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Old 10-30-2001, 10:21 AM   #1
Memnoch
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Join Date: February 28, 2001
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I'm posting some stats that people requested on some of the creatures you will find in the Underdark, including sahuagin, kuo-tuans, mind flayers, and eye tyrants.

First up, the sahuagin.


Sahuagin

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Temperate/Salt water
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Tribal
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: High (13-14)
TREASURE: N (I, O, P, Q (x10), X, Y)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil
NO. APPEARING: 20-80
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVEMENT: 12, Sw 24
HIT DICE: 2+2
THAC0: 19
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 or see below
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-2/1-2/1-4/1-4/1-4 or weapon type
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: M (6'), some L (9')
MORALE: Steady (12)
XP VALUE: 175
Lieutenant: 270
Chieftain: 420
Priestess: 650
Baron: 975
Prince: 2,000


Sahuagin are a vicious, predatory race of fish-men that live in warm coastal waters. They are highly organized and greatly enjoy raiding shore communities for food and sport.
Typical sahuagins are blackish green on their backs, shading to green on their bellies, with black fins. Their great, staring eyes are deep, shining black. They have scaly skin, with webbed fingers and toes, and their mouths are filled with sharp fangs. About 1 in 216 sahuagin is a mutation with four usable arms. These specimens are usually black shading to gray. Females are indistinguishable from males, except that they are slightly smaller. Hatchlings are a light green color, but they darken and attain full growth approximately one to two months after hatching.
Sahuagin speak their own tongue.

Combat: Though they wear no armor, their scales are tough and equal to AC 5. Sahuagin wear a harness to carry their personal gear and weapons. A group of these creatures is typically armed as follows:

Heavy crossbow & dagger 20%
Spear & dagger 30%
Trident, net & dagger 50%

Spears are used only as thrusting weapons. Nets are set with dozens of hooks that make escape virtually impossible for unarmored victims or creatures not able to grasp and tear with a Strength of 16 or greater. Nets are replaced by three javelins when the band forays onto land. The crossbows fire a maximum of 30 feet underwater and normal ranges on the surface. Tridents have three uses -- to spear small prey, to pin prey trapped in nets, and to hold threatening opponents at bay.
Sahuagin are well-equipped to attack even without weapons, for their webbed hands each end in long, sharp claws that can inflict 1-2 points of damage per attack. Their powerful rear legs are likewise taloned, and if they kick an opponent with them, they inflict 1d4 points of damage with each hit from either foot. The sharp teeth of the sahuagin cause 1d4 points of damage if a bite is scored on a victim. Thus, it is possible for an unarmed sahuagin to attack three or five times in a melee round causing 1-2/1-2/1-4 and an extra 1-4/1-4 if the legs can rake.
The eyes and ears of these monsters are particularly keen. They can see for 300 feet underwater at depths of up to 100 feet. For each 100 feet of greater depth, their vision is reduced by 10 feet (e.g., when 500 feet deep they can see 260 feet; when 1,000 feet deep they can see 210 feet). Their ears are so sharp as to be able to detect the clinking of metal at one mile, or a boat oar splashing at twice that distance.
A band of sahuagin is always led by a chieftain. He has one lieutenant for every ten members of the group. The chieftain has 4+4 Hit Dice, and his lieutenants have 3+3 Hit Dice. All are in addition to the normal sahuagin in the group.
When raiding villages, sahuagin attack en masse, with leaders in the second rank. As long as there is no truly spirited resistance, they continue in their plunder and violence.
Underwater, in their natural element, the sahuagin are far more confident. Using the three-dimensional aspect of underwater fighting, they sometimes dive down on a group of underwater explorers, coming in from behind, and swooping down and past them, dropping nets on their intended victims.
When sahuagin attack ships, they swarm up from all sides and try to overwhelm with numbers. They often grab their opponents and hurl them into the sea, where at least a fourth of the raiding party lurks, waiting for such an action or as reinforcements. Some leaders carry a conch shell, which when sounded gives the signal for the group of sahuagin in reserve to enter the fray.
Sahuagin have an almost paralyzing fear of spellcasters. They direct their strongest attacks toward anyone who uses spells or spell-like powers, such as the functions of some magical items. Their saving throws vs. fire-based spells suffer a -2 penalty, and they receive an additional point of damage per die of damage from such attacks.

Habitat/Society: The sahuagin are sometimes referred to as "sea devils" or "devil men of the deep." They dwell in warm salt waters at depths of 100 to 1,500 feet. Sahuagin are predatory in the extreme, and they pose a threat to all living things because they kill for sport and pleasure as well as for food. They abhor fresh water. They dislike light, and bright light such as that created by a continual light spell is harmful to their eyes.
The social structure of the sahuagin is based upon rule by a king who holds court in a vast city deep beneath the waves. This overlord's domain is divided into nine provinces, each ruled by a prince. Each prince has 2d10+10 nobles underneath him. Each noble controls the small groups of sahuagin dwelling in his fief. The sahuagin worship a great devil-shark. Sahuagin priests above 5th level are very rare.
The king is supposed to dwell in a city somewhere at the greatest depth that a sahuagin can exist. This place is supposedly built in an undersea canyon, with palaces and dwellings built along either face. There, fully 5,000 of these monsters live, not counting the king's retinue of queens, concubines, nobles, guards, etc., said to number 1,000 or more. The sahuagin king is reported to be of enormous size (10 Hit Dice+10 hit points), and of greatest evil. The king is always accompanied by nine noble guards (9+9 Hit Dice) and the evil high priestess of all sahuagin (9+9 Hit Dice) with its retinue of nine underpriestesses (7th-level clerics).
If sahuagin are encountered in their lair, there are the following additional sahuagin:

1 baron (6+6 Hit Dice)
Nine guards (3+3 Hit Dice)
3d4 x 10 females (2 Hit Dice)
1d4 x 10 hatchlings (1 Hit Die)
2d4 x 10 eggs

Also, there is a 10% chance per 10 male sahuagin that there is an evil priestess and 1d4 assistant priestesses, for the religious life of these creatures is dominated by the females. If a priestess is with the group in the lair, it is of 1d4+1 level ability, and the lesser clerics are 3rd or 4th level.
There are always 2d4 sharks in a sahuagin lair. Sahuagin are able to make these monsters obey simple one- or two-word commands. Whenever a sahuagin lair is encountered, there is a 5% chance that it is the stronghold of a prince. The prince has 8+8 Hit Dice plus nine guards of chieftain strength. There are also one 8th-level sahuagin evil high priestess and four 4th-level underpriestesses. The numbers of males, females, hatchlings and eggs in a prince's lair are double the numbers given above. There are 4d6 sharks present at all times.
Sahuagin lairs are actual villages or towns, constructed of stone. The buildings are domed, and the seaweed and similar marine plants growing around and on these buildings make them hard to detect.
Few persons have survived capture by the sahuagin, for prisoners are usually quickly tortured and eaten. Any creatures taken alive from raids or intercepting unwelcome visitors are brought to the sahuagins' lair and confined in cells. Although sahuagin are able to stay out of water for up to four hours, there is no air in the confinement areas in the typical village, but in the towns of the nobles there are special quarters to maintain air-breathing creatures. The sahuagin set aside a few prisoners to torture and provide sport -- typically a fight to the death between two different creatures in an arena. The bulk of captives are simply killed and eaten. It is seldom that any prisoner escapes, although the sahuagin find sport in allowing captives to think that they have found freedom, only to be encircled by sadistic guards while a school of sharks moves in for the kill.
The sahuagin are cruel and brutal, and the strongest always bully the weaker. Any injured, disabled, or infirm specimen is slain and eaten by these cannibalistic monsters. Even imperfect hatchlings are dealt with in this fashion. This strict law has developed a strong race, however, and any leader is subject to a challenge. Sahuagin never stop growing, although they grow very slowly, and death comes to most before the years allow growth to large size. Leaders are always the largest and strongest. It is reported that the nine sahuagin princes are each of the four-armed sort, as is the king. In any event, the loser of a challenge is always slain, either during combat or afterward. Sometimes the loser winds up as the main course at the victory feast.
Duels are fought without weapons, only fang and claw being permitted.
The sahuagin are chronicled because of their great evil, having time and again raided the land, desolating whole coasts, and destroying passing ships continually. The exact origin of the sahuagin is unknown. It is suggested that they were created from a nation of particularly evil humans by the most powerful lawful evil gods in order to preserve them when the great deluge came upon the earth. Some sages claim that they are degenerate humans who formerly dwelt on the seacoasts, whose evil and depravity was so great that they eventually devolved into fish-folk and sought the darkness of the ocean depths. The tritons however, are purported to have believe that sahuagin are distantly related to sea elves, claiming that the drow spawned the sahuagin.
Sahuagin range as far as 50 miles from their lairs. Most of their lairs are located 2d10+20 miles from coastal shores. Some of these creatures enjoy collecting pearls and coral formations, fashioning them into jewelry. This jewelry is worn as a status symbol. They are fond of wealth, which they use as a measure of influence, and for sacrifice to the deities that they worship in exchange for granted powers and other favors. Most of the treasure found in a sahuagin lair belonged to former victims. There is usually a high concentration of water-related items, such as magical boats, tridents, helms, potions, necklaces, etc. These were gained from adventurers who explored underwater too close to the sahuagin community.
These creatures want nothing less than full control of the sea coasts, collecting as much wealth and power as possible in the process while maintaining the secrecy of their lairs' locations. Those who attempt escape are obsessively hunted down, for fear that the former prisoners may reveal the location of the sahuagins' city.

