Building Better Monsters | Beholders

We redesign the Beholders from Dungeons and Dragons to be more frightening and talk about how to play up cosmic horror imagery in your game!
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[@jordannelson2249]

Adding the egg shell to obscure the monsters form is very smart. It raises more questions than answers like, is this egg the creatures or did it crawl into it like a hermit crab and if so WHAT MASSIVE HORROR DOES IT BELONG TO??? good stuff

[@mapcrow]

Jordan is out here asking the right questions!!

[@SuperMaster000X]

Danny Devito: "Can I Offer You a Nice Egg In This Trying Time?"

[@theshribe]

The egg is there to protect you from seeing its true form. It wants to kill you, but it doesn't want to drive you insane, that would just be rude.

[@derrickmiles5240]

My question. What does it smell like?

[@theastralwanderer]

I had something of a beholder type encounter in one of my games that I think worked (sort of) well at not being goofy. Made the thing gigantic, subtracted the mouth, and had the various eyes capable of telescoping out to random points in the dungeon. Players would encounter these eyes poking out through cracks in the floor or walls, and they eventually found their owner floating near the entrance of the dungeon they were trying to escape. Even so, I think your version is vastly more creepy.

[@panicpillow6097]

This amount of deviation is great! Getting away from the original monster doesn't always land in a place I personally like, but it is so much more interesting than hearing about a slight variation on a done to death version of the monster. And even if I don't always vibe with the end result, a lot of the ideas are still super inspirational. Also, having your complete thought process there makes me realise at what point I might deviate from your thinking and that too leads me in very interesting places when thinking about these monsters. So I'd say, go wild with these variations on the monsters!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Yeah, I really want to get folks to make their own ideas more than I want them to use mine, honestly! Making stuff is fun!

[@angelalewis3645]

Yes!

[@velocichungus]

Looks like the Tripods from War of the Worlds. Also very appropriately scary for the spooky month.

[@mapcrow]

Yeah! I didn't realize that until I started drawing the one in the background, but I think those things are so cool!

[@petsdinner]

I very much enjoy this de-goofification of the Beholder!

[@mapcrow]

Oh good! I'm glad you enjoy it! Obviously a different angle than Xanathar! Haha

[@petsdinner]

@@mapcrow different is good! It's what I enjoy most about this entire series!

[@creditsunknown7974]

I love the idea of the defensive-offensive play with the anti-magic cone. It quite literally captures the idea of eye bosses. If its starring at you with the anti-magic, it technically cant attack you with the more "exploratory" rays, but if it isn't, well then they can cast fireball at your weird egg head

[@vapormations7282]

I’ve been trying to explain less about the monsters in my homebrew world because my first instinct as a dm and a worldbuilder is to create a massive amount of lore and reasoning for everything that exists in the world. Your videos have really helped me just let shit be weird for the sake of player enjoyment.

[@mapcrow]

Right on! Yeah, I have found that what works in a book ain't always what works at the table. Cheers!

[@leviasin8379]

Gonna be honest I've run beholders before and it's hard for them to come off as anything but goofy. Even in the extended lore they seem silly, dreaming narcissistic copies of themselves into existence and fighting them to the death. Although this is one of the more extreme alterations you've done in this series, I think it pretty effectively changes a silly creature into a scary one!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Yeah, the Beholders are a tough one! Not that every monster needs to be scary, but I just like that kind of game more! I also didn't want to copy what MCDM is doing!

[@SirMerenos]

My favorite element of beholders is how they warp reality around them. . . So I put a beholder with a sweet tooth in my game. My players were then going through a candy themed cave as all the monsters were made of candy and the walls themselves were chocolate. . . As they got closer they found some of their gold was turned into chocolate coins. I wouldn't say it was scary. . . Until they found out the beholder itself was originally a halfling, But I wasn't trying to lean into horror.

[@willow4201]

While the egg part of it threw me off a little bit at first, and I might rework it as a shell, I love the design overall! The multiple eyes staring out from inky blackness is a wonderful visual, and the egg/shell introduces an interesting combat dilemma, where the players have to choose to either try to chip away at the egg/shell, but be able to use magic, or try to go for the weak spot where there's no armor, but have to be in the antimagic field. I also loved your interpretation of cosmic horror, as I think beholders should behold, and as such the detached but invasive curiosity that is harmful to the players works perfectly!

