Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Beholder

Iconic Dungeons and Dragons monster, the unique and weird Eye Tyrant is an aberration spawned in strange dimensions. With a barrage of magical eye beams, wicked cunning and formidable defenses, these beasts are some of the toughest foes a bunch of adventurers will ever face.
TIMESTAMP INDEX:
1:23 The Far Realms
2:58 Beholders in Eberron
4:00 Beholders in Spelljammer
5:40 Beholders in Forgotten Realms
6:33 Biology of the Beholder
16:04 Feeding on Magic
17:58 The Beholder Brain
20:38 The Beholder Lair
23:14 Beholder Reproduction
24:53 Beholders in Combat
28:20 Beholder Lifespan
28:36 Beholder diet and diseases
29:30 History and mythology of Beholders
30:10 Beholder Variants (Spawn and Kin)

[@NolaGamer]

This channel is the National Geographic of the Dungeons and dragons world. So much detailed information. Keep up the good work.

[@AynRKey]

Funny way that was used to distract a beholder. The party encountered it, and the bard yelled out "Oh great, ANOTHER beholder."

[@AJPickett]

genius

[@joeyuzwa891]

Brilliant. I’ll have to use that some time, provided my character knows things about beholders of course. (Don’t metagame, kids)

[@nomadjensen8276]

@@joeyuzwa891 at what point would you call beholder knowledge metagaming? I mean just look at real life. almost everyone who doesn't live in the amazon knows what an elephant,tiger,bear or wolf is. Dont even get me started on dragons. So is it that hard to imagine that people who grew up in a crazy fantasy world with legendary monsters would actually have some info about it? especially if you are an adventurer? Like everyone would have stories about all kinds of creatures if you are "adventuring in a party" and traveling all over. I just kinda would assume this would be one creature that everyone heard about when its bed time in Faerune.

[@davidgribble6313]

@@nomadjensen8276 We have the internet and tv and radio and easy printing.

[@youroldman8129]

@@nomadjensen8276 I'm sure divination users have unearthed and recorded plenty of information. The real challenge comes from separating facts from folklore and superstition

[@muninrob]

2 things to remember - 1. Beholders can use an unlimited number of disintegrate spells to excavate their lairs 2. Beholders fly, humans don't - and beholders find this VERY amusing, and useful - vertical hallways bored through solid rock would be the norm, IMO

[@AJPickett]

Agreed.

[@seanwarren9357]

Well observed. Seems perhaps you speak elder orb... Amirite?

[@felixrivera895]

I've designed a circular pit style dungeon with catwalks around the edges for that very reason! A Beholder can fly at a speed of 20ft, so each floor is 20ft apart. In the center of the pit is a hollow pillar with catwalks about 15ft away from it. The Beholder can move freely though this space, but all minions and enemies have to use one of 9 "roaming eyes" [large magic vehicles that take a round and an action to move from floor to floor] in order to get from floor to floor quickly. The 10th eye is an observatory, and the 11th is the ceiling of the lair. I still needa design a few more things, but I feel like it's a pretty interesting set up.

[@michaelkelligan7931]

Does anybody remember the beholder from Kurt Russels movie "Big Trouble in Little China?"

[@mikejednorog3383]

What it see’s lopan knows

[@robk8463]

I love that movie!

[@richardaldous3608]

Beholder-kin: a True Beholder would have had a mouth full of pointy teeth. :-D

[@pillepolle3122]

It looked more like a gauth

[@GrrillaFinger]

That was my grandma!

[@ichaukan]

I'll never forget the Beholder that appears in the Central Bureaucracy in Futurama. "Don't tell my boss I was sleeping!"

[@levimorne]

Sweet gotta love Beholders!

[@AJPickett]

*Surgeon General Warns that users new to Dungeons and Dragons may have variable reactions to their first encounter with a Beholder.*

[@1cspr1]

Feeding the algorithm. Cause this channel is dope

[@fifthhorseman1632]

Continuing to feed the algorithm cuz dudes still dooe

[@jackdunne6152]

I like the idea of the party finding an injured beholder lying on the ground, unable to fly, and with one or more eye stalks cut off.