Ecology: Sahuagin venture ashore on dark, moonless nights to raid and plunder human coastal towns. They hate even the evil ixitxachitl, and only sharks are befriended by them.
The feuds and outright warfare between the sahuagin and ixitxachitl have indirectly contributed to preventing the ascendancy of the spellcasting, manta ray-like race. Sahuagin are also fond of eating giant squid and kraken. Their hunting of these monsters of the deep has kept the squid and kraken numbers down to a safe level. Conversely, these beasts enjoy eating sahuagin, which prevents the sahuagin from overrunning coastal areas.
Of all the sea-dwelling races, tritons, sea elves, dolphins, and hippocampi are the most implacable enemies of the sahuagin. In fact, the few air-breathers that have escaped the sahuagin owe their freedom to such beings that bravely aided the captives.




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Old 10-30-2001, 10:22 AM   #2
Memnoch
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Next, the kuo-tua.



Kuo-Toa

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Aquatic subterranean
FREQUENCY: Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Tribal
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: High and up (13+)
TREASURE: L, M, N (Z)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil (with chaotic tendencies)
NO. APPEARING: 2-24
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVEMENT: 9, Sw 18
HIT DICE: 2 or more
THAC0: 19
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 or 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-5 and/or by weapon type
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
SIZE: M (higher levels L)
MORALE: Elite (13)
XP VALUE: Normal: 175
Captain: 3,000
Lieutenant: 1,400
Whip: 420
Monitor: 2,000

Kuo-toa are an ancient race of fish-men that dwells underground and harbors a deep hatred of surface dwellers and sunlight.
A kuo-toan presents a cold and horrible appearance. A typical specimen looks much like a human body, albeit a paunchy one, covered in scales and topped with a fish's head. The huge fish eyes tend to swivel in different directions when observing an area or creature. The hands and feet are very long, with three fingers and an opposing digit, partially webbed. The legs and arms are short for the body size. Its coloration is pale grey, with undertones of tan or yellow in males only. The skin has a sheen from its slimy covering. The color darkens when the kuo-toan is angry and pales when it is badly frightened. A strong odor of dead fish follows it around.
It wears no clothing, only leather harnesses for its weapons and gear. Typically, a kuo-toan warrior carries daggers, spears, shields, harpoons and weighted throwing nets.
Kuo-toa speak the strange subterranean trade language common to most intelligent underworld dwellers. Additionally, they speak their own arcane tongue and have empathic contact with most fish. Their religious speech is a corruption of the language used on the elemental plane of Water; if a kuo-toan priest is in a group of kuo-toa, it is 75% unlikely that a creature native to the plane of Water will attack, for the priest will request mercy in the name of the Sea Mother, Blibdoolpoolp.

Combat: These creatures normally travel in well-armed bands. If more than 20 kuo-toa are encountered, it is 50% likely that they are within 1d6 miles of their lair. For every four normal warriors encountered there is an additional fighter of 3rd or 4th level. For every eight normal fighters there is an additional fighter of 5th or 6th level. For every 12 normal kuo-toa in the group there is a cleric/thief of 1d4+3 levels each. If more than 20 normal fighters are encountered, the group is a war consisting of the following:

One 10th-level fighter as Captain
Two 8th-level fighters as Lieutenants
Four 3rd/3rd-level fighter/thief Whips
One Monitor (see below)
One slave per four kuo-toa

The whips are fanatical devotees of the Sea Mother goddess of the kuo-toa. They inspire the troops to stand firm and fight without quarter for the glory of their ruler and their deity.
It is 50% probable that any kuo-toan priest above 6th level is armed with a pincer staff. This is a 5-foot-long pole topped by a three-foot-long claw. If the user scores a hit, the claw has closed upon the opponent, making escape impossible. The weapon can be used only on enemies with a girth range between an elf and a gnoll. It is 10% probable that both arms are pinned by the claw and 40% probable that one arm is trapped. If the victim is right handed, the claw traps the left hand 75% of the time. Trapped opponents lose shield and Dexterity bonuses. If the weapon arm is trapped, the victim cannot attack and the Dexterity bonus is lost, but the shield bonus remains.
The harpoon is mostly used only by higher level fighters. It is a wickedly barbed throwing weapon with a 30 yard range. It inflicts 2d6 points of damage, exclusive of bonuses. Victims must roll a successful saving throw of 13+ on 1d20 to avoid being snagged by the weapon. Man-sized or smaller beings who fail this saving throw are jerked off their feet and stunned for 1d4 rounds. The kuo-toan, who is attached to his weapon by a stout cord, then tries to haul in its victim and slay him with a dagger thrust.
Kuo-toan shields are made of special boiled leather and are treated with a unique glue-like substance before a battle. Anyone who attacks a kuo-toan from the front has a 25% chance of getting his weapon stuck fast. The chance of the victim freeing the weapon is the same as his chance for opening doors.
Hit probability for kuo-toa is the same as that of a human of similar level, but males also gain a +1 bonus to both attack rolls and damage rolls when using a weapon, due to Strength. When fighting with a dagger only, kuo-toa can bite, which causes 1d4+1 points of damage.
When two or more kuo-toan priests or priest/thieves operate together, they can generate a lightning stroke by joining hands. The bolt is two feet wide and hits only one target unless by mischance a second victim gets in the way. The bolt inflicts 6 points of damage per priest, half that if a saving throw vs. spell is successful. The chances of such a stroke occurring is 10% cumulative per caster per round.
The special defenses of these creatures include skin secretions, which gives attempts to grapple, grasp, tie, or web a kuo-toan only a 25% chance of success. Despite their eyes being set on the sides of their heads, they have excellent independent monocular vision, with a 180-degree field of vision and the ability to spot movement even though the subject is invisible, astral, or ethereal. Thus, by maintaining complete motionlessness, a subject can avoid detection. Kuo-toa also have 60-foot infravision and have the ability to sense vibrations up to 10 yards away. They are surprised only on a 1 on the 1d10 surprise roll.
Kuo-toa are totally immune to poison and are not affected by paralysis. Spells that generally affect only humanoid types have no effect on them. Electrical attacks cause half damage, or none if the saving throw is successful; magic missiles cause only 1 point of damage; illusions are useless against them. However, kuo-toa hate bright light and suffer a -1 penalty to their attack roll in such circumstances as daylight or light spells. They suffer full damage from fire attacks and save with a -2 penalty against them.
Sometimes kuo-toa are encountered in small bands journeying in the upper world to kidnap humans for slaves and sacrifices. Such parties are sometimes also found in dungeon labyrinths that connect to the extensive system of underworld passages and caverns that honeycomb the crust of the earth. Only far below the surface of the earth can the intrepid explorer find the caverns in which the kuo-toa build their underground communities.

