The Naulithid is the first in a new type of illithid vessels, a new group of enhanced, powerful, ceremorphic ships. As the illithids themselves are created, these ships begin as small illithid tadpoles in the elder brain pool. The more larger and aggressive tadpoles (not to be confused with ulithiard tadpoles, which are more intelligent also) are gathered regularly, and treated with special neurochemicals and psionic stimulants to prepare them properly. Once prepared, these tadpoles (which are actually almost a foot long at ripe age) are inserted into the auditory canal (if such a canal is lacking, one is created psionically) of certain larger species of crustacean and mammals indigenous to wildspace, to create living ships. The Naulithid was the first such ship created, patterned after the much popular Nautiloid ship, using large sea-like creatures found in aquaspace.
The statistics of the Naulithid is as follows (following the standard as set within the WCC Ship Recognition Manual). An in-depth description is available shortly thereafter.
| Name: | Naulithid |
| Built By: | Illithids |
| Use Primarily By: | Illithids |
| Cost: | Unrateable |
| Tonnage: | 40 Tons |
| Hull Points: | 45 |
| Crew: | 14/40 |
| Maneuvrability Class: | C |
| Landing Land: | Yes |
| Landing Water: | Yes |
| Armor Rating: | 2 |
| Saves As: | 15th level psionicist |
| Power Type: | Natural |
| Ships Rating: | 6 |
| Standard Armament: | 6 Spore-spines (2-F, 2-P, 2-S) - Crew: 2 each Piercing , Blunt, or Grappling Ram (F) |
| Cargo Capacity: | 20 tons (variable) |
| Keel length: | 200' |
| Beam Width: | 40 |
Name, built by, and primarily used by are skipped, as this has already been discussed.
Naulithid's cannot be bought or sold, as they are as yet unknown to the rest of wildspace. Not even the most cautious elven spy has heard even a whiff of a rumour of these ships, and as such no cost is given. Should one be successfully captured, its many internal safeguards would likely make it improbable for sale, but should a way be found to dominate one of these mutations, then one could fetch a price of any asking. Surely the Arcane and many other such factions would love to get their hands upon one.
The tonnage of the Naulithid is slightly higher than the nautilus, owing to the extra bulk of flesh, thicker walls etc. The whole interior of the ship is roughly the same layout as a standard nautiloid (refer the Spelljammer boxed set, TSR's website, or Beyond the Moons for deckplans), but merely with walls 3 feet thick instead of the standard 12 inches of wood and framing. The interior of the ship is made up of bone, sinew, and flesh, all internal parts of the creature it originally composed. 90% of major organs have been removed, almost totally re-creating the interior of the Nautiloid. Only a brain section where the captains cabin used to be, and a digestive area in the jettison/storage room differ from the original plans (DM's are suggested to view the map included with this document however, as other small changes have been made). The creature's eating habits and communication with it will be discussed later.
The extra hull points of this creature come from a slightly stronger flesh than normal, and better shaping of bone internally. Note the only "weak spot" upon the creature are its eyes, which are in exactly the same spot as the view-ports on the original Nautiloid. These eyes are part of the deception of the ship, making it look like a standard nautiloid, excepting they move occasionally. They are blood red with black pupils, slitted vertically. One important feature is the creatures eyelids, which can be closed for a short time in combat (although the creature then flies blindly) to protect its eyes. Any hits against the eyes (AR 0 due to the constant movement of the ship, and requiring at least a proficient crew member upon the weapon) accumulating to more than 2 hull points of damage render the eye useless (leaving a nice trail of ichor in wildspace), until the creature can regenerate it.
Having spotted this weakness at an early stage of research, however, the illithids provided the creature with very fast eyelids, deflecting such hits 50% of the time.
Unless a weapon does more than 5 hull damage in one hit, the weapon merely affects the outer skin/shell (ie it does not have any extra effect, it still does hull damage however). Any hit doing 6 or more damage, however, penetrates the thick layers of skin etc, to either poke through inside, or leave a tear in the flesh. These wounds bleed slightly, although not much considering the size of them, and are repaired through psionic powers, described later.