[@DungeonTheory]

Hey Kyle! Kyle here. Just wanted to say your videos and podcast have come in very clutch over the last week, as I've been Ill with a sinus infection and have binged all of your content. Great stuff as always!

[@Emploon_Yeesly]

I thought my idea of the "Bee-holder" would still be my favorite interpretation, but you may have convinced me to prefer yours. Love these videos

[@kelqka]

I love when cosmic horror monsters go the route of space insect-like creatures that are beyond our understanding. It's like something already creepy and adding a sort of uncanny valley feeling to it.

[@garryame4008]

I love this iteration so much! It feels very biological/organic in a way that is reminiscent of Lovecraft. I don't think you stayed too far from the source inspiration; in fact I would love to see more monsters in this vein. You maintained the silhouette, but players who know about beholders may not recognize it. Fantastic work!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Sounds like I hit the mark I was shooting for! Cheers!

[@devinplombier6918]

I absolutely love these beholders, that are basically dozens of eyes inside the pupil of a bigger eye. Really brought back the horror of "cosmic horror" into this monster! You continue to inspire me with every video Kyle

[@pibbles_]

The way you explained cosmic horror with the 1800s scientist comparison was incredible. I've never heard it explained so well and so simply

[@jmpb87nsm]

This is easily one of my favorite designs of yours. These things are visually, mechanically, and conceptually horrifying!

[@Morrowired]

This was a great one! The imaginary asides to your players were hilarious and perhaps even too relatable for a forever-GM.

[@mapcrow]

Glad you like them! I used the character names from my home game!

[@lexikennedy7178]

this is exactly the kind of thing i love doing with dnd monsters. take the core tenants of the creature or just a bunch of smaller elements that you like and do a bunch of reflavoring to fit the game. i’ve loved all of your videos in this series but i think this one is my favorite; i really loved the emphasis on the stranger parts of cosmic horror in it :))

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah! Identify ingredients that go together and play off each other and go for it!

[@LoganCrazyBoy]

it is finally here, the Beholder episode! Been looking forward to this one =)

[@mapcrow]

Ha! Hope you enjoyed it!

[@yo5tan]

You know all things considered, considering the lore of Beholders within DnD, who's to say that these couldn't exist after a Beholder dreams of the deep dark depths of space and reality, mingled with fleshy chitonous monstrosities of the beyond. That's probably my favourite thing about Beholders, and I think it's extremely underutilised in the lore, as it could lead to some truly horrific situations. Like what if a Beholder dreams of an adventurer it's encountered?

[@keithjones5568]

This really gave me Barlowe vibes, his book Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy in particular. He did his own interpretation of characters from fantasy literature. His take on the Nissifer for example informed the way I handle Thri-Kreen in my own game, along with a short story from Grr Martin (Sandkings, it's great). I don't think there's really a limit on how far you reskin or modify these beings. After a certain amount of time, you have fought basically everything in the standard manual at least twice, adding some variety makes such a huge difference. Likewise, letting the truly weird be actually weird is I think exactly what's needed to hook some players. And at the end of the day, that's the job. Hook as many as you can, however you can. It's all tools for the toolbox.

[@mapcrow]

Thank you!! I'll unapologetically do what I want in my own game, but when making work for other people to interact with, perceptions from the community is something worth understanding, ya know? I'll have to check out that Barlowe's book! Cheers, Keith!

[@keithjones5568]

@@mapcrow his guide to fantasy and the one about extra terrestrials are a bit dated, but both are quite enjoyable. I'd recommend getting them secondhand if possible though, they're pricey new.

[@armorclasshero2103]

This isn't too far, it looks way way better than the original beholder.

[@daklr2501]

I love the visual motif of monsters with multiple eyes suddenly noticing you and and then one, two, and the multiple of of their eyes snap to your position focusing in on you. it's so spooky! though it only really works in a sort of animation.... it looks great in my imagination!

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah! Feels like a boss cutscene from a Zelda game!

[@pinionatedminion38]

War of the Worlds meets Berserk. I like it a whole lot!

