Species Name: Beholder, Sphere of many eyes, Eye Tyrant
A Beholder, sometimes called a sphere of many eyes or eye tyrant is a large aberration normally found in the Underground. These large, orb-shaped beings have ten eyestalks and one central eye, each containing powerful magic. Powerful and intelligent, Beholders are among the greatest threats to the world.
Type: Monster
Physical Traits: Beholders are immediately identifiable, essentially a floating head with one single, cyclops-like eye surrounded by ten smaller eye stalks. Other than this, the main feature of a Beholder’s anatomy is its massive, gaping maw. Because their entire body is covered in eyes, Beholders have the capacity to see in all directions at once, making it nearly impossible to ambush them while also giving them an unusually high degree of perceptive ability. Additionally, Beholders have the ability to perceive in even the most darkened environment, although without the capacity to see color under conditions in which a human or similar creature would be rendered blind.
Height: 3-6 ft diametre
Weight: 300-400 lbs
Abilities: Beholders are also capable of flight, in spite of their lack of wings or similar physical features, simply hovering above ground effortlessly. The effects of this flight resemble those of the wizard spell levitation. Beholders are not particularly strong but are inherently magical creatures, each of their eyes possessing an innately magical nature. Beholders, who often attack for seemingly no reason, will often try to end a battle as quickly as possible, unleashing their terrifying abilities all at once. Among the most basic of these attacks is their deadly ability to project magical power from their eyes, in varying forms such as instilling fear within, charming, knocking out, petrifying, disintegrating, slowing, or killing their enemies. Any combination of these is possible, although they often use only two at a given time.
Mobility: Levitation
Sensory Organs: Visual
Communication: Vocal
Reproduction: Beholders have male and female reproductive organs, so they can self-fertilize. They give birth to 3-6 live young out of their mouths only once in its life. The womb is below the back of the tongue. When it gives birth the parent observes its young and decides which look most like itself. The others are eaten by the ravenous parent, along with the discarded womb, and the surviving young are forced from the parent’s lair within the hour to fend for themselves. A newborn Beholder possesses strong racial memories. Newborn Beholders grow quickly. For the first few months of life, though, they are fairly helpless, since their eye rays take some time to develop. A Beholder needs to spend several months observing magic before its eye rays develop fully. For Beholders born in remote ruins or magic-filled dungeons, the proper development of their eye rays takes about two to three months. Until then, they keep low profiles and feed on smaller animals and beasts. In areas where magic is scarce, it can take up to a year for a Beholder’s eyes to absorb enough magic to properly fuel its powers. Physically, a Beholder reaches normal size and maturity at two years of age. Afterward, its growth continues at a much slower rate. In theory, a Beholder becomes increasingly frail as it progresses beyond its ninetieth year. By the age of one hundred, its eyestalks begin to lose their powers and wither away. Only rarely do Beholders live past the age of one hundred twenty. In practice, though, a Beholder cunning and strong enough to survive attacks from powerful adventurers and other Beholders finds a way to extend its lifespan with magic. If a Beholder can stave off aging, it continues to grow slowly in size. Stories persist of immense Beholders several hundred years old and nearly 20 feet in diameter.
INT: 4D6, WIS: 4D6, STR: D6, DEX: 3D6, CON: 3D6, CHA: D6, MR: 3D6, HPs: CON +D20, AC: 0 (main body) and 2 (each eye stalk)
Orbit/Climate: See Earth
Feeding Habits: Omnivore. Despite its awesome power
and magical might, a Beholder remains at its core a physical being. It must
eat and drink, and often these are its only vices and indulgences — apart
from the intellectual pursuit of magical knowledge or the domination of
lesser races. A Beholder is omnivorous and can gain sustenance from anything
organic. A typical Beholder must consume about 10 pounds of food and drink
and at least 2 gallons of water per day. For Beholders, the act of feeding
and drinking is their greatest physical pleasure, and as such, they often
consume far more than they need. For example, a Beholder could eat a large
fallen foe, consisting of up to 200 pounds of meat and several pints of
blood, in one sitting. While this far exceeds what the creature needs for
that day, it won’t turn down any additional offers of food or drink that
happen to present themselves. Because a Beholder’s sense of taste is so
atrophied, it finds satisfaction in the texture and visual qualities of the
food. To a Beholder, desirable food has an interesting texture (the
combination of soft flesh and crunchy bones found in living creatures is
considered a delicacy) or an interesting shape or colour, since it can
observe its food with its front eyestalks as it eats. For this reason, a
Beholder prefers colourful food over drab food. Beholders find wine
especially pleasing. Alcohol is one of the few tastes that Beholders can
experience, and this, combined with the colourful varieties of wine, make it
an ideal Beholder drink. A Beholder’s body processes alcohol very
efficiently, so the quantity of wine required to intoxicate a typical
Beholder usually exceeds the amount available to drink. As a general rule, a
Beholder can imbibe well over 10 gallons of wine before getting drunk. Since
Beholders often overeat, their bodies are capable of dealing with sudden
gluts of food. A Beholder’s digestive system can store a large amount of
material (600 pounds or more) inside the various folds of its stomach. The
creature can process this stored food at the rate of about 20 pounds per
day, during which time it need not eat (although it must still drink
normally). Food in excess of this simply cannot be swallowed. Although a
sated Beholder might chew on food simply for the texture and enjoyment of
eating, it allows the chewed food to drop from its mouth when the texture is
gone.
A Beholder’s favourite foods include small live mammals, exotic mushrooms
and other fungi, gnomes, beef, pork, colourful leafy vegetables, leaves,
flower petals, insects, and birds.
Lifespan: 80 years
Technology: 2
Culture: Xenophobic. Truly malicious race with no redeeming qualities at all. Beholders are often found occupying deep, underground caverns. Frequently, these lairs are carved out by the Beholders themselves, using their eye rays to mold the environment for their purposes. Often, these lairs are built vertically rather than horizontally like most buildings, with Beholder architecture frequently exhibiting a large number of vertical shafts which Beholders and other flying creatures can use with ease, while walking creatures find their navigation hindered.
Not all Beholders are solitary creatures with little more on their minds than slaughter. Just as other races have members who simply can’t abide by the rules of their society, so too do Beholders have outcasts. From a humanoid viewpoint, these outcasts are the few sane Beholders. These creatures maintain a hatred of other Beholders, but this is a hatred born of fear rather than intolerance. A sane Beholder understands that others of its kind view it as the greatest threat of all, and it seeks out places that other Beholders shun. In other words, these Beholders live in the societies and cities of other races.
Government: None
Population: 55,320