The crew of a naulithid is, basically, itself. The creature never sleeps, and cannot be made unconscious by any means save the magically/psionical. It does, however, require a captain, usually a well-powered illithid (DM's are suggested to add 2 hit dice and a few extra PSP's/psionic powers without making it as bad as an ulithiard), who was present at the time of its "birth". To date none of these ships have lost a captain, but a fail-safe has been built in that the first illithid to impose its will upon the creature, after death of a captain, will take over captaincy. Only the captains and first officers on the ships are aware of this, however, and so a ship having lost its captain and first officer will likely go berserk (50% chance), flee madly (25% chance), or simply die from the shock after 3d6 rounds (25%).
Typically, however, a decent crew of illithids and slaves are kept on board. Apart from the captain and the first officer, there are typically 8 to 12 (a full compliment of weaponeers) illithids on board, and the rest of the capacity (20) in thralls, or Tzakandi warriors. Typical thralls are standard as per the Illithiad (ie human, or at least demihuman), but occasionally larger sized creatures are kept for battle. The Tzakandi warriors are usually lead by one pair of slightly stronger Tzakandi, or +2 hitdice (modify thac0 etc accordingly, although not psionics).
Crew quarters are typically thus: The captains quarters is stationed at the rear of the bridge deck, incase he should be needed at any time. This leaves 2 rooms to be divided between the thirteen other illithids on board, the first and second officers (who is a weaponeer) usually taking the room at the rear of the battle deck, and the remaining 2 officers (slave and cargo control officers), take the other officers quarters on the cargo deck. The remaining 9 illithids share the crew quarters on the battle deck. During a combat, a gong is sounded and a psionic seal automatically awakens every illithid upon the ship, eading to little organization of shift-rotations.
Tzakandi or other thrall troops (the two are never mixed) are kept in the slave quarters, on the slave deck. Typically, 2 Tzakandi pairs each share each of the slave rooms, excepting the two rear rooms which are kept empty for captives, and one of the slave quarters rooms, which only has the two leading Tzakandi within. In times when more than a few captives are held, the most strong Tzakandi are shifted to the staterooms, allowing prisoners to take appropriate locations. On particularly successful ships, highly powerful Tzakandi may actually be allowed to permanently live in the staterooms, though it is only ever the leader pair. The psionic seal mentioned above does not wake the Tzakandi upon its activation, and so instead most of the Tzakandi take rotations of 6 warriors on 8 hours shifts guard around the ship, excluding the leading pair, and a few extra who are either training, or working on repairs etc.
The Four staterooms on the slaev deck aer usually used for visitors, higher ranking officers, and some research areas. Several scientific missions have been under way for a few months now, researching various topics of illithid discussion.
The maneuverability of the Naulithid is mainly based upon the small spines it has, and the protected shafts within it, being opened and closed at various times. For instance, to make a large turn right, the Naulithid may raise its left spines, lower its right, and open all shafts upon its right-hand side. The shafts are well protected, but removal of more than two spines on either side reduces the MC of the ship to D. Removal of all on one side causes it to be unable to turn in that direction, without the direct intervention of the captain (ie, he must concentrate and help the creature turn itself, precluding any other actions). Note that it must be remembered that this is a creature, and it does experience pain. Typically a large bellow-like sound (caused by the vibrations of the maneuvering shafts) is heard when such damage is done (or to the eye).
Each spine has 5 hit points, but is only four inches thick, excepting at the end where they bloom out to paddle-like appendages. Ships may only be used to remove these with ramming/shearing attacks, large weapons cannot be targeted upon them. Frequently, fireballs, lightning bolts, or other spells are used, or failing that a good sturdy axe is always effective (AC 7).
Standardly, the naulithid can land in water, although it sinks far deeper than a nautiloid does, so It can manoeuvre with its spines and internal shafts. It is, of course, perfectly water tight (at least the part it submerges), and has a habit of workikng just as well at sea as in the air.
On land, the naulithid works much differently. Using an innate psionic power similar to body weaponry, it changes its many spines into large, leg-like struts (similar to a scorpions legs), allowing it to land. It can keep them this way for an indefinite time, although it is the only form they can take, and they cannot be used for grappling other ships etc. It takes 4 rounds for this change to take shape, but may be started during planetfall without hindrance. Note the form of the legs is entirely real, and cannot be dispelled/forced to shift back to normal. They can, however, take damage (4 hull points each), and will collapse the ship if more than 50% of them, or one total side, is destroyed (there are four on each side).
