like ''suggestion'' and ''charm person''.
* TalkativeLoon: The Thoon elder brain -- the only one that currently exists, as it was in charge of the Astral expedition that went awry -- is just as imperious and brilliant as a normal elder brain, but it occasionally broadcasts psychic gibberish, and even its cogent mental messages are slightly painful to receive and always end with an "All hail Thoon!" It can also weaponize this trait, [[StupidityInducingAttack scrambling the thoughts of nearby creatures]] as per a ''confusion'' effect, or hitting a target with an "overmind blast" that deals [[NonHealthDamage Wisdom damage]] that can leave them unconscious but muttering "Thoon... Thoon..."

!!Madcrafter of Thoon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_madcrafter_of_thoon_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Huge, slug-like creatures that consume quintessence to create other monsters.
----
* AcidAttack: Any spawn launched by a madcrafter of Thoon are accompanied by a splash of caustic birthing fluid that deals a heavy hit of acid damage, and remains as a battlefield hazard for a minute afterward.
* BrainFood: Madcrafters of Thoon only ''need'' to eat quintessence, but they still have a mind flayer's craving for brains, which send them into fits of ecstasy for several hours. Thoon elder brains and disciples thus use rewards of brains to keep madcrafters in line.
* MookMaker: Their primary purpose. In normal conditions a madcrafter of Thoon can create a stormcloud or scyther of Thoon over the course of a day, but if pressed in combat, they can quickly spit out such creations to a range of 60 feet. The catch is, a madcrafter only has enough quintessence to accelerate the birthing process twice per day -- using it a third time shuts down its HealingFactor, while each use beyond that [[CastFromHitPoints deals damage to it.]]
* WasOnceAMan: It's hard to believe, but yes, these things were once mind flayers, and still have a ''mind blast'' attack, though they can only use theirs three times per day.

!!Scyther of Thoon
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_scyther_of_thoon_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Warrior constructs that can slash foes with their weapons or sear them with their gaze, and are most dangerous in groups.
----
* DispelMagic: By [[CastFromHitPoints taking some damage]], a scyther of Thoon can make a ''dispel magic'' attempt as a touch attack. However, the constructs aren't smart enough to use this ability on all but the most obvious displays of magical defenses, so they work best with a supervisor with some ranks in Spellcraft.
* EyeBeams: They can focus their glowing eyes to replicate a ''searing light'' spell, but one that [[CombinationAttack deals more damage the more scythers of Thoon are around.]] However, once one scyther of Thoon has used this ability, the eye-lights of it and any others around it dim for the next round.
* GlowingMechanicalEyes: Scythers of Thoon have glowing eyes that grow more intense when multiple scythers are within 30 feet of each other -- one construct provides shadowy illumination in a 5-foot radius, two provide 20 feet of bright light and 40 feet of shadowy illumination, while three or more scythers of Thoon will emit 60-foot cones of bright light from their eyes, and 120 feet of shadowy illumination beyond that.
* SinisterScythe: They get their names from the alien scythes they {{dual wield|ing}}.

!!Stormcloud of Thoon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stormcloud_of_thoon_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Intelligent tentacled constructs used to hunt down both quintessence sources and the enemies of Thoon.
----
* GlowingMechanicalEyes: Theirs shed light in a 60-foot cone, with 120 feet of shadowy illumination beyond.
* ItCanThink: Unlike other Thoon constructs, stormclouds are sentient, but at Intelligence 5, they're "dullards in a community of evil geniuses" who defer to the mind flayers around them. This at least lets stormclouds direct the less intelligent soldiers and scythers of Thoon to greater effect. Amusingly, the stormclouds blame their low intelligence for their lack of understanding about Thoon's will, oblivious to the fact that the Thoon disciples and elder brain are just as in the dark as they are.
* NotQuiteFlight: Stormclouds don't fly so much as levitate. Their base land speed of 30 feet represents them floating five feet off the ground, walking on their tentacles. When they rise higher than that, they gain a perfect flight speed, but can only move 10 feet per round.
* ShockAndAwe: They can use ''lightning bolt'' at will, but [[CastFromHitPoints take damage each time they do so.]]
* SuperSenses: By burying a tentacle a few inches into the ground, a stormcloud of Thoon gains tremorsense out to 60 feet, pinpointing the location of anything in contact with the earth.

!!Thoon Hulk
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_thoon_hulk_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E), Aberrant Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (3E), 22 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (3E), Evil (4E)

Brutal amalgamations of mind flayer and metal, serving as Thoon's shock troops.
----
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Their two primary arms end in axelike blades.
* BrainFood: Averted; as constructs, thoon hulks don't need to eat brains like normal illithids. They still have an "Extract" attack, but never consume the brain they tear out, instead carrying it back to base or giving it to a mind flayer if ordered.
* DumbMuscle: They're Large masses of muscle and metal, but in 3rd Edition are certifiably mindless, and as dim as ogres in 4th. They also lack any of a normal illithid's psionic power.
* ReforgedIntoAMinion: Thoon hulks are created from mind flayers who "the Thoon elder brain found unworthy," which are vivisected, augmented with metal, and placed in a cocoonlike structure filled with quintessence.
* StanceSystem: By [[CastFromHitPoints taking some damage]], a Thoon hulk can engage a one-round attack or defensive overdrive, gaining a bonus on attack and damage rolls or saving throws, respectively.

!!Thoon Infiltrator
[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_thoon_infiltrator_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:299:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Parasites from the Far Realm, able to take over humanoid bodies and serve as covert agents for the mind flayers of Thoon.
----
* HumanShifting: Downplayed; a Thoon infiltrator can shape their facial features like clay, giving them a racial bonus on Disguise checks.
* TheInfiltration: Their primary purpose -- blend into a humanoid population, and spot sources of quintessence for their mind flayer masters. That said, the Thoon infiltrators' Chaotic natures mean they chafe at the illithids' control and are impatient with long-term planning and careful quintessence acquisition.
* NotQuiteDead: If its host body is "killed," a Thoon infiltrator merely goes dormant for a month, before waking with its full hit points (and typically using ''dimension door'' to escape its grave). It takes a high Search check to detect the faint vibration in the creature's neck tentacles to reveal that it's not quite dead.
* PuppeteerParasite: These creatures came to the mind flayers of Thoon's attention after they took over some humanoid captives in their nautiloid's prison deck. They look like a cat-sized bundle of wires that can burrow into the brain and vital organs of a host body, killing it, then the creature repairs the damage over the course of a day, after which point the body is wholly under the parasite's control. Normally the parasite is visible as a cluster of thin tentacles at the base of the host's skull, but it can hide itself by submerging beneath the stolen flesh -- while this prevents the Thoon infiltrator from using most of its abilities, it does mean nothing short of a full dissection will reveal its presence. More dangerously, a Thoon infiltrator can, once per week, extend neck tendrils into a helpless victim's mouth, and if uninterrupted for a minute, will convert that victim into a Thoon thrall.