[@aubreyackermann8432]

Maybe they're like fish, and just float upwards when they die. When you finally kill one, you watch it slowly bounce against the ceiling like a balloon.

[@lelduck6388]

yes

[@jacobfreeman5444]

And thus why they make lairs. It allows their body to be recovered for posterity. Because of course they are so important their death will be a great tragedy. Otherwise they would just float up into outer space and drift along randomly.

[@joeldooley9512]

I had an Eyes of the Deep beholder in my game that was an infamous pirate Davy Jones wannabe. His ship was The Deep King and had a daughter ship called The Grand Gazer. He was a lot of fun hopping on his left pincer to simulate a peg leg. He even got knocked prone when the party removed his pretend leg until he remembered he could float. Feel free to use The Deep King in your guys games. I would love to encounter more paranoid pirate beholders.

[@jgr7487]

Beholder sees a Nymph. Beholder gets infatuated. Beholder dreams w/ a female figure. Eye Candy is created. Eye Candy gains the Nymph's Stunning Glance ability + everything Beholders get, eye stocks for hair included.

[@AJPickett]

I mentioned this to my good friend and fellow DM and he gave me this wondrous look, as his mind exploded with ideas.. Well done JG R

[@Zaprozhan]

Sounds like a kawaii Beholder! imgur.com/gallery/YkWsxXN

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

I could see a beholder keeping rust monsters in its lair, to weaken potential threats and ensure that any metal objects adventurers that make it past their minions and traps have left are magical in nature, since these would be the only objects it would place value on and it wouldn’t want its dinner covered in indigestible metal. Basically it lets the pets eat off the hard outer layer of armor and then it feast on the meat sack within.

[@samaustin339]

They believe themselves to be the perfect being. And they care only for themselves... Except Zanathar, who also cares about his Goldfish, Sylgar

[@astraeanova4280]

The baby Beholder is beautiful thanks for the giggle.

[@asterbomb9884]

If I were a dm I would introduce a beholder in the beginning of a campaign and have the players do odd jobs for him the beholder would be very curious and would give the players items it deems valuable but for the most part its useless junk he keeps a psychic link with the players and tell them to kill any thing that comes from his plain of existence he recommends throwing eyeballs in other beholders mouths because he finds it extremely funny.

[@christopherrhodes3228]

The Overseer can control as many as 20 Death Tyrants, so imagine the army at its disposal

[@AJPickett]

That is a mighty amount of Pew Pew

[@xasconrexom5741]

Ok but just keep this in mind, an overseer can control 10 beholders or 20 beholderkin like the hive mother, now imagine if the overseer had 10 hive mothers, and by extension, 200 death tyrants

[@SpecialSoldier109]

being a DM who favors undead and aberrations, death tyrants are one of my favorite late game villains.

[@benderbendingrodriguez8305]

I'm convinced AJ is the sir David Attenborough of DND

[@steveharrison76]

In my current campaign, I’m using this dream mechanic. One of my players wanted to play as an amnesiac, so I reasoned that she is in fact a nightmare that a beholder had of a warrior who very nearly killed it. I’ve taken liberties with the actual method as written, but it’s proving very effective in terms of engaging the player.

[@michaelfrost7467]

Was just wondering when I was going to get my mighty gluestick fix and then boom notification keep up the great work AJ

[@AJPickett]

I think I am actually incapable of stopping making these videos now :)

[@michaelfrost7467]

Well that's good because I look forward to them and binge watched every episode when I found your channel a few months ago also have you ever heard of a fate eater?? They are a super cool monster/beast if not you should give them a look they're in the time of beasts super interesting critter with crazy abilities

[@AJPickett]

I would love to cover every creature in the tome, I use that book extensively.

[@michaelfrost7467]

AJ Pickett it is I highly recommend flipping it open to page 180 and reading about the fate eater just it's attack alters a characters past or future in some way and eating part of one can make you gain a divination spell with a successful dc or vomit blood with a failed dc it's got a lot more as well hope you get the chance to look it over thanks again AJ

[@dawall3732]

I like the depiction of the beholder in the movie Big Trouble in Little China. It's the only instance I've ever seen where a Beholder is actually in a movie. Well a live action movie anyways.