The ships are armoured with the shell-like exterior of the original creature, as well as the highly dense skin of the naulithid itself.
The ship saves as a 15th level psionicist, with the following specifics. It is immune to acid of any kind, along with any magical charm/psionic domination (apart from that of the illithids as noted above). Furthermore it cannot be held, nor hasted, but it may be slowed (as per the wizard spell), reducing its MC by two, and its SR to half. It also adds one round to the reload time of the spore-spines, and gives the users a -2 thac0 penalty. AR is penalised by 2 also, but only due to the slowness of the ship. Furthermore a captain in direct mental contact with the ship suffers the effects of the spell aswell.
Lightning bolts and similar spells do sometimes reflect off this ship, due to damage done. Any lightning bolt not doing half potential damage is rebounded away back at the caster (althought he ship takes one half possible damage, without needing a saving throw), while one doing over or equal to half, takes away a section of the hull 10 x 10 foot square (causing immense pain to the creature), and doing damage. Note this is calculated before rolling saving throws, so if a caster could have done 60 damage, but instead did 40, and the ship makes it save, while it only takes 20 damage, the lightning bolt is not reflected. Had the caster instead rolled 20 damage, the bolt woul have been reflected, and the ship automatically passed its saving throw and taking 10 hit points worth of damage. Note that this example is given in hit points, but remember the creature has no hit points, only hull points (HP were just used for this example).
The power of spelljamming and tactical speeds both come from within the creature, a psionic motion type effect. Thus the creature can move through magic dead-zones at will, and a helm dampening field of any sort cannot affect it. Similarly, a helmseeker cannot lock onto this ship.
The ship can power itself as per normal spelljamming rules, at the SR listed above, and at full interplanetary speed. It need not be controlled all the time by the captain to do this, but is usually given a course, and set to its task. Typically the first-mate checks course every two hours to ensure no degradation, and any changes are made by the captain. The captain must, however, contact the ship at least once every 8 hours, to keep it on course, or it will slowly stop and wander about on ist own (possibly looking for food…).
The SR of this ship is 6, at nearly all times. The only modifications to this are if the ship has taken sufficient damage (either HP or MC), or if the captain uses some sort of stimulant to make it faster. Such stimulants are detailed below, in the items section.
No weapons may be mounted on this ship, nor are any needed. Upon the front of the bridge deck are two large, fleshy protrusions, sticking directly out of the decks floor. There are also two small raised mounds, with sphincter like openings, to either side of the battle deck, hiding similar organs to these. These organs may fire once every two rounds, and shoot large, ballistae bolt-like spines, doing 1d4 hull damage each, or 2d10 hit points. They may travel up to four hexes before loosing accuracy, and require a crew of two illithids each, to use them.
The two illithids stations to each spore-spine are actually on the bridge floor (bridge deck, room 2). Each sits within a chair rising from the fleshy floor, and links mentally with the weapon, through various psionic seals upon the seats. It takes the concentration of two illithids to psionically create the spines, and fire them. Should one illithid (within a given pair) be removed, firing is impossible. The weapons are actually part of the ship, and the spines are generated by its power, but under direction of specific mind flayer weaponeers.
The two pairs of seats for the forward spore-spines are at the front end of the bridge floor, while the two for each side are at the rear, and along the side walls. These sections are not reinforced in any way, as to not give away the position of something important, and so are vulnerable to destruction with lightning bolts etc.
Typically the captain or first mate is present at the com station to direct the gunners/crew in non-combat situations, but the captain takes the chair during actual combat, and the first officer relocates to the forward section of the scout deck.
The other weapon the ship has is its tentacles. Seemingly solid, like the nautiloids, they are actually more-so wound up and kept straight, in what is a comfortable (and aerodynamic) way for the creature. In combat, however, they may be used as a piercing ram (the flesh is reinforced psionically, by the ship itself, for this), a bludgeoning ram (they are pulled back, into a tight ball, and then reinforced psionically), or as grappling ram (they are not reinforced, but are used by a ship in the same way as an illithid uses its own tentacles to burrow into the brain of a creature).