Habitat/Society: Kuo-toa spawn as do fish, and hatchlings, or fingerlings as they call their young, are raised in pools until their amphibian qualities develop, about one year after hatching. The young, now a foot or so high, are then able to breathe air and they are raised in pens according to their sex and fitness. There are no families, as we know them, in kuo-toan society.
Especially fit fingerlings, usually of noble spawning, are trained for the priesthood as priests, priest/thieves, or special celibate monks. The latter are called ``monitors'' whose role is to control the community members who become violent or go insane. The monitor is capable of attacking to subdue or kill. A monitor has 56 hit points, attacks as a 7th-level fighter and has the following additional abilities: twice the normal movement rate, AC 1, and receives four attacks per round -- two barehanded for 2d4 points of damage (double if trying to subdue) and two attacks with teeth for 1d4+1 points of damage. One hand/bite attack occurs according to the initiative roll, the other occurs at the end of the round.
Subdued creatures cannot be larger than eight feet tall and 500 pounds. Subduing attacks cause only half real damage, but when the points of damage inflicted equal the victim's total, the creature is rendered unconscious for 3d4 rounds.
Kuo-toan communities do not generally cooperate, though they have special places of worship in common. These places are usually for intergroup trade, councils, and worship of the Sea Mother, so they are open to all kuo-toa. These religious communities, as well as other settlements, are open to drow and their servants, for the dark elves provide useful goods and services, though the drow are both feared and hated by the kuo-toa. This leads to many minor skirmishes and frequent kidnappings between the peoples. The illithids (mind flayers) are greatly hated by the kuo-toa and they and their allies are attacked on sight.
The ancient kuo-toa once inhabited the shores and islands of the upper world, but as the race of mankind grew more numerous and powerful, these men-fish were slowly driven to remote regions. Continual warfare upon these evil, human-sacrificing creatures threatened to exterminate the species, for a number of powerful beings were aiding mankind, their sworn enemies. Some kuo-toa sought refuge in sea caverns and secret subter-ranean waters, and while their fellows were being slaughtered, these few prospered and developed new powers to adapt to their lightless habitat. The seas contained other fierce and evil creatures, however, and the deep-dwelling kuo-toa were eventually wiped out, leaving only those in the underworld to carry on, unnoticed and eventually forgotten by mankind. But the remaining kuo-toa have not forgotten mankind, and woe to any who fall into their slimy clutches.
Now the kuo-toa are haters of sunlight and are almost never encountered on the earth's surface. This, and their inborn hatred of discipline, prevent the resurgence of these creatures, for they have become numerous once again and acquired new powers. However, they have also become somewhat unstable, possibly as a result of inbreeding, and insanity is common among the species.
If a kuo-toan lair is found, it contains 4d10 x 10 2nd-level males. In addition, there are higher level fighters in the same ratio as noted for wandering groups. The leader of the group is one of the following, depending on the lair's population:

A priest/thief king of 12/14th level, if 350 or more normal kuo-toa are present, or
A priest/thief prince of 11/13th level, if 275-349 normal kuo-toa are present, or
A priest/thief duke of 10/12th level, if fewer than 275 normal kuo-toa are present

There are also the following additional kuo-toa in the lair:

Eight Eyes of the priest leader -- 6th- to 8th-level priest/thieves
One Chief Whip -- 6th/6th-level fighter/thief
Two Whips of 4th/4th or 5th/5th level (see whip description)
One Monitor per 20 2nd-level kuo-toa
Females equal to 20% of the male population
Young (noncombatant) equal to 20% of the total kuo-toa
Slaves equal to 50% of the total male population

In special religious areas there are also a number of kuo-toan priests. For every 20 kuo-toa in the community there is a 3rd-level priest, for every 40 there is a 4th-level priest, for every 80 there is a 5th-level priest, all in addition to the others. These priests are headed by one of the following groups:

One 6th-level priest if the group is 160 or fewer, or One 7th-level and one 6th-level priest if the group is between 161 and 240, or
One 8th-level, one 7th-level, and one 6th-level priest if the group numbers between 241 and 320, or
One 9th-level, two 7th-level, and three 6th-level priests if the group numbers between 321 and 400, or
One 10th-level, two 8th-level, and four 6th-level priests if the group numbers over 400

Though kuo-toa prefer a diet of flesh, they also raise fields of kelp and fungi to supplement their food supply. These fields, lit by strange phosphorescent fungi, are tended by slaves, who are also used for food and sacrifices.
Kuo-toan treasures tend more toward pearls, gem-encrusted items of a water motif, and mineral ores mined by their slaves. Any magical items in the possession of a kuo-toan are usually obtained from adventuring parties that never made it home again.

Ecology: Not much is known to surface-dwelling sages about this enigmatic, violent, subterranean race, but some of the more astute scholars speculate that the kuo-toa are but one-third of the three-way rivalry that includes mind flayers and drow. It is partially because of this continuing warfare that none of the three races has been able to achieve dominance of the surface world.





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Old 10-30-2001, 10:22 AM   #3
Red Dragon Slayer
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Dude! your gonna post all that?
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Old 10-30-2001, 10:23 AM   #4
Memnoch
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Join Date: February 28, 2001
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Next, the mind flayer, or illithid.



Mind Flayer (Illithid)

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any subterranean
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Community
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Carnivore (brains)
INTELLIGENCE: Genius (17-18)
TREASURE: S, T,x(B)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil
NO. APPEARING: 1-4
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVEMENT: 12
HIT DICE: 8+4
THAC0: 11
NO. OF ATTACKS: 4
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2; see below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Mind blast, see below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Magical powers
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 90%
SIZE: M (6' tall)
MORALE: Champion (15)+special
XP VALUE: 9,000 (7,000 for psionic version)


The illithid, or mind flayer, is an evil and feared creature of the Underdark; its powers are formidable and it feeds on the brains of any creature it encounters. Using arcane powers, it enslaves or destroys its foes, which include such powerful creatures as drow and kuo-toa.
Mind Flayers stand about 6 feet tall and have hideous mauve skin that glistens with slime. The head resembles an octopus, with white eyes (no pupils are evident) and four tentacles around its mouth, a round, many-toothed orifice like that of a lamprey. The creature has three reddish fingers and a thumb on each hand.
Illithids have infravision. They can communicate with any creatures via innate telepathy; they have no spoken language, although they often accompany their thoughts with hissing, and the eager lashing of their tentacles. Mind flayers dress in flowing robes, often with high, stiff collars, adorned with symbols of death and despair.

Combat: A mind flayer's preferred method of attack is the mind blast, projected in a cone 60 feet long, 5 feet wide at the mind flayer, and 20 feet wide at the opposite end. All within the cone must make a saving throw vs. wands or be stunned and unable to act for 3d4 rounds. The illithid tries to grab one or two stunned victims (requiring normal attack rolls if others try to prevent this) and escape with them.
The illithid keeps some victims as slaves and feeds on the brains of the others. When devouring the brain of a stunned victim, it inserts its tentacles into the victim's skull and draws out its brain, killing the victim in one round. A mind flayer can also use its tentacles in combat; it does so only when surprised or when attacking a single, unarmed victim. A tentacle which hits causes 2 hp damage and holds the victim. A tentacle does no damage while holding, and can be removed with a successful bend bars/lift gates roll. Once all four tentacles have attached to the victim, the mind flayer has found a path to the brain and kills the victim in one round. If preferred, the DM can simply roll 1d4 for the number of rounds required to kill a struggling victim.
A mind flayer can also use the following arcane powers, one per round, as a 7th-level mage: suggestion, charm person, charm monster, ESP, levitate, astral projection, and plane shift. All saving throws against these powers are made at a -4, due to the creature's mental prowess.
If an encounter is going against a mind flayer, it will immediately flee, seeking to save itself regardless of its treasure or its fellows.

Habitat/Society: Mind flayers hate sunlight and avoid it when possible. They live in underground cities of 200 to 2,000 illithids, plus at least two slaves per illithid. All the slaves are under the effects of a charm person or charm monster, and obey their illithid masters without question.
The center of a community is its elder-brain, a pool of briny fluid that contains the brains of the city's dead mind flayers. Due to the mental powers of illithids, the elder-brain is still sentient, and the telepathic union of its brains rules the community. The elder-brain has a telepathic range of 2 to 5 miles, depending on its age and size. It does not attack, but telepathically warns the mind flayers of the presence of thinking creatures, so a mind flayer within its telepathic radius can be surprised only by non-intelligent creatures. The range of the elder-brain determines the territory claimed and defended by the community, though raiding parties are sent far beyond this limit.
Mind flayers have no family structure. Their social activities include eating, communicating with the elder-brain, and debating on the best tactics to conquer the Underdark. For amusement, they inflict pain on their captives and force slaves to fight in gladiatorial games.
Mind flayers are arrogant, viewing all other species only as cattle to be fed upon. They prefer to eat the brains of thinking creatures.

