Mindwitness
Volo's Guide to Monsters p. 176
- Size
- Large
- Type
- aberration
- Alignment
- lawful evil
- AC
- 15 (natural armor)
- Hit Points
- 75 (10d10+20)
- Speed
- walk 0 ft., fly 20 ft.
- Saving Throws
- Int +5, Wis +5
- Skills
- Perception +8
- Condition Immunities
- prone
- Senses
- darkvision 120 ft.
- Passive Perception
- 18
- Languages
- Deep Speech, Undercommon, telepathy 600 ft.
- Challenge
- 5
- Environment
- underdark
Traits
Telepathic Hub
When the mindwitness receives a telepathic message, it can telepathically share that message with up to seven other creatures within 600 feet of it that it can see.
Actions
Multiattack
The mindwitness makes two attacks: one with its tentacles and one with its bite.
Bite
Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (4d6 + 2) piercing damage.
Tentacles
Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (4d8 + 2) psychic damage. if the target is Large or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 13) and must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence saving throw or be stunned until this grapple ends.
Eye Rays
The mindwitness shoots three of the following magical eye rays at random (reroll duplicates), choosing one to three targets it can see within 120 feet of it:
1. Aversion Ray: The targeted creature must make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
2. Fear Ray: The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
3. Psychic Ray: The target must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence saving throw or take 27 (6d8) psychic damage.
4. Slowing Ray: The targeted creature must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the target's speed is halved for 1 minute. In addition, the creature can't take reactions, and it can take either an action or a bonus action on its turn but not both. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
5. Stunning Ray: The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be stunned for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the start of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
6. Telekinetic Ray: If the target is a creature, it must make a DC 13 Strength saving throw. On a failed save, the mindwitness moves it up to 30 feet in any direction, and it is restrained by the ray's telekinetic grip until the start of the mindwitness's next turn or until the mindwitness is incapacitated.
If the target is an object weighing 300 pounds or less that isn't being worn or carried, it is telekinetically moved up to 30 feet in any direction. The mindwitness can also exert fine control on objects with this ray, such as manipulating a simple tool or opening a door or a container.
Other data
description
If the beholder can be stunned and brought safely to the brine pool of the elder brain, it can be converted through ceremorphosis into a mindwitness. The process of ceremorphosis transforms four of the beholder's eyestalks into tentacles similar to those of a mind flayer, and alters some of the beholder's eye rays.
Less intelligent than beholders and less liable to endanger the colony, mindwitnesses are psionically imprinted with devotion to the elder brain and submission to illithid commands, making them almost as obedient as intellect devourers.
Telepathic Hub: The primary function of a mindwitness is to improve telepathic communication in a mind flayer colony. A creature in telepathic communication with a mindwitness can converse telepathically through it to as many as seven other creatures the mindwitness can see, allowing the rapid spread of commands and other information.
Solitary Seekers: If separated from its illithid masters, a mindwitness seeks out other telepathic creatures to tell it what to do. Mindwitnesses have been known to ally with flumphs and telepathic planar beings such as demons, shifting their worldview and changing their alignment to match that of their new masters.