When used for these attacks, the ships thac0 is as the captains, as he must be present (unless it is grappling food, in which case it uses a thac0 of 10). Furthermore, each of the four tentacles can be used to burrow through the grappled ship if desired, although not to specific areas, and nor to strike specific people. Damage for burrowing is equal to 10% of the ships remaining hull points per round (providing two tentacles are burrowing, and the other two remain holding on. Eacht entacle actually does 55 damage), but may be stopped/held off by the captain, ceasing damage and holding the ship at mercy. The slight acid upon the tentacles, for eating through the skulls of victims, remains, but cannot be used against anything other than flesh of a kindori or other large space-native.
Note, however, the ship dislikes this attack (involving the tentacles), and will only willingly use it upon food, and then only the grappling attack. For this reason, captains tend to stay away from using it, as it causes emotional stress to the creature (they can, however, force it to if need be).
Cargo upon this ship is usually slaves, but in an interesting way, the insides of the ship can be reshaped to provide different rooms. For instance, the cargo deck may be re-modelled to allow the internal docking of small fighter craft, of the slave areas may be reshaped to provide room for an elder-brain (although they usually prefer much larger ships). This process takes a day to perform, and requires the constant attention of the first mate and captain. Furthermore, the ship usually requires a meal after such reconstruction, so taxing is the effort (see ecology further down).
The cargo bay is accessed through the battle deck, by a sphincter like opening some 18 feet in diameter. It may be opened by a mental command from either the ships captain, or its first officer, from either side of the door (ie below or above).. Note that, when closed, the doors are sufficiently strong to support almost as much weight as the standard decks, and are considered part of the assembly deck when not open.
A theorised useful tactic in combat situations is to allow the enemy to board, and have an officer confront them for parlay on the battle deck. While their attention is drawn, the captain or first officer opens the door (which coats with a slimy substance as soon as it begins to open, causing anything on it to slide off below), and allows the opposing forces to drop below, where typically a cage has been formed from the ship. This provides extra slaves, and is a good means of offense in a boarding situation.
The dimensions of the ship are slightly larger than the standard nautiloid, but this is unclear until such a time as enemies have reason to be suspicious (the best a DM might say is that it looks well-armoured). Only then may they possibly notice an eye move, of the actual constant use of the paddle like appendages. By then, however, it is usually to late.
The interior of the ship boasts many abilities and differences from the classic nautiloid. They are discussed herein.
Ladders within the ship have been replaced with weightlessness tubes. These tubes possess a modified version of telekinesis also, allowing any illithid of officer status or higher to command the tube to levitate it up, down, or across to an opening. It is used primarily by the first officer and captain, to reach the chart room, and the com. Station.
These tubes are biological, and are powered psionically by the ship itself. No other being than those stated before, however, can use them in this way, and in fact during boardings the ship is usually ordered to use its telekinesis power on enemies trying to scale the slimy walls of the tubes, thrashing and beating them about (2d6 damage per round, no movement possible, requiring rescue by either another boarder or a hungry illithid). No doors exist on the exist to these tubes.
As with the cargo bay door, doors within the ship are actually parts of the creature itself. They are large, oval (some 7 feet high and 5 feet wide), sphincter-like openings, which can be activated by an psionic command, or an illithid's handprint upon special psionic seals on either side (although the slave quarters have no seals on the inside).
Doors cannot be locked, but the door to the captains quarter can be opened only by himself and his first officer, and the doors to the officer's quarters and staterooms can only be opened by officers. Crewmen can open the slave doors, and the doors to access any other part of the ship not specifically mentioned here (excluding the cargo doors).
Doors are psionically and physically reinforced to be as strong as steel. 1d4 rounds, however, of inspection, will reveal veins that can be cut to cause the door to open (on the inside for the officers/captains quarters, on the outside for the slave quarters).
The walls of the ship are made from a mix of flesh and bone-like structure created during the ceremorphosis. Corners between walls and floors show round, ribbed bones, much like the spine of a human, covered in a light pink, tight flesh. Doors to the officers quarters and the captains quarters are surrounded by ridges of the same bone/flesh mix, designating their off-limits status to general crew. Most furniture within the rooms are made of a mix of this also, tables and desks protruding from the floor, shelves grown out of the walls, and any lights hang on fleshy threads from the roof. The general feel of the walls make it obvious that they are flesh coated in a pasty skin, and sometimes blood can be seen running through veins within the walls, in times of stress for the creature.