Ecology: Mind flayers live about 125 years. They are warm-blooded amphibians, and spend the first 10 years of life as tadpoles, swimming in the elder-brain pool until they either die (which most do) or grow into adult illithids. On an irregular basis, adult illithids feed brains to the tadpoles, which do not molest the elder-brain. Illithids are hermaphroditic; each can produce one tadpole twice in its life.
Mind flayer ichor is an effective ingredient in a potion of ESP.

Psionic Illithids
Psionic flayers, considered the only true illithids by some (including themselves), have most of the same statistics and abilities as other mind flayers. Instead of magic-based abilities, however, theirs are purely psionic. Psionic mind flayers have a beak-like mouth and disdain the stiff-collared robes preferred by their cousins.

Psionics Summary:
Level Dis/Sci/Dev Attack/Defense Score PSPs
10 4/5/15 EW, II/All = Int 1d100+250


Illithids use psionics for attack, mind control, and travel. All psionic illithids have at least the following powers:
Psychokinesis - Devotions: control body, levitation.
Psychometabolism - Sciences: body equilibrium (their only psychometabolic power).
Psychoportation - Sciences: probability travel, teleport. Devotions: astral projection.
Telepathy - Sciences: domination, mindlink. Devotions: awe, contact, ESP, ego whip, id insinuation, post-hypnotic suggestion.





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Old 10-30-2001, 10:26 AM   #5
Memnoch
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Last but not least, the dreaded eye tyrant. There is more than one kind!


Beholder and Beholder-kin

Beholder Death Kiss Eye of the Deep Gauth Spectator Undead
CLIMATE/TERRAIN:Any remote Any remote Deep ocean Any remote Any remote Any remote
FREQUENCY: Rare Very rare Very rare Rare Very rare Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary Solitary Solitary Solitary Solitary Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any Any Day Day Day Any
DIET: Omnivore Carnivore Omnivore Magic Omnivore Nil
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional Average to Very (11-12) Exceptional Very to Special
(15-16) high (8-14) (15-16) high (11-14)
TREASURE: I, S, T I, S, T R B See Below E
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil Neutral evil Lawful evil Neutral evil Lawful neutral Lawful evil
NO. APPEARING: 1 1 1 1 1 1
ARMOR CLASS: 0/2/7 4/6/8 5 0/2/7 4/7/7 0/2/7
MOVEMENT: FL 3 (B) Fl 9 (B) Sw 6 Fl 9 (B) Fl 9 (B) Fl 2 (C)
HIT DICE: 45-75 hp 1d8+76 hp 10-12 6+6 or 9+9 4+4 45-75 hp
THAC0: 45-49 hp: 11 11 10 HD: 11 6+6 HD: 13 15 45-49 hp:11
50-59 hp: 9 11-12 HD: 9 9+9 HD:11 50-59 hp:9 60-69 hp: 7 60-69hp:7 70+ hp: 5 70+ hp: 5
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 10 3 1 1 1
DAMAGE/ATTACKS:2-8 1-8 2-8/2-8/1-6 3-12 2-5 2-8
SPECIAL ATTACKS:Magic Blood drain Magic Magic Magic Magic
SPECIAL DEFENSES:Anti-magic Regeneration Nil Regeneration Magic Anti-magic
ray ray
MAGIC RESISTANCE:Nil Nil Nil Nil 5% Nil
SIZE: M (4'-6' in H (6'-12' in S-M (3'-5' in L (4'-6') M (4' in L (4'-6' in
diameter) diameter) diameter) diameter) diameter) diameter)
MORALE: Fanatic (18) Fanatic (17) Champion (15) Champion to Elite (14) Fanatic (18)
fanatic (15-18)
XP VALUE: 14,000 8,000 4,000 6+6 HD: 6,000 4,000 13,0000
9+9 HD: 9,000


The beholder is the stuff of nightmares. This creature, also called the sphere of many eyes or the eye tyrant, appears as a large orb dominated by a central eye and a large toothy maw, has 10 smaller eyes on stalks sprouting from the top of the orb. Among adventurers, beholders are known as deadly adversaries.
Equally deadly are a number of variant creatures known collectively as beholder-kin, including radical and related creatures, and an undead variety. These creatures are related in manners familial and arcane to the "traditional" beholders, and share a number of features, including the deadly magical nature of their eyes. The most extreme of these creatures are called beholder abominations.
The globular body of the beholder and its kin is supported by levitation, allowing it to float slowly about as it wills.
Beholders and beholder-kin are usually solitary creatures, but there are reports of large communities of them surviving deep beneath the earth and in the void between the stars, under the dominion of hive mothers.
All beholders speak their own language, which is also understood by all beholder-kin. In addition, they often speak the tongues of other lawful evil creatures.

Combat: The beholder has different Armor Classes for different parts of their body. When attacking a beholder, determine the location of the attack before striking (as the various Armor Classes may make a strike in one area, and a miss in another):


Roll Location AC
01-75 Body 0
76-85 Central Eye 7
86-95 Eyestalk 2
96-00 One smaller eye 7


Each of the beholder's eyes, including the central one has a different function. The standard smaller eyes of a beholder are as follows:
1. Charm person (as spell)
2. Charm monster (as spell)
3. Sleep (as spell, but only one target)
4. Telekinesis (250 pound weight)
5. Flesh to stone (as spell, 30-yard range)
6. Disintegrate (20-yard range)
7. Fear (as wand)
8. Slow (as spell, but only a single target)
9. Cause serious wounds (50-yard range)
10. Death ray (as a death spell, with a single target, 40-yard range)

The central eye produces an anti-magic ray with a 140-yard range, which covers a 90 degree arc before the creature. No magic (including the effects of the other eyes) will function within that area. Spells cast in or passing through that zone cease to function.
A beholder may activate the magical powers of its eyes' at will. Generally, a beholder can use 1d4 smaller eyes if attackers are within a 90 degree angle in front, 1d6 if attacked from within a 180 degree angle, 1d8 if attacked from a 270 degree arc, and all 10 eyes if attacked from all sides. The central eye can be used only against attacks from the front. If attacked from above, the beholder can use all of the smaller eyes.
The beholder can withstand the loss of its eyestalks, each eyestalk/smaller eye having 5-12 hit points. This loss of hit points is over and above any damage done to the central body. The body can withstand two thirds of the listed hit points in damage before the creature perishes. The remaining third of the listed hit points are located in the central eye, and destroying it will eliminate the anti-magic ray. A beholder with 45 hit points will have a body that will take 30 points of damage, a central eye that will take 15 points, while one with 75 hit points will have a body that will withstand 50 points of damage, and a central eye that takes 25 hit points to destroy. Both beholders would have smaller eyestalks/eyes that take 5-12 (1d8+4) points of damage to destroy, but such damage would not affect the body or central eye. Slaying the body will kill the beholder and render the eyes powerless. Destroyed eyestalks (but not the central eye) can regenerate at a rate of one lost member per week.

Habitat/Society: The beholders are a hateful, aggressive and avaricious race, attacking or dominating other races, including other beholders and many of the beholder-kin. This is because of a xenophobic intolerance among beholders that causes them to hate all creatures not like themselves. The basic, beholder body-type (a sphere with a mouth and a central eye, eye-tipped tentacles) allows for a great variety of beholder subspecies. Some have obvious differences, there are those covered with overlapping chitin plates, and those with smooth hides, or snake-like eye tentacles, and some with crustacean-like joints. But something as small as a change in hide color or size of the central eye can make two groups of beholders sworn enemies. Every beholder declares its own unique body-form to be the "true ideal" of beholderhood, the others being nothing but ugly copies, fit only to be eliminated.
Beholders will normally attack immediately. If confronted with a particular party there is a 50% chance they will listen to negotiations (bribery) before raining death upon their foes.

Ecology: The exact reproductive process of the beholder is unknown. The core racial hatred of the beholders may derive from the nature of their reproduction, which seems to produce identical (or nearly so) individuals with only slight margin for variation. Beholders may use parthenogenic reproduction to duplicate themselves, and give birth live (no beholder eggs have been found). Beholders may also (rarely) mate with types of beholder-kin.
The smaller eyes of the beholder may be used to produce a potion of levitation, and as such can be sold for 50 gp each.

