Neh-thalggu Master

Large aberration, chaotic evil

Armor Class 20 (natural armor)
Hit Points 200 (16d10 + 112)
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
22 (+6)	16 (+3)	25 (+7)	18 (+4)	16 (+3)	15 (+2)

Saving Throws Int +8, Wis +7, Cha +6
Skills Arcana +9, Deception +7, Insight +8, Perception +8
Damage Resistances psychic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 18
Languages Common, Abyssal, Deep Speech, Dark Speech, Draconic, telepathy 100 ft.
Challenge 13 (3,900 XP)

Special Traits

• Innate Spellcasting. The neh-thalggu�s�s spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 19). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
• At will: detect magic, mage hand, magic missile
• 3/day each: confusion, hideous laughter, hold person, irresistible dance
• 1/day each: dream, dominate monster, magnificent mansion

Actions

• Multiattack. The neh-thalggu master makes four attacks: two bites and two claws.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) piercing damage, and the creature must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 21 (6d6) poison damage.
• Claw. Melee: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6 + 6) slashing damage.
• Hypnotic Gaze. As a bonus action, the neh-thalggu master may gaze at a creature within 30 feet. It gains disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws. This effect lasts until the master selects a new gaze target or it moves more than 30 feet away. Victims of this ability are unaware of the effect.

Reactions

• Mesmerism (3/day). Through self-hypnosis, a neh-thalggu master can perform one of the following:
• Before a creature makes an attack against her, the master can redirect the attack against another creature adjacent to itself or its attacker instead.
• Reroll one saving throw when she would otherwise fail.
• When she enters dim light or darker, become invisible until the beginning of her next turn and move up to her speed.

About

Known also as brain collectors, the alien neh-thalggus hail from distant worlds, traveling the gulfs of space on immense living ships that swiftly decay when they land upon a new world, leaving behind a deadly cargo of hungry monsters. Neh-thalggus are crablike nightmare with lamprey-like mouths, twitching eyes on its legs, and several blisters along its back that hold human brains. Some speculate that neh-thalggus encountered in this reality may merely be juveniles of their kind, perhaps exiled from their home worlds by greater kin until they can prove their worth on other worlds.

Brain Collectors. Neh-thalggus are carnivores, but they do not digest humanoid brains they eat�rather, these brains lodge in one of several bulbous blisters on the creature�s back and help to increase its intellect. Their brain collections may be a morbid form of currency in their home realm, or the thoughts in these brains may merely be fuel for a dark apotheosis into an even more sinister mature form.

Mind Masters. Neh-thalggu masters lord it over their lesser kin by applying the drained brainpower of their victims toward mastering psychic magic and mesmerism. They may inhabit elaborate mindscapes as their lairs or may subtly influence the thoughts and senses of creatures they lure into their lair in furtherance of convoluted plots to manipulate the societies around them while they dwell in secret. Some dwell alone or with mind-controlled slaves, while others organize clusters of their own kind to spread their sinister schemes and feed their insatiable alien hunger.