[@tsarbucksthemighty4648]

These videos are fantastic, your artwork, writing, and even just the narration are all top tier. I applaud you, good Crow!

[@baydenwoodland1235]

I really appreciate these videos. I think you've retained the things for the beholder that make it iconic-- flying orb, uncanny, multiple eyes, different magic in each eye. That in and of itself it excellent stuff. I am inclined to agree that beyond that, classic beholders feel somehow a little silly or dry and it may just be having seen them so many times. I won't speak for everyone, but speaking for myself, this is GREAT inspiration and I love it. Mind you I'm not much of a D&D player but as a fantasy TTRPG player and lover of homebrew stuff, these videos are just so full of ideas and imagery. It is SUCH a joy to watch.

[@SunShadow878]

It's the spooky bestiary month! Love your channel. I've been building up a beholder for a big antagonist and listening to your take on monsters is very cool and helpful. Beholders and cosmic horror together are really incredible.

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! That is awesome!

[@aidenb1304]

Love this! I especially like cosmic horror monsters that deviate from the classic writhing tentacles and are just plain weird, and you really nailed that on the head.

[@Kjellbot]

I like the egg silhouette. it's smooth, organic, very unusual for anything that moves and contrasts nicely with the smashed opening and mishmash of eyes within. there's something inherently violent about these creatures. that they're eggs also raises the question of what happens when they hatch fully, and what lays them. the limbs are a touch too spidery for me, but giving beholder eye powers to giant spiders makes sense too. spiders are famous for having eight eyes, after all, and with their ability to climb sheer surfaces as well as threads they can live in very similar lairs to beholders despite not levitating. threads make for good traps and advance warning systems, too, perfect for a paranoid ambush hunter. personally i like beholders for what they look like and for their eye powers. they're a great iconic final dungeon boss when a dragon is too generic. the main thing d&d has going for it is all the weird creatures it has accumulated over the decades and beholders are all-timers in that department.

[@Thunderwolf4]

Ooooh! New Monster vid! Always love your takes on D&D monsters!👍

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Glad you like them!

[@cameronmaas2644]

I love this series! Such good creative fuel, and the artwork is so inspiring to me! I find it super interesting that both you and Dael Kingsmill came to the conclusion that beholders would “experiment,” on living things in the mortal world.

[@mutonfuton]

I love the mixture of vivid description and narration with interruption that’d realistically happen while describing what is going on, very realistic!

[@mapcrow]

Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, I wanted to demonstrate some of the mechanics without explaining mechanics. Haha!

[@nelly5954]

I think your way of keeping most of their body hidden is genius, but as it stands they just kinda look like giant spiders? In my experience, Beholders behold, and I think there's a lot to be gained from an amorphic creature that watches the party from a distance throughout the campaign like a vulture would. Top notch video, and thank you for opening the discussion!

[@justkosmo6806]

Really love this design, they almost remind me of giant bacteriophages. Always great to see your takes on these things, I really can't get enough of this series

[@cydeadhunter2246]

I love this narration and the ideas on how this creature effects the players, this video is so inspiring! Also I have always loved your monster redesigns your owlbear video is still one of my favorites, I really enjoy seeing your new takes on creatures, in my opinion the crazier the better!!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Heck yeah, let's get crazy!

[@GrayVBoat]

Lookin' like the Lagavulin from Slay the Spire. Great design, keep it up!

[@ironclad4451]

Hey, I have watched many of your videos in the last few days. I really like how you approach things, its like when you think about a concept you just immediately think outside what is there, at what other creature COULD have been made. This beholder redesign is a perfect example as it in function is VERY similar to the original beholder, and could even have little cracks in other spots so the eyes could look around like the eye stalks, but the flavor is totally different, serious, and mysterious! Also, your energy is AMAZING, you seem like you're wrapped up in the fantasy, with childlike wonder, just riding that creative wave. You're having so much fun, and you want us to have fun with you! It makes me smile, and I really need that right now. Thanks for sharing all these projects with us!

[@luffysh]

Idk but I am getting heavy The Garden of Earthly Delights vibes, by Jheronimus Bosch. And I love it! I really like this thing you draw! I might use this concept for a Delta Green/Cthulhu adventure! This is amazing, as usual! Thank you!!

