Beholder

A beholder, sometimes called a sphere of many eyes or an eye tyrant, was a large aberration normally found in the Underdark. These large, orb-shaped beings had ten eyestalks and one central eye, each containing powerful magic. Powerful and intelligent, beholders were among the greatest threats to the world.

"Think ye weave cunning schemes and elaborate intrigues with fallback plans and positions? Beholders change, refine, discard, and spin anew scores of such plans all the time. To the average beholder, human intrigues are the fumbling of babies."

- Elminster's notes in Volo's Guide to Monsters.

Description
Beholders were immediately identifiable, being essentially a floating head with one single, cyclops-like eye surrounded by ten smaller eye stalks. Other than this, the main feature of a beholder's anatomy was its massive, gaping maw. Because of these features, beholders were occasionally known as "spheres of many eyes" or "eye tyrants," although the latter also referred to a specific type of beholder.

Beholders of the Realms tended to be slightly larger than beholders found on other worlds, growing up to six feet in diameter where on other worlds they would average five feet wide. The majority of beholders living on Faerûn had skin colored in cool colors - purples and blues - on the top of their bodies that graduated into earth tones further down. Said skin had a pebbly texture. Most of Toril's beholders had nostrils and jointed, articulated eyestalks.

Because their entire body was covered in eyes, beholders had the capacity to see in all directions at once, making it nearly impossible to ambush them while also giving them an unusually high degree of perceptive ability. Although beholders lacked the capacity to see color, they had the ability to perceive even in the most darkened environment, under conditions in which a human or similar creature would be rendered blind.

Beholders were also capable of flight, in spite of their lack of wings or similar physical features, simply hovering above ground effortlessly. The effects of this flight resembled those of the wizard spell levitation.

Biology
Beholders were omnivorous, genderless aliens, and a subject of great fascination for sages who studied biology and the hunters who attempted to kill them. As such, a large amount of information was available on beholder anatomy.

Biological Features
The skin of a beholder appeared to be made out of a stony substance, as strong and durable as steel, and just as inflexible. Upon death, the skin would harden further into a stone-like consistency.

Beholder 'bones' were incredibly porous and lightweight leather-like cartilage that was visually indistinguishable from their skin, but comparatively weaker, almost having the strength and durability of iron. Upon death, a beholder's skeletal structure would become brittle.

Their eyestalks were usually flexible tentacles, but varied among individuals and could instead be jointed stalks covered in rigid chitin or segmented stalks similar to the bodies of earthworms.

Not all beholders possessed nostrils, those who did could breathe like humanoids, those that didn't could only breathe through their mouths.

A beholder's mouth was relatively similar to a humanoid's, but on a larger scale, containing soft palettes, a muscular tongue and a row of upper and lower teeth (averaging 56 teeth in total) lining a hinged jaw. Said teeth are long and thin however, designed for ripping and tearing rather than for chewing.

Beholders had one lung, and two stomachs.

Blood
Unlike a humanoid heart that pumps blood around the body constantly, beholders had a central 'blood sac' that, in conjunction with a powerfully muscled diaphragm, pushed blood into the beholder's blood vessels, then pulled the blood back into the sac.

Brain
The beholder brain was similar in appearance to that of a humanoid's, but wider. It's two lobes (known as 'dweomerlobes') descended downwards to the left and right from the center like horns and had a complicated central nervous system surrounding it. The brain and nervous system was where magical energies were stored, amplified, and directed to the eyestalks. It had been observed that older beholder's brains gained ridges.

Diet & Digestion
While they required, on average, about 10 lbs (4.5 kg) of food and 2 gallons (9 liters) of fluid per day, an otherwise healthy individual could typically survive over twenty days without food or drink before dying of starvation or thirst. Additionally, a beholder's digestive system was capable of storing excess consumed food to process as needed at a rate of 20 lbs (9 kg) per day. For example, if a beholder ate 110 lbs (50 kg) of food, only 10 lbs of that would go towards their daily intake needs, and the rest would be digested over the course of the next five days without them needing to eat anything else. A beholder could store at least 600 lbs (272 kg) of food in its stomachs at any one time. Food was liquefied in the beholder's two stomachs and pumped through a intestine-like system up to the lung where these intestines thinned out to a hair's breadth and mixed the food with air. The beholder's diaphragm pumped the digested food, combined with air from the lungs around the body through a system of fine arteries to nourish the organs. Waste liquid, devoid of nourishment and oxygen, would then drain back into the mouth to be expelled, or more likely dribbled out steadily.

