Monster Dossier

Brain Collector

Brain Collector DOMINION OF THE BLACK Brain collectors typically hunt alone, yet some adopt morbid cults that include followers who hope to have their o...

Level 8

Traits

uncommoncelargeaberration

Rules & statistics

Monster Profile

Perception

18

Senses

  • Name
    darkvision

Languages

Languages
  • abyssal
  • aklo
  • common
  • draconic
  • protean
  • undercommon
Abilities
  • telepathy 100 feet

Skills

Acrobatics
17
Arcana
18
Athletics
16
Occultism
21
Stealth
17
Lore
Std
18
Note
all subcategories

Ability Mods

Str
6
Dex
3
Con
5
Int
4
Wis
4
Cha
3

Defenses

Ac
26
Saving Throws
Fort
15
Ref
13
Will
18
Abilities
  • +1 status to all saves vs. magic
Hp
  • Hp
    140
Immunities
  • confused
Weaknesses
  • Name
    brain loss

Speed

Walk
25
Fly
30

Attacks

  • Range
    Melee
    Name
    jaws
    Attack
    20
    Effects
    • brain collector venom
    Damage
    2d12+6 piercing plus brain collector venom
    Types
    • piercing
  • Range
    Melee
    Name
    claw
    Attack
    20
    Traits
    • agile
    Damage
    2d8+6 slashing
    Types
    • slashing

Spellcasting

  • Type
    Spontaneous
    Tradition
    occult
    DC
    26
    Attack
    18
    Entry
    0
    Level
    4
    Spells
    • Name
      dancing lights
    • Name
      detect magic
    • Name
      mage hand
    • Name
      prestidigitation
    1
    Slots
    4
    Spells
    • Name
      mindlink
    • Name
      ray of enfeeblement
    • Name
      true strike
    • Name
      unseen servant
    2
    Slots
    4
    Spells
    • Name
      humanoid form
    • Name
      invisibility
    • Name
      mirror image
    • Name
      paranoia
    3
    Slots
    3
    Spells
    • Name
      dispel magic
    • Name
      haste
    • Name
      paralyze
    4
    Slots
    2
    Spells
    • Name
      confusion
    • Name
      phantasmal killer

Abilities

Mid
  • Entries
    • A brain collector has seven brain blisters on its back that it uses to house stolen brains. A brain collector without all seven blisters full is stupefied with a value equal to the number of empty blisters.
    Name
    Brain Blisters
  • Entries
    • If a brain collector takes 30 damage from a critical hit or takes 25 mental damage, it must succeed at a 26 save (Fortitude for critical damage or Will for mental damage) or one of its brain blisters is destroyed.
    Name
    Brain Loss
Bot
  • Type
    affliction
    Name
    Brain Collector Venom
    Traits
    • poison
    DC
    26
    Saving Throw
    Fortitude
    Max Duration
    6 rounds
    Stages
    • Stage
      1
      Entry
      1d6 poison and enfeebled 1
      Duration
      1 round
    • Stage
      2
      Entry
      1d6 poison, enfeebled 1, and slowed 1
      Duration
      1 round
    • Stage
      3
      Entry
      2d6 poison, enfeebled 2, and slowed 1
      Duration
      1 round
  • Activity
    Number
    1
    Unit
    action
    Traits
    • manipulate
    Entries
    • The brain collector collects a brain of a creature that has been dead for no more than 1 minute. It can then use an Interact action to secure the brain in one of its empty brain blisters.
    Name
    Collect Brain

Background

Lore

Brain Collector

DOMINION OF THE BLACK

Brain collectors typically hunt alone, yet some adopt morbid cults that include followers who hope to have their own brains harvested by these alien invaders. The Dominion of the Black includes a wide array of monstrous aliens, of which the brain collectors are merely the most commonly encountered on terrestrial worlds. Many of these aliens have affinities for stealing thoughts, inhabiting bodies, or feeding on memories—the focus on the consumption of brains and of identities suggesting disturbing truths about their coalition.

The grotesque brain collectors (or neh-thalggus, as they call themselves) originate from worlds far beyond the known solar system, and are part of a conglomeration of hostile aliens known collectively as the Dominion of the Black. Whether driven by their own schemes or directives from sinister overlords, brain collectors arrive in living starships to harvest the brains of intelligent creatures. These aberrations draw no nutrition from brains, instead storing them for analysis and as vessels for occult magical energies.

A brain collector's form evokes that of a tailless scorpion, but the pulsing brain-filled blisters that glisten along its back make them impossible to mistake for merely oversized arachnids. Baleful eyes glare from the joints on their legs, and the unsettling, intrusive whisper-thoughts they telepathically broadcast into the minds of those they seek to feed on can be interpreted as threats or promises alike.

Brain collectors have very little empathy for the denizens of any world they visit, despite the fact that certain cults venerate them, or the Dominion they hail from, as if they were gods. To brain collectors, terrestrial creatures are simply resources for their magical needs and occult powers. They have little interest in worshipping gods or being worshipped themselves, yet they do practice strange forms of religion of their own, in which they consider the primordial forces of deep space as worthy of faith and fear.