Death Kiss (beholder-kin)
The Death Kiss, or "bleeder," is a fearsome predator found in caverns or ruins. Its spherical body resembles that of the dreaded beholder, but the "eyestalks" of this creature are bloodsucking tentacles, its "eyes" are hook-toothed orifices. They favor a diet of humans and horses, but will attack anything that has blood. An older name for these creatures is eye of terror.
The central body of a death kiss has no mouth. Its central eye gives it 120-foot infravision, but the death kiss has no magical powers. A death kiss is 90% likely to be taken for a beholder when sighted. The 10 tentacles largely retract into the body when not needed, resembling eyestalks, but can lash out to a full 20-foot stretch with blinding speed. The tentacles may act separately or in concert, attacking a single creature or an entire adventuring company.
A tentacle's initial strike does 1-8 points of damage as the barb-mouthed tip attaches to the victim. Each attached tentacle drains 2 hit points worth of blood per round, beginning the round after it hits.
Like the beholder, the death kiss has variable Armor Classes. In ordinary combat, use the following table, though situations may dictate other methods (should the creature be attacking with a tentacle from 20 feet away, then no attack on the body or central eye may be made, while attacks on the stalk and mouth are still possible).


Roll Location AC Hit Points
01-75 Body 4 77-84
76-85 Central Eye 8 6
86-95 Tentacle stalk 2 6
96-00 Tentacle mouth 4 See following text


A hit on a tentacle-mouth inflicts no damage, but stuns the tentacle, causing it to writhe helplessly for 1-4 rounds. If its central eye is destroyed, a bleeder locates beings within 10 feet by smell and sensing vibrations, but it is otherwise unaffected.
Tentacles must be struck with edged weapons to injure them. They can be torn free from the victim by a successful bend bars/lift gates roll. Such a forceful removal does the victim 1-6 damage per tentacle, since the barbed teeth are violently torn free from the tentacle.
If an attached tentacle is damaged but not destroyed, it instantly and automatically drains sufficient hit points, in blood, from the victim's body to restore it to a full 6 hit points. This reflex effect occurs after every non-killing hit on a tentacle, even if it is wounded more than once in a round. This cannot occur more than twice in one round. The parasitic healing effect does not respond to damage suffered by the central body or other tentacles.
A tentacle continues to drain blood, if it was draining when the central body of the death kiss reaches 0 hit points. Tentacles not attached to a victim at that time are incapable of further activity. A death kiss can retract a draining tentacle, but voluntarily does so only when its central body is at 5 hit points or less; it willfully detaches once the victim has been drained to 0 hit points.
Ingested blood is used to generate electrical energy -- 1 hit point of blood becomes 1 charge. A death kiss uses this energy for motor activity and healing. An eye of terror expends one charge every two turns in moving, and thus is almost constantly hunting prey. Spending one charge enables a bleeder to heal 1 hit point of damage to each of its 10 tentacles, its central body, and its eye (12 hit points in all). It can heal itself with one charge of stored energy every other round in addition to its normal attacks and activity.
Each tentacle can store up to 24 charges of drained energy, the body capable of storing 50 charges of drained energy. A severed tentacle is 70% likely to discharge its cumulative charges, when severed, into anything touching it; each charge delivers 1 hit point of electrical damage.
Finally, bleeders can ram opponents with their mass. This attack does 1-8 damage.
A death kiss may "shut itself down," remaining motionless and insensitive on the ground, and can remain alive in that state for long periods of time. To awaken from its hibernation, the creature requires an influx of electrical energy, considerable heat, or the internal shock caused by a blow, fall, wound, or magical attack; any of the above stimulants must deal at least 5 points of damage to the death kiss to awaken it. Adventurers finding a hibernating death kiss usually provide such stimulation, thinking the sleeper helpless prey.
Eyes of terror are solitary hunters, fully inheriting the paranoia and ego of their cousins, the beholders. If they encounter one of their kin, the result is often a mid-air struggle to the death. The loser's body becomes an incubator and breeding ground for the death kiss' offspring. Within one day, 1-4 young will "hatch". Each new bleeder has half its parent's hit points, and fully matures in 1 month.
The death kiss has an organ in the central, upper body that is a valued ingredient in magical potions and spell inks concerned with levitation (and may be sold like beholder eyes). In addition, a brain or nerve node, deep in a bleeder's body hardens into a soft-sided, faceted red gem upon the creature's death. Called "bloodeyes," these typically fetch a market price of 70 gp each. They are valued for adornments since they glow more brightly as the wearer's emotions intensify.

Eye of the Deep (beholder-kin)
This is a water breathing version of the beholder, and dwells only at great depths, floating slowly about, stalking prey. They have two crab-like pincers which inflict 2-8 (2d4) points of damage each, and a wide mouth full of sharp teeth that does 1-6 points of damage.
The primary weapons of the eyes of the deep, however, are their eyes. The creatures large central eye emits a cone of blinding light 5 feet wide at its start, 30 feet long, and 20 feet wide at its base. Those in the cone must save vs. poison or be stunned for 2-8 (2d4) rounds.
The eye of the deep also has two smaller eyes on long stalks, and uses both to create illusion. Acting independently, the small eyes are able to cast hold person and hold monster spells respectively.
The eye of the deep has an Armor Class of 5 everywhere, including its eyes and eye stalks. If its eyestalks are severed they will grow back in about a week.

Gauth (beholder-kin)
The Gauth is a relative of the beholder that feeds on magic. Its spherical body is 5 feet in diameter and brown in color, mottled with purple and gray. Located in the center of the gauth's forward hemisphere is a large central eye surrounded by a ring of smaller eyes that are protected by ridges of tough flesh. These secondary body eyes provide the creature with normal vision in lighted areas and infravision to 90 feet. On the underside is the beast's fearsome mouth with its accompanying cluster of four feeding tendrils, while the top is adorned with a crown of six eye stalks. Attacks on the creature hit as follows:

Roll Location AC Hit Points
01-85 Body 0 As listed
86-90 Central Eye 7 Part of Body
91-00 Eyestalk/Tendril 2 6 hit points


While the gauth is similar to the beholder, its ability to feed on the energy of magical objects makes it even more dangerous in some ways.
When a gauth moves into combat, it begins to glow, much as if it were the object of a faerie fire spell, to attract the attention of its foes. A creature that meets the gaze of the central eye must roll a successful saving throw vs. spell, with a -2 penalty, or be affected as if the victim of a feeblemind spell.
If a gauth chooses to bite with its great maw, the sharp fangs inflict 3d4 points of damage. The four tendrils around the mouth can grab and hold victims as if they had a Strength of 18, but they can inflict no damage.
A gauth in combat can also employ its six eye stalks. These eyes have the following powers:

1. Cause serious wounds (as spell, 30-foot range).
2. Repulsion (as spell, 10-foot wide path, 40-foot range)
3. Cone of cold (as spell, inflicts 3d4 points of damage and has an area of effect 5 feet wide at the start, 50 feet long, and 20 feet wide at the base; this eye can be used only three times per day)
4. Lightning bolt (as spell, inflicts 4d4 damage with 80' range; this power can be used up to four times per day)
5. Paralyzation (as wand, 40-foot range, single target; only a dispel magic or the beholder's death can free the victim)
6. Dweomer drain (see below)

Perhaps the most feared of the gauth's powers, its dweomer drain, permits the gauth to drain charges from magical items. It has a 40-foot range and can be targeted on one individual per round. In addition to preventing one object from functioning for the duration of that round, this power drains one charge from one charged object. Permanent objects, such as magical swords, are rendered powerless for one round by this ability. Artifacts are not affected by the dweomer drain. The eye has no effect on spells that have been memorized (but not yet cast) and it will not break the concentration of a wizard. It does neutralize any spell cast by its target that round, however.
A dispel magic spell cast on any of the gauth's eye stalks prevents its use for 1d4 rounds. The central eye, any fully retracted eye stalks, the body's ability to glow, and the gauth's natural levitation are not subject to injury by such a spell.
If a gauth is slain, its magical energy dissipates. Usually, this is a harmless event, but there is a 2% chance that it is catastrophic, inflicting 4d4 points of damage to all creatures within 10 feet (no saving throw). Gauth are immune to their own powers and to those of other gauth. They have an unusual physiology that enables them to regenerate 1 hit point every two turns.
Although gauth are not known to fight over territories or prey, they do go to great lengths to avoid each other. Even when they encounter another of their kind in the wilderness, they often ignore them utterly.
A gauth can survive by eating meat but it greatly prefers to devour magical objects. In some unknown manner, the creature is able to absorb magical energy and feed on it. Each turn that an object spends in the gauth's stomach causes it to lose one charge. A permanent object is rendered inoperative after one day (artifacts are not affected, nor do they provide sustenance). Magical objects that cannot be entirely digested by a gauth are spat out after they have been drained of all their power.
Gauth are thought to live a century or so. Within a week of their "natural" death, two young gauth emerge from the corpse. Although smaller than their parent (each has 2+2 or 3+3 HD and a bite that causes only 2d4 points of damage), they have all the powers of a full-grown adult.