!!Thoon Soldier
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_thoon_soldier_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Combat servitors that can use their internal quintessence supply to reconfigure their bodies during battle.
----
* StanceSystem: Their gimmick is that they can shift between different "aspects" in combat, gaining new abilities as the situation dictates. However, reconfiguring their bodies this way [[CastFromHitPoints deals minor damage]] to Thoon soldiers. They also aren't smart enough to anticipate which form is best for a foe, instead the constructs will react to what happens in a fight, for example adopting the Aspect of the Bloody Slaughter or Fiery Sun if they get surrounded, or the Aspect of the Death Blossom if their destruction seems imminent. Finally, each change is accompanied by the Thoon soldier making [[CallingYourAttacks an announcement in Undercommon]], which can clue in opponents what to expect.
** ActionBomb: With the Aspect of the Death Blossom ("Death blooms in the name of Thoon! Thoon! Thoon!"), a Thoon soldier sets itself up to explode in a highly-damaging, 40-foot-radius fireball if reduced to 0 hit points.
** DefendCommand: With the Aspect of the Impervious Tower ("Stand and fight! Thoon is Thoon!"), a Thoon soldier extrudes additional armor plates and magical wards, granting it a higher Armor Class and a bonus on saving throws.
** HitAndRunTactics: With the Aspect of the Ravening Horde ("Walk with Thoon!"), a Thoon soldier reconfigures its legs, increasing its speed and letting it use the Spring Attack feat to strike foes as it passes.
** PlayingWithFire: With the Aspect of the Fiery Sun ("All will burn for Thoon!"), a Thoon soldier ignites, dealing additional fire damage with its attacks and [[TheSpiny damaging foes who strike it in melee.]]
** SpinAttack: With the Aspect of the Bloody Slaughter ("Slaughter for Thoon!"), a Thoon soldier reconfigures its arm blades to enable it to make Whirlwind Attacks against multiple foes.

!!Thoon Thrall
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_thoon_thrall_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' As base creature +2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Slaves to the Thoon infiltrator who converted them, these unhappy creatures help undermine their communities, or are pressed into a fatal fight.
----
* AndIMustScream: After their conversion, Thoon thralls retain their identities and free will, unless a Thoon infiltrator is around to give them orders, which they must obey as if ''dominated'', with NoSavingThrow. This horrific existence means most Thoon thralls welcome their deaths in battle.
* BodyHorror: Thoon thralls are normally "dormant," appearing indistinguishable from their original selves but slaves to a Thoon infiltrator's commands. But if given an order to end their dormancy, throbbing purple veins pop out of a Thoon thrall's skin, and its muscles grow at a freakish rate so that the creature gains 40 to 50 pounds, all while its skin blisters and swells. This is a one-way transformation, as explained below.
* ExplosiveOverclocking: When a Thoon thrall ends its dormancy, it gains [[HealingFactor fast healing]] that can go beyond the thrall's normal hit point total as temporary HP. But should a Thoon thrall's temporary HP equal its starting HP, it has to start making Fortitude saves, or else it'll explode in a 10-foot-radius fireball. Worse, a Thoon infiltrator can command a Thoon thrall to fail this save.

!Undead Illithids
!!Alhoon
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alhoon_5e_5.png]]
[[caption-width-right:320:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Undead (3E, 5E), Aberrant Humanoid Undead (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 18 (3E), 10 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Mind flayers that pursue arcane magic are exiled as deviants, and for them no eternal communion with an elder brain is possible. The road to lichdom offers a way to escape the permanency of death, but that path is long and solitary. Alhoons are mind flayers that use a shortcut.
----
* AndIMustScream: When an alhoon's body is destroyed, its mind gets sucked into its ''periapt of mind trapping''. It remains there, trapped alongside the souls of its previous victims, aware of its surroundings but powerless to do anything beyond telepathically ranting and raving at anyone who picks up the periapt.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Like neothelids, they are regarded by illithids as unnatural abominations, and the process of becoming one is considered heretical, while the illithids who tend to pursue ascension are almost universally viewed with disgust and hatred by illithid society.
* AnIcePerson: In 5th edition, their basic attack is a touch spell that inflicts cold damage.
* NonHumanUndead: They're the mind flayer equivalent of liches.
* NoSell: In 5E, an alhoon cannot be harmed by nonmagical weapons.
* {{Retcon}}: In older editions, the term "illithilich" is just a synonym for an alhoon. 5th edition draws a distinction between the two: an alhoon is a lesser form of lich with weaker spellcasting abilities and no ability to regenerate its body or suck out people's brains, whereas an illithilich has all the powers and abilities of a normal lich in addition to those of a mind flayer.
* SoulJar: Much like how a regular lich uses a phylactery to house its soul, an alhoon uses a ''periapt of mind trapping'' to store its mind if its body is destroyed.

!!Vampire Illithid
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vampiric_illithid.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Undead (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (3E), 9 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Illithids who became vampires through an unknown process, which also destroyed their minds.
----
* FeralVampires: Vampiric illithids are mindless, predatory animals with no trace of their old genius -- whatever process gave them their unlife also destroyed their rationality and capacity for higher thought.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Pale grey, undead illithids who need to consume both blood and brain matter to survive. It's not known how they become vampires and they cannot produce spawn of their own, and the process of transformation leaves them feral beasts.
* TookALevelInDumbass: As stated above, the vampiric transformation scours away all rational thought from the illithid's mind, leaving behind nothing but a feral predator.

[[folder:Mindshredder]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mindshredder_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Mindshredder warrior, larva and zenthal (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (larva), 4 (warrior), 8 (zenthal) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Monsters that must drain mental energy from their prey to fuel their metamorphosis into stronger forms. Despite their names, they are not related to illithids.
----
* DeflectorShields: Mindshredder zenthals are surrounded by a faintly-glowing blue aura that provides similar benefits as the ''shield'' spell, improving their Armor Class and allowing them to NoSell ''{{magic missile|storm}}'' attacks.
* ItCanThink: By the time they reach zenthal stage, a mindshredder has above-average intelligence, is capable of speech, and knows how to direct their lesser kin, as well as use their ''[[StupidityInducingAttack confusion]]'' and ''[[MassHypnosis hypnotic pattern]]'' spell-like abilities to fullest effect.
* {{Metamorphosis}}: After draining a sufficient amount of Wisdom from their prey, mindshredders can build a chrysalis and emerge a month later in a more powerful form.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Zenthals are easily distinguished from the purely quadrupedal mindshredder warriors by their upright torsos, making them look something like aberrant centaurs.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: These creatures have a "thought sense," allowing them to detect the thoughts of other beings (with Intelligence 3 or greater), and even pinpoint their location if such a creature is invisible. The older the mindshredder, the longer the range of this ability, from 20 feet for larvae to 60 feet for zenthals.
* VampiricDraining: Mindshredders' natural weapon attacks, or simple melee touch attacks, deal [[NonHealthDamage Wisdom damage]] to victims based on the mindshredder's age category, healing the monster in the process.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Mindshredder zenthals are clever enough to set this up, by establishing a secondary outpost or two some distance from the main mindshredder colony, and ensuring that all mindshredder attacks are routed through that outpost. Should their enemies track the attacks to the "source," the outpost's defenders will fight to the death to sell the idea that it's the only mindshredder nest in the area, and it takes a very learned scholar of aberrant creatures to realize that a mindshredder outpost is only a satellite of a larger colony.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Minotaur]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_minotaur_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E), 10 (4E), 3 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E-5E\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Hulking, bull-headed humanoids with a tendency towards savagery but a good head for mazes. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mivilorn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mivilorn_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Huge predators with oversized, acidic jaws that hunt in the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium.
----
* AcidAttack: Mivilorns' pronounced jowls contain acid-producing glands, and acidic drool often drips even when their mouths are closed -- thus, their bite attacks deal additional acid damage, and a large part of a mivilorn's digestion occurs before its prey is swallowed. They can also, three times per day, spew out a 15-foot cone of acid as a BreathWeapon attack.
* CanisMajor: They're more or less extraplanar mastiffs with the size and build of elephants.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Mivilorns are prized as war mounts by some demons, though without magical assistance, there's a chance they'll try to murder inept riders or trainers.
* MonsterMouth: Their oversized mouths are eight feet wide, and their jaws can open up to seven feet apart. When mivilorns charge, they try and scoop up prey with their gaping maws -- either one Large creature, or two adjacent Medium-sized creatures at a time.
* SwallowedWhole: A variant, in that the victim doesn't immediately make it to the monster's belly. Anything that a mivilorn hits with its bite attack has to save or get caught in its jaws and jowls the next round, where it takes automatic bite and acid damage. After three rounds of chewing, the mivilorn will spit out its prey to see if it's dead; if not, it'll bite and chew it some more. But if a trapped creature manages to deal enough damage to the inside of a mivilorn's mouth, it'll spit the morsel out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mockery Bug]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mockery_drone_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Mockery drone (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (mockery drone), 14 (mockery monarch) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Rarely, an ankheg egg produces an insectoid monster with a silvery carapace and dangerous intelligence, which quickly leaves the nest to strike out on its own. These mockery monarchs are able to spawn copies of humanoids they consume, and send such mockery drones to lure more victims to their lairs.
----
* AcidAttack: Like true ankhegs, mockery monarchs deal acid damage with their bite attacks, while mockery drones can spit a long line of acid every six hours.
* ArtificialAtmosphericActions: Mockery drones are born with incoherent fragments of memories from their previous lives, and have just enough intelligence to try to mimic normal behavior, but not enough to do so well. As a result, they're prone to behavior like tilling the same patch of earth over and over, carrying empty buckets to and from the town well, or chopping a piece of firewood to splinters.
* AttackReflector: Mockery monarchs' silvery carapaces can reflect hostile magic as per ''spell turning''.
* BeastWithAHumanFace: In their true forms, mockery drones look like 5-foot-long, spined centipedes that retain the faces of the people they were imitating.
* ChestBurster: Mockery drones are spawned looking identical to the people they replaced, but when pressed into combat, [[YourHeadAsplode their heads explode]] as their centipede-like true forms burst out of their humanoid shells to the attack. Once a drone sheds its false identity, there's no going back, and it spends the rest of its confused existence as a human-faced monster.
* EatBrainForMemories: Mockery monarchs learn the languages of the creatures they eat, but are incapable of normal or telepathic speech.
* ReplicantSnatching: Mockery monarchs are incapable of reproducing normally, and are instead instinctively driven to spawn as many mockery drones as possible. They can be dangerously clever when employing their minions to lure in fresh victims, like having their drones attack livestock in a way that suggests normal ankhegs are behind it, or leaving signs that a missing child entered their lair. But in most cases, their drones can bring in victims simply by wandering around and acting oddly until someone takes an interest - especially family of those replaced by the drones - then leading them to their monarch.
* TheSpiny: The spines covering a mockery drone deal piercing damage to opponents that grapple or attack them with non-reach melee weapons.
* SwallowedWhole: Anything bitten and grappled by a mockery monarch is in danger of being swallowed whole, taking regular acid and bludgeoning damage until their hit points reach zero, at which point the monarch can spawn a fresh mockery drone that looks like the victim.
* WelcomeToCorneria: Mockery drones only remember a few words from their previous lives, and will repeat phrases like "Midnight and all's well!" or "Here's your change!" as they struggle to act normally. [[MadnessMantra They keep this up even when they burst out of their human shells and attack.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Modron]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_modrons_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Pentadrone and monodrone (5e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Immortal Animate (4E), Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (monodrone) to 19 (secundus) (3E); 8 (4E); 1/8 (monodrone), 1/4 (doudrone), 1/2 (tridrone), 1 (quadrone), 2 (pentadrone) (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E (rogue modron)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral, Unaligned (4E)