Light within the ship is a dull, soft pink glow, created by various organs spaced about 20 feet apart. Each smaller room has a smaller light similar to these hanging from a fleshy extension from the roof. All lights are controlled by the captain and the first officer, requiring only a mental command to activate/deactivate. There are a few rooms without these lights, such as the crew quarters, and one stateroom. The amount of light can be adjusted also, but due to illithids dislike for light, they are usually very dull, if not off. Two special lights exist over the chart room, and in the captains room, giving off a strange mixture of lights that allows illithids to read with relative ease. This light radiates a strange heat that can be absorbed by ink, but is reflected by paper, giving the pages of a book a light pinkish colour, and making the text bold and black. Illithids, however, must know how to read normal text first however.
Air within the ship lasts longer (4 ½ months) than normal, as the creature breathes a mix of carbon dioxide and other materials that the illithids do not require, and sporadically emits bursts of pure oxygen from its digestive system, under the dorsal fins (the equivalent of the Naulithid flatulence). It absorbs these chemicals through its skin and several small, thinly fleshed coverings, usually one or two within each room (standard one for each slaveroom, 2 for most others). If need be, the Naulithid can also produce oxygen through these "vents", and usually does, unless directed by the captain or an officer to withhold air from an area (only the captain can withhold air from his room, and the officer's quarters).
Note that the creature itself cannot be fully enclosed, or it will suffocate slowly. This is the main reason the battle deck is left open, aswell as storing small fighters.
Food within the ship is kept within several sack-like areas, within the cargo bay.. These areas keep the food at a temperature designated by either the captain or the first officer (although it is the first officers duty, the captain has the ability). Food can be kept rather fresh in these areas, as they are air-tight and kept well protected. Brain mold and other brain-alternatives are typically kept here, aswell as a strange porridge like material for feeding slaves. Half of this material is generated by the ship itself, but it also requires water, and some other basic chemicals (provided by the crew and effluence) to produce. While the actual areas the sustenance material is kept in are within the cargo bay, strange pulsing tubes not unlike the human oesophagus allow transfer of this material to the captains quarters, the saloon (officers must eat here unless invited by the captain to his quarters), and the slave quarters.
Any illithid requiring material need simply stand near an appropriate "outlet" (usually a long, tube like appendage sticking out of a table or wall), and request the material telepathically. Slaves are manually fed by the officer in charge every 8 hours, with the same slimy porridge (it is dark green in colour, with small lumps within it, and tastes horrible, but it provides enough nutrition for the standard humanoid). A warning of three click-like sounds alerts the slaves to their feeding time, and they must then proceed to eat the porridge directly out of the tubes themselves (which retract into the wall behind small, sphincter like openings when not in use).
Stored where a stateroom was placed on the nautiloid, the ship can hold up to 144 thousand litres of water. It typically refills when it can, as this is slowly depleted as the ship travels, usually running out once every three and a half months (although it is refilled much more often incase of emergencies). Unlike most creatures, the ship has an intake (placed upon the bottom of its hull, within the tentacles), that can take in fresh OR salt water, and stores it as fresh water. The process for transmuting the salt water to fresh is not psionic, but purely chemical, and requires hardly any time to do. Water is dispensed from tubes similar to the feeding tubes in the captains quarters and saloon. Slaves are not granted water, as it is a precious resource for long-term missions (more-so than air).
As stated within the walls description, most furtniture comes from the ship itself, and is thus stationary. Chairs, stools, and other moveable pieces of equiptment can also be palced internally, by the ship, and are usually on semi-bendable stalks. For instance, a chair may bend forward half a foot, and be able to be raised/lowered by as much as a foot. All furtniture shares the same look as the ships walls itself, ribbed with bony but thin struts for legs, covered in tight pink skin, with flat surfaces made either of a soft flesh (cushion like) or a slightly harder flesh (for talbletops and the like). This furniture, along with every other piece of the creature itself, has veins with blood flowing through it, the reason for the pink colour and typical warmth.
Chests, cupboards, and other similar containers can be created (with permission of the first officer/captain), and psionically seal shut when closed. They can then only be opened by command of either the person who closed them, the first officer, or the captain. The captains containers may only be opened by the captain himself (or the new captain should he die, thought things like this are generally assumed however). Several weapons containers etc can be opened by a mental command.(note not necessarily from an illithid). Containers roughly 3 x 3 x 2 feet have 30 hit points, and those larger (up to 10 x 5 x 5) have 60 hit points - the fleshlike substances are hacked open easily despite the psionic sealing, having an AC of 6.
