Sometimes, a beholder might dream of another beholder, or of seeing its reflection. They are creatures of madness who reproduce via strange dreams that have– no joke. They are insane– functional, intelligent, but insane. What’s more, with the release of Volo’s Guide, beholder society was expanded beyond even the Spelljammer days. They’re much hardier than the 3rd edition beholders– though it’s hard to compare with the 4th edition CR 29 ULTIMATE TYRANT in terms of hit points. Their eye rays, their hovering, their bite attacks– everything. They have everything that you know and love about beholders. In addition to the two mentioned above, there were also frost beholders, ghost beholders, shadow beholders– though none were quite as varied as the crazy tree beholder from 2nd edition, they did represent threats that felt different whenever encountered.ĥth Edition Beholders are a return to classic form. It also gained a number of eye-ray based powers, which allowed it to rain devastating arcane artillery on its opponents at any tier (there were beholders appropriate for heroic, paragon, or epic ).Ĥth Edition’s modular design brought back a ton of the crazy varieties of beholders. That is the grin of someone who has gained the ability to shoot eye rays at will, and has the ability to direct them much more freely than in previous editions. Granted it’s technically an eye of flame and the Beholder is the one glowering there in the background, but look at that big old grin. Okay, the 4th Edition beholder is having the best day of its life. They also got a little killier and more resilient with a massive boost to their hit dice and hit points. Their eye rays are mostly unchanged (though the spell effects themselves vary). Aside from that, they are largely unchanged from their earlier counterparts. You have the one with poison stingers instead of eyes, the crustacean one, the undead one, the one with no eyes, the one with tentacles– they all function slightly differently– and of course, each one believed itself to be the pinnacle of beholderdom.ģE beholders, hilariously, have flyby attack, among other things. Much like Owlbears, they originated in 1975 in D&D’s first supplement, Greyhawk, where they were described as avaricious and chaotic in nature:Īnd man, were there a ton of variants. But even so, Beholders are still pretty eye-conic.

So I guess they’re an iconic D&D monster. As long as you ignore the fact that dragons exist and are literally right there in the name. It doesn’t get any more iconic than that in Dungeons & Dragons. The Beholders are a unique dish indeed.Īdd to that the various Beholder-kin: Mindwitnesses, Gauth, Overseers, Spectators, Death Tyrants, it’s enough to drive anyone mad. Lairing in strange tunnels carved out with disintegration beams, with a megalomaniacal drive for perfection and a legendary paranoia that might lead to its own mind either killing it or spontaneously creating more.

Have you beheld the Beholder? Well, here’s your opportunity to learn more than you ever wanted to know about everyone’s favorite eye monster.īeholders are one of the most deliciously alien monsters in D&D.

Beholder monster