Clockwork creatures from the plane of Mechanus, modrons are living personifications of law and order. They follow a rigid hierarchical society where every modron interacts only with others of its own rank and with its immediate inferiors or superiors: anything further away is beyond their comprehension.
----
* AirborneMook: Quadrones are the only winged variant of base modrons, and often combine this with their proficiency with bows to serve as aerial ranged support for modron forces.
* BizarreAlienReproduction: Modrons have figured out how to "pool" their race's life force in their capital of Regulus, and whenever one modron dies, its life force returns to this pool. Then the nearest modron of the next lowest rank transforms to replace its lost superior, which creates a gap in the caste below that is instantly filled, and so on all the way down to the monodrone level, at which point a monodrone draws life energy from that central pool to reproduce via fission.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Even modrons' understanding of order can be incomprehensible to other races. For instance, a modron librarian may decide to arrange one book collection alphabetically by title, another by subject, and a third based on which page of a book its last diagram appears. "All three of these approaches might somehow be vital to maintaining the overall order, as defined by the modrons. Order, after all, does not necessarily need to be understandable."
* EternalRecurrence: Every 289 years, when the gears of Mechanus complete seventeen cycles, Primus sends thousands of modrons to survey the Outer Planes of the Great Wheel. Given the extreme dangers involved, only a few survive this Great Modron March to return to Mechanus, and the event ironically causes a great deal of chaos across the planes.
* FantasticCasteSystem: Modrons live in a complex and perfectly ordered hierarchy, where each caste performs a specific task, possess precisely the level of complexity needed for its purpose, and is only able to communicate with the castes immediately above and below it. A pentadrone told to guard a hexton will obey its orders without any understanding of the hexton's role in the modron hierarchy, while a duodrone assigned to maintain a secundus' residence will do so without knowing who built the structure or why.
* InternalAffairs: Septons, appearing as humanoids with large, bald heads, are tasked with inspecting other modrons and ensuring that the regulations are being followed.
* LawfulStupid: As personifications of Law without Good or Evil, modrons are essentially magic computers with zero individuality, imagination, or ability to comprehend anything except basic logic or disobey any order given them. It's mentioned that a modron who is marked with paint by someone hoping to [[DittoAliens distinguish it from other modrons]] will probably carry such a marking for the rest of its life, as even if the modron notices the paint, it won't remove the marking unless given an express order to do so by its superiors.
* LegacyCharacter: Primus, despite possessing the power of a lesser deity, ''can'' be killed, but in such instances, the nearest secundus is promoted to fill the position. That said, this process can create enough turmoil that outisde observers mistake it for a modron civil war, until the new Primus restores order.
* LivingPolyhedron: The more powerful and important the modron, the more sides they have. So monodrones are spheres, duodrones cubes, tridones tetrahedrons, and so on until the upper ranks, from septon on, look increasingly humanoid.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Each modron can only comprehend the castes above and below it, which means that a newly-promoted modron is immediately surprised to learn that its supposed superiors in turn have superiors, and the only modrons aware of the all-powerful Primus are its four secundi servants.
* MookLieutenant: Duodrones are assigned with supervising and directing groups of monodrones, and in war will lead squads of precisely twelve monodrones into battle. The human-looking, six-armed hextons have a similar role, only they lead the 36 modron armies.
* MookMedic: Decatons, looking something like tentacled spheres on stumpy legs, are charged with physically maintaining other modrons, and can use magic like ''heal'' and ''healing circle'' at will.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: Modrons and their equipment disintegrate when they're slain.
* NotSoStoic: In ''Planescape'', the lore states that Orcus slew Primus, the one and prime, and caused the greatest upheaval the modrons had ever faced. In 3e, Primus can be summoned by the Binder class as a vestige. ''He weeps''.
* PainfulTransformation: While the physical changes accompanying a promotion to a higher rank of modron are jarring enough, more distressing is the expanded awareness that accompanies it. "Imagine the shock of a duodrone, which previously knew only of monodrones, duodrones, and tridrones, when it undergoes a promotion to tridrone. Suddenly, it discovers that some of those inexplicable creatures around it are quadrones -- members of its own race and its new superiors!" Downplayed in that despite this shock, modrons seem to adapt almost instantly to their new form and role in the hierarchy.
* ThePoliticalOfficer: The cylindrical nonatons are explicitly compared to commissars, and are tasked with monitoring the loyalty of the decatons beneath them, and investigating rogue modrons.
* RogueDrone: It is ''extremely'' rare, but it is possible for modrons to suddenly stop acccepting their superiors' orders, especially if they spend a lot of time alone. In some cases the new rogue modron is content to leave Mechanus and explore their new individuality, but other times, a rogue modron tries to build their own power base. Since normal modrons will follow the orders of even a rogue superior, rogue modrons are treated as serious threats by the hierarchs, who expend considerable resources hunting them down, bringing them to trial, and destroying them.
* StarfishRobots: Modrons are fantastical robotic constructs who are so utterly devoted to the concept of cosmic Order that they're often fairly difficult for mortals to communicate with -- modrons are utterly devoted to their assigned tasks, almost entirely unimaginative, and literally incapable of thinking in terms of good and evil. None of them are humanoid except for Primus himself and his immediate underlings; common modrons resemble living geometric solids, while their immediate superiors have shapes reminiscent of unusual sea animals.
* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: The Modron Cathedral in the heart of Regulus contains a great whirring, clicking Orrery of infinite detail and great complexity. Those who manage to study it for an hour and succeed at a high Knowledge check can realize that it's actually a model of the planes that can be used as a scrying tool, but the obstacles to that are the modron guards that kill non-modrons on sight, as well as the fact that those who fail their checks by five points or more are hit with a ''confusion'' effect. Primus and the secundi also know the secret of how to use the Orrery as a teleportation device.