The ship eats the brains of large creatures, such as kindori, space krajen, and sometimes larger scavvers. It requires the barin of such a large animal once every month, but can survive two months at most without sustenance. Typically, pieces of such a creatures brain are kept stored within the cargo bay, iincase the ship needs feeding on long missions.
The ceremorphite also absorbs water, slowly, through the walls in its water storage area, and can re-constitute effluence and other materials. Scraps, and other useless objects are either broken down and used to create the food noted above, or are expelled through the sphincter-like opening at the rear of the ship, like a medium jettison. The ship can also digest humanoids, although it gains no sustenance from their brains, but instead can use their inherent energies via a life draining method to repair itself.
The ships mouth, like an illithids, is hidden deep within its tentacles. It cannot be used for attacks, but is useful when sucking the brains out of a large creature. It can also be used to swallow man-sized creatures if directed by the com station, and deposit them in a special brig-like chamber within the cargo bay (ntoe this must be constructed first)
The ceremorphite needs no sleep, nor rest of any kind, but however can be placed into a trance-like state at any time of docking etc, by the captain or first officer. This allows it to heal better (as noted below), and reduces the need for ood, water, and air consumption to a tenth normal. This is usually done when the ship is not needed to conserve supplies, and is always done at the docks of the illithid fleets.
No form of reproduction exists for these ships, as yet. Some illithids theorise a possibly genetic mutation allowing this, but it is thought very unlikely while such stringent control is kept upn the ceremorphites. Should a pair, or even one, however, escape captivity somehow, and find a place of relative safety, who knows what would be possible. Perhaps small, tactical speed tadpoles would be produced seeking out kindori to create themselves within, or some such process.
The mind of the ship, being illithid based, has the poetntial for psionic abilities, although most of them are not specifically combat related. Note that these pwoers are not PSP based, but rather are psionic innate abilities of the ceremorphite itself.
At any time the ship can use the power chameleon power to cloak itself against the backdrop of stars. This power is also slightly modified, in that it can get a shipc lsoer to another before dropping both to tactical speed. A ship cloaked in this way may get within ten hexes of another ship (5,000 yards), before both drop to tactical speed, but it must be noted that at this time, the chameleon power also disappears, as it seems the proximity of a powered helm seems to interfere with it for some reason. Anyone scanning the mindscape (or similar area if DM's allow any area like this) will not find the ceremoprhite either, but get a sense of being alone and weak minded from the ships general direction (the ship cannot see itself when it is cloaked, and gets a tad scared, it must be remembered its intelligence is almost animal-like).
One of the ships few constant use powers, it has the ability to detect any other ship, or living being greater than 25 foot in height (or length) within 100 million miles (more specifically, a days spelljamming speed, modify if alternate speed ruloes are in use). It detects the dierction, number, and general size of such beings/ships, but not their type, crew, or anything else. Furthermore, it detect large schools of beings such as scavvers, fish, and kindori, within 500 million miles (or 5 days sj speed travel), including their type, but not number apartf rom a generalisation (ie a large school of scavvers, several scattered kindori etc).
The Chart room area has a small table-like disc, which can be commanded (mentally) to show any detected objects/creatures, and has various shades of heat for different readings. This large disc also doubles as a planetary locator, which automatically scans the sphere upon entry.
The other continuous power is that of feel sound, allowing the creature to hear (it has no audio canals or organs). Note that the ship thus has the penalties of this, meaning an incredibly large sound will likely cause the ship some pain (in fact, the screams of a kindori as its brain is digested usually causes this, but the ship takes it as a fair trade).
Navigation and location are tracked by this ship psionically, including use of the radial navigation power (allowing theship to know its relative position to the illithid homesphere, even in the phlo). All this information can be shown by mental command on the disc within the chart room, but is mainly kept watch of by the first officer.
This ability is commonly used when trying to grapple or baord anotehr ship. When wtihin 100 yards of a ship, the ceremorphite lets out a blast of this power, with a duration of 4 rounds. During that time, an effective magical dead zone exists within a 50 feet radius sphere, as determined by the ship. Typically, this is used to powerdown enemy helms, or spellcasters, but note it only stops magic within the area of effect (ie 50ft radius), should a ship be 120 feet long, a caster can position himself to still cast spells at the Naulithid (although they cannot pass through this magic dead area). This version of the power, however, has the limited duration of four rounds (although it is no harder to keep going should 10 20th level mages be casting wtihin the radius than if none are), but also effects only spells not yet cast, and helms currently in use/powered down - ie, a helm will stop dead, or be unable to be powered up, and the area is a magic dead zone for casting purposes.
