D&D 5E Githyanki Allies

[DM_Jeff]

Damn if my players aren't scouring like ants on a picnic on the 5e Facebook pages!

I'm prepping the "Incursion Githyanki Campaign" from Dungeon & Dragon magazines 2003+ on the 5e Forgotten Realms and darned if I can't find out what, if anything, besides red dragons, their kin, constructs, gargoyles and slaadi "ally" with these cursed folk.

I've reviewed modules and sourcebooks and wanna liven up the encounters.

Any other ideas of who or what may ally with Githyanki and why?

 

[Dualazi]

Given that most githyanki are inter-planar jerks, you can probably rule out more races that are considered good/normal societies. Anything resembling aberrations is right out as well, for obvious reasons.

For my money, (and apologies, I'm not familiar with that campaign) my money would likely be two groups; devils and Yugoloths. Devils would likely be more brokers and information dealers for them I'd imagine, being willing to pay them for their ill-gotten goods and advising them on threats and targets to increase mutual profitability, stacked in the devil's favor, of course. Yugoloths would be much more likely to be seen as shock troops and specialists within the gith combat forces.

Less intelligent giants could be another source to tap, since almost all of the stats and lore surrounding the gith paint them as having little focus on ranged combat, particularly siege warfare. Giants fill this game nicely, especially if you get into a conflict that features fortifications against the gith incursions.

Lastly, the Genies, particularly efreets, are good potential side villains, since they are often mentioned as being slave-masters, and could be another source of logistical support for the gith in return for humanoid capital.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Well, I haven't exactly read the Githyanki Incursion adventure path in 3e (I think it was Dragon #309 and Dungeon #100?) or its follow-up the Scales of War in 4e, but... to the best of my knowledge, the Githyanki don't have allies beyond constructs, undead, and red dragons. That's sort of the price you pay for being a bunch of jerkasses who want to conquer the multiverse so you never have to worry about being slaves again.

I do recall reading somewhere, not sure where, that on the material plane, the Githyanki have been known to buy off traitorous sorts to serve them as quislings, always planning on betraying them in turn.

But, yeah, the Githyanki don't ally with anybody. There's a reason those adventure modules introduced new githyanki specialists and the duktha'gith, or whatever the half-red dragon githyanki hybrids were.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Well, I haven't exactly read the Githyanki Incursion adventure path in 3e (I think it was Dragon #309 and Dungeon #100?) or its follow-up the Scales of War in 4e, but... to the best of my knowledge, the Githyanki don't have allies beyond constructs, undead, and red dragons. That's sort of the price you pay for being a bunch of jerkasses who want to conquer the multiverse so you never have to worry about being slaves again.

I do recall reading somewhere, not sure where, that on the material plane, the Githyanki have been known to buy off traitorous sorts to serve them as quislings, always planning on betraying them in turn.

But, yeah, the Githyanki don't ally with anybody. There's a reason those adventure modules introduced new githyanki specialists and the duktha'gith, or whatever the half-red dragon githyanki hybrids were.

 

[werecorpse]

Good question. They have a connection with the first plane of hell through the red dragon alliance so this brings in Devils and I suppose yugoloths. Red dragons may give them a connection to kobolds? Maybe other fire creatures like fire newts or salamanders and anything that battles their traditional enemies the illithids - so maybe the duergar. In my campaign they pay goblinoid races for information as to possible illithid locations.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Undead. Vlaakith is a lich-queen, so the githyanki are pretty comfortable around the dead.

Devils (including abishai). The pact with red dragons is via Tiamat, so there should be some access to devil-summoning. Plus, the Astral Plane is a big highway for outer-planar creatures.

 

[DM_Jeff]

... to the best of my knowledge, the Githyanki don't have allies beyond constructs, undead, and red dragons. That's sort of the price you pay for being a bunch of jerkasses who want to conquer the multiverse so you never have to worry about being slaves again.

That's pretty much what I summed up too! However there's good food for thought here - yugoloths and devils make sense. Other undead under the lich-queen's control, even genies. And giants made me think - a lot of set pieces I'm stealing from Storm King's Thunder so I can mine that too. Excellent ideas all round - thank you!

 

[Quickleaf]

Damn if my players aren't scouring like ants on a picnic on the 5e Facebook pages!

I'm prepping the "Incursion Githyanki Campaign" from Dungeon & Dragon magazines 2003+ on the 5e Forgotten Realms and darned if I can't find out what, if anything, besides red dragons, their kin, constructs, gargoyles and slaadi "ally" with these cursed folk.

I've reviewed modules and sourcebooks and wanna liven up the encounters.

Any other ideas of who or what may ally with Githyanki and why?

Well, they're pretty insular so I'd suggest exploring the different castes of githyanki (knights, githwarriors, warlocks, gish, psionicists, mlar, tl'a'ikith (undead githyanki knights), and various classes of hr'a'cknir (ghustil healers, var'ith'n astral shipwrights, senja'si seers, and y'rn transport specialists).

These are from the AD&D Guide to the Astral Plane.

A few glimmers of other allies from that books:
astral streakers - type of bird used as messengers/scouts/spies
spectral hounds - guardians/trackers
temporary alliances w/ evil creatures - examples include demons, yugoloths, drow, evil humans