[@khaorix2667]

There was one in the Dungeons and Dragons movie. You know, the one with the scepter of dragons and the burning lake? The one with Jeremy Irons? Yeah, it's not very good.

[@PlasmaStar-me1hq]

a thought in my head would be that a beholder may set up angled mirrors in certain sections of their lairs so that they can use their eye-beams to shot people from one or two rooms over. perhaps if there's a hall-way that has a 90 degree turn, then a mirror might be positioned in the corner so that a ray might be fired at the mirror and then hit a player who is approaching the mirror. has the potential to act as some foreshadowing if you describe a PC catching a brief glympse of a multitude of eyes flashing past the mirror's reflection

[@SpitfiretheCat16]

I'm currently working on my own homebrew Beholderkin -solely for a sharkboy and lavagirl based campaign- called a Dream Watcher. It looks a bit like a mix of a Spectator and a Death Kiss, having four appendages evenly spaced on either side of its body, but instead of eye stalks, they're simply grasping and probing tentacles to better manipulate its surroundings, and they hang a bit lower than on most Beholderkin (arranged a bit like pairs of arms and legs). A Dream Watcher is born from a Beholder's _lucid_ dreams, or otherwise dreams of being able to manipulate reality in the waking world as they do when asleep. A Dream Watcher seeks out a creature to serve as a host, feeding on its dreams and imagination by manipulating reality to the flights of fancy of its "master". The longer it feeds, the more powerful it becomes, all the while attempting to subtly manipulate its "master" into allowing it to use its abilities for its own agendas, until eventually outgrowing its host (often sucking so much life out of them that it leaves them comatose) and setting up its own lair in which it has almost total control over its surroundings. This power will dwindle over time, however, and it will eventually need to bind itself to a new "master". They prefer humanoids, particularly children, for the raw power of their entirely unrestrained imaginations.

[@Djanck000]

I haven't heard anyone talk about Spelljammer since the AD&D era. Can't wait to forget about it again.

[@envoy2500]

I'm glad I was still new when I came across my first beholder. Because "kill him by throwing all his own books at his face" sounded reasonable to me

[@mr.incorporeal7642]

Random idea for a Beholder character quirk: A Beholder who is so narssissitically obsessed with demonstrating its magnanimous nature that it absolutely refuses to attack or harm any being who *insults* it, because an utterly perfect and enlightened being like itself would never allow anyone to manipulate it by intentionally making it angry.

[@mbarker_lng]

That first version of the Beholder's art is legendary. 😆

[@khilorn]

The best think about beholders imo is you can go HOG WILD on a crazy concepts. Like a clown inspired beholder, or a pizza inspired beholder. And it still fits into the lore. 😅

[@AJPickett]

yep

[@michaelstricklett7130]

Just subbed. You are like the audio Dragon magazine. About the best complinent I can dish out. Well done

[@AJPickett]

Thank you!

[@tatsusama3192]

Thank you for stating that this is a remake right in the beginning. I thought I was having a stroke or the worst case of deja vu when I saw this notification, haha

[@thetechsupportguy3537]

The players need to throw everything the have at one you say. My players were lugging around 2 barrels of gunpowder for 2 sessions and came to an area where i gave them clear signs that something strong is nesting in the catacombs. It was meant to be a optional thing they can come back and challenge but no...2 barrels of gunpowder and a couple of readied poison arrows and two shatter spells from a lucky sneak attack....190+ damage and one dead regular beholder....AT LEVEL 4!

[@AJPickett]

Life as a Beholder is dangerous!

[@rope7741]

the beholder really should have seen that coming

[@gabrieladerre2862]

I love Beholders! Theyre as odd as they are iconic! Great work yet again AJ! I enjoyed the original Beholder video, but its great that you decided to make a follow up!

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, updating these vids will be my little, ongoing side project, I will leave the old ones online, but replace them on the playlist.

[@sypandacat7236]

In dragons dogma beholders are called evil eyes they have eyes in there mouths stick tentacles into the ground having them appear all over and turn invisible or shift to a different plane of existence while shooting u with eyestalks all over the place giant evil eye with a tree growing.out of its back is also in the game great game!