!!Gear Spirit
[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_gear_spirit_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:301:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

Intelligent creatures of living metal who serve the modrons by keeping Mechanus' gears turning.
----
* AchillesHeel: Though resistant to several kinds of energy and immune to many status or mind-affecting effects, gear spirits rust at twice the rate of normal metal. "There is no more horrifying fate for gear spirits than being shackled in a dank, wet cell and doomed to death by oxidization -- except, perhaps, confronting a rust dragon."
* HauntedTechnology: Gear spirits can ''meld with metal'', taking control of and animating a device (within the limits of its functionality, so it could make a ballista fire itself but not cause a lamppost to attack).
* IJustWantToBeFree: Despite their Lawful natures, and as much as they love their home gears of Mechanus, gear spirits quietly resent serving the less individualistic modrons, and some slip away from their duties or feel the irresistable urge to go on a walkabout. In such cases, the modrons will do their best to keep an abandoned gear turning, while tracking down and retrieving the wayward gear spirit (because a replacement can't be made until the old one is brought back).
* MooksAteMyEquipment: Their attacks reduce the protective value of their opponent's armor with every hit, until the armor is completely ruined.
* NatureSpirit: Of a sort; gear spirits are bound to the gears of Mechanus in the same way that dryads are bound to trees. They'll even sicken and die if kept away from metal for too long.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: They can take the appearance of any small mechanical tool or device.

!!Moigno
[[quoteright:262:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_moigno_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:262:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

Living mathematical equations that roam Mechanus, begrudgingly doing calculations on behalf of the modrons.
----
* BodyHorror: Moignos attack by "invading" other creatures and producing a paradox within their internal systems, "shorting out" their body to damage it.
* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: The moignos were born relatively recently by planar standards, less than a mere millennium ago, when a brilliant mathematician named Moigno collapsed in a babbling heap after conceptualizing multidimensional, functional mathematics -- this idea found refuge in Mechanus and assembled the parameters to enter the three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional body.
* GeniusDitz: When it comes to mathematics, moignos' have veritably god-like Intelligence scores, but in all other regards they're little smarter than ogres, simply because they don't fully understand the three-dimensional universe they inhabit.
* GoodWithNumbers: Moignos are living calculators/calculations, and will crunch the numbers concerning "gear rotation rates, interaction intervals, acceleration and deceleration frequencies, and the like," or in other words the nitty-gritty details vital to making Mechanus run smoothly.
* MouthfulOfPi: They are ''obsessed'' with working out the exact value of pi, and spend every moment of their existence devoting their primary processing power to this tak -- all the math work they do for the modrons are performed by moignos' subroutines. In fact, the original moignos nearly took over Mechanus before the modrons introduced the concept of pi to them, giving the moignos something new to focus on.
* NoSell: As living equations, moignos can't be damaged by physical means, and will nigh-instantly repair themselves from other damage. The exceptions are mental attacks that disrupt thought processes, which slow moignos' movement and prevent repair, and more significantly the psychokinetic devotion ''molecular manipulation'', which causes nearby moignos to vanish for a few turns.
* PaperPeople: Moignos look like two-dimensional strings of equations that teleport around Mechanus.
* RebusBubble: They communicate via strings of mathematical symbols, which modrons and the like can understand intuitively. [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead Mental contact with moignos is not advised,]] the last to try couldn't handle the images he received and spent two weeks in shock.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mongrelfolk]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mongrelfolk_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classificaction:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/3 (3E), 1/4 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E-3E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral (2E, 3E), Any (5E)

Humanoids that bear the physical marks of generations of crossbreeding, such as mismatched limbs and uneven features.
----
* ArtEvolution: How deformed they are varies by edition, with earlier art depicting "Mongrelmen" with occasional animal limbs and features that were part-reptile, part-mammal, before 3rd Edition toned them down into merely ugly goblin-like creatures, only for 5th Edition to swing the other way.
* DarkIsNotEvil: No matter how ugly they look, mongrelfolk aren't evil, and at worst will resort to petty thievery to survive. Generally they try to get along with their neighbors, no matter how abusive, either by passing for a friendly race or just staying out of sight.
* {{Determinator}}: Mongrelfolk will do ''anything'' to survive. Survival is the overriding goal of their kind; they give members of their kind the title "The Survivor" the way other races would term someone "The Great".
* FantasticRacism: They're often driven out of even good and lawful communities, while evil societies will enslave mongrelfolk, or even hunt them for sport. Mongrelfolk themselves avoid this, and consider themselves kin to every race, even if they don't quite belong to any of them.
* TheGrotesque: Mongrelfolk tend to display the worst features of their various ancestors, such as oversized ears, sloped foreheads, flat noses, crooked and rotten teeth, etc. Despite this, they're generally inoffensive creatures.
* HeinzHybrid: They're the inevitable conclusion of a setting with dozens of humanoid races capable of interbreeding. On the upside, this means a mongrelfolk can use a magic item intended for a particular race without difficulty, and in some editions they inherit perks like an elf's immunity to magical ''sleep'' effects, or a diminished version of a dwarf's resistance to poison.
* PassFail: 3rd Edition's ''Races of Destiny'' sourcebook introduced an interesting spin on mongrelfolk, namely that the hideous mismatched examples of their kind are rare individuals that are used as a ''distraction'' by the rest of the mongrelfolk, and honored for their sacrifice. Ordinary mongrelfolk instead blend the features of their various parent races more subtly, to the extent that observers tend to interpret them as people close to, but not quite, their own race. So a dwarf might see a mongrelfolk as an unusually broad-shouldered elf, an elf might see a tall and slender dwarf, a human would see a strangely attractive orc, and so forth.
* VoiceChangeling: Mongrelfolk can mimic any voice or sound they've heard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Moon Dog]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_moon_dog_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Canine celestials from the Blessed Fields of Elysium, who travel the Upper Planes and Material Plane to confront evil.
----
* ArtEvolution: Their ''AD&D'' art is closer to a hybrid wolf-human, with hairless human hands on their forelegs and uncanny faces that are both canine and humanoid. 3rd Edition makes them much more wolf-looking, other than their hand-like front paws.
* AsianLionDogs: They lean much more heavily on the "dog" part of the trope, but otherwise follow it, being noble, heavenly creatures that can ruin evil's day.
* AstralProjection: They can use the spell at will, but only affecting themselves.
* CastingAShadow: Moon dogs can move shadows around themselves, creating a pattern that acts as a ''[[MassHypnosis hypnotic pattern]]'' to all neraby evil creatures, while granting good creatures a ''protection from evil'' and ''remove fear'' effect.
* DispelMagic: Moon dogs' barks act as a ''dispel evil'' effect, while their whines automatically dispel illusions within 50 feet.
* FeatherFingers: Their front paws are very hand-like, and have a limited capacity for fine manipulation.
* FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter: Moon dogs can stand up on their hind legs to use their front paws to grasp things, but move at half speed while doing so.
* GoodCounterpart: They're considered such to yeth hounds, being canids with human features and supernatural powers, only dedicated to good.
* {{Intangibility}}: They can use ''etheral jaunt'' at will.
* IntimateHealing: By licking a wound, moon dogs can ''cure light wounds'', ''remove disease'' and/or ''slow poison'', each once per day per person.
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Moon dogs can use a variant of ''speak with animals'' to converse with dogs, wolves and other mundane canines.
* SuperSenses: Moon dogs have low-light vision, darkvision, can [[TheNoseKnows track creatures by scent,]] are constantly under both ''arcane'' and ''blessed sight'', and can ''[[SeeTheInvisible see invisibility]]'' at will.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: A moon dog's baying acts as a ''fear'' spell that only affects evil creatures.
* SuperScream: Their howling simultaneously causes the ''fear'' effect of their baying, deals a bit of damage to evil creatures each round the moon hound continues, and targets any nearby fiends with a ''dismissal'' spell.
* {{Telepathy}}: Like many outsiders, they're telepathic out to 50 feet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Moon Horse]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_moon_horse_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood

Properly ''teu'kelytha'', these intelligent and magical equines are unique to elven lands, roaming freely or voluntarily serving as steeds.
----
* ImmortalProcreationClause: Moon horses are quite long-lived, often reaching their second century, but have correspondingly lower fertility rates than normal horses. Thus, a new birth is a momentous event celebrated by moon horses and elves alike.
* MageSpecies: Each moon horse can innately cast a single spell each day, ranging from ''magic missile'' to ''sleep'' to ''knock'' or even ''summon swarm.''
* NoSell: They're completely immune to the special attacks of undead creatures such as level drain, paralysis or poison effects, though physical attacks and spells affect them normally.
* SapientSteed: They have above average intelligence, and are fully capable of understanding Elvish, though they cannot speak and thus must respond non-verbally.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Moonbeast]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_moonbeast_fix_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 16 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Nocturnal horrors that are normally content to dream in their lairs, but will at some point emerge to slay whoever has possession of a certain gemstone.
----
* ArtifactOfAttraction: Each moonbeast is bound to a specific pearl-like gem called a moonstone, which are sometimes worked into expensive jewelry or magic items. Anyone who takes ownership of a moonstone for several weeks has to succeed at a Will save or become obessed with it, unwilling to relinquish it for any reason.
* ArtifactOfDeath: Unfortunately for the moonstone's owner, at some point the moonbeast bound to it will awaken and begin steadily tracking the item down to try and kill the owner. Weirdly enough, moonbeasts quickly lose interest in their moonstones after recovering them, and more often than not abandon the things as they return to their lairs, thus allowing others to take possession of the gems and begin the cycle anew.
* CombatTentacles: They are in fact mostly tentacles, drag themselves forward by them, and can make ten tentacle rake attacks each round, potentially [[TentacleRope grappling and constricting]] foes they hit.
* EldritchAbomination: Moonbeasts are squishy, slimy cylinders of flesh 20 to 30 feet high, with rings of barbed tentacles encircling either end of their trunks, and a set of [[EyeOnAStalk eyestalks]] on each end of their bodies as well. Despite their size, they're capable of squeezing through a five-foot square, and they leave a trail of glistening slime behind them. Nobody knows where moonbeasts come from, only that they obviously have no part in the natural world.
* InvisibleMonsters: They can cast ''improved invisibility'' at will, and thus it's easier to detect a moonbeast by its horrid smell and the noises it makes while attacking.
* ShockAndAwe: Among their other offensive magic, moonbeasts can cast ''lightning bolt'' at will and ''{{chain lightning}}'' once per day.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mooncalf]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mooncalf_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E, 4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (3E), Evil (4E)

Winged, tentacled monsters sometimes encountered on mountains and hilltops, and rumored to fly down to earth from the dark side of the moon.
----
* CombatTentacles: A mooncalf has six short tentacles that it uses for close combat and two long tentacles that it uses to attack at a distance.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Examination of dead mooncalves reveals that their bodies are essentially alchemical laboratories, capable of distilling and dissolving nearly any substance. In effect, mooncalves can digest nearly anything that they eat.
* NonIndicativeName: "Mooncalf" certainly doesn't bring to mind the image of a winged, tentacled monstrosity that can eat literally anything.
* StarfishAliens: Mooncalves are giant flying cephalopod-like creatures, spawned by alien gods that exist in the void between worlds.
* WindsOfDestinyChange: Moonlords can tap into their moongod heritage, creating an aura centred around them that brings bad luck to other creatures.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Moonrat]]
[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_moonrat_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:330:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/4 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Always Evil

Normal-looking rodents whose intelligence and strength are enhanced by moonlight, allowing them to set into motion sinister plots.
----
* TheChessmaster: When their intelligence is maximized by a full moon, moonrats are capable of schemes so subtle and intricate that by the time other creatures realize what's happening, it's too late to stop it.
* {{Lunacy}}: Moonrats' base Strength and Intelligence are a paltry 2, but in moonlight they are enhanced, by +1 point in the light of a crescent moon, to +8 during a full moon, with additional negative modifiers for fog or cloud cover. Moonlight gives these creatures the ability to converse with each other, remember events of months past, operate complex devices, and formulate plans that will require multiple full moons to complete.
* SwarmOfRats: Moonrats don't just attack ''en masse'', hitting harder than ordinary rats, [[ItCanThink they can also be as intelligent as an average human.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Moorbounder]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moorbounder.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''\\
'''Classification:''' Beast (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (moorbounder), 3 (bristled moorbounder) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Predatory marshland beasts, moorbounders are occasionally captured and tamed for use as mounts.
----
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Moorbounders are prized mounts for those willing to capture and train them.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: Take a panther. Give it the tusks of a warthog and the eyes of a frog. Optionally cover it with razor-sharp bristles five feet in length. You now have a moorbounder.
* TheSpiny: The bristled moorbounder is named for the blade-like bristles covering its body, which it can not only use to attack, but also deal damage to any creature foolish enough to try and grapple it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Morkoth]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_morkoth_5e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E), 11 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Cruel and devious sea monsters who use hypnosis to lure victims into their maze-like lairs to be devoured.
----
* ArtEvolution: Morkoths began in 1st Edition roughly humanoid generic sea creatures, with four tentacles arranged like legs and arms, a central torso, and a squid-like head with a prominent beak. 2nd Edition redesigned them fairly drastically to resemble gracile, weedy fishlike creatures with toothy jaws, four slender arthropod legs, and bodies ending in octopus-like tentacles on which the creature moved. 3rd modified the second design to be much bulkier and more intimidating, generally making all parts of it larger and more imposing and presenting the morkoth as a more active and dangerous hunter. 5th Edition revisits the original look, but again makes it much more frightening and imposing than the original, with multiple tentacles, a serrated beak and a "shell" made of trophies from past kills. All this to say, even in-universe sources can't agree on what the monsters look like, just that they're some combination of fish, crab and squid.
* AttackReflector: If a morkoth successfully saves against a spell, or if a spell attack misses it, the monster can cause the magic to rebound against its attacker.
* CollectorOfTheStrange: With their current lore, morkoths obessively hoard everything from treasure to obscure lore to prisoners, and since their lairs can travel from plane to plane, their collections can be eclectic indeed.
-->'''Volo:''' Collectors of everything odd, unusual and valuable - hopefully not including you.
* {{Greed}}: 5th Edition morkoths are motivated by both a yearning for conflict and a greedy desire for anything they don't possess. As such, they won't willingly part with anything from their hoards, and those in their lairs have a chance of discovering that one of their possessions has spontaneously vanished to appear in the morkoth's hoard.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Morkoths resembls fish with cephalopod tentacles and arthropod-like legs.
* PocketDimension: While each morkoth's domain appears as a tropical island - if an unnerving dreamlike place shrouded in perpetual twilight - the entire area is essentially its own demiplane, able to travel to other planes and locations at random or in a sequence. Rarely, a morkoth gains the ability to control the movements of its island.
* PsychicPowers: Morkoths are natural hypnotists, and shape the tunnels of their lairs to amplify their powers in order to lure and befuddle prey.
* {{Retcon}}: 5th Edition greatly expanded their backstory, turning morkoths from mere sea monsters to the byproduct of a dead god inhabiting roving extraplanar islands. Originally ambivalent about treasure and prone to eating any captives, morkoths became greedy hoarders who considered prisoners part of their possessions.
* TookALevelInBadass: Past morkoths had purely physical attacks, with their only supernatural abilities being their spell reflection and hypnotic tunnels. But in 5th Edition, morkoths are full-fledged spellcasters equivalent to an 11th-level mage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mortai]]
[[quoteright:287:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mortai_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:287:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood or NeutralGood

