Eye of the Deep: An eye of the deep rarely comes into conflict with true beholders, for this aquatic variant dwells deep underwater. It has only two eyestalks, but its massive pinchers make it a dangerous combatant. Eyeball: An eyeball is a Tiny beholderkin with four eyestalks; they are popular familiars in some wizardly and sorcerous circles. Gauth: Easily the most common of the beholderkin, a gauth has six eyestalks and a central eye that can stun its enemies. Gouger: A gouger’s ten eyestalks are magically useless. Its central eye retains the antimagic properties of true beholders, and four small legs hang from the creature’s underside. A gouger’s most hideous feature, though, is its long, barbed tongue, which is adept at temporarily neutralizing beholder eyestalks. Overseer: An overseer is the most dangerous of the known beholderkin. Rivaling the power of a hive mother, an overseer resembles nothing so much as a large, fleshy tree with mouths on its trunk and eyes on its branches. Spectator: A spectator is an extraplanar beholderkin with four eyestalks. Somewhat mild and even-tempered, spectators have even been known to form friendships with other creatures, a trait that no other beholderkin or true beholder An elder orb is a foe ever displays.
Illus. by W. England
THE EYE TYRANTS
CHAPTER 3
and +3 Cha. Elder orbs have enough additional racial Hit Dice that their size increases to Huge; this helps offset their lower Strength and Constitution scores, but, in the end, elder orbs are less agile than standard beholders.
Hive Mother Even rarer than elder orbs are hive mother beholders. Although their name implies a feminine gender, these beholders are as gender-neutral as typical members of their species. Their name stems more from the fact that they have the ability to magically dominate other beholders. Hive mothers form large communities of beholders to serve them. This is how beholder cities originate; left to their own devices, beholders would rather slay their kin than live in harmony with them. Hive mothers are universally larger and fiercer than typical beholders. For hive mother statistics, see page 135. Death Tyrant These truly reprehensible creatures are undead beholders akin to zombies, though they retain some innate magical abilities. These creatures are used by powerful wizards as guardians; they are almost never encountered near other beholders, who find them abhorrent. Death tyrants are detailed on page 309 of the FORGOTTEN R EALMS® Campaign Setting.
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to be feared
Beholderkin A vast number of beholderkin exist. Not true beholders, these creatures do not share the race’s xenophobia, although most are still quite evil and cruel in nature. True beholders consider beholderkin to be abominations. The death kiss, eyeball, and gouger are detailed in Monsters of Faerûn. The gauth is detailed in the Monster Manual. For statistics for the director, eye of the deep, overseer, and spectator, see Chapter 8. Death Kiss: This creature’s eyestalks are replaced with blood-draining tentacles, and its body roils with a powerful electric aura. Director: A director is often found dwelling in a beholder community led by a hive mother or an overseer. It has six eyestalks and three clawed tentacles with which it bonds with monstrous vermin mounts.
BEHOLDER MAGE A normal beholder can become a wizard or sorcerer. The more ancient beholders are powerful arcanists (see Elder Orbs, above) that have used magic to extend their lifespans. Nevertheless, two practical limitations keep beholders from becoming spellcasters. First, their lack of hands makes it hard for them to use large numbers of spell components. Second, their central eye’s antimagic cone makes the study and use of arcane magic difficult. However, an increasing number of beholders are embracing a practice once held to be vile and unthinkable to their kind. Through ritual destruction of its central eye, a beholder can learn to channel and use magic much more quickly and efficiently than can almost any other race. These are the members of the beholder mage prestige class, and the power they wield is truly impressive.