[@joerussell9574]

My favorite AD&D monster next to the Lich! Thanks for the detailed info!

[@MaximumSherman]

Just got into dnd after wanting to play for months. Finally found a group that plays once week and I am having a blast. I'm glad I found this channel I'm learning so much.

[@adriannalockhart9639]

Same! Going in to my forth or fifth session tomorrow and it’s so much fun!

[@MaximumSherman]

@@adriannalockhart9639 what are you playing?

[@adriannalockhart9639]

@@MaximumSherman You mean class or setting?

[@MaximumSherman]

@@adriannalockhart9639 class and race

[@adriannalockhart9639]

@@MaximumSherman I started a barbarian Orc my first session, changed to a High Elf Fighter for the past few weeks as a trial run since our DM is moving away. New campaign starts in two weeks and I'm playing a Half-Elf warlock.

[@das_ttv3411]

Aww I just ran a spelljammer game tonight and got to introduce Large Luigi. He was a big hit. Great video.

[@AJPickett]

Great NPC's never die.

[@cthulawha]

Awesome synopsis video AJ, I've been playing since the basic,advanced and expert box set days of the late 70s, moved on to the AD+D book system and then AD+D2E until switching to the 3.5 system in the mud 2000s and just wanted to thank you for the lore videos ,they really help me to unify the monsters, Realms and cosmology through the evolution of this amazing game system. Beholders, drow and mind flayer cabals have always been a favorite driving narrative for me as the lifelong DM I've ended up being, and I wish my 12 year old self in 1985 could have had a resource such as you to make my villains more than 2 dimensional lol. Dark Sun is my favorite campaign setting and we always played without beholders or mind flayers existing within it due to Athas being separated from the rest of the prime planes and reasoned planar beings so to speak could/would not go there if gods ,demons and devils are locked out. Thanks again dude

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

Now I remember reading somewhere that the anti-magic cone produced by the main Central eyeball can actually be recreated using that eyeball even if the beholder is dead

[@Licjr]

joseph kofmann That would be sick for a magic item if you put it in a shield. Maybe make an adversary for a PC spellcaster, some fanatical mage hunter with a shield made from some monsters carapace with a beholder eye in the center

[@highlordtedpool6081]

I have an obsession with this monster. I've acquired over a dozen different style miniatures lol Even 3D printed a couple.😊

[@AJPickett]

It's my favorite monster to sculpt.

[@Mulletmanalive]

I always thought the best way to account for their hatred of each other was the goua’uld reprint memory that Pathfinder gave to the Aboleths. If you remember every form your line has ever had, the branches will necessarily seem like perversions. Really wasn’t a fan of how Piazo turned Aboleths into discount Mindflayers by the end of P1’s run…

[@svenki1000]

Love these guys. My characters nemesis in the game i play with friends is a beholder, turned death tyrant after we killed him. He has a personality very inspired by handsome jack from the borderlands games.

[@zabbkorn]

30:52 nice Nyarlathotep

[@blackgatefox501]

Love your videos! Thank you for your service!

[@hircenedaelen]

Imagine this if you will: An illithid colony captures a beholder, and restrains it. But instead of turning it into a mindwitness, they harvest the eye stalks for spectators, and then let it sleep. Then the elder brain casts dream on the beholder, to manipulate the beholder kin created. Eye tyrants to turn into mindwitness’s, gazers for familiars, blood kisses for electrical generation, and eye drakes and Oculorbs for front line soldiers. And I'm sure hundreds of different plots could stem from this.

[@jackdunne6152]

Oh that is evil! And exactly the kind of thing mind flayers would try. I like it.

[@ngcastronerd4791]

Back in my inaugural days of D&D, Beholders were these creatures you only saw pop up when the DM felt malicious. ;) The classic beholder in 2ed was a merciless encounter.

[@AJPickett]

Sure was

[@dm_zemo]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING SPELLJAMMER!!! Currently playing it and love it so much! Keep rollin AJ!

