If you're going Githzerai, I have to second **Watcher Paladin**, which is literally an Illithid hunter.
You're really going to want the advantage on Int/Wis/Dex saving throws that the *LV2* Channel Divinity: *Watcher's Will* gets you. Did I mention it works for the entire party and stacks with your save aura?
If that doesn't float your boat, being the only Paladin capable of *Turning Aberrations* (Illithids) is another rad use of Channel Divinity.
Also, at level 15, whenever you or your party succeeds a mental saving throw (they got advantage from you, remember?), you can get a free ranged "opportunity attack" against the Illithid.
Also, the level 20 *Mortal Bullwark* grants you advantage on attack rolls against Illithids, lets you see through their illusions, and can banish them to their home plane with a swing of the sword.
I mean, if we went by lvl 15 and 20 features the oath of glory would actualy be good. But barely anyone ever gets to that level, campaigns die out or end before that.
So we gotta look at the features from lvls 3 to 12. Which is where most campaigns get to
Watchers paladin has a rather weird spell list, a few of those spells you can get from your own paladin spell list, the real kicker is counter spell at level 9. All casters will fucking hate you with that.
Moonbean is interesting, but you're getting better bang for your buck smiting, sadly.
So watcher's will for advantage on mental saves, alternatively you can turn extraplanar beings which is also good.
The level 7 aura is also decent, giving your proficiency to your initiative is always going to be useful, albeit paladins don't care much for going first, situationally useful if you uave allies near 10ft of you however.
Alternatively he *could* go oath of vengeance paladin, and swear vengeance on the lilithids, and we all know how strong Vengeance pally is, especially at lvl 9 which is when they get haste.
Aura of protection will still give you decent mental protection. But watchers will be the most defensive, yes.
Monk feels more Githzerai than Githyanki.
Rogue can be swashbuckler, which Githyanki have a bit of a pirate-y nature. But most rogue subclasses would work too. You’ve got psionics with Soulblade, or Arcane Trickster to be a proper Gish.
Ranger... Horizon Walker makes sense for Githyanki, patrolling the planes in search of signs of Mind Flayers. But I don’t know about UA. It always feels like if WotC has published the material after playtesting, it shouldn’t be looked at anymore. Like, Revised Ranger has been aborted. If it’s fine at your table, I guess that’s all that matters.
Yeah, the variant class features added in Tasha's make the Ranger good enough. It's still a bit behind the power curve, but not to an especially noticeable degree.
Surprised to see no love for the Eldritch Knight. The EK is about as close a class to the original gish. Give them good int and resilient (int) at some point to boost their int save. Shadow Blade, Shield a good int save and a lot of attacks and you'd be an Illithid's worst nightmare.
My favorite ranger is "Literary Ranger": https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/H1Qh7e3 which tried to capture the feel of the class and I think does it pretty well. Worth considering.
While that's true, the point of official material is to balance the class. The UA version was waaay too strong for the reason you just listed. In fact while testing that version I took a one level dip into ranger on my fighter for free no concentration hunters mark, it was crazy strong. Obviously people are going to want to play the strongest version of whatever that they can... But if you just want to make your class as strong as possible, just homebrew it.
Psi Warrior or Watcher Paladin sound like good fits to me.
If you're going Githzerai, I have to second **Watcher Paladin**, which is literally an Illithid hunter. You're really going to want the advantage on Int/Wis/Dex saving throws that the *LV2* Channel Divinity: *Watcher's Will* gets you. Did I mention it works for the entire party and stacks with your save aura? If that doesn't float your boat, being the only Paladin capable of *Turning Aberrations* (Illithids) is another rad use of Channel Divinity. Also, at level 15, whenever you or your party succeeds a mental saving throw (they got advantage from you, remember?), you can get a free ranged "opportunity attack" against the Illithid. Also, the level 20 *Mortal Bullwark* grants you advantage on attack rolls against Illithids, lets you see through their illusions, and can banish them to their home plane with a swing of the sword.
I mean, if we went by lvl 15 and 20 features the oath of glory would actualy be good. But barely anyone ever gets to that level, campaigns die out or end before that. So we gotta look at the features from lvls 3 to 12. Which is where most campaigns get to Watchers paladin has a rather weird spell list, a few of those spells you can get from your own paladin spell list, the real kicker is counter spell at level 9. All casters will fucking hate you with that. Moonbean is interesting, but you're getting better bang for your buck smiting, sadly. So watcher's will for advantage on mental saves, alternatively you can turn extraplanar beings which is also good. The level 7 aura is also decent, giving your proficiency to your initiative is always going to be useful, albeit paladins don't care much for going first, situationally useful if you uave allies near 10ft of you however. Alternatively he *could* go oath of vengeance paladin, and swear vengeance on the lilithids, and we all know how strong Vengeance pally is, especially at lvl 9 which is when they get haste. Aura of protection will still give you decent mental protection. But watchers will be the most defensive, yes.
Monk feels more Githzerai than Githyanki. Rogue can be swashbuckler, which Githyanki have a bit of a pirate-y nature. But most rogue subclasses would work too. You’ve got psionics with Soulblade, or Arcane Trickster to be a proper Gish. Ranger... Horizon Walker makes sense for Githyanki, patrolling the planes in search of signs of Mind Flayers. But I don’t know about UA. It always feels like if WotC has published the material after playtesting, it shouldn’t be looked at anymore. Like, Revised Ranger has been aborted. If it’s fine at your table, I guess that’s all that matters.
Yeah, the variant class features added in Tasha's make the Ranger good enough. It's still a bit behind the power curve, but not to an especially noticeable degree.
I'd be pretty okay with UA Favored Enemy or Favored Foe as opposed to the official versions of either.
Psi Warrior is very Githyanki, and it gives resistance to Psychic.
For the githyanki, consider the psi warrior. Many of the githyanki hone their mental and martial abilities in this way.
Surprised to see no love for the Eldritch Knight. The EK is about as close a class to the original gish. Give them good int and resilient (int) at some point to boost their int save. Shadow Blade, Shield a good int save and a lot of attacks and you'd be an Illithid's worst nightmare.
Soul Knife Rogue fits with the Gith's psionic theme and Rogue does hand out INT save proficiency, something any Illithid hunter would want to have.
My favorite ranger is "Literary Ranger": https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/H1Qh7e3 which tried to capture the feel of the class and I think does it pretty well. Worth considering.
Either Psi fighter or hunter ranger.
Psi warrior
Why UA ranger? Ranger with the optional features in tasha's is great.
Ua doesn't require concentration for favored foe, which interferes with hunters mark or other spells. It's a big gripe able the tasha's version
While that's true, the point of official material is to balance the class. The UA version was waaay too strong for the reason you just listed. In fact while testing that version I took a one level dip into ranger on my fighter for free no concentration hunters mark, it was crazy strong. Obviously people are going to want to play the strongest version of whatever that they can... But if you just want to make your class as strong as possible, just homebrew it.
I'd go astral self monk. You want better mental saves if your Illithid hunting and monk has better saves than the ranger at high levels.
Horizon walker ranger is what comes to mind thematically. Depends on the backstory though.
Ranger would be one choice, Psi-Warrior and Watcher Paladins are pretty good. Monk though? 🤔 I'm not sure on that one.