[@mapcrow]

Glad you enjoy it! Big fan of Bosch myself!!

[@antiquedepths]

Well done! I like this beholder much better than the canonical version. I would use this in my own game, which is not something I could say about the original.

[@mapcrow]

Thank you so much!!

[@myanther8439]

Really wish I had you as an art teacher! I love your style but also your enthusiasm would be so infectious!

[@alienhoward2270]

Awesome picture as always, they are definitely more spooky than the goofy flying boys

[@tannerlee6045]

Yet another great video! I love all the different takes you have on the fantasy genre and reminding all of us why we love this genre.

[@roriksavant]

Such gorgeous artwork, your understanding of lighting and colour is fantastic. I really like the egg design with the long spindly legs, too!

[@rafaelbrandao4059]

They turned out kind of cute.

[@mapcrow]

All my monsters are cuties.

[@harveyseaman2884]

I have ALWAYS hesitated to use beholders in my games, they just never did it for me. Changing the design that much was perfect. I can picture the PCs finding large unhatched eggs earlier in a dungeon before finding out what they are!

[@mapcrow]

NOW you're cooking! Players are going to think "Dragon egg?" then "NEVER NOT DRAGON EGG!"

[@worldbuildingwithgorazaver9719]

Im going to dm a campaign where the main point is thievery soon and I think I have some good ideas on the guards of places but it would be interesting to hear your thoughts. By guards I mean like armor that comes to life or gargoyles that sense players and such. Im glad that youre putting these out every week, I enjoy them.

[@mapcrow]

I think animated armor is next... Thanks for the kind words!

[@alpheausfeltham9532]

I love this take on beholders, definitely doing my own cosmic horror changes for beholders in my homebrew. Thanks for the great inspiration! The art's also fantastic btw.

[@80PercentNerd]

My favourite of your videos yet. I like this more radical re-imagining. Anyone can change the numbers on a monsters ability, but reskinning it in an adjacent way. Great stuff.

[@mapcrow]

Thank you so much!

[@joshsowa6803]

Yet another absolute banger from mapcrow

[@mapcrow]

Oh thank you so much!!!

[@rodar6252]

Eldritch Calimero is here ! The thing about not using the names of the monsters when introducing them to the players and instead giving them a description of what the monster looks like seems so obvious, in fact they clearly state that this is the best thing to do in every rpg manual I've read. And yet almost every rpg playing video I've seen on youtube the GM never applies it, it's too bad. As if setting a mood doesn't matter when you have some experience.

[@SnazBrigade]

i always thought the normal beholder design was a bit weird, but not in a fun way, just a confusing way. like them just having a weird cyclops face kinda ruined their supposedly spooky appearance and made them goofy. I think the ideal beholder goes even FURTHER on the covered in eyes thing and is just like a big ball of variously sized eyes loosely connected by undulating purple-pink flesh. Several of them always track your movement, but which eyes are looking at you is always changing as they all cycle between infinite unseen targets; maybe it doesn't see you as a threat at the beginning, but as the fight progresses, more and more eyes focus on you and your party, and for longer and their glare starts to have a physical weight; a choking presence, first like the cold touch of a morning fog, than like the choking heaviness of fire smoke, than as the fight reaches it's climax and every eye latches onto your every move, unmoving and bloodshot, the gaze becomes like thousands of hands hauling you down to the ground

[@vaclavmusil1197]

I can tell your games are set in more of a grim-dark setting. Cool rendition of the beholder. Personally I like the idea of a beholder acting like a crazy scientist. A beholder could be monologing while fighting you just like: "Beam A seems to cause paralization in the sharp-eared specimen while the gaze of eye K seems to have caused it to fragment into small black particles. While the short, string covered specimen was not targeted by the gaze of K it caused them to a utter a loud sound and their attempts at resistance seemed to suddenly increase. Further research required. " Dael Kingsmill from MonarchsFactory has an interesting take on this.

[@mapcrow]

I adore Dael's ideas! What a brilliant thinker and designer!

