Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Brainstealer Dragon 

Oh look something that will piss off any pure blooded dragons

This really works as the horrifying boss that’s just found somewhere with no explanation.

Here wuz Seamus! Seamus is running low on food. Seamus will break quarantine soon for necessary shopping. Is everyone else doing ok? It's still a dangerous time. Please be careful.

The Ilithids were so busy asking if they could, but not once did they ask themselves if they should. Now I feel that a brainstealer dragon would be the end of their race.

Time to pack up and leave this plane, im terrified and somewhat infactuated

...things like this make me glad I am a dm not a player.

Support organisms functioning as organs for the developing monster is friggin crazy! From fantasy to sci fi in one step without coming down from the top shelf!

Purple dragons have psychic powers already, imagine how scary a purple brain stealer would be.

Plot hook: players called in to deal with a juvenile dragon but by the time they make the trip it’s all quiet Background: as the PCs investigate the dragon is quite and no longer in its layer. Drop hints/clues.... the dragon has been captured by illithid and have begun the ceromorphesus. Now it’s a race against time to stop them unleashing this abomination on the world

"The two glowing patches on its shoulders are actually its eyes. What you thought was a long neck and horned head unravels lengthwise, revealing itself to be a writhing mass of tentacles mimicking draconic appearance."

I thought this was bad, then some psycho made the upgrade….Elder Brain Dragon….

An Alhoon Dracolich would be metal as hell

I'm adding a huge Illithid influence into the campaign ill be home brewing for my buddies, I'm glad that you posted this when you did lol

They would give off a more of Cthulhu vibe than normal Mindflayers. A campaign I thought of ages ago had the idea of such a ilithid dragon, as well as being a much, a combination of dracolich and Illithlich. Could only be contained rather than destroyed, and the hubtown would be built on top of it. The would have been to try and get the players to kill a strong dragon and bring it to the town, which would become the new body of this Brainstealer dragon lich hybrid.

I hope you've restocked cheese sir.

Cthulhu is just a brainstealing dragon yo

One random day in hell... Tiamat:: "I want seafood today... I am going to eat a city full of mind flayers...for the lols" ... One overly caniving and extra intelligant mind flayer encounter later I give you the godflayer dragon...When your exotic lunch convinces you to spare their city and they will increaese your power 100 fold. The dead avitar is going to be a dracolich-Tiamat...in my rpg idea back log. I never know if ill game again so i want to be ready if i do. Lol. Oh . for anybody who wants something like them and doesnt know they exist, you can get dice made out of gemstone or precious metals and other materials.

One of my campaigns featured a brainstealer dragon who'd had his original soul stuffed back in his body after ceramorphasis by a mad archmage. That was a fun one.

I always wanted to be a dm and TPK an entire party with nightmare fuel. What next Beholders wearing living armor like a marvel symbiot.

Hmmmmmm... I wonder if a colony of ambitious Alhoons could create a Brainstealer *Dracolich* to serve the function of an Elder Brain and restore their degenerated Psionic power

Think about this, imagine the mutation converting the organ that usually produces a breath weapon to one that produces an abundance of their slime.. this would give them a spit weapon rather than a breath weapon where they spit big globs of the Slime at you. Giving you disadvantage on any saving throws against their psychic abilities. Possibly even a mild acidic effect.

I find the art at 7:30 a lot more appealing to me than the typical squidhead depiction of brainstealer dragons. The original just look so goofy and incredibly unmenacing.

Imagine if they had this monstrosity in 5e, you could make many fascinating mind flayer related adventures.

Imagine the tyranids from 40K got their hands on this yeah a bio Titans fight against a dragon