Spectator (beholder-kin)
Another relative of the beholder, the spectator is a guardian of places and treasures, and capable of limited planar travel. Once it is given a task, the spectator will watch for up to 101 years. It will allow no one to use, borrow, or examine an item or treasure, except the one who gave it its orders. The spectator has a large central eye and four smaller eye stalks protruding from the top of its hovering, spherical body.
The spectator is difficult to surprise, and has a +2 surprise modifier and a +1 initiative modifier. It is basically a passive creature, and will attempt to communicate and implant suggestion as its first act, unless it is immediately attacked. Striking a spectator has the following effects:


Roll Location AC Hit Points
01-70 Body 4 4+4 HD
71-90 Eyestalk/Eye 7 1 hit point
91-00 Central Eye 7 1 hit point


A spectator, if blinded in all of its eyes, cannot defend its treasure and will teleport to the outer plane of Nirvana. This is the only condition under which it will leave its post. Its eyes regenerate in one day and then it returns. If the treasure is gone, the creature again leaves for Nirvana, never to return.
Spectator has a general magic resistance of 5%. As long as the central eye is undamaged, it can also reflect one spell cast at it, per round, sending it back against the caster. This does not apply to spells whose range is touch. Reflection occurs only if the spectator rolls a successful saving throw vs. spell. If the saving throw fails, magic resistance (and a further saving throw) must be rolled. Reflection is possible only if the caster is standing within the 60 degree arc of the central eye. Only the spellcaster is affected by a reflected spell.
All of the smaller eyes may be used at the same time against the same target. Their powers are:

1. Create food and water (creates the amount of food and water for a large meal for up to six people; this takes one full round)
2. Cause serious wounds (inflicts 2d8+3 points of damage to a single being at a range of 60 yards; a saving throw vs. spell is allowed for half damage)
3. Paralyzation ray (range 90 feet, one target only, for 8d4 rounds).
4. Telepathy (range 120 feet, only one target; communication is possible in this way, and the beast can also plant a suggestion if the target fails a saving throw vs. spell; the suggestion is always to leave in peace).

If properly met, the spectator can be quite friendly. It will tell a party exactly what it is guarding early in any conversation. If its charge is not threatened, it can be very amiable and talkative, using its telepathy.
Spectators move by a very rapid levitation, in any direction. They will drift aimlessly when asleep (20% likely when encountered), never touching the ground.
The treasure being guarded is 90% likely to be a magical item. If the spectator gains incidental treasure while performing its duty, this is not part of its charge and it will freely allow it to be taken. Incidental treasure can be generated as follows: 40% for 3-300 coins of mixed types, 30% for 1d6 gems of 50 gp base value, 20% for 1d4 potions, 15% for a +1 piece of armor, 15% for a +1 weapon, and 5% for a miscellaneous magical item valued at 1,000 XP or less.
Spectators are summoned from Nirvana by casting monster summoning V with material components of three or more small eyes from a beholder. (The chance of success is 10% per eye.) The spectator can be commanded only to guard some treasure. It performs no other duty, and if commanded to undertake some other task, it returns to Nirvana immediately. If its guarded treasure is ever destroyed or stolen, the spectator is released from service and returns to Nirvana. The summoner may take the item with no interference from the spectator, but this releases the creature.

Undead Beholder (Death Tyrant)
Death tyrants are rotting, mold-encrusted beholders. They may be shriveled, wounds exposing their internal, spherical networks of circular ribs, among the remnants of their exoskeletal plates. All sport wounds, some have eyestalks missing, or a milky film covering their eyes. They move and turn more slowly than living beholders, striking and bringing their eyes to bear last in any combat round.
An undead beholder can use all the powers of its surviving eyes, just as it did in life. The powers of 2-5 eyes (select randomly, including the central eye) are lost due to injuries or death, and the change to undeath. Although a death tyrant "heals" its motive energies through time, it cannot regenerate lost eyestalks or their powers.
Charm powers are lost in undeath. The two eyes that charmed either become useless (60%), or function as weak hold monster effects (40%). A being failing to save against such a hold remains held as long as the eye's gaze remains steadily focused on them. If the eye is turned on another being, or the victim hooded, or forcibly removed, the hold lasts another 1-3 rounds. Death tyrants are immune to sleep, charm and hold spells.
If not controlled by another creature through magic, a death tyrant hangs motionless until its creator's instructions are fulfilled (for example, "Attack all humans who enter this chamber until they are destroyed or flee. Do not leave the chamber."). If no instructions are given to a "new" death tyrant, it attacks all living things it perceives. Death tyrants occur spontaneously in very rare instances. In most cases, they are created through the magic of evil beings -- from human mages to illithid villains. Some outcast, magic-using beholders have even been known to create death tyrants from their own unfortunate brethren.
Death tyrants have no self-awareness or social interaction; they are mindless servants of more powerful masters. "Mindless" is a relative term; the once highly intelligent brains of death tyrants still use eyes skillfully to perceive and attack nearby foes. When a death tyrant is controlled by another being, consider it to have the intelligence of its controller.
Death tyrants are created from dying beholders. A spell, thought to have been developed by human mages in the remote past, forces a beholder from a living to an undead state, and imprints its brain with instructions. "Rogue" death tyrants also exist: those whose instructions specifically enable them to ignore all controlling attempts. These are immune to the control attempts of all other beings. Beholders often leave them as traps against rivals.
Human spell researchers report that control of a death tyrant is very difficult. A beholder's mind fluctuates wildly in the frequency and level of its mental activity, scrambling normal charm monster and control undead spells. A special spell must be devised to command a death tyrant.

Saving Throws
Most beholders make saving throws according to their Hit Dice. The Death Kiss makes saving throws as a 10th-level warrior. The typical beholder and undead beholders make saving throws as follows:

Creature hit points Saves as
45-49 10th level warrior
50-59 12th level warrior
60-69 14th level warrior
70+ 16th level warrior

Beholder and Beholder-kin

Hive Mother Director Examiner Lensman Overseer Watcher
CLIMATE/TERRAIN:Any remote Any remote Any remote Any remote Any remote Any remote
FREQUENCY: Very rare Very rare Very rare Very rare Very rare Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary Squad Squad Squad Solitary Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any Day Night Day Any Any
DIET: Omnivore Omnivore Omnivore Insectivore Omnivore Scavenger
INTELLIGENCE: Genius Average Genius Low Supra-genius Semi-
(17-18) (8-10) (17-18) (5-7) (19-20) (2-4)
TREASURE: I, S,T G Vx4 R U Nil
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil Lawful evil Lawful Neutral Evil Lawful Evil Neutral
neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1 2-5 1-6 1-10 1 1-4
ARMOR CLASS: 0 2(4) 5 3/7 2/7 7
MOVEMENT: Fl 6 (A) 15, Fl 3 (A) Fl 6 (C) 9 1 Fl 6 (A)
HIT DICE: 20 12 (8) 8 2 14 3+3
THAC0: 5 9 13 19 7 17
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 2 1 1 1 1
DAMAGE/ATTACKS:5-20 2-8/2-8 1-6 1-8 3-12 3-18
or weapon or weapon
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Magic Magic Magic Nil Magic Magic
SPECIAL DEFENSES:Anti-magic Nil Magic Magic Magic Magic
MAGIC RESISTANCE:5% 20% 25% Nil 35% Nil
SIZE: H (8' in H (8-10' in M (4' in M (5' tall) H (15' tall) L (6' in
diameter) diameter) diameter) diameter)
MORALE: Fanatic (18) Fanatic (18) Steady (11) Elite (14) Champion (16)Average (10)
XP VALUE: 24,000 10,000 6,000 175 15,000 420


Hive Mother (beholder-kin)
The legendary hive mothers are also called the "Ultimate tyrants", or just "Ultimates". They are twice the size of typical beholders, and differ in appearance as well.
Their mouths are larger, so large that they can gulp down a man-sized target on a natural die roll of 20. Once swallowed, the prey takes 5-20 points of damage (5d4) each round until it is dead or escapes. The beholder's mouth is not very deep, so a victim can escape by making a successful attack roll.
The ultimate has no eyestalks, but its magical eyes are protected by hooded covers in the flesh of the creature's body, so that they cannot be severed. The central eye has 15 hit points.


