Today is my first blog post! I plan on posting at least weekly and attempting to keep to a schedule. On Mondays, I plan on posting Monster Tactics. So, seeing as today is Monday… why don’t we jump into it?
As you can see by the title, for our first post, I have chosen to highlight Beholders. I felt that there were a few obvious choices for a first post. And of course dragons should be posted at some point, but that feels a bit bigger than a first post. Beholders a certainly a highlight monster of Dungeons and Dragons, and behind their many eyes, there is a lot of thought that goes into their battles. Volo’s Guide to Monsters has a vast amount of information and details about Beholders and I highly recommend checking it out if you have access to it.
But this blog is all about the average DM and what can be accomplished with only the main three books. The Monsters Manual has plenty of details and ideas to decipher about this monster, so that is what we will stick to. I also won’t sit here and recite the paragraphs in the Monster Manual. I may summarize a few, but my goal is to read between the lines.
Beholder Basics:
A beholder’s life revolves around one thing, protecting its lair and treasure. You will rarely find a Beholder outside of its lair, so when writing an encounter with one, this is very important. Their lairs are typically very large/spacious areas where it can easily stay out of melee range and observe the whole area. Beholders rarely sleep (more on that soon), and with high passive perception, they are almost never snuck up on. A typical Beholder will be found hovering at least 20 feet off the ground, guarding its lair and treasure, simply staring at the entrance into the lair, waiting for something to enter. So what attacks does it use for those intruders?
Beholder Attacks:
Sure, the Beholder can bite, but will it? Short answer, no. Like said before, a Beholder has a fly speed and will always be hovering off the ground. With a moderate AC and HP, it wants to stay out of melee range. It’s real attacks come down to it’s Eye Rays and Antimagic Cone.
Antimagic Cone: This is always always always on. It holds this on the doorway as it guards its lair. With a range of 150 feet (Eye Rays have 120 feet), it does not need to be close to anything. This cone can effectively take out any magic users, the main issue for a Beholder. So what is its downside? It can’t use it’s Eye Rays within the cone.
Eye Rays: A Beholder is smart, very smart (Intelligence is 17). It can tell the difference between a magic-wielding Sorcerer and a beefy Barbarian. It may not be smart enough to know a Bard from a Sorcerer or a Ranger from a Rogue, but it has a pretty good idea of what an attacker is going to be good at. It is also well aware that it’s Eye Rays do not work in it’s Antimagic Cone, and will never make that mistake. So let’s classify the Rays:
- Strength: Telekinetic Ray
- Dexterity: Slowing Ray, Petrification Ray, Disintegration Ray, & Death Ray
- Constitution: Paralyzing Ray & Enervation Ray
- Wisdom: Charm Ray, Fear Ray, Sleep Ray
So if a Beholder is smart enough to know what each class’s typical best stat is, it will avoid that if possible. It will also typically know each class’s worst stat. That means forcing the sorcerer to make a Strength Save and the Barbarian to make a Wisdom Save. A Beholder is also smart enough (and dumb enough) to continue to use a beam if it worked previously. Say the Paladin miraculously saves for Dexterity and the Rogue somehow fails. Well, the Beholder will continue to use Dexterity on the Rogue until it proves its plan wrong.
Beholder Strategy:
So after all of this, what is the Beholder’s Strategy? Simple. Well no… it’s complicatedly simple. The Beholder sits and waits for something to arrive through it’s one lair entrance with it’s Antimagic Cone on the door. Separate the magic users by making them try to escape the cone. Make the Fighters useless by simply staying out of melee range. Its most dangerous enemy, the Ranger or Rogue will be taken out quickly with anything but Dexterity Rays (It gives those to the Fighters). If it can keep the magic users contained, it leaves those for last. With this strategy, you will kill your party in no time! 🙂
Additional:
As mentioned before, Beholders rarely sleep.. but they do sleep. And when this happens, the most curious thing happens. They dream. And what do little Beholders dream of? Well, that depends. It can really be anything, but it typically tends to revolve around the fact that they think they are the greatest Beholder of all time. #OGGOATBEHOLDER
These dreams typically become reality. Some change their Lair and can make some fun Lair Actions to play with. Some can change the Beholder into an even more deadly Death Tyrant. Get to know your Beholder and what they dream of. Then, design their lair around that. Here are the Lair Actions in the Monster Manual, but I encourage you to create some of your own based on their dreams.
- Slimy ground (Ew)
- Walls with grasping appendages (Also ew)
- Eye beams open on a surface (Triple ew)
What if someone wants to summon a Beholder to watch over their treasure? Well you can and you can’t, using a magic ritual. These Beholders are lesser than the typical, called Spectators. They stay loyal to the summoner for up to 101 years. There are also other types of Beholders in Volo’s Guide to Monsters.
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Adventures of an Average DM 