Great video AJ. When I DM'd regularly (80s & 90s), I had an Illithid fan who regularly updated me on Mind Flayers and he totally explained how those creatures transform other beings... and introduced me to the possibility of Dragon & Giant Illithids. We determined it was impossible save for the era super-early in life. We determined that Illithids are parasites that transform the host to be more Mind Flayer than the original being while giving homage to the being transformed. The Brainstealer Dragon is far more creative than what we came up with. We first had giants. They were pretty much giant Illitihds, bigger... stronger... resistances that the originals had immunities to while not having the same vulnerabilities. They would eventually hijack the Illithid community by attacking, killing, and eating the big boss brain with the Illithid larvae living within their bodies. Those communities imploded because of the needs of the Giant Illithid via eating all the slaves then cannibalizing the other Illithids. We then created the dragons the same way. We threw in the implosion but then we had an idea. The players were all epic level to the point where the campaign was at the crux where the players would either retire or work at divine ascension (godhood campaign. Yes, I had rules for that)... challenge possibilities were running thin. The Illithid Dragon was hunting and killing Dragons, Giants, and other monsters with giant brains. The Dragons and Giants formed a peace treaty and commissioned the party (epic level achievements) to kill the kidnapper of the "Beings of significant size to eat their brains like a tiny brain eater". They knew the Underdark were involved, mostly Drow, with high levels of Illithid manipulation with more desperate Illithid aberrations being used. There were Illithid wolves, horses, donkeys, etc used as shock troops... something Illithids never did. A deal with A Krakkon was even reached. It was one of my home-brew Krakkons because it was 2nd Ed... more of a Deep Spawn with godlike intelligence than that kind of giant squid. The party was virtually immune to mental attacks and stuns, they were epic level. They had a LOT of reflecting back capability. One had an artifact that, if the attack was reflected, it bypasses all defenses and immunities. That artifact was more curse than a blessing by light years but it was great in this situation and the player suddenly stopped hating that he could not get rid of it. So, the big boss fight... it was not supposed to happen. The Dragon Illithid had Beholder thrall Illithids (tactically identical to Illithids but they float and can bite), Kobold Illithids (fragile but numerous Illithids), and mind-controlled heroes (very dangerous enemies that were also hostages that needed to be rescued). The one thing that survives in all dragons once they become Illithid Dragons is Draconic Huberous. All Dragons have it, Illithids also have hubris to spare. So, an Illithid Dragon is arrogant to the core. My players did an epic level role-play and successfully taunt the Illithid Dragon (now, in canon, a Brain Stealer Dragon) to call off its lackeys to fight the party. Through role-playing, my Player Characters turned a virtually impossible fight that ends with the Boss Fight wiping them out into a Boss Fight that wipes out an entire Illithid network if the Boss is killed. I did add during the fight a lot of psionic whispers trying to talk the Illithid Dragon out of doing it himself while he bellowed back his arrogant shouts. The party took note that the only thing making the Illithid Dragon not having everyone attack them was the enraged Illithid Dragon attacking them. They kept baiting him (her?). That was decades ago. Could this adventure fit into AD&D now? Keep in mind that we were using AD&D 2nd Ed stuff and 90s info, so don't be so harsh (not you AJ, some of your younger fans may rage reply to this).

I bet this shows up in Baldur’s Gate 3.

On topic about the Brainstealers is with how manipulative they are I can imagine one using subtle psychic influence to convince much of the local Underdark to do it's bidding without letting them KNOW that it's commands aren't their own ideas. If it's subtle you can have Drow, & Drugar communities serving it's will without knowing they are puppets on strings. I can see this being a final BBEG of an Underdark campaign with part of the challenge convincing the various Underdark cultures of the Truth of their leaders having been subsumed & rallying an army to destroy this corrupting force. Of course this might be further manipulation of the Player Characters as there may be another Mother Brain & Illithid hive dropping clues to deal with this menace FOR them.

Came across this when researching Gith for a current campaign I'm running. Campaign started with my players in a town that got caught between Gith & Mind Flayer invasion forces. A battle between the two races for a important reason/resource led by a Gith Supreme Commander on an ancient Red Dragon & a Ulitharid Lord on a Brainstealer Dragon made from an ancient dragon as well. It's an Astral sea campaign where they have to evade the two empires while being pursued by a Kith'rak for unknown reasons, battle a psychotic Mind Flayer Admiral, grow in strength to free their homeworld & then ultimately put an end to a Mad Elder Brain & Vlakieth the Lich Queen, both seeking Godhood.

This was uploaded right as I wanted to sleep, so I apologize for missing it.

Not nearly enough ceremorphs for my liking. The Underdark should be lousy with hundreds of different lamprey-mouthed, tentacle-faced horrors in various states of delirious schizophrenia and murderous psycopathy. >:3

Great googly moogly! That thing looks horrifying, dude :V

odd, the forgotten realms wiki lists it as a dragon as far as type rather than aberration

Would a Tabaxi Flayerkin just be a Mewtwo?

Can Illithids laugh? Because this is crying out for a good long "Bwahahaaa!"

Just joined a high level campaign and fought an elder brain. He escaped using plane-shift when our counterspell failed. The homebrew world of our dm is a land with many dragons. I sent him this, i cant wait to die soon

I just imagine a quest where heroes must dispatch a living sort of stillborn mutated brainstealer. Imagine a highly intelligent, highly powerful and extremely dangerous creature fleeing from heroes, illithids, other dragons. Wrecking havoc on major cities or such, as it is great pain and fighting it's own parasitic link.

what about a brainstealer dracolich, would it still be a brainstealer? a no brainer?