Immense, cloud-like beings who drift through the skies above the Wilderness of the Beastlands.
----
* AttackItsWeakPoint: While their cloudy forms are quite difficult to harm, mortai do have glowing radiant cores that are vulnerable to physical damage (from sufficiently enchanted weapons). "'Course, finding a sphere 10 feet across in a cloud encompassing a couple of cubic miles wouldn't be an easy feat, especially if the mortai were throwing lightning at the bashers trying to find the needle in the haystack."
* {{Cumulonemesis}}: A rare Good example. In their "natural" forms, mortai resemble nothing other than miles-wide clouds.
* GeniusLoci: One theory about the mortai is that they're manifestations of the Beastland's planar life force.
* KarmicTrickster: Mortai are usually content to drift and observe, but if they spy a creature below that seems to be taking itself too seriously, mortai might prank them by repeatedly knocking their hat off with strategic gusts of wind, or send a PersonalRaincloud to follow them around.
* MindHive: Another theory about mortai's origins is that they're congregations of lesser wind spirits, one seemingly supported by accounts that those conversing with mortai have heard laughter and voices within the creature's cloudy form.
* NoSell: Physical attacks just don't do anything to a mortai's cloudy body.
* {{Seers}}: They can cast ''legend lore'', and if approached respectfully might share their wisdom or information with mortals. Though mortai are also known to conceal their advice in riddles or half-answers, if they think [[FigureItOutYourself the supplicant would be better served discovering the answer themself.]]
* ShockAndAwe: When roused to anger, mortai can throw lightning bolts at will, while crackling and glowing like a thunderhead in a storm.
* SkyFace: Mortai can assume this form when interacting with lesser creatures, so that "great faces of wisdom and beauty" appear in their clouds.
* WeatherManipulation: They know magic like ''control weather'', ''gust of wind'', ''ice storm'', ''wind wall'', and so on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mu Spore]]
[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mu_spore_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:305:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 21 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

60-foot-tall ambulatory fungi that wander in dark places, attacking and consuming everything they encounter.
----
* BreathWeapon: They can "cough" out a cloud of spores in a huge cone, which burrow into other creatures, dealing heavy nonspecified damage.
* CombatTentacles: Mu spores have tendrils they can use to attack and grab opponents.
* FungusHumongous: They look something like walking toadstools the size of redwood trees.
* StickySituation: Beyond its combat tentacles, a mu spore is also covered with sticky tendrils dangling over its body, which can yank weapons out of attackers' hands, or restrain those that attack the monster with their natural weapons.
* SwallowedWhole: Their "heads" are mostly a wide, toothy maw they can use to swallow opponents they grab with their tentacles or hit with their bite attack.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mudman]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mudman_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:2e]]
->'''Classification:''' Elemental Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Mindless, man-shaped masses of muck that arise where enchanted waters have evaporated.
----
* DishingOutDirt: Mudmen attack by hurling muck at their opponents, slowing their movement with each hit as the mud hardens on impact. If the victim's movement reaches 0, [[SinisterSuffocation they begin to suffocate from the mud covering their mouth and nose.]]
* MagicEater: They feed upon the residual dweomer left on the bottom of the pools they inhabit.
* SuicideAttack: If an opponent comes within 10 feet of a mudman, it will literally hurl itself at its opponent, destroying the mudman but greatly slowing its victim's movement.
* SwampMonster: They're {{Muck Monster}}s composed of swamp mud.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mujina]]
[[quoteright:295:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mujina_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:295:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}''\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Faceless beings who disguise themselves as normal humans to engage in theft and murder.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The "best" mujina merely rob and terrify humans, the rest infiltrate human society by posing as servants or hirelings, waiting for the right moment to go on a killing spree. They have no society of their own, leading some to speculate that mujina were put on Mystara to "trim" the human population.
* BlackSpeech: They have their own racial language, "which consists of a series of oddly pitched hollow moans and howls -- quite unpleasant to the ears of normal humans, demihumans, and humanoids."
* TheBlank: Mujina's key feature is their lack of facial features.
* DittoAliens: They're noted to be "physically and emotionally identical to all others of their kind of the same gender." This leads mujina to have FantasticRacism towards more individualistic species, ''especially'' humans, as the most diverse race.
* LieToTheBeholder: They can magically disguise themselves with whatever face they wish, until the effect is [[DispelMagic dispelled]] or the mujina decides to [[GameFace drop it when they attack.]] They thus have a habit of hiding or destroying magic items like ''gems of true seeing'' or ''medallions of ESP'' that might blow their cover.
* OneHandedZweihander: Mujina are freakishly strong, allowing them to not just wield anything short of a lance or polearm one-handed, but DualWield them as well.
* SadlyMythtaken: The ''mujina'' of Myth/JapaneseMythology is actually a ShapeshiftingTrickster badger often confused with the {{tanuki}}, while the ''noppera-bō'' or "faceless ghost" is an entirely different {{youkai}}. But Lafcadio Hearn's story about faceless ghosts in ''Kwaidan'' was titled "Mujina" because it invovled shapeshifting badgers disguising themselves as faceless ghosts, so here we are.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Any creature with 5 or fewer Hit Dice who sees a mujina's blank face has to run away in fear for a few rounds, with NoSavingThrow.
* WasOnceAMan: Mujina don't reproduce normally, leading some Mystaran sages to speculate that an Immortal is making them from followers who never stood out from the crowd, cursing them to be literally faceless. Others wonder about a connection to {{doppelganger}}s.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Murder Comet]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_murder_comet_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Elemental (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Stone heads wreathed in flame that scream through Wildspace, smashing any ships they come across.
----
* AntiStructure: They have the "Siege Monster" trait, letting them deal double damage to structures and objects like starships.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: When slain, murder comets explode in a 20-foot-radius ball of fire.
* ElementalEmbodiment: Murder comets are created when an evil spellcaster combines the essences of earth and fire elementals into a single destructive creature.
* FlyingFace: They're shaped like such, flying through space. A spellcaster who chooses to bind their spirit to a murder comet will cause it to take on their own likeness.
* PlayingWithFire: Murder comets are wreathed in flame, dealing extra fire damage to whatever they slam into, and they can also spit fire as a ranged attack.
* SuperSpeed: They have an incredible 120-foot fly speed, moving so fast they don't provoke attacks of opportunity as they blaze past opponents, which makes them perfectly suited for HitAndRunTactics.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Myconid]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_myconids_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E, 5E), Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (junior worker) to 7 (sovereign) (3E); 3 (guard) to 4 (sovereign); 0 (scout), 1/2 (adult), 2 (sovereign) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral, Unaligned (4E)

Also known as "fungus ones," these intelligent, mobile mushroom folk are distrustful of outsiders, but generally shy and nonviolent, making them a rarity among the Underdark's inhabitants.
----
* AnimateDead: One type of myconid spore infests corpses, causing them to rise as mindless servants. They do whatever work there aren't enough myconids to carry out.
* LargeAndInCharge: Myconids grow over the course of their lives, but the sovereign is always the tallest myconid (eleven feet). If it dies, another myconid will grow to eleven feet tall and take over.
* MushroomMan: Myconids are intelligent, ambulatory fungi that live in the Underdark.
* MushroomSamba: Pun aside, myconids structure their days into three parts: eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, and eight hours of a mind-melding hallucinatory state caused by their spores.
* {{Telepathy}}: One type of spore myconids can emit allows for telepathic communication, both between themselves and with outsiders.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Maenad]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_maenad_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

A psionic race that hides their extreme emotions beneath apparent reserve.

