Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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Githyanki are another one of those D&D monsters who surpass the “classic” and hit the “iconic”. They originally appeared in the AD&D 1st Edition Fiend Folio, and were the creation of Charles Stross, who today is an award-winning science fiction author. Here, they’re present in both books.

Judging by the other RPG.net Let’s Reads that are running at the same time as this one, it seems like 3.x would spill a lot of ink creating other weird extraplanar people in an attempt to make the “next githyanki”, mostly without success. 5e would instead attempt to add new lore to them, with what I feel are mixed results.

The Lore

A very long time ago, or possibly a very long time in the future, the mind flayers had a huge empire. This empire was built on the back of slaves. More specifically, it was built on the back of the gith, a species broadly similar to humanity.

The gith eventually rose up and gained their freedom by using the tools of their tentacly oppressors: psychic powers! Once they didn’t have a common enemy to unite against, the internal tensions of the gith began building up and eventually exploded. The resulting conflict divided the gith into two people with radically different philosophies: the xenophobic and militaristic githyanki, and the contemplative and isolationist githzerai. We’ll focus on the first here.

The githyanki migrated en masse to the Astral Sea and built their capital city of Tu’narath on the corpse of a dead god. From there their astral ships sail on piratical voyages, to juicy targets in the Astral Sea, the world, and perhaps beyond.

Each ship captain has full discretion on which targets to pick and on how to run their ship, but all ultimately answer to their lich queen Vlaakith, the supreme ruler of the githyanki. A githyanki attack might be a simple raid, but it might also be part of a more complex plan of their queen.

Aside from piracy, those astral ships also seek to find more of those gigantic astral entity corpses and other such debris on which to build more cities and expand their empire.

The preferred combat style of the githyanki mixes swordplay and psychic powers. They wield psionically enchanted silver blades and use telekinesis to perform impossible leaps and to attack at range with energy blasts. Their initial publication back in the 1st Edition days probably did a lot to popularize this “sword & spell warrior” archetype, which is often nicknamed “gish” in reference to them and is represented by the swordmage class in 4e.

Githyanki sometimes associate with red dragons, likely because both respect martial prowess and have a hankerin’ for plundered treasure.

The Numbers

Despite living in the Astral Sea, githyanki are Medium Natural Humanoids since they originated in the world. Their usual speed is 6 but armor may reduce that, as for PCs.

All githyanki combatants wield a silver sword of some sort, which usually does psychic damage. They can also perform a Telekinetic Leap as a move action once per encounter, allowing themselves or an ally within 10 squares to fly 5 squares.

Their other psychic powers vary with each individual stat block. The MM versions also have a +2 to saves against charm effects (meaning “powers with the Charm keyword”), which is absent from the MV version.

Githyanki Warrior (Both)

The basic model is a Level 12 Soldier with 118 HP, who wears plate and wields a silver greatsword. Warriors likely make up the bulk of the crew on those pirate ships, which would explain why they’re such a terror. The MV version is the best of the two, so we’ĺl start with that and note the differences later.

That silver greatsword does psychic damage on a hit, and does bonus damage against immobilized targets. As an effect, these basic attacks apply a double-strenght mark against the target for a turn. This means the target gets a -4 penalty to attack enemies other than the marking warrior instead of the usual -2. I believe these are the only monsters to do so.

Warriors can also use a Telekinetic Grasp (Ranged 5 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6) against Medium or smaller targets, doing no damage but immobilizing them (save ends). Multiple warriors will know to split the tasks of immobilizing the PCs and hitting them with the sword for that damage bonus.

The MV version is similar, but doesn’t mark with its attacks and the sword does physical damage (the bonus damage is still psychic).

Githyanki Mindslicer (Both)

This one focuses more on its powers than on its sword. It’s level 13 Artillery with 98 HP. Again we start with the better MV version and note the differences later.

The mindslicer’s weapon of choice is a silver longsword, which does psychic damage as usual. It has two ranged options. Mindslice (Ranged 10 vs. Will) does psychic damage at range. The Psychic Barrage (Area Burst 1 within 20 vs. Will; Recharge 6) spreads that over a wider area and adds a couple of nasty riders: ongoing psychic damage and an inability to use daily or encounter powers (save ends both).

Githyanki Raider (MV)

This lightly-armored combatant is a Level 13 Skirmisher with 126 HP. Its silver longsword deals psychic damage as usual, and it can shift 2 squares as an effect when it attacks with the blade.

Once per encounter the raider can Slash and Dash, making an attack against one creature, shifting up to its speed, and attacking another target. Each of those does double the damage of a basic attack, half on a miss. As a move action, it can shift up to 2 squares.

Githyanki Legionnaire (MV)

A Level 13 Minion Soldier which makes me thing I was wrong when I said the Warrior above made up the bulk of their crews. This is basically a Minion version of the warrior, down to its power selection and bonus damage against immobilized targets.

Githyanki Gish (MM)

This amusingly named fellow is a Level 15 Elite Skirmisher that might represent a ship captain or officer. It has 226 HP, wears mail and wields a silver longsword.

The basic attack is nothing special, dealing psychic damage with no riders. The gish can make two of those per action. It can also shoot Force Bolts (Ranged 10 vs. Reflex; recharge 6) for a bit of ranged force damage. Once per encounter it can fire off a Storm of Stars, performing four attacks (Ranged 5 vs. AC) and dealing fire damage on those it hits.

The usual Telekinetic Leap is replaced by Astral Stride, an at-will move action that allows the gish to teleport 6 squares and gain both insubstantial and phasing for a turn. Yikes, I can see why this one didn’t make it into the MV. It’s a bit too annoyingly hard to pin down.

Sample Encounters

The MM gives us three:

  • Level 12: 3 githyanki warriors and 2 redspawn firebelchers. Add them to the list of people who do dragonspawn ranching.

  • Level 13: 4 warriors and 2 mindslicers. Your standard pirate squad.

  • Level 15: 3 warriors, 1 mindslicer, 1 gish and 1 nightmare. A captain and their bodyguards plus a mount.

Replacing the nightmare in that third one with an adult red dragon turns it into a level 19 encounter. Using a reskinned chimera instead makes it level 17. Y’know, just in case you want to have some fun with your players.

Final Impressions

Githyanki are pirates who fight like Jedi, which makes them awesome in my book! A campaign centered on planar travel is well-served by their addition. Even if that’s not a major theme, a sudden githyanki raid can make a nice random encounter, or an unwelcome complication for an otherwise unrelated crisis.