Roll Location AC Hit Points
01-90 Body 0 20 HD
91-00 Central Eye 7 15 hp


The ultimate's true ability is in controlling the actions of large numbers of beholders and beholder-kin. A hive mother may have 5-10 ordinary beholders under its command, or 5-20 abomination beholder-kin (see below), which it communicates with telepathically. A nesting hive mother spells disaster for the surrounding region, as it can apparently create a community of beholders, beholder-kin, and abominations. If destroyed, the beholders and beholder-kin will turn on each other, or seek their own lairs.
Hive mothers may be the ancestral stock of the better known beholder, the next step of its evolution, a magical mutation, or a separate species. The reality remains unknown.

Director (abomination)
Directors are a social, warrior-beholder, and breed specialized mounts. They mindlink with their mounts to better control them.
Directors resemble beholders, but their central eye is smaller. They possess only six small eyes on retractable eye stalks. Directors have a fanged mouth below the central eye and possesses three clawed, sensory tendrils on their ventral surface. These tendrils are used to cling to the mount and link with its limited mind.
Directors' eyes have their own powers:

1. Magic Missile (as spell , 2/round)
2. Burning Hands (as spell at 8th level)
3. Wall of Ice (as spell)
4. Slow (as spell)
5. Enervation (as spell)
6. Improved Phantasmal Force (as spell)

A director's central eye has the power of deflection -- all frontal attacks on director suffer a -2 penalty to the attack roll and damage is halved. The director also gains a +2 bonus to all saving throws against spells cast by those in the field of vision of the central eye.
Director mounts seem to have derived from an insect stock, as they are covered in chitin and have simple eye spots and multiple limbs.
Directors normally possess 8 Hit Dice, but when mounted the director and mount are treated as a single creature whose Hit Dice equals the sum of those of the director and the mount. After a director/mount suffers half damage, the mount's speed is reduced to half and the director gets only one physical attack per round. A director may flee and leave his mount to fend for itself (the mount suffers a -4 penalty to its attack rolls). Directors have an AC of 4, but are AC 2 when mounted. Directors may use all of their normal powers while mounted, within the restrictions of beholder targeting angles.
Crawler (a typical mount): A crawler resembles a cross between a centipede and a spider. It has 4 Hit Dice. It has 10 legs, two pairs of frontal antennae, and two fighting spider fangs that can be used for separate stabbing attacks causing 2d4 points of damage each. Victims who fail to roll successful saving throws vs. poison are paralyzed for 1d4 rounds. Crawlers are omnivores that prefer to eat smaller creatures. Unmounted, they may roll into a ball to gain an AC of 0. They have cutting mandibles beneath their front fangs.

Examiner (abomination)
An examiner is a 4-foot diameter sphere with no central eye and only four small eyes, each at the end of an antenna, mounted atop the sphere. They have one small, lamprey-like mouth on their ventral surface. The mouth is surrounded by four multi-jointed limbs ending in gripper pads. These limbs can pick up and manipulate tools, the chief strength of the examiner.
Examiners are scholars and clerks involved in spell and magical item enhancement, research, and creation. They can use any artifact or tool as well as humans, and they can wield up to four items at a time. Examiners regenerate 1 point of damage each round. The powers of their four eyes are given below (all spell-like effects are cast at the 8th level).

1. Enlarge or Reduce
2. Identify or Legend Lore
3. Transmute Form (similar to a Stone Shape spell, but works on all types of nonmagical, nonliving material)
4. Spell Reflection as a ring of spell turning

Examiners are not the bravest of beholder-kin, but they are potentially the most dangerous with their command of artifacts. They are often the lackeys of beholders, overseers, and hive mothers.

Lensman (abomination)
A lensman has one eye set in the chest of its five-limbed, starfish-shaped, simian body. Beneath the eye is a leering, toothy maw. Four of the five limbs end in three-fingered, two-thumbed, clawed hands. The fifth limb, atop the body, is a prehensile, whip-like tentacle. Its chitin is soft and there are many short, fly-like hairs. Lensmen are the only kin to wear any sort of garb -- a webbing that is used to hold tools and weapons. Their preferred weapons are double-headed pole arms.
Lensmen are semi-mindless drones that don't question their lot in life. The eye of each lensman possesses only one of the following six special powers (all at the 6th level of ability).

1. Emotion
2. Heal
3. Dispel Magic
4. Tongues
5. Phantasmal Force
6. Protections (as scrolls, any type, but only one at a time)

Overseer (abomination)
Overseers resemble fleshy trees. They have 13 limbs, each of which ends in a bud that conceals an eye; one of these limbs forms the top spine, and three yammering mouths surround the spine. There are eight thorny, vine-like limbs that are used to grasp tools and for physical defense, inflicting 1d10+2 points of damage each. Overseers sit on root-like bases and can inch along when movement is required. They cannot levitate.
Overseers are covered with a fungus which changes color as the overseers desire, commonly mottled green, gray, and brown.
Overseers may use any physical weapons or artifacts. The powers of their 13 eyes are as follows (all magical effects are cast at 14th level).

1. Cone of Cold
2. Dispel Magic
3. Paralysis
4. Chain Lightning
5. Telekinesis 250 lb. weight
6. Emotion
7. Mass Charm
8. Domination
9. Mass Suggestion
10. Major Creation
11. Spell Turning
12. Serten's Spell Immunity
13. Temporal Stasis

An overseer's AC is 2, but each eye stalk is AC 7 and is severed if it suffers 10 points of damage.
Like hive mothers (that operate with them), overseers can convince similar beholders and beholder-kin to work together. Overseers are very protective of their health and always have one or two beholder guards and at least a half dozen directors protecting their welfare.

Watcher (abomination)
Watchers are 6-foot-diameter spheres with three central eyes arranged around the circumference of the sphere. These eyes are huge and unlidded. On the crown of the sphere is a compound eye and a ring of six eye spots that make it difficult to surprise a watcher. A large tentacle with a barbed prehensile pad extends from the ventral surface, right behind the small mouth with its rasp-like tongue. Watchers feed on carrion and stunned prey. They are information gatherers and are the least brave of all the eye tyrant races.
Watchers can attack with their single tentacle for 3d6 points of damage. The tentacle also inflicts an electrical shock; victims who fail a system shock roll fall unconscious.
Each of a watcher's main eyes has two powers, and the compound eye on top may draw on three different abilities. The six eye spots have no special powers.

1. True Seeing and ESP
2. Advanced Illusion and Demi-Shadow Magic
3. Telekinesis 1,000 lb. and Teleport
Compound Eye: Message, Tongues, and Suggestion

Watchers are not aggressive warriors; they prefer misdirection and flight to actual confrontation.


Other Beholders and Beholder-kin
The beholder races are not limited to the ones presented here. The plastic nature of the beholder race allows many mutations and abominations in the breed, including, but not limited to, the following.

Beholder Mage
Shunned by other beholders, this is a beholder which has purposely blinded its central eye, so that it might cast spells. It does so by channeling spell energy through an eyestalk, replacing the normal effect with that of a spell of its choice.

Elder Orb
These are extremely ancient beholders of godlike intelligence and power. Though they have lost the function of some of their eyestalks, they have more hit points and are able to cast spells. They can supposedly create and control death tyrants.

Orbus
This is a stunted, pale-white beholder retaining only its anti-magic eye and reputed to have great magical ability.

Doomsphere
This ghost-like undead beholder is created by magical explosions.

Kasharin
An undead beholder, it passes on the rotting disease which killed it.

Astereater
This abomination is a great boulder-like beholder-kin without eyes.

Gorbel
The gorbel is a wild, clawed beholder-kin lacking magic but with the nasty habit of exploding if attacked.

In addition, there are beholders which are in all appearances "normal" but have eyes with alternate magical abilities, such as a detect lie instead of a death ray. Such creatures are usually treated as outcasts by all the beholder and beholder-kin races.


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Old 10-30-2001, 10:26 AM   #6
Tiamat
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Cool Memsy!

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Old 10-30-2001, 10:31 AM   #7
Memnoch
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Quote:
Originally posted by Tiamat:
Cool Memsy!

And for our very own (former) Lord of Evil, you'll be fighting one of these (I won't say which one).