Beholders could eat just about anything organic, but they did have preferences. They tended to enjoy eating small mammals and birds alive (the combination sensation of soft flesh, crunchy bone and liquid blood in their mouths was considered a delicacy); gnomes; roast beef, lamb and pork; liver and brain pâté; insects; leafy vegetables, leaves, flower petals, and exotic mushrooms. Their favorite drinks were blood, wine, and food coloring. Visually impressive meals were always preferred, particularly colorful ones (beholders often watched themselves eat with their eyestalks). They did not typically enjoy citrus fruits, grapes or melons; eyeballs; hard-boiled eggs; shellfish still in the shell; bull testicles; or anything fried in batter.

Indigestible items eaten by a beholder would be either vomited up or absorbed into the body where it would eventually embed itself on the inside surface of their skeleton.

Eyes
The beholder's eyes were remarkable things. Hard, solid balls that drew in both light through the pupil and magical energy through the iris, which consisted of some sort of translucent crystal. The shape of the iris could be anything the beholder wished, which granted it's owner both darkvision and exceptional vision in the light - beholders in a brightly lit space had been observed as capable of counting the legs on a minuscule insect at distances of over one hundred and twenty feet. Beholder eyes also had up to twelve lenses, all capable of movement and rotation independent of the others, which was what granted them control over the aiming of their eye rays.

Further inside the eye were a mass of nearly invisible strands called evocularies. This nervous tissue transmitted both light and magic into the three retinas at the back of the eye. The retinas then transmitted the sensory signals and magical energy to the brain. When magic was needed to power a ray, the brain would send the magical energy back into the eye via the retinas. Beholders gathered the energy that fueled their magical abilities by observing spell effects, magical creatures and items. Without new magic to look at, a beholder could become very irritable, therefore they were driven to hoard magical items in their lairs and seek out magical places.

Probably the least understood aspect of beholder biology were the antimagic properties of their central eyes. A beholder's central eye emitted a continuous antimagic field. Although careful squinting could narrow the area of the field generated, it would not stop unless the central eye's eyelid was completely closed, or the eye itself was put out or diseased to the point of uselessness.

Flight
An alien lighter-than-air gas was produced inside the bodies of beholders. Some sages called this gas tiusium. Tiusium would collect in chambers in the body, concentrated mostly at the top of the skull, thereby ensuring that individuals would rest in an upright position. A beholder would generate or expel the tiusium autonomically when they desired to ascend or descend. 360° tilting and horizontal movement was achieved through blowing air out of their lung via air vessels leading from their lung to their skin.

Life Cycle
Beholders were considered adults at the age of two years old and retained their vitality until their ninetieth year. After that milestone, most beholders became increasingly frail and their abilities gradually ceased functioning as they should. Most beholders died of natural causes between the ages of one hundred and twenty and one hundred and fifty. Exceptions could be found in the elder orb subrace of the species.

At some point before the age of forty years, typically at the age of thirty, an egg-shaped womb swelled below the back of their tongue. This pregnancy caused extreme (for a beholder) paranoia in the individual, until it got so bad that they had to secret themselves away in their lair until they gave birth. Prior to this, the beholder would consume up to four times the amount of food it normally would to create a great enough reserve, as eventually, after around four months of pregnancy, the womb swelled to a size too large to fit any food in their mouth. After just shy of six months of pregnancy, the beholder gave birth.

The birth process had been witnessed by very few. According to those rare few witnesses, the beholder would unhinge their jaw, spit up their womb and bite it off. The babies inside would then have to chew their way out. A beholder brood was typically three to six babies, but could be up to twelve, with newborns being almost always one sixth the diameter of their parent. Newborns were birthed with the ability to levitate; possessed strong racial memories and an inherent ability to speak Quevquel, though their eye powers would develop later.