[@HerbDurgin]

I have a soft spot for beholders, as they are my son's randomly-selected favorite monster, to where his sidekick is an enhanced gazer hedge mage. It's a Weird game-as in, it's patterned after Ravenloft but substitutes horror with weirdness-and the BBEG is an unrevealed slumbering (and dreaming) greater beholder

[@nullvoid4063]

Well one thing is for sure, the next time my players find themselves in a beholder lair, the first thing they hear will be a deranged voice yelling; disintegrate, Disintegrate! DISINTEGRATE!!! Love the work you do, keep it up!

[@17Scumdog]

What a pleasant surprise! Thank you AJ. I've been wanting updates of your older videos, especially beholder and lich.

[@SexiestChalupaEver]

I recently had players fight one and when they beat it the cleric of all people said "Behold these nuts bitch" i was crying for 15 minutes 😭

[@Aro9313]

That's one hell of a reaction for something so mildly amusing

[@4eyezwhitedragon]

@@Aro9313have you played dnd before?

[@williamozier918]

Bring me that Beholders head! Um, sir?

[@illithid3176]

I am very pleased you have decided to use the current video format to remake older videos. I am very much looking forward to seeing Illithids, Grell, Abeloths, and Umber Hulks redone. I think it would be an added bonus if you decided to tie Neogi into the Umber Hulk video. Keep up the great work.

[@AJPickett]

Hey that is a great suggestion Edward, I will do exactly that, thank you!

[@bayoubilly5176]

Fun fact. The author who wrote that beholders dream evolve and reproduce is Ed Greenwood(About thirty years ago heh). Glad that fifth is taking so many of his ideas for this edition. Faerun has always had dreaming for far realm stuff. (Not snarky, honestly happy because I know they're paying him n Salvatore well heh)

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

I marvel at the creativity of the designers in that they have ingrained the trope of monsters with treasure into the ecology of some of the monsters. Beholder feed of magic, the spellweavers use it for reproduction and dragons use it for the focusing elemental energy. Just brilliant.

[@elricengquist9989]

Had a player that wanted to lobotomize a Beholder in an attempt to tame it an use it as a pet. Since the Far-realm seems to induce insanity in those that are affected by it, than I could see that a cluster style brain might be used to allow the Beholder to shut down clusters affected by the insanity from it, like a effect of them evolving in that realm to deal with the insanity. I could see even that the different kinds/breeds of Beholders might be from different areas of the far-realm, and that their mind or body somewhat acts like a small breach in the barrier of the realm allowing these breeds to enter thru the barrier into the world. Though i can see any version working quite well. Also of the time I use a table that I can role for random alterations on the Beholder when they are encountered, which can range from merely differences in appearances to changes in powers. One of my favvorites was a Beholder that in an accident lost the eyes on it;s eye stalks, but thru some method could now fire/shoot small bubbles that encased a swirling mass of energy that varied for what type of spells were contained in them. Have a player that has a psionic character from a village that exists quite close to a portal to the far-realm, and so he is slowly dealing with a creeping insanity from his mental connection to the far-realm as he also attempts to develope unique powers from the connection to the far-realm.

[@realmchat6665]

Great video, well presented info. Over the shoulder boulder beholder.

[@onetotwenty6360]

Such an icon dungeons and dragons monster. keep up this great videos -i am hooked :)

[@countzero5214]

Another Great one - Thanks AJ. I'm really enjoying these classic monster videos - it takes me right back to the old 2nd Ed AD&D days :)

[@zachbowman296]

A few of my friends were once in a campaign where the EDL was a Necromancer/Mad Scientist who entertained himself by combining physically disparate creatures to make absurd monstrosities. One of his "failed" experiments was a cross between a beholder and a small, subterranean mammal. Needless to say, it wasn't difficult to avoid the gaze of the near-blind BeMoler.

[@Urspo]

I only recently stumbled upon your subscription. I haven't played D&D in years (worse luck!) but I always enjoyed the monsters. I am enjoying your entries. Good job. Avoid Stirges.

[@coreymerrill3257]

What happens when the lesser gods and strong mages manipulate the dreams of a beholder and force them to dream of the ancient sleeping one, or the elder gods , or the sleeping idiot god ? Nothing probably most literally.

[@anathema1828]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, indeed.

[@craigw6557]

Spectator are friendly?!?!? Guess Larian played really loose with that particular lore in BG3

[@Komega01]

the spectator in the underdark was being controlled by a drow all others might be under the mother brains control

[@craigw6557]

@@Komega01 true, but that drow was dead, so why would the spectator still be under its control?