[@teacupbishop]

i love this!! i've been writing a campaign that's intended to have themes of cosmic horror, and your rebuilding of the beholder has really helped give me some directions to consider going in. excited for next week's video too, your building better monsters series always feels super insightful! ^_^

[@mapcrow]

Wonderful! Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad I could help!

[@Laz2074]

As an enormous fan of beholders and their kin, I think this is fantastic. A fresh take on one of the most iconic monsters in the ttrpg space is great to see. And, I think this is very much beholdery enough, especially since beholders can have such a wide variation in their appearance as well as the various "subspecies" of beholder like the death kiss and gauth give plenty excuse for something so far from the base design.

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! I guess this could fit in as a subspecies pretty well, considering some of the wackier ones are just like decoy beholders that explode on contact. Haha! Cheers!!

[@Vpkoivisto]

This definitely seems like a creature in its own right instead of just a reskin. I like it!

[@elliottowen-griffiths948]

As always this was absolutely incredible. I would have had the egg be a little less eggy but sometimes the disconnect between something you think you understand and what you see is even scarier

[@cloud13Wizard]

Oh yes, this is excellent!

[@kylefickett2190]

Your redone beholder reminds me of a war of the worlds tripods, I love it!

[@mapcrow]

Ha! Yeah! Something of an accident, but I really love those tripods! Haha

[@hariffton8482]

I love the vibe for these creatures, definitely a creature poking out from The Mist

[@mapcrow]

Oh dang! Yeah that would work! The Mist is such a good scenario for a low level village game!

[@hariffton8482]

@@mapcrow absolutely genius idea for a campaign 😤✋✨

[@TheWoldInMyHead]

Egg boi is the best beholder, the puns will drive the players into cosmic madness. I would run the encounter with this guy with cracking shell slowly revealing the true form as it takes damage to the main body. Twist is that the the egg protects the players for its unknowable from!

[@willmendoza8498]

Very cool. Really got me thinking

[@caracal429]

The biggest thing I love about Beholders is that canonically speaking, no two beholders are ever the same. With that in mind, why not have a campaign which features these beholders in a setting with other pre established beholders that follow the base more? I love when games inspire you to be more creative, and I honestly just wish there was a d100 table for random eye beams, and you select or roll for the different ones that different beholders have. Makes them so much more versatile, in my opinion.

[@perkinsdearborn4693]

Awesome stuff. This is my first time catching your series on building better monsters. I have not been playing any RPG recently. I would love to run a game with horror elements. thx!

[@vincejester7558]

Thank you for having a great attitude over this whole idea. I think Beholders and Mind Flayers are absolutely awesome, but yer version is a fun and interesting take.

[@TheCombineOverlord]

This design definitely leans heavy into the word "aberration".

[@mapcrow]

Yeah! Let's get aberriffic!

[@Alex-tx7ih]

Hello there, dramatic improvement to Beholders. Those descriptions are superb! Great cosmic horror! I love this sort of out-there design. This bad boy's gonna get slotted into Barrowmaze somehow!

[@trappleton]

Definitely not too far. I would absolutely love to see your unconventional takes on more d&d monsters, trying to capture their sprit rather than their stats. The monster manual is a boon, but I sometimes wonder if we'd be better off with a different paradigm.

[@mapcrow]

I tend to agree, but also, the standard take works for a ton of folks! It really comes down to watch you want to do at your table!

[@feywild2426]

Ah yes, this is my first time hearing about the fall monster series 😅

[@mapcrow]

Welcome aboard!

[@waterconsultant10]

I love this so much. Your creativity and enthusiasm is sincerely inspiring

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah! That's what I'm going for! I want folks to join in on the fun!

[@FoldingScreenMonkey]

I mean for a beholder the only thing I would change is the number of eyes, specifically I would increase it. The eggshell thing is super cool and helps explain why the antimagic cone can only point in one direction. Great design!`

[@formosaetc.8024]

Simply amazing

[@mapcrow]

Thank you!!

[@henriqueb.f6632]

amazing video !!! more of this pls

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Coming right up!