* TheBerserker: Once per day, a maenad can subjugate their mentality to boost their physical strength, gaining bonuses to Strength but penalties to Intelligence and Wisdom for a few rounds.
* CallAPegasusAHippogriff: The maenads of Myth/ClassicalMythology were frenzied, all-female followers of Bacchus/Dionysus, or in other words what ''D&D'' labeled "bacchae" for a separate creature entry. These maenads have little in common with their source myth other than extreme emotions.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: Maenads' pale skin is flecked with living crystal, which sparkles like gem dust; coincidentally, they're known for having almost elven grace and beauty.
* NotSoStoic: Maenads have developed strict self-control to contain their race's innate emotional turmoil, a "spiritual anger" the legend says is the result of a terrible wrong by a higher power in the maenad's past, or even the remnant of the maenads' bestial ancestry. So maenads seem calm and taciturn, but on the rare occasions they lost control, those repressed emotions burst free in acts of stunning bravery or violence.
* PsychicPowers: All maenads are natural psionicists, perhaps owing to the mental self-discipline required to keep their emotions under control.
* SuperScream: They can vent their emotional turmoil with a sonic ''energy ray'' once per day.

** In a way, they are these themselves, albeit a higher caste of one. They spend their entire lives under the influence of the Elder Brains. Any Mind Flayer that the Elder Brains can't control is made outcast and hunted down. And the Elder Brains are themselves made of the memories of the minds of the Mind Flayers they brainwashed.

[[folder:Morkoth]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_morkoth_5e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E), 11 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Cruel and devious sea monsters who use hypnosis to lure victims into their maze-like lairs to be devoured.

* ArtEvolution: Morkoths began in 1st Edition roughly humanoid generic sea creatures, with four tentacles arranged like legs and arms, a central torso, and a squid-like head with a prominent beak. 2nd Edition redesigned them fairly drastically to resemble gracile, weedy fishlike creatures with toothy jaws, four slender arthropod legs, and bodies ending in octopus-like tentacles on which the creature moved. 3rd modified the second design to be much bulkier and more intimidating, generally making all parts of it larger and more imposing and presenting the morkoth as a more active and dangerous hunter. 5th Edition revisits the original look, but again makes it much more frightening and imposing than the original, with multiple tentacles, a serrated beak and a "shell" made of trophies from past kills. All this to say, even in-universe sources can't agree on what the monsters look like, just that they're some combination of fish, crab and squid.
* AttackReflector: If a morkoth successfully saves against a spell, or if a spell attack misses it, the monster can cause the magic to rebound against its attacker.
* CollectorOfTheStrange: With their current lore, morkoths obessively hoard everything from treasure to obscure lore to prisoners, and since their lairs can travel from plane to plane, their collections can be eclectic indeed.
-->'''Volo:''' Collectors of everything odd, unusual and valuable - hopefully not including you.
* {{Greed}}: 5th Edition morkoths are motivated by both a yearning for conflict and a greedy desire for anything they don't possess. As such, they won't willingly part with anything from their hoards, and those in their lairs have a chance of discovering that one of their possessions has spontaneously vanished to appear in the morkoth's hoard.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Morkoths resembls fish with cephalopod tentacles and arthropod-like legs.
* PocketDimension: While each morkoth's domain appears as a tropical island - if an unnerving dreamlike place shrouded in perpetual twilight - the entire area is essentially its own demiplane, able to travel to other planes and locations at random or in a sequence. Rarely, a morkoth gains the ability to control the movements of its island.
* PsychicPowers: Morkoths are natural hypnotists, and shape the tunnels of their lairs to amplify their powers in order to lure and befuddle prey.
* {{Retcon}}: 5th Edition greatly expanded their backstory, turning morkoths from mere sea monsters to the byproduct of a dead god inhabiting roving extraplanar islands. Originally ambivalent about treasure and prone to eating any captives, morkoths became greedy hoarders who considered prisoners part of their possessions.
* TookALevelInBadass: Past morkoths had purely physical attacks, with their only supernatural abilities being their spell reflection and hypnotic tunnels. But in 5th Edition, morkoths are full-fledged spellcasters equivalent to an 11th-level mage.

[[folder:Mortai]]
[[quoteright:287:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mortai_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:287:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood or NeutralGood

Immense, cloud-like beings who drift through the skies above the Wilderness of the Beastlands.

[[folder:Mantari]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mantari_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Flying rays that inhabit caves and dungeons, usually feeding on vermin, but they're likely to attack larger creatures.

* AttackAnimal: Young mantari can be trained by those looking for a guard animal or pest controller.
* BewareMyStingerTail: Their mouths are used only for eating, so mantari attack by hovering over foes, jabbing with their tails while keeping the rest of their bodies out of reach.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Mantari have an innate, magical flight ability, so their "wings" are mainly used to maneuver.
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: When lying on the dungeon or cave floor, a mantari might be mistaken for a puddle of brackish water.
* PoisonousPerson: Their tails carry a poison that [[NonHealthDamage damages the victim's Strength and Dexterity]], while mantari themselves are mildly poisonous -- anyone who consumes their flesh has to save or be incapacitated with nausea.
* SinisterStingrays: Mantari are flying monsters that bear a strong resemblance to manta rays (leading to speculation about their relation to cloakers and trappers), and are aggressive enough to go after adventurers. Most mantari are only about four feet across, but there are rumors of "greater" mantari in the depths of the Underdark with 10-foot wingspans.

* DittoAliens: They're noted to be "physically and emotionally identical to all others of their kind of the same gender," and have FantasticRacism towards more individualistic species -- ''especially'' humans, as the most diverse race.

* WasOnceAMan: Mujina don't reproduce normally, leading some Mystaran sages to speculate that some Immortal is making them from followers who never stood out from the crowd, cursing them to be literally faceless. Others wonder about a connection to {{doppelganger}}s.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_tzakandi_3e.png]]

->'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

->'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

->'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_moonbeast_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:3e]]

->'''Classification:''' Elemental (5E)\\

A creature entry's listed '''Challenge Rating''' may be for "baseline" examples of the monster, rather than listing every advanced variant presented in ''Monster Manual''s. Also remember that 3rd and 5th Edition use a 1-20 scale for "standard" Challenge Ratings, while 4th Edition uses 1-30. Not all '''Playable''' creatures are created equal, especially in 3rd Edition, in which MonsterAdventurers can have significant Level Adjustments for the sake of party balance. A creature's listed '''Alignment''' is typical for the race as a whole, not an absolute for every individual in it -- even supposed embodiments of Good and Evil can change their alignment. Also, if there are two alignments listed, and one is for 4th Edition, assume that the other alignment holds true for all other game editions. Finally, the "Always Neutral" alignment listed in previous editions for nonsapient creatures has been equated with the "Unaligned" alignment of recent editions.