I was just thinking about these guys the other day! Your timing is impeccable sir!

seems to me some of the worst threats to mindflayers are often times themselves Neothelids, brainstealer dragons, or escaped slaves like the gith some of which the experiments they did on them or they had been enslaved by them for so long made them resistant to most of their means of combat like the mind blast

Yessss been waiting for this one

Elder Brain Dragon: *"Daddy's Home"*

Have an NPC, a kind of Illithid mad scientist. Depending on the players interactions she/he may either help them repair a Spelljammer, or take over his/her former colony. I could see a colony cranking one of these Brain stealers out in desperation.

4:09 The dreaded giant Scallopithid! Blasted octopus headed fiends, does their depravity know no bounds? Hard to believe the braintstealer is 15 years old. Great concept of meshing two iconic monsters from the series...though the name is a touch banal. I suppose Dracolithid is along those same lines but at least it would fit the usual monikers of those ghastly buggers. Always love anything put out that falls into the aberrant category. I do miss that devil may care attitude found in the old Dragon and Dungeon mags.

Amazing video! I needed this tonight while working on an assignment!

Imagine an illithid tadpole inserted in an Aboleth... mind blown?

I've been waiting for this video! I have a fascination with Lovecraftian creatures and the Brainstealer Dragon does the horror genre justice.

It bothers me that this channel doesn't have a minimum of 100k subscribers considering how long AJ has been around and how consistently he posts videos. I would have thought that D&D had more interest. Even if you don't play D&D, this is fantastic fantasy lore, regardless of the setting it takes place in. Keep it up AJ! I have a feeling you may get a big break soon. Thanks for the fantastic videos!

Maybe this kind of thing is why the mind flayer empire of old failed.Because the mind flayers keep taking their obsession with grotesque scientific horror to new levels and they end up creating monsters more terrifying that even they are. Great video.I squeeed like the mind flayer fan girl I am the moment I saw this video. Head mind flayer "It is a success we have finally managed to merge one of our tadpoles with a dragon!Hazzah!" Brain stealer dragon "Oh yes you have.Thank you for progressing evolution predecessor.Now that I exist I no longer have any use for you though.Goodbye predecessor." Head mind flayer "Oh shit I didn't think this through did I" LOL

Brainstealer Dragon vs Dragon Lich.....the perfect enemies

I had a fun thought while watching this video, what if they managed to subdue an adult dragon and put in 2, or even 3 tadpoles in order to ensure the brain devoured? A brainstealer dragon with 2 or 3 personalities sounds terrifying

Excellent work AJ. Your videos are a much needed reprieve in these times. Thank you for the work you do.

Good evening, gross and good night. Thanks.

I've known about these for years (I read Dragon Mag a lot) and adjusted the stats accordingly. I actually turned it (in crunch) into a template rather than a standalone set of stats. I adjusted it but kept it as a template for the same homebrew world that was updated to 5e. No party I've ever run have ever run into one. How fortunate for them.

The brainstealer Dragon sounds like something HP Lovecraft dreamup

This plus elder brain dragon is just absolute horror

You know, this just helped me complete my BBEG. Though the addition i have for my Eldritch monstrosity is that it has a petrifying glare as it's eldritch central (in the middle of it's head) eye petrify anyone who stares at it. Though it might turn out to be too much, we'll see when the time comes.

Now do a brainstealer beholder!

This was a great video, especially considering the source material you had to work with. I like how the illithids' schemes cannot contain the primal threat that even a corrupted dragon presents, proving again that dragons bow to no one.

can we get videos on the other types of flayerkin please?