Tanar'ri

Balor Marilith
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: The Abyss The Abyss
FREQUENCY: Very rare Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any Any
DIET: Carnivore Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius(19-20) Genius (17-18)
TREASURE: Hx3 C, F
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil Chaotic evil
NO. APPEARING: 1 1-2
ARMOR CLASS: -8 -9
MOVEMENT: 15, Fl 36 (B) 15
HIT DICE: 13 12
THAC0: 7 9
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 or 2 7
DAMAGE/ATTACK: by weapon or 2-12 4-24 and 6 by weapon
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Terror, body flames, Magical weapons,
death throes, explosion constriction
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +3 or better weapons to hit +2 or better weapon to hit,
never surprised, spell immunity
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 70% 70%
SIZE: L (12' tall) L (7' tall)
MORALE: Fanatic (17-18) Fanatic (17-18)
XP VALUE: 46,000 45,000


Tanar'ri are, in the broadest terms, chaos and evil defined. The less intelligent often attack without question and fight until slain. True and greater tanar'ri often roam the Astral and Ethereal Planes -- their attention is attracted by those in an ethereal state.

Combat: In addition to the separate abilities of each sort of tanar'ri, they all share the following magical powers:


Attack Damage Attack Damage
acid full gas (poisonous, etc.) half
cold half iron weapon full
electricity (lightning) none magic missile full
fire (magical) half poison none
fire (nonmagical) none silver weapon full*

* greater tanar'ri suffer half damage from silver weapons.

All tanar'ri with average or above average intelligence have a form of telepathy that enables them to communicate with any intelligent life form, regardless of any language barriers.
Frequently, the Abyss-forged, magical weapons of the tanar'ri dissolve upon the death of the creature. When one doesn't, it is likely that the weapon in question originated somewhere else.

Habitat/Society: There are five classifications of tanar'ri, listed in ascending order of power, and with species, below:

Least: dretch, manes, rutterkin
Lesser: alu-fiend, bar-lgura, cambion, succubus
Greater: babau, chasme, nabassu
True: balor, glabrezu, hezrou, marilith, nalfeshnee, vrock
Guardian: molydeus

Balor (True Tanar'ri): The greatest and most terrible of the true tanar'ri, the balors are the undisputed terrors of the Abyss. They are the very motivation behind the tanar'ri involvement in the Blood War. In every sense of the word, balors are the quintessential tanar'ri. They derive great pleasure from the suffering of others and go out of their way to torment lesser beings and cause them pain.
Balors are repulsive and loathsome to behold. They are towering humanoids with deep, dark red skin. They have huge wings that propel them with unnatural speed and agility. They have long, wicked claws and grotesque fangs that drip with venom. Balors are commonly surrounded by searing flames.

Combat: Balors attack with their great fists for 2-12 points of damage. Anyone struck by a balor's fists must roll a saving throw vs. spells with a -6 penalty or flee in terror for 1-6 turns.
Balors much prefer weapons to fists in combat. Each carries a great sword that looks like a bolt of lightning. In the hands of a balor, these swords are vorpal and can detect evil/good in a 30 foot radius. Any creature that picks up a balor's sword, regardless of whether its skin actually touches it, immediately suffers 10-60 points of damage and must roll a saving throw vs. spells, or die immediately.
Balors also use a great whip with many tails. These whips will inflict but 1-4 points of damage per hit. However, they magically wrap the victim, allowing the balor to draw the victim into his ever-present bodily flames. Once dragged into the flames, the victim suffers 4-24 points of damage per round. Escaping the whip requires a successful one-half strength check. When the whip holds a victim, it cannot be used in other attacks.
Balors may use one of the following additional magical powers at the 20th level of spell use per round at will: detect invisibility (always active), detect magic (always active), dispel magic, fear, pyrotechnics, read magic, suggestion, symbol (any type), telekinesis, and tongues.
They may also gate 1-8 least, 1-6 lesser, 1-4 greater, or 1 true tanar'ri to their location. The gate is always successful but may only be used once per hour.
Balors are completely immune to gas. If a balor is slain in the Abyss, it explodes in a blinding flash of light, inflicting 50 points of damage to everything in a 100-foot radius around the creature (saving throw vs. spell for half damage).

Habitat/Society: Balors exist for one purpose only: to wage the Blood War. They are driven by the strongest primal desire to fight and will command whole legions of beings into battle.
Balors also recognize a subtle but important aspect of the War: the prime material plane. They will often make pacts with mortals to perform services for the purpose of gaining power in the prime material plane. Balors know that the more followers or allies they can gain in the prime material, the more power they will have there.
There are at least 24 balors known to exist. The creatures do not inhabit any particular area of the Abyss, but wander about forming armies for battle with the baatezu (q.v.).

Ecology: There is nothing more important in the Abyss than the Blood War. The balor, in a sense, are the Blood War from a tanar'ri perspective, the ecology of the Abyss, driving the creation of new beings and mandating their survival.

Marilith (True Tanar'ri): Bold and cunning, marilith are the generals and tacticians for the Blood War. Where the balors are the influence and energy behind the war effort, the marilith are the brains and tactics.
Terrible to behold, these creatures have the bodies of giant snakes, with huge, green, scaly coils. From the waist up, they are beautiful, comely females. Besides her obvious snake body, the feature that reveals the true nature of this tanar'ri is her six arms. They are commonly adorned with precious jewelry and highly decorated weapons -- marilith most often carry a different weapon in each of their six hands.

Combat: Although marilith are strategists and tacticians, they love to join combat and do so whenever the opportunity presents itself. They can attack with each of their six arms and constrict a victim with their snaky tails as well.
Marilith always carry a different weapon in each hand, favoring exotic swords and axes. The DM should assign specific weapons; 90% of them should be enchanted versions of the common variety, and 15% of those should be a special weapon. Marilith favor their weapons highly. If one should ever be lost or stolen, marilith go to great lengths to see that the weapon is recovered.
A marilith can also constrict with her deadly tail. If the tail hits in combat, it wraps around a victim, automatically inflicting 4-24 points of crushing damage each round. Additionally, due to the constriction of air, the victim must roll a successful Constitution check every round or fall unconscious. No opponent with less than a 15 Strength score can even hope to break free of the marilith's coils. There is a 10% chance per round, per point of Strength over 14, that the victim can escape. Marilith have the following additional magical powers that they can use once per round, one at a time, at will: animate dead, cause serious wounds, cloudkill, comprehend languages, curse, detect evil, detect magic, detect invisibility, polymorph self (7 times per day), project image, pyrotechnics, and telekinesis.
They may also attempt to gate in 2-20 least tanar'ri, 1-6 lesser tanar'ri, 1-4 greater tanar'ri, or 1 true tanar'ri once per hour with a 35% chance of success.
Weapons of +1 or less magical enchantment cannot harm a marilith. These creatures are never surprised. They cannot be fooled by illusions and are immune to mind-affecting spells.

Habitat/Society: As noted, marilith are the strategists of the Blood War. They are in charge of devising all tactics to be used during the battles and coordinate the activities of all true tanar'ri (save the mighty balors, of course). Due to the chaotic nature of the tanar'ri, it is not really possible to coordinate their activities, but the marilith are charged with it, nonetheless.
These stunningly powerful creatures have a hatred for the glabrezu. They feel that the subtle warfare of the glabrezu is a children's game and inferior to proper warfare. A marilith will attempt to discredit the workings of the glabrezu any chance it gets. They would completely destroy the subtle beasts, but the all powerful balors favor the glabrezus' tactics and would have them continue their ways.

Ecology: Marilith are true tanar'ri, which makes them a part of the driving force behind the Blood War. Moreover, they are the coordinators and generals of the war effort. Marilith feel that they are the true force behind the war. Secretly, they feel that the balors have their place only because of their great power, but are not absolutely necessary. They may be right in their belief, but the power of the balors remains unchallenged.


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Old 10-30-2001, 10:37 AM   #8
Tiamat
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In my monster manual, the pitfiend has more spells the the balor!
This is 3rd edition btw.

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Old 10-30-2001, 10:39 AM   #9
ReGiN
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Well, that certainly cleared up a few things!

When you're still at it you wouldn't mind posting the stats off the dragons you encounter in the game (SoA, only)
If you have time, of course
just that you seem to find a good place to look up these things...if you haven't the time to post them, then maybe you could post a link?


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Old 10-30-2001, 10:42 AM   #10
kingpats
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Join Date: October 16, 2001
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well i hope i never see a tanar'ri thats for sure.
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