[@jameswilliams2075]

I dont know how people dont know more about them just find a "friendly" beholder and falader it like crazy and ween out answers

[@jameswilliams2075]

@Kat Murphy complement to an extreme

[@Forke13]

Also feeding the Algo here. Plus it's impressive, just how many different visual interpretations of a beholder you managed to find and then incorporate into this video :o

[@theouterlimits7788]

Ahhh the far realm, such a beautiful place. I went a campaign based only in the far realm.

[@asgrahim9164]

>enjoy roast beef and wine, and hate boiled eggs Didn't know I was a beholder

[@joshhill5388]

good lore video, Just subbed.

[@koelkast9]

Just going through a beholder plotline. Mine got obsessed with possibilities and chance. More recently he wanted to study what would happen to a population under different circumstances. So the beholder created several pocket dimensions filled with sentient life, which he started to observe.

[@AJPickett]

Oh that would be an amazing lair to discover! Wow, what a revelation to some adventurers, suddenly aware that alternate realities really exist.

[@koelkast9]

AJ Pickett currently they find themselves in a shadowfellesk reality they has beaten down the spirits of it's inhabitants, which are ruled by cruel law and totalitarian rulers. During the final fight against the beholder i took out the regular lair action and switched it up with my own special lair action. Instead of firing an eye beam he opens a portal to one of the dimensions under his control, summoning allies, banishing them to a grey void for a turn, bury them underneath a mountain of silver (silver is important for his magic to work) and it could even summon allies for the party from dimensions they have freed from tyrannical rule

[@iammurloc424]

D beholders are so diverse i love the idea. he dreams of what may be and a whole universe appears that he may observe of how he dreams it may end. can a beholder see more then one outcome though. they are obsessed with one view so how many universes can they see a different outcome in?

[@iammurloc424]

there is a million different ways to reach one outcome... watching them still reaches what they think is the final outcome? can a beholder see that his eye beams are his greatest power in the middle of battle but learn how to change their strategies to not use them. aj says he used one to open dominsuons to summon allies instead of fighting head on. f ing a beholders. d&ds greatest enemy. it comes down to if your imagination makes sense to the lore. they can do anything....

[@jeffmay4988]

This was fantastic

[@ovrzelus]

Keep up the good work!

[@Greatmaw-72]

Subbed loved the video

[@discoriented6235]

A creature based on an old saying. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

[@docbrown7916]

Good vid AJ !

[@felixrivera895]

I love that beholders are so very capable of taking in and processing so many more variables than humans that we have to represent that intelligence with random dice, because even our smartest person [on average] wouldn't be very able to keep up with them. Unless they had an IQ of at least 180 and ADHD so they could Actually switch trains of thought fast enough to process everything going on at once. Unfortunately ADHD/ADD have the effects reminicent of a toss up between Haste and Slow on a person's mind, so it's really as much a detriment as it cna be a boon. Now I have an interesting idea for a beholder though....

[@elricengquist9989]

One of my favorite Beholders had a bit of mania to him, and a bad sense of humor. He actually had created a race of mini-bunnies that he would release into different areas around his lair. They were not that dangerous really to start with actually as they were only about half the size of a normal bunny rabbit, though they were carnivorous actually, and quite territorial as well. Though the part that still to this day freaks out my group when they find any bunny related is that if you hit one of these an it did not die, or it grew to frightened it would morph into a massive six an a half foot tall freakish mutated bunny, which when it morphed seemed to create a sphere of fear around it sending any that failed a fear/spell check off running for 2 round an then cower for 3 more rounds (total of five rounds). These little critters were smart so they would corral things they wanted to eat up towards cliffs, near deep lakes, or boiling springs, and then they would run into the group of animals attempting to get hit an cause their metamorphose to happen sending them running.

[@seanwarren9357]

TBH, best vid on KZbin. Please dig times 10x. I know that's asking alot, but yup, the request remains.

