# Mind Flayer, Larval >[!rimg]+ > ![[Placeholder2.png]] *This creature looks like a tadpole, although it is a full two feet in length. It is eyeless; its tail is a squiggling mass of four tentacles that partially obscure a lampreylike mouth.* <div class="grid-container"><div class="MON">Larval Mind Flayer</div> <div class="CR">CR 2 (600 XP)</div> <div class="SOU">Complete Psionic pg. 133, Dragon #318</div> <div class="SYS">Dungeons & Dragons 3.5</div></div> CE Tiny Aberration (psionic) **Init** +8 **Senses** blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft.; **Perception** +1 #### defense **AC** 18, 16 touch, 14 flat-footed (+4 Dex, +2 natural, +2 size) **hp** 17 (3d8+3) **Fort** +2, **Refl** +5, **Will** +4 **Feint** 13, **Demoralize** 14 #### offense **Speed** 15 ft., climb 5 ft. **Melee** touch +8 (1d3 plus attach) **Space** 2 1/2 ft., **Reach** 0 ft. **Special Attacks** brain sap Psi-Like Abilities (ML 3th; Concentration +4) > 3/day — _burst_, _psionic levitate_ > 1/day — _psionic dimension door_ #### statistics **Str** 10, **Dex** 18, **Con** 13, **Int** 4, **Wis** 13, **Cha** 12 **BAB** +2, **CMB** +0 (12 when attached), **CMD** 14, **TA** +4, **RTA** +8 **Feats** [[Improved Initiative]], [[Stealthy]], [[Weapon Finesse]]^B **Skills** Climb +12, Perception +1, Stealth +16 **Languages** Aklo; telepath 30 ft. #### special abilities ### Attach (Ex) A larval flayer that hits with its bite attack locks its sucker onto the target, anchoring it in place. An attached larval flayer is effectively grappling its prey. The larval flayer looses its Dexterity bonus to AC, but holds on with great tenacity. A larval flayer has a +12 racial bonus to maintain its grapple on a foe once it is attached. An attached larval flayer can be struck with a weapon or grappled itself— if its prey manages to win a grapple check or Escape Artist check against it, the larval flayer is removed. ### Brain Sap (Ex) A larval flayer eats gray matter, dealing 1d4 points of Intelligence damage each round it remains attached. Creatures reduced to 0 Intelligence in this fashion are slain. #### ecology **Organization** Clutch (2-5) **Treasure** None A larval flayer's blossoming psionic ability, combined with its inborn need to feed on gray matter, makes it a threat no creature wants to come across unaware. In the fullness of time, larval flayers grow into neothelids, but most are slain by their sundered kin: illithids. Mind flayers view the unrestrained growth of their larvae as their darkest taboo. Mind flayers are said to reproduce through a process called ceremorphosis. This gruesome method involves the implantation of larval-stage mind flayers (also called illithid tadpoles) in host creatures. If tadpoles grow too large for implantation they are destroyed, but sometimes they escape the briny pool of their birth. Even after growing just a little bit, larval flayers are dangerous. Larval flayers squiggle and skulk through dark tunnels underground, searching for their next chance to suck down a tasty meal of brain. A larval flayer is about 2 to 2–1/2 feet long from tip to tentacle and weighs between 30 and 50 pounds. Larger specimens exist, as those few that survive grow toward their apotheosis: neothelids. ### Combat Larval flayers lurk in shallow underground pools or near a well-traveled tunnel. They first hide from their prey, hoping to surprise their victims, then use either psionic levitate or dimension hop to close in on their prey, or rush a creature with a burst-assisted charge attack. As Tiny creatures, larval flayers are able to use dimension hop to enter a Medium or larger creature's square; doing so does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A larval flayer attacks by jumping on a victim, finding a vulnerable spot, and plunging its stubby tentacles into the flesh. This is a touch attack and can target only Small or larger creatures.