[@CONTINGENCY_sys]

My beholders aren't orbs but humanoids covered in eyes on every part. 360 degrees of chaos and absolute horror. The eyes on my other creature are less stationary but move towards danger, morphic, like its not physical and the orbs are like fruit in jello that can move about at will. Monsters are monster right. Who says anatomy needs to be... understandable. Change it up people. Break those molds. On everything and anything. Chaos! It is an adventure isn't it. What part is "adventure" if all is already known. It's just a destination then. Make moments where characters can be heroic. Can be heroic if you don't present opportunities of unknown.

[@Dtyn8]

Lovely!! Big fan of this series but a bit of a lurker. What happened to the goblin episode? Any chance of a reupload or rework of it? I really loved your drawings on that one!

[@mapcrow]

So the Goblin video was something of a lightning rod for negative interactions. I would like to rephrase and reapproach a goblin video in the future, but that video is gone.

[@Dtyn8]

@@mapcrow Oh no, really sorry to hear that. Thanks for being open about it; hope to see a similar-but-different video sometime in the future then!

[@saxtor3644]

I love this rendition of the beholder, Especially how you really leaned into that cosmic horror. I always feel a need to change monsters in DnD sometimes just to keep expeirenced players on their toes (I have one friend who know the entire monster manual by heart). Keep up the variations, I'd love to see you fuck with dragons.

[@saxtor3644]

Edit: I just saw you already did dragons... How about something like Bullets (Land Sharks) or Aboleths

[@grindsaur]

Wow! Those are awesome!

[@myanther8439]

Love it!

[@maxducoudray]

Cool monster drawing. I would accept your challenge to make the classic goofy Beholder scary, but your version is awesome too.

[@posadistpossum]

Oh boy I've been waiting on a Beholders episode

[@cameronlapp9306]

The tactical point about the cone is interesting - I'll often add aura abilities for spice, but the facing of cones/lines does make for more interesting tactics...

[@mapcrow]

I'm not a great tactical GM, but I was pretty impressed once I saw what was happening there!

[@roochman]

Honestly, there were some Beholder relatives from 2nd edition: namely the overseer, that were wayyy more visually divergent than the Beholder you made. Overseers were like meat trees with eyeballs at the end of their branches! I could see this as another variety of Beholder-kin, and a very kickass one at that!

[@DarthReluctant]

This is gloriously weird and wonderful!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you so much!! That’s what I was going for!!

[@freddypowell7292]

Hey, I've mentioned it before, but it'd be really great to see what you could do with gnolls. I think they've always been left on the sidelines, and I think 5e especially has done them dirty.

[@mapcrow]

We shall see! I haven't ever used them in a game, so I'm not super familiar with them. If I get an idea, I'll run with it!

[@jeffreymilliman2306]

I wasn't crazy about the 5E treatment of beholders; my favorite iteration was their appearance in old school Spelljammer, in which entire ships full of beholders seek out and annihilate other beholders, generally only getting involved in other species' affairs when necessary (or through misunderstandings). Not using the name of the monster when it's encountered makes me think of the many older monsters who exist purely as sort of metagame Batesian mimics of well-known monsters (like gas spores). Having said all that, your interpretation looks and sounds amazing; it is a significant departure from classic beholders, but it's really great and genuinely creepy.

[@ShoggothLord]

Even if I might not wholly agree with you on vanilla Beholders (they're more horror comedy to me, absurd yet grotesque at once) I love this design. I can imagine an ancient incursion into the world from some dread, alien Outside by creatures whose forms should not exist-and the powers that be, whether Gods or mythic heroes, smote the threat and cursed Their eggs to never hatch in the hopes of halting the spread. Now, those Old Ones are trapped within Their shells and can only crack a porthole into its side, for if they ever left fully into the light of day They would meet a strange and terrible doom...

[@mapcrow]

Stranger and terrible is what I'm all about! Haha! Cheers!!

[@theoroderick782]

love listening to your voice rambling, while I am here making pasta with veggies!

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah, pasta and veggies!! Thank you for the kind words!!

[@LoganWestbrook565]

‘Was this too far?’ It absolutely was not. 11/10 from me.

[@mapcrow]

Thank you so much!! I’ll do what I want for my home game stuff, but these videos are for the community, so how these manufacturers are perceived is a thing I try to consider a bit. Cheers!!