The parent would choose one infant who looked most like themselves to rear, and either eat or reject the remainder, forcing the survivors to fend for themselves. Since the birth process involved the destruction of the womb, beholders could only become pregnant and give birth once in their entire lives. When the child that the parent chose to rear reached adulthood, it typically rejected their parent and left to become independent.

Occasionally, a beholder, while sleeping, would warp reality with it's subconscious mind and spawn a fully-grown beholder instantaneously out of nothing right there where they slept. If it was dreaming of itself, it may have created an exact duplicate of itself, otherwise it could spawn a beholder-kin or even a completely unique beholder-like creature.

Respiration
Beholders did not sweat or urinate. They did defecate, but their stool, which could be up to six cubic feet in volume, would become almost indistinguishable from a natural sedimentary rock within two days.

Senses
Beholders had a remarkable sense of sight, as mentioned, however their sense of hearing was inferior to that of a human, and their sense of taste was notably poor, if not nonexistant. They primarily derived pleasure from eating, not from taste but from the sight and texture of the food. One of the few things that beholders could enjoy the taste of was alcohol (though it took well over 10 gallons (45 liters) of wine before they would get drunk).

Personality
Xenophobic and vicious creatures, beholders were quick to attack enemies, including anyone they deemed not "like themselves." Beholders, as a rule, were violent and greedy, hungering for both wealth and power over others. This was made all the more complicated since more than one variety of beholder existed, each believing itself to be the pinnacle of bodily perfection and they viewed other beholders who differed from this image in even the most minute details as loathsome enemies and inferiors.

Beholder minds were divided into two separate entities. Each of these entities thought and acted on its own accord even though it was bound to the same body as the other half of its mind. Neither half of the beholder's mind trusted the other, so they hid a lot from each other, creating a very paranoid relationship. "Sane beholders" were beholders whose minds were not "divided" so to speak. They were still two entities within the beholder, but neither hid anything from the other, making a less paranoid beholder. However, the persona of a "sane beholder" was just as likely to be considered "insane" by any non-beholder. Because there were two entities within a single beholder, that beholder should always be addressed by its full name when in conversation with them, or they would perceive it as speaking to only one of the entities.

Combat
Beholders were not particularly strong but were inherently magical creatures, with each of their eyes possessing an innately magical nature. Beholders, who often attacked for seemingly no reason, would often try to end a battle as quickly as possible, unleashing their terrifying abilities all at once. Among the most basic of these attacks was their deadly ability to project magical power from their eyes, in varying forms such as instilling fear within, charming, knocking out, petrifying, disintegrating, slowing, or killing their enemies. Any combination of these was possible, although they often used only two at a given time.

Many, but not all, beholders also had the capacity to use their central eye to project a field of antimagic, which canceled the effects of all supernatural abilities within a small cone of 150 feet in length. In addition to enemy spells, prayers, or similar effects, this also affected a beholder's own eye rays, suppressing their power. However, the inability to cast its eye rays at full strength was hardly a hindrance—it allowed a beholder to attack its foes with its large, toothy maw.

Culture
Beholders were often found occupying deep, underground caverns. Frequently, these lairs were carved out by the beholders themselves, using their eye rays to mold the environment for their purposes. Often, these lairs were built vertically rather than horizontally like most buildings, with beholder architecture frequently exhibiting a large number of vertical shafts which beholders and other flying creatures could use with ease, while walking creatures found their navigation hindered. Beholders worshiped Gzemnid and the Great Mother.

Subraces
In spite of their hatred of diversity (or perhaps because of it), beholders came in a variety of forms, some of which are listed below:


 * Bloodkiss beholder
 * An undead beholder that sucked its prey dry of blood with its eye tentacles.


 * Death tyrant
 * Death tyrants were undead beholders akin to zombies.


 * Elder orb
 * These beholders were born with amazing longevity, to near-immortality.