Personally I really like the Brainstealer Dragon. It heard of them before, but this helped inspire me a bit. Personally I'd probably make a powerful Brainstealer Dragon using a Template like the Shadow Dragon though obviously more extreme in terms of changes. I might let it keep the Breath Weapon with the Mind blast instead being a Cone of Psionic Energy that works like the other options most Metallic Dragons have. It'd have a Few Unique but fitting Abilities dependent on what kind of Dragon it was before. Though I'd probably make one that operates like it's original self and after killing the Elder Brain, used the Mind Flayers and thralls to make itself a Hoard. It's preference in treasure would be any records of knowledge and both Magic as well as Psychic powers. It favours a mix of Psionic Spells and Spells that use the Same Damage Type as their Original Form's Breath Weapon. Maybe it'd attract a group of Dragonborn and use them to experiment and create a sort of elite group of distorted Illithid-Dragonborn Hybrids that faithfully serve their Aberrant Dragonic Overlord, seeing them like a God of Ultimate Knowledge. These Dracolithids would basically be Illithids with the Half Dragon Template plus a couple unique aspects. The Brainstealer Dragon and their Dracolithids would probably be quite the formidable force. Maybe it'd try to find a way to reliably make more of it's kind without needing to either capture other dragon's or mate since the transformation left it sterile. Best solution I could think of: Submerge the Egg of a Dragon almost ready to hatch in the Brine Pool and let the Liquid seep in while applying the Psychic might of the Brainstealer itself. Once it hatches, it's a Brainstealer Wyrmling that sees the Ancient Brainstealer as it's parent regardless of it's actual heritage. The Pool Wyrmling might be more 'stable' and could actually lead to a viable lineage. Maybe they won't limit it to just Dragons but also other Magical Creatures like Sphinxes or Demons or whatnot. I think I could make this into a full campaign or major plotline in a campaign. Maybe one of the Characters could have a connection like a Dragonborn who's relative was made into a Dracolithid or a Worshipper of a Dragon God could receive a Divine Mission to stop this wretched creature before it gets to far. Maybe one of the Characters could be an Illithid researcher who's dumbfounded by the Brainstealer and the Dracolithids. If not the Players, they could be NPCs who show up to help them who either are just as astonished as them or could relay some information on the Situation.

I like the description of "merely piloting the body," it reminds me of the description of The Risen's relationship to their physical forms from the Wraith: The Oblivion supplement The Risen. The Risen are basically that setting's version of Revenants as player characters, & having their own body be something they are merely controlling like a marionette instead of a TRUE return to life is one of the things that many find SO frustrating. For an Illithid it might be less frustrating as it's the only existence it's known, but imagine having a dampened sensory input from your body as it feels more like a vehicle than really being YOU. While off topic for Brainstealer Dragons that phrase is such a good insight as to why Revenants are so much more PISSED off all the time.

Aye as always fire..bolt

I get this vibe from some of your videos, but this one it was quite starkly apparent. Someone really likes them some aberrant abominations. ;3

Just needed to come back to this one because I had a thought; What is the end result of a ceremorphed hydra?

DID SOMEBODY SAID GENESTEALER DRAGON!!?!?

This was so cool! I would love to see an Illithid supplement for 5e with this in it!

Well good news for my 6 intelligence PC

Aw shit, lo and behold, it rises! Thank you again Aj. Just d&d in general is saving my bored mind. I've been making a list of c'thulhu relatives since finding out the fan base. Yub-Tub and the braincheese stealer dragon should fit right in the pantheon.

The strength and hubris of A dragon combined with the Psychic powers and Backstabbing Egomaniac tendencies of a MInd flayer truly a dangerous combination.

An illithid dragon. That is just FRIGHTENING to ponder. AJ, this is great stuff - I had no idea this was something my party and I could conceivably encounter. AJ, I can't help but wonder, would the existential threat that illithid dragons pose serve to reunify Bahamut and Tiamat, even for just a short time? Perhaps even Sardior and the god of the lung dragons (I'm sorry to say I don't know who that is) would see the value in uniting a draconic front to oppose and eradicate illithid armies whose vanguard included draconic hosts.

Terrifying. Thank you. Campaign-boss material right there. Possibly something horrible enough to provoke an alliance even with the worst of the evil races.

Powerful psionic being I.e. brainstealer dragon Me: I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine and besides being a 8th level Rogue 8th level assassin 4th level Shadow Dancer he's also an ancient vampire bloodlord: Psionic creatures are particularly vulnerable to Undead and Rogues due to their innate abilities like slippery mind a decently medium-high or high-level player character that is either a Revenant or a vampire or a vampyre (half_vampire dampire) or any other player character race or template would work The reason you give them a few levels in Shadow Dancer is because of the at-will ability shadow jump and the reason you give them assassin levels is to allow them to overcome any kind of resistance has that certain creatures inherently have that make them immune to sneak attack general rule of thumb if it's immune to critical hits it can't be sneak attacked now this isn't always the case but 9 times out of 10 it seems to be P.s. addendum the Third Edition and 3.5 Edition psionic player's handbook has a Prestige class called illithid Slayer and as the name suggests they excel at killing mine flares they're like a cross between a psychic Warrior and a Ranger whose only favorite enemy is illithid and their ilk they get special abilities that make it impossible for a mind flayer to devour their brain or for an illithid tadpole to even begin to attempt ceremorphosis and is immune to it

Man....this just sounds like a big old bag of NOPE!! But I’m definitely gonna send this video to my current DM for a campaign he wanted to do after “Descent into Avernus” if our characters survive.....

I commented! now the yootoobthid shall raise your rank in the hive.

