Beholder 2 Game
Lorin Cupples
5e4e3e2e1eSeveral depictions of beholders.Beholder5e4e3e2e1e5th Edition Statistics[1]SizeLargeTypeAberrationAlignmentLawful evilChallenge rating13in lair144th Edition Statistics[2]SizeLargeOriginAberrantTypeMagical beastAlignmentEvil3rd Edition Statistics[3]SizeLargeTypeAberrationAlignmentUsually lawful evilChallenge rating132nd Edition Statistics[4]SizeMedium to HugeAlignmentLawful evil1st Edition Statistics[5]SizeLargeAlignmentLawful evilGeneral InformationMovementFlying[1][3][4]VisionDarkvision (360 degrees)[1]Homeland(s)UnderdarkLanguage(s)Beholder,[3] Undercommon,[1][3] Deep Speech[1]Favored climateCold[3]Favored terrainAny space,[6] Hills[3]AppearanceAverage length8 ft (2.4 m) diameterDistinctionsEye rays
Charm Monster
FlightA beholder, sometimes called a sphere of many eyes or an eye tyrant, was a large aberration normally found in the Underdark. These large, orb-shaped beings had ten eyestalks and one central eye, each containing powerful magic. Powerful and intelligent, beholders were among the greatest threats to the world.[7]
Beholders were immediately identifiable, being 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 was its massive, gaping maw. Because of these features, beholders were occasionally known as "spheres of many eyes" or "eye tyrants,"[7] although the latter also referred to a specific type of beholder.[2]
Because their entire body was covered in eyes, beholders had 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. Although beholders lacked the capacity to see color, they had the ability to perceive even in the most darkened environment, under conditions in which a human or similar creature would be rendered completely blind.[7]
Beholders were 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 resembled those of the wizard spell levitation.[7]
Beholders were omnivorous, genderless aliens, and a subject of great fascination for sages who studied biology and the hunters who attempted to kill them. As such, a large amount of information was available on beholder anatomy.
The skin of a beholder appeared to be made out of a stony substance,[10] as strong and durable as steel, and just as inflexible[11]. Upon death, the skin would harden further into a stone-like consistency.[10]
Beholder 'bones' were incredibly porous and lightweight leather-like cartilage that was visually indistinguishable from their skin, but comparatively weaker, almost having the strength and durability of iron. Upon death, a beholder's skeletal structure would become brittle.[12]
A beholder's mouth was relatively similar to a humanoid's, but on a larger scale, containing soft palates, a muscular tongue and a row of upper and lower teeth (averaging 56 teeth in total)[14] lining a hinged jaw. Said teeth are long and thin however, designed for ripping and tearing rather than for chewing.[15]
Beholder blood was green.[17] Unlike a humanoid heart that pumps blood around the body constantly, beholders had a central 'blood sac' that, in conjunction with a powerfully muscled diaphragm, pushed blood into the beholder's blood vessels, then pulled the blood back into the sac.[18]
Food was liquefied in the beholder's two stomachs and pumped through a intestine-like system up to the lung where these intestines thinned out to a hair's breadth and mixed the food with air. The beholder's diaphragm pumped the digested food, combined with air from the lungs around the body through a system of fine arteries to nourish the organs. Waste liquid, devoid of nourishment and oxygen, would then drain back into the mouth to be expelled, or more likely dribbled out steadily.[23]
Beholders could eat just about anything organic, but they did have preferences. They tended to enjoy eating small mammals and birds alive (the combination sensation of soft flesh, crunchy bone and liquid blood in their mouths was considered a delicacy); gnomes; roast beef, lamb, and pork; liver and brain pt; insects; and leafy vegetables, leaves, flower petals, and exotic mushrooms. Their favorite drinks were blood, wine, and food coloring. Visually impressive meals were always preferred, particularly colorful ones (beholders often watched themselves eat with their eyestalks). They did not typically enjoy citrus fruits, grapes, or melons; eyeballs; hard-boiled eggs; shellfish still in the shell; bull testicles; or anything fried in batter.[14][22]
Further inside the eye was a mass of nearly invisible strands called evocularies. This nervous tissue transmitted both light and magic into the three retinas at the back of the eye. The retinas then transmitted the sensory signals and magical energy to the brain. When magic was needed to power a ray, the brain would send the magical energy back into the eye via the retinas.[15]