[@LoganWestbrook565]

@@mapcrow you’re very welcome! I don’t normally comment, but those new eye beam ideas were just too good not to!

[@mapcrow]

@@LoganWestbrook565 I've never been a commenter myself, so I really appreciate it when folks take the time!

[@Arnsteel634]

Dude. I wish to god I had your artistic skill. Do You sell any of your art? And great reinterpretation and refluffing of a classic monster

[@ufDINI]

your painting style is unique what are your inspirations

[@mapcrow]

Mostly it's James Gurney and a touch of Frank Frazetta!

[@sergeantsonso3490]

i wish i could do what you do with colors. im seething with envy. i just cant wrap my head around the abstract kind of thinking required to come up with realistic coloring and shadows.

[@mapcrow]

It’s a lot to figure out, but I do have a Color Theory video that explains a bit of my thought process. My big thing is I try to focus on value contrast.

[@sergeantsonso3490]

@@mapcrow yeah, we had a conversation in the comment section of that where you said i should probably stay away from trying to do colors. sadge.

[@bolicob]

Now that I think about it, the Eye of Cthulhu from Terraria is a p good Beholder alternative. instead of a floating cyclops head with antenna, it's a huge flying eyeball that rips itself in half to reveal a grotesque mouth

[@johnedgar7956]

Again, this was sheer genius. I agree; the Beholder is just hard to truly scare players with given how absurd they look. THIS would scare the crap out of my players. Now, if I only had a way to create a tabletop paintable miniature of these. 🙂

[@mr.misterioso5354]

Your reimagined Beholder reminds me of the Lagavulin from 'Slay the Spire'. Some of the design aspects of your Beholder are similar or the same as the Lagavulin.

[@FlutesLoot]

I welcome extreme aesthetic alterations to monsters, especially when the goal is cosmic horror!

[@mapcrow]

Ha! Yeah, ya kinda got to!

[@mathsalot8099]

Here's an idea... Jabba's Palace meets Wizard of Oz. You go up to the door and are answered by a single eyestalk (like Jabba's Palace). You go through a long, creepy tunnel and are brought before a reclining lord that is supposedly "the big bad." But, if you can do a good enough perception, you notice a curtain behind you that every so often has one of these eyes peak out. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," except it's not a man, and the lord is not the big bad but rather a lumpen oaff being puppeteered by the Real big bad... emerging from the darkness, you see a single eye stalk followed by another and another. A floating Cheshire Cat grin appears just before the giant eye above it opens!! That's when you realize, you've been played from the beginning.

[@sergeantsonso3490]

also, i think this is a great reimagining of the beholder, althought it would be cool if you kept the limbs as tentacles but made them "jointed" tentacles which bent at extreme and impossible angles instead of what are basically just standard arthropod legs.

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah! Sounds like you got yourself the start of your own Better Monster to Build!

[@mestrepanda]

I don't think that's even a beholder anymore. Which is not a bad thing! I love this design, but it comes off as an original creature. To me, the beholder is not about cosmic alien horror, but more as an over the top, egotistical villain that has the power to back it up. They are silly but I like this about them. That said, I like the idea of taking the mechanical side of the monsters, and turning them into a more horror oriented design and lore. So keep it up :D

[@underfire987]

No this is perfect far better than wotc beholder or anything they would put out. Don't stop this is creative genius. You wereyak is still my fave lol

[@mapcrow]

HA! That Wereyak was drawn by Dejan Mandic as a gag, but I think it actually made it into the project we were working on! Zweihander Starter Set, it should be out soon!

[@underfire987]

@@mapcrow I mean more your whole underground layer and your work was a great concept.

[@keegannakano8225]

this is awesome

[@mapcrow]

Thank you!

[@SeeleSO02]

While I disagree with you about the basics of Beholders, (I think they're pretty scary,) I absolutely agree with you on the core fundamentals about cosmic horror and aberrant monsters. And even though I wouldn't use your version of Beholders as Beholders, I think your idea of an egg-like creature filled with eyes and insectoid limbs is phenomenal as it's own creature.

[@mapcrow]

Right on! Yeah, that's kinda my feeling too. Still, I'm really pleased with the image and the abilities! So, net gain! Haha!