 * Eye of flame
 * An unusually docile form of beholder whose members, while still malevolent, were willing to serve beneath more powerful beholders.


 * Eye of frost
 * A cruel beholder who lived in solitude.


 * Eye of Shadow
 * Eyes of shadow are beholders that have been warped by too much time spent in the tangled paths leading to the Shadowfell.


 * Ghost Beholder
 * A beholder that has died and has risen as a ghost. These may rise in the form of doomspheres, whose eyestalk rays take on more chilling and necromantic properties.


 * Hive mother
 * Also known as ultimate tyrant, an enormously powerful variant of beholder with the capacity to stun nearby enemies as well as a greater range of eye ray abilities. Hive mothers had the ability to magically dominate other beholders.

Beholderkin
A vast number of beholderkin existed. Not true beholders, these creatures did not share the race's xenophobia, although most were still quite evil and cruel in nature.


 * Death kiss
 * This creature's eyestalks were replaced with blood-draining tentacles.


 * Director
 * Beholder hive shock troopers.


 * Eye of the deep
 * An aquatic subspecies of beholder. Its most notable physical change was its two large clawed arms.


 * Gauth
 * A subspecies of beholder from the same plane as spectators which fed on magic and magic objects.


 * Gazer
 * Also known as eyeball, a tiny beholderkin with four eye stalks.


 * Gouger
 * Ruthless carnivores that hunted beholders.


 * Observer
 * An observer was one of the most socially adept of the beholder family.


 * Overseer
 * An overseer resembled a large, fleshy tree with mouths on its trunk and eyes on its branches.


 * Spectator
 * A spectator was an extraplanar beholderkin with four eye stalks.

Beholder Mages
A beholder who wished to learn the Art of arcane spellcasting beyond the simple use of its innate powers faced a number of limitations, the greatest of which being its own antimagic eyesight. However, some beholders were known to blind their own central eye in order to study wizardry, becoming a beholder mage. The beholder then used its gouged-out eye as a spellcasting focus and was able to cast spells by wiggling and writhing its eyestalks. To learn spells of a new level, a beholder mage had to permanently sacrifice the innate power of one of its eyestalks to dedicate to that new level. Doing this not only granted it access to more powerful spells but also negated the need for material components. Furthermore, beholder mages were so innately gifted with magic that they could simultaneously cast spells with each eyestalk that had been dedicated to their arcane studies. In such cases, they handled the various conflicting verbal components by singing a complicated spellcasting song.

Usage
Beholder hide was a very rare and high quality crafting material, used in creation of armor and reinforcing weapons.

History
The goblin boss Yek kept a stuffed beholder in his treasure chamber on the Arcane Chambers level in Undermountain.

Notable Beholders

 * Glormorglulla
 * Large Luigi, a rare non-evil beholder, who was one of the most enlightened entities in the multiverse.
 * Manxam, a beholder among the ranks of the Zhentarim
 * Xabash, the mysterious Grand Master of the Shadow Thieves' Waterdeep sect circa 1370 DR.
 * Xanathar, the leader of an infamous thieves' guild.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Under the Dark Fist &bull; Undermountain: The Lost Level &bull; Tomb of Annihilation &bull; Waterdeep: Dragon Heist &bull; Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
 * Novels:
 * The Maelstrom's Eye &bull; The Radiant Dragon &bull; The Paladins
 * Video Games:
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds &bull; Pools of Darkness &bull; Treasures of the Savage Frontier &bull; Eye of the Beholder &bull; Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon &bull; Descent to Undermountain &bull; Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn &bull; Icewind Dale: Trials of the Luremaster &bull; Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance &bull; Neverwinter Nights &bull; Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark &bull; Arena of War &bull; Baldur's Gate III
 * Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation
 * Board Games
 * Faerûn Under Siege • Tyrants of the Underdark: Aberrations and Undead • Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Begins &bull; Dungeons & Dragons Dice Masters: Trouble in Waterdeep
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards &bull; Dragonfire
 * Gamebooks
 * To Catch a Thief
 * To Catch a Thief

Connections
Betrachter