Beholders gathered the energy that fueled their magical abilities by observing spell effects, magical creatures and items. Without new magic to look at, beholders could become very irritable, therefore they were driven to hoard magical items in their lairs and seek out magical places.[20]
Probably the least understood aspect of beholder biology was the antimagic properties of their central eyes. A beholder's central eye emitted a continuous antimagic field. Although careful squinting could narrow the area of the field generated, it would not stop unless the central eye's eyelid was completely closed, or the eye itself was put out or diseased to the point of uselessness.[24]
A lighter-than-air gas was produced inside the bodies of beholders. Some sages called this gas tiusium. Tiusium would collect in chambers in the body, concentrated mostly at the top of the skull, thereby ensuring that individuals would rest in an upright position. A beholder would generate or expel the tiusium autonomically when it desired to ascend or descend. Three-hundred-sixty-degree tilting and horizontal movement were achieved through blowing air out of its lung via air vessels leading from its lung to its skin.[25]
Beholders were considered adults at the age of two years old and retained their vitality until their 90th year. After that milestone, most beholders became increasingly frail and their abilities gradually ceased functioning as they should.[21] Most beholders died of natural causes between the ages of 120 and 150 years. Exceptions could be found in the elder orb subrace of the species.[26]
At some point before the age of 40 years,[20] typically at the age of 30 years,[21] an egg-shaped womb swelled below the back of the beholder's tongue. This pregnancy caused extreme paranoia in the individual, until it got so bad that the beholder had to secret itself away in its lair until it gave birth. Prior to this, the beholder would consume up to four times the amount of food it normally would to create a great enough reserve, as eventually, after around four months of pregnancy, the womb swelled to a size too large to fit any food in its mouth. After just shy of six months of pregnancy, the beholder gave birth.[20]
The birth process had been witnessed by very few. According to those rare few witnesses, the beholder would unhinge its jaw, spit up its womb and bite it off. The babies inside would then have to chew their way out. A beholder brood was typically three to six babies, but could be up to twelve,[20] with newborns being almost always one-sixth the diameter of their parent. Newborns were birthed with the ability to levitate; possessed strong racial memories and an inherent ability to speak Quevquel, though their eye powers would develop later.[21]
The parent would choose one infant who looked most like itself to rear, and either eat or reject the remainder, forcing the survivors to fend for themselves. Since the birth process involved the destruction of the womb, beholders could only become pregnant and give birth once in their entire lives.[20] When the child that the parent chose to rear reached adulthood, it typically rejected its parent and left to become independent.[21]
Occasionally, a beholder, while sleeping, would warp reality with its subconscious mind and spawn a fully-grown beholder instantaneously out of nothing right there where it slept. If it was dreaming about itself, it may have created an exact duplicate of itself, otherwise it could spawn a beholder-kin or even a completely unique beholder-like creature.[8] The same dreaming could result in bodily alterations for the beholder. Each orb possessed an instinctual knowledge of one's body, and dreaming alterations were without limit. The same applied to beholders and beholder-kin created through dreaming. It was possible for a beholder to dream another creature into existence. However, for that to happen, the behold had to possess intricate knowledge and understanding of another creature's bodily systems, generally achieved through years of studying, dissection, and selective breeding. Without such knowledge, only a misshapen mishmash of a creature could be dreamed to life.[27]
Beholders did not sweat or urinate.[21] They did defecate, but their stool, which could be up to six cubic feet in volume, would become almost indistinguishable from a natural sedimentary rock within two days.[28]
Beholders had a remarkable sense of sight, as mentioned. However, their sense of hearing was inferior to that of a human,[10] and their sense of taste was notably poor, if not nonexistant.[15] They primarily derived pleasure from eating based on the sight and texture of the food, rather than taste. One of the few things that beholders could enjoy the taste of was alcohol (though it took well over 10 gallons (45 liters) of wine before they would get drunk).[22]
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