[@joshuazane3210]

Excellent work, AJ, easily the best beholder video I've seen. I love characters that can combine keen intelligence and urbane mannerisms with pervasive madness and an alien value system so beholders are a personal favorite. I can't help but hope that you'll revisit mind flayers at some point. Either way I look forward to whatever you decide to do. ☺️

[@davidfletcher6703]

Don't forget Xanthum, the Beholder who lead the Bloody Eye Thieves guild from the game Balders Gate: Dark Alliance

[@DLSMaster]

Rest In Peace Beholder, you'll forever be missed..... F....

[@AJPickett]

A little dramatic :)

[@rizuopal8153]

I thought of a funny idea for one a aristocratic Beholder named frabzubo he would wear a monocle most think its for fashion but that's only half of the truth it amplifies its central beam

[@joshuazane3210]

kiara sanders Hehe. I can't help but picture this character with an oversized top hat with holes for his eye stalks.

[@AJPickett]

A permanent animate object on a silver and ebony walking cane that can float around the Frabzubo, gesturing as the Beholder talks, occasionally rapping a minion across the skull.

[@mikemccoy5092]

Loved that ad@d art it looks so cool my favorite

[@Master_E444]

I like to Think Beholders float because there Cells (presuming they have Cells in a similar sense to standard life) are filled with Gas that Beholders can manipulate the Properties of. When they wanna go up or down, they make themselves lighter or heavier respectively or They steer themselves by essentially pushing themselves with the same telekinetic ability the use to move objects.

[@InfiniteBalance]

Do you think, maybe once you've finished handful of monsters from it, could you do a greater ecology video on sections of the far realm?

[@AJPickett]

Tricky topic, since I will be mainly just working on theory, there is little canon material about it. I am happy to spin tales of the strangest realms though, for sure.

[@Krishnath.Dragon]

Note on the Beholder Xanathar. The current Xanathar is not the original (It was killed by adventurers in the old CRPG Eye of the Beholder, which like all the old TSR computer RPG's is canon), but rather the fifth or sixth to have that title/name, at least. Each time one gets killed, a new one takes on the name and position within a week. Why this is, nobody knows. Edit: Another note, my favorite Beholder-Kin is the Eyeball Beholder-kin, it's basically a tiny beholder with four eye stalks and near animal intelligence that powerful spellcasters (with the right feat) can get as familiars. The central eye has no real power, but each of the four eye stalks can cast a separate cantrip (0 level spell in 3E, don't know if they exist in 5th).

[@JanusHoW]

0 level spells do exist, they are called cantrips. I think nowadays this monster called the "Gazer", and it sounds like they tweaked it. It now has four set eye rays, all with a save DC of 12: 1. Charms the target until the gazer's next turn that also halves the target's speed and gives them disadvantage on attack rolls. (Wisdom save) 2. Frightens the target until the gazer's next turn. (Wisdom save) 3. A frost ray that deals 3d6 cold damage. (Dexterity save) 4. A telekinetic ray that can force a Medium or smaller creature away from it up to 30 feet. (Strength save). It can also use this ray to move any object up to 10 lbs not being worn or carried and manipulate it in manners limited to its intelligence or its master's commands (such as using a simple tool or opening a container). It can move the object in any direction. It also has the orc's "aggressive" ability that lets them use a bonus action to move up to its speed toward a target it can see, and it can mimic any speech it has heard, regardless of language, though it's only a DC 10 Wisdom (Insight) check to determine if it's an imitation or not.

[@demetrinight5924]

At this point, I am convinced every bit of lore about Beholder reproduction is true. Even the ones that seem to contradict each other.

[@sethhale8828]

Thanks for the detail. The reason I prize AD&D materials is because it is written as a narrative. Same here. Info=a story waiting to be told.

[@darkeather2]

And then there is one of my favorite beholders: The ghost beholder, that is born from a beholder that is so pissed off that when it dies, the spirit will force itself to stay on the material plane and continue attacking whatever killed it.

[@KhannUurrr]

I really wish there was more info out there on overseer's and their relation to Beholders.

[@matrimcauthon7937]

There is a book out there from 2e, called "I, Tyrant".

[@blackdove5940]

What it be holding ?

[@tomkerruish2982]

In the computer game Ultimate IV, there are foes named gazers, which, when killed, are replaced by clouds of insects. Why? Because they're bee-holders.

