Deep Dive - The Mind Flayer - Dump Stat Adventures

The Mind Flayer makes a return in the Monster Manual (1977) and continues its horrifying reputation. When the opening paragraph of the creature’s description starts off saying that they are extremely evil and considers humanoids a tasty treat, you know they are going to be a problem. The good news is that the Mind Flayer won’t wander into your town and try to suck everyone’s brains out of there heads, as they hate sunlight. The bad news is they spend all of their time underground in places like dungeons, planning the destruction of the world above them. There is even rumored to be Mind Flayer city somewhere underground, but as they live so deep in the earth that this has never been verified.

Little more is revealed about the Mind Flayer though their physical description is more fleshed out, pun fully intended. The first thing we can say is… they are hideous to behold. Their skin color is called a “nauseous mauve” which is just a nice way of saying ugly purple. The tentacles are dark purple and the fingers on its hands are reddish-purple. The creepiest part of the Mind Flayer’s anatomy, besides the face tentacles, is that its eyes are just orbs of white with no discernable pupil. To top all of this off, they are slimy and their skin glistens in the light, so not only does it suck you are being killed by a purple monster, but you are also getting covered in slime while their face tentacles wrap around your skull and start dancing with your brain.

Now, let’s talk about psionics, and bear with us, its a complicated mess and the designers don’t make it easy on you. The Mind Flayer’s most feared attack is their Mind Blast, and it comes complete with a convoluted description:

All within a 6” directional cone of 1/2” diameter at the point of enanation and 2” diameter at extreme range (psionic attack and non-psionic) Monster Manual, 1977

If that makes you scratch your head, just wait till you go look at the psionic attack and damage tables. Found in the Dungeon Master Guide (1979), there are three separate charts for when the Mind Flayer attacks with its psionic abilities, one for those with psionic abilities, one for the defenseless psionic user, and another for when they attack those who do not have any psionic ability. Filled with numbers, letters, and percentages, its a wonder that anyone ever used psionics way back then. Psionic attacks and defenses are all based on the creature’s psionic strength and, since our Mind Flayer has a psionic strength of over 240, all their psionic abilities are at maximum.