Beholder

X Worldbuilders:

GM James R

Artist's impression of the last thing you ever want to see.

Beholders are an impressively powerful race of creatures defined by their will, strength, and tyranny. Few creatures are as cruel or as determined as the Beholder, and it is no light task to survive any encounter (social, violent, or otherwise) with one.

Types

Observer

An Oberserver is a type of Beholder imbued with powerful psionic abilities, including mind-blanking, domination, telekinesis, and thought detection. In addition, the gaze attack of an observer dealt force damage, as well as provided a telekinetic barrier against all incoming projectiles.

Notable Beholder

Thaluul the Observer

Thaluul the Observer was a corrupted Beholder encountered deep in The Underdark as part of The Underdungeon campaign. Thaluul's deep tower of a cavern was stolen from a cult worshiping the Old One known as Shug. As such, he inherited several artifacts, intricacies, and curses that were placed on the underground temple. The lair also contained a portal that produced Shoggoths, mind-bending creatures of eldritch origin. Thaluul himself was victim to a Shoggoth attack by the cultists who originally inhabited his lair. As such, he was corrupted by the eldritch energies long ago.

Thaluul, pictured here with his untraditional downward facing stalks.

Amassing a massive collection of specimens and slaves, Thaluul kept a series of traps and tunnels at the Underdark's surface. Falling into a trap would lead the victims down a series of slides, collecting them in a nearly inescapable cage. Nothing was too powerful or too mundane for