Spell effects brought into the area of effect are effected, but those in place beforehand (such as a charmed person wtihin the area) remain. (for example, a mage could not cast fire shield and walk into the sphere, but a charmed warrior within the area stays charmed). Note that effects such as a charmed person walking into the area should relly be dispelled, but for purposes of charmed forces on the illithids side, charm spells continue normally.
Commonly used in conjunction with the suppress magic ability, the momentum theft can effect any object up to the same mass/size as the Naulithid. The helmsman (if any) of an opposing ship receives a saving throw vs spell with a -4 penalty to aviod the effects, whil large creatures save vs paralysation with a -4 penalty. Small creatures such as scavvers, flying characters, missile, etc are not affected, only anything over half the size of the ship. This ability may only be used once a combat, and only has a duration of one round (ie it will stop an enemy ship, but unless supress magic is used upon the helm the next round, the enemy ship can easily get away.
As stated previously, the ship has the power of telekinesis within its tubes for lifting illithids to appropriate stations. This power may not be used anywhere else, however.
While this is not strictly psionic, using powers of psionic manipulation and reconstruction, the ceremorphite can regenerate 5 hull points of damage every day while travelling, or 10 if stationary (at least relatively, tactical movement only).
A special life draining effect also allows the ceremophite to transfer hit points from any being placed within its stomach at a rate of 10 hit poinst to 2 hull points, per day. Note that when a creture reaches 0 hit points, it dies, and is digested, and is also kept sedated the whole time through various neuro-chemicals. This ability does not work on undead, and once a person has been placed in the digestive system theonly way to free them is to hack into it with a large axe. There is room for 3 to 4 humanoid sized creatures in the stomach, at once. Any moer and the creature suffes from indigestion, and cannot function properly.
The ship also has ana bility similar to biofeedback, allowing it to shut off blow flows within itself with ease. Thisc annot be used to reduce damage, however, but instead an increased bloodflow results in a darker area of skin, aswell as a much harder area of flesh 9almost steel-like in feel).
This power is discussed in the landing area above, and has no other powers or effects but those listed therein.
An as yet unknown ability to the illithids, he Naulithid possessess an empathic ability. It can read the empathic emotions of any being touching it, and does so often to keep itself feeling happy (as far as it can be termed), and not so alone. It also does this to make sure itkeeps its crew happy, though in subtle ways. One thing of ntoe is that the ship intricately understands the pain of torture a slave goes through when put under the scope (so to speak), and dislikes it. The creatures, for the moment, do not understand these feelings, nrow ill they act upon them, but should a sufficiently powered mind contact them, they may be at least empathically reasoned with (although one must remember an illithid captain in the com station is in total control of the beast, though it cannot read its thoughts).
These ceremoprhites are very loyal to their illithid masters, as they are technically of the same race, just genetically modified (although their minds are to primitive to understand this fully). They are much like obedient dogs, willing to please their master, and friend. Each captain and first officer has the ability to enter the com station of the Naulithid, which is a helm-like chair on the upper-most deck of the ship. From this point, the captain or first officer can use a special headpiece to commune with the ship, taking total control of its movement and abilities.
The spore-spines of the ship are controlled, as stated previously, by two illithids per spine. Special seats and control devices aer situated upon the main deck, allowing the illithid weaponeers to directly contact the spore-spines themselves. This involves the illithid covering its eyes with strange goggles protruding from its chair, and place its fingers and tentacles within holes in tubes, sticking out from table-like constructs between the two chairs. Obviously, no illithid at this station can wear tentacle extensions or glare-goggles, but these are relatively un-needed in the safety of the ship.
The headpiece used for controlling the ship itself is kept at the coms tatino, relatively unreachable by any other than the officers/captain. It is psionically sealed within a small container, in front of the chair which serves as the com station. Note this chair can rotate 360 degrees, allowing the captain to give any orders necessary, although standardly the first officer gives them, based upon short hand signals by the captain, or the second officer if the first is upon the com station.