->'''Classification:''' Natural Animate (4E), Construct (5E)\\

->'''Classification:''' Elemental (3E, 5E)\\

->'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_malastor_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]

->'''Classification:''' Shapechanger (3E), Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\

* ApeShallNeverKillApe: Downplayed; maugs have no reason to wage war on each other, but sometimes their mercenary work puts two groups of maugs on opposite sides of a war. This results in horrendous casualties as the maugs lead their troops to clash repeatedly until one or both sides is ground down to nearly nothing. Then the maugs are liable to group up and go off to find a new war to fight in as if nothing happened.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Maugs serve any master willing to pay the price, and never care about right or wrong.

->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E), Humanoid (5E)\\

->'''Classification:''' Vermin (3E), Natural Beast (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\

* PsychicPowers: As a monster that debuted in ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'', megapedes (with the notable exception of their 3rd Edition incarnation) are natural psions that can blast prey with psychic energy.

->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Giant (5E)\\

Sometimes known as arcanes, these tall, blue humanoids are merchants who travel the Great Wheel, selling magical items (such as ''[[TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}} spelljammer helms]]'') and other exotic goods to anyone who can meet their prices.

->'''Classification:''' Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (5E)\\

->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Beast (5E)\\

->'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

->'''Classification:''' Undead (3E, 5E), Aberrant Humanoid Undead (4E)\\

->'''Classification:''' Undead (3E, 5E)\\

* MakeMeWannaShout: They can vent their emotional turmoil with a sonic ''energy ray'' once per day.

* MakeMeWannaShout: When injured, a malastor reflexively roars, powerfully enough to stun other creatures in a 30-foot radius.

* MakeMeWannaShout: Marrusaults can let out a "howl of defiance" once per day, forcing those nearby to save or become fatigued or exhausted.

* MakeMeWannaShout: A saltor's main offensive tool is a loud screech capable of inflicting sonic damage.

* MakeMeWannaShout: Their howling simultaneously causes the ''fear'' effect of their baying, deals a bit of damage to evil creatures each round the moon hound continues, and targets any nearby fiends with a ''dismissal'' spell.

20-foot-long predators that lurk in the depths of the Ethereal Plane, using a glowing lure on their heads to attract prey.

* AlluringAnglerfish: A serpentine example; a magran's lure emits light out to 200 feet or more, and replicates a ''hypnotic pattern'' effect that can transfix those who come too close, leaving them helpless until the monster attacks them. Interestingly, if this eight-inch-wide lure is cut off from a magran's corpse, the hypnotic glow doesn't immediately dim, but remains usable for a couple of weeks -- the catch is, the thing's bearer, though immune to the ''hypnotic pattern'' effect themself, can [[ArtifactOfAttraction grow obsessed with the orb]], refusing to part with it even after its magic runs out.

* AliensAreBastards: The Illithids are the most icon of D&D's evil aliens. They can only reproduce by turning humanoids into more Illithids and consume brains to live, and they are not particularly nice to each other either. Only the most evil of humanoids dare to trade or ally with them.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The ulitharids' power over common illithids is rooted in two factors -- their great rarity, and their much greater physical strength and psychic powers.

* MindHive: Illithids have no fear of death, as a dead mind flayer's brain can be removed from its body and placed into the elder brain's pool to be absorbed by the greater brain, thus allowing the mind flayer to join the mental gestalt of past illithids. But see below...

* AlienLunch: Their mindless larval forms, known as ustilagors, are raised as moist and delicious delicacies by the mind flayers.

* MacGuffin: Quintessence has a physical existence, appearing under a modified ''detect magic'' effect as a black, coruscating aura, which can be refined and stored in lattice-like matrices as a green, glowing fluid. It can manifest in things as varied as rare ores or plants or even in individuals, and Thoon's followers draw upon it to create new monsters or trigger their special abilities. But a sidebar explains that there's no need to track these illithids' quintessence harvesting operations, and the most important thing about quintessence is that it "proceeds at the pace of the plot," driving Thoon's followers to take an interest in an iron mine, a NPC's daughter, or the [=PCs=] themselves, as an adventure dictates.

* SneakySpySpecies: As mentioned, the shadow flayers are the product of a program to develop this. While they're sneakier than normal illithids, this has come at the cost of their psionic abilities beyond the signature ''mind blast'' -- though the Thoon disciples aren't troubled by this, as it makes the shadow flayers easier to manipulate with magic like ''suggestion'' and ''charm person''.
* TalkativeLoon: The Thoon elder brain -- the only one that currently exists, as it was in charge of the Astral expedition that went awry -- is just as imperious and brilliant as a normal elder brain, but it occasionally broadcasts psychic gibberish, and even its cogent mental messages are slightly painful to receive and always end with an "All hail Thoon!" It can also weaponize this trait, [[StupidityInducingAttack scrambling the thoughts of nearby creatures]] as per a ''confusion'' effect, or blasting a target with an "overmind blast" that deals [[NonHealthDamage Wisdom damage]] that can leave them muttering "Thoon... Thoon..." while otherwise unconscious.

* SneakySpySpecies: As mentioned, the shadow flayers are the product of a program to develop this. While they're sneakier than normal illithids, this has come at the cost of their psionic abilities beyond the signature ''mind blast'' -- though the Thoon disciples aren't troubled by this, as it makes the shadow flayers easier to manipulate with magic likee ''suggestion'' and ''charm person''.

!!Thoon Infiltrator
[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_thoon_infiltrator_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:299:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\

'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Parasites from the Far Realm, able to take over humanoid bodies and serve as covert agents for the mind flayers of Thoon.

* {{Magitek}}: The Thoon-worshiping illithids have an array of constructs powered by quintessence, giving them a greater semblance of life than others -- they aren't quite classified as living constructs, but Thoon constructs will very slowly heal damage if given time to stay inert.

!!Thoon Infiltrator
[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_thoon_infiltrator_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:299:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Parasites from the Far Realm, able to take over humanoid bodies and serve as covert agents for the mind flayers of Thoon.
----
* HumanShifting: Downplayed; a Thoon infiltrator can shape their facial features like clay, giving them a racial bonus on Disguise checks.
* TheInfiltration: Their primary purpose -- blend into a humanoid population, and spot sources of quintessence for their mind flayer masters. That said, the Thoon infiltrators' Chaotic natures mean they chafe at the illithids' control and are impatient with long-term planning and careful quintessence acquisition.
* NotQuiteDead: If its host body is "killed," a Thoon infiltrator merely goes dormant for a month, before waking with its full hit points (and typically using ''dimension door'' to escape its grave). It takes a high Search check to detect the faint vibration in the creature's neck tentacles to reveal that it's not quite dead.
* PuppeteerParasite: These creatures came to the mind flayers of Thoon's attention after they took over some humanoid captives in their nautiloid's prison deck. They look like a cat-sized bundle of wires that can burrow into the brain and vital organs of a host body, killing it, then the creature repairs the damage over the course of a day, after which point the body is wholly under the parasite's control. Normally the parasite is visible as a cluster of thin tentacles at the base of the host's skull, but it can hide itself by submerging beneath the stolen flesh -- while this prevents the Thoon infiltrator from using most of its abilities, it does mean nothing short of a full dissection will reveal its presence. More dangerously, a Thoon infiltrator can, once per week, extend neck tendrils into a helpless victim's mouth, and if uninterrupted for a minute, will convert that victim into a Thoon thrall.

!!Thoon Soldier
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_thoon_soldier_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]

'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\

Combat servitors that can use their internal quintessence supply to reconfigure their bodies during battle.

!!Thoon Soldier
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_thoon_soldier_3e.png]]

->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Combat servitors that can use their internal quintessence supply to reconfigure their bodies during battle.