[@VsevolodTheTabletopCrafter]

Very useful to inspire for making this monsters! So i make two✊😤

[@horridgoober6386]

I kinda find that original illustration scarier then more monstrous ones he just looks so uncanny and otherworldly

[@moumantai6337]

it's really something from a nightmare

[@JimmyTurner]

I couldn't remember the name of this this so I typed in dungeons and dragons floating eyeball. And boom you're the first video. Lol.

[@justsometroglodyte4056]

i have a bad/dumb idea for a beholder-kin (although it may already exist), well.. Beholders, as we all know, can incidentally warp reality when they dream, Watchers are a form of weak beholder-kin 'born' when a beholder dreams obsessively about humanoids. Watchers are small and weak beholder-kin with a roughly humanoid appearance, created from a beholder's dreams of humanoids. They're roughly around 5ft tall, and are far less narcissistic than true Beholders. 3 eye-stalks protrude from their back, the singular eye on a Watcher's face can (with a full action, but only for a VERY small amount of time) block magic.

[@migcasas1]

Dunno if this is considered related to the beholders, but a Mindwitness is also worth mentioning, Illithid Beholders.. Eyeballs as well, small beholders that can pass for familiars.

[@AJPickett]

Yes, I should have included those. Thank you :)

[@nonya9120]

Geezer here... Nastiest way to TPK... Beholder... Shafts and such with small openings allowing near complete cover and.. Anti Magic while minions or such attack. Disintegrate pcs? They wish... Carve out a cave in. Telekinesis one at a time... Or pick up the "tanks" armor and beat the others with him... To heavy, ok. Ever beaten to death by the pack mules saddle? (Embarrassing) Can't say if run to their most I have seen many parties stand any real chance.

[@DuskyPredator]

Actually was right now been working on some player homebrew that involves Beholder. Largely Far Realm / Aberration player options. Specifically with a player class I am calling the Aberration Arcanist, where the character draws on Far Realm energy, and mitigates most negative effects by sort of funneling into aspects of certain aberrations, which grants a sort of rage like ability where they take on stronger aspects for a short time. One of them being the Beholder where they get access to rolling for eye rays depending on their level. Some of the balance I tried to include was actually that they might go mad for a bit, that they pick up certain behaviours from their vessel. I was making it with the idea the player could feel like a Beholder, and the character would be the type trying to research a Beholders like the info of the video. The other two I included was of the mimic and the flumph. Been trying to apply fixes after getting some feedback.

[@elricengquist9989]

Very nice. It sounds very interesting.

[@firetarrasque4667]

Are Mimics and Flumphs from the Far Realm? I didn't know that. Do Gibbering Mouthers.

[@DuskyPredator]

Their all aberrations with weird aspects, and they all seemed like they fit the themes of what I thought would be good. The mimics I thought had some shape altering effects, and I put it with being able to make tendrils to grapple with, and the Mimics put some focus on telepathy and de-buffing. Together I thought them cool for representing parts of the Far Realm and like, and also interestingly charisma skills, Beholders being Intimidating, Flumphs persuasive, and Mimics deceptive. I thought of the Gibbering Mouther is like the pure chaos of the Far Realm, although what might be a real risk from the class if not careful. Did include it in an item I was home brewing in, that it could imperfectly bring someone back to life from a D20 roll of 2 to 19, fully revive them on a 20, and turn the body into a Gibbering Mouther on a 1. I thought it might be an interesting Necronomicon like thing. This is the link if anyone is interested. homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SJKFOUfVM

[@firetarrasque4667]

I'll probably use this at some point.

[@whitemansucks]

freak your party out and have an invisible henchman cast dragon's breath on the beholder... XD

[@tomkerruish2982]

I was always puzzled as to why beholders are lawful evil, yet are solitary creatures. For me, Spelljammer answered that by making them mutually genocidal racists, intent on exterminating all other beholders different from themselves.

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

I would think that each beholder is a slave to it's own psychosis and thus acts by a codified set of beliefs.

[@ElectricalExistence]

"They dont really need to eat they just do it cause they like it" also "if they dont eat enough they dry out and die" not contradictory at all.