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Beholders are powerful aberrations that originate in the Far Realm.
Description
A beholder's body consists of a hovering head with a wide and toothy maw, an enormous central eye, and ten independently moving eyes at the end of their own eyestalks.
Abilities
Note: This section does not specify the copywritten monster ability details, which are available in the D&D 5th edition Monster Manual.
- Immunities: The "prone" condition.
- Senses: Darkvision.
- Languages: Deep Speech, Undercommon.
- Attacks
- Antimagic Cone: The beholder can negate magic within a 150-ft cone in front of its central eye.
- Also negates the effects of its own eye rays within that area.
- Bite: The beholder can bite at a target with its giant, toothy maw.
- Eye Rays: A beholder has ten different eyes attached to its head, each of which can emit a different magical ray at separately selected targets.
- Antimagic Cone: The beholder can negate magic within a 150-ft cone in front of its central eye.
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- Legendary Action: A beholder can use one of its eye rays at the end of another character's turn.
Known beholders
Fan art of K'Varn, by Stephen Oakley.[art 2]
- K'Varn, bearing a Horn of Orcus and metal armor plating, came through a rift from the Far Realm to the ancient underground city of Yug'Voril, where he enslaved a mind flayer colony, expanded his influence to the duergar Emberhold, and began threatening Kraghammer before he was slain by Vox Machina.
- A beholder—possibly named something pronounced "Yar-voss," based on what its kuo-toa servant said as it died[1]—occupied the sunken tomb of Purvan Suul.
- Enxanash is an eccentric beholder living in a hidden valley in the Cyrios Mountains.[2]
- Taryon Darrington claimed to have killed a small beholder at some point in the past with help from sellswords, who "took it out into a field and sort of roughed it up" for Taryon, who then dealt the killing blow to the creature.[3]
Trivia
- Due to beholders being Product Identity of Wizards of the Coast under the Open Game License, they are replaced with unspecified extraplanar aberrations in the Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting. One adventure hook involves aberrant "Death Eyes",[4] which sound similar to a nickname for despotic beholders, "eye tyrants", and an undead type of beholder called a "death tyrant".[5]
- A common fan theory is that Fresh Cut Grass's former party may have been killed by a beholder, due to F.C.G. asking Ariks Eshteross specifically about one-eyed monsters.[6]
References
- ↑ See "The Sunken Tomb" (1x44) at 3:38:35. A servant croaks something as it dies that Vex doesn't recognize as an Undercommon word. For contrast, other servants called to their master at 2:46:12 and chanted in reverence at 3:10:10, both times in Undercommon.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 62.
- ↑ See "A Bard's Lament" (1x85) at 3:05:41.
- ↑ See Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 69.
- ↑ See D&D: Monster Manual, 5th ed., pp. 26–27.
- ↑ See "The Trail and the Toll" (3x03) at 3:27:16.
Art:
- ↑
Beholder on D&D Beyond. This file is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
- ↑ Fan art of K'Varn, by Stephen Oakley (source). Used with permission.
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