My favorite dnd monster

It makes me wonder... what happens if a Mindflayer larvae attaches itself to a preexisting Mindflayer?

how about a breath weapon that is just it throwing up on it's targets... can only do it once a month and the vomit contains llithid tadpoles that are fully formed due to the draconic energies of the brain-stealer dragon... could have it that only once the dragon have reached maturity before they can do this...

D&D 5e needs more psionics.

This reminded me of the equally nightmarish Elder Brain Dragon, where an Elder Brain hauls itself up onto a dragon, embeds itself in their flesh, and creates what might be one of the nastiest monsters I've seen in some time. Their tadpole brath weapon is particularly horrifying. Granted, this one seems more adversari,even to the Mind Flayers, but still frightening. I wish I had more understanding of the dual-planar nature of the Elder Brain's physiology, as your videos are the only time I have heard of it. I do t think other creatures have this vulnerable portion there, unless they are using astral magic, and I don't get how they hide from Githyanki, who spend so much time there. Are there Illithid colonies hidden in the Astral, or just stray EB espers, waiting to hide or die? On an equally pointless side, appearance. Most victims of ceremorphosis you can tell that's what happened; they become Illithids, or gain some features, but why? Arrogance and narcissism cover some, but but even Sahuagin use some duplicity, and occasionally have offspring who look like hated Sea Elves, who then sneak into communities. Why don't Mind Flayers use this? I suppose Int Devourers DO do this very thing, but one would think that more bioforms in their service would be stealthy, and try to appear like their prey. Maybe they implant their consciousness into a host, or just gave some alternative physiology tadpole that changes the body, but outwardly retains it's form, so that the colony can further go unnoticed. Or maybe it's an aberrant colony doing it, but they have their reasons. Are there other forms they font use? I could see the advantages of stone giant size Illithids, with their strength, though I guess they'd have to eat more to support it, but I've never seen it, and there arevother races that they seem to keep as slaves, but never use as "breeding stock" for themselves. Would you ever be willing to do a video on how Illithids inadvertently created other psions? I'm sure the weird energies of the Faezress caused some of it, but there are several races that seemed, through exposure to them, to harness similar powers of their own, even if some, like the Duergar, don't often reflect a lot of it, beyond a trick or two. At one point in 2e, even the Drow seemed oddly particularly gifted with psionics, in the rare occasions they occurred, and I didntvknow if the Mind Flayers did this, the Underdark, or what, but I love psionics, so hearing about them always makes me happy. I really wish Duergar had more sorcerer-like psion casters, instead of just warriors who grow big, and turn invisible. Back in 2e, they annoyed me because they seemed like Spriggan Gnomes, who were also subterranean, evil counterparts, who could grow, and I don't feel that a little bigness, or invisibility, would be enough to shatter the yokes of their mental overlords.

sick asf

I can imagine a campaign where the players are nothing but mind flayers with a mission to stop and kill this thing. You can then turn around and have those characters be the bbeg for other campaigns

Yes!

I wonder if a ulitharid tadpole can be used to form variant ceremorphs.

where are the stats for this beautiful thing!?

now this...this is a monster I can get behind. So horrible, yet so beautiful! THE UNDERDARK SHALL TREMBLE!!!!

This video came right in time! I was literally just trying to figure out a stat block for one of these to add as a mini boss for my homebrew campaign!

I love the sword on your intro pic.

Whomever came up with the idea to combine an illithid with a dragon must be a sadist. I like it. #EvilLaughingEmoji

Final boss 27: Augmented Beholder Illithid with one or two of these as pets.

I hold one shots for my best friend who is not into dnd as I am. He will be surprised when I pop out and let him know that the dragons can come in more than just different colors and metals.

Absolutely adore this creature, I don't know why you'd use an elder brain over this creature just making it a younger dragon or limit it in other ways if your party is too low level.

Ah yes a midnight appearance

So… does it matter what type of dragon the Flayers use? Stats-wise you suggested a Red, but would a gold or silver dragon work for the process to occur?

Can a tadpole eat an elderbrain

Yes but also dragons regularly transform into human and live the normal human life span, boning and making hybrid children. Why shouldn't they be able to converted to squid boys as well?

Cool&powerful sounding monster, but looks so dorky with the tentacles and big eyes.

I imagine it could have a tail sweep attack hitting everything in a 15(?) ft cone (varying with dragon's age), dealing bludgeoning to all hit targets. All creatures in the sweep cone must also make a save or take acid fame and be stunned by the mucus flung about, or take half the acid damage.

This is my favorite video keep up the good work my favorite monsters aberrations I hope you do more aberrations

WHAT THE FUCK!!!

this was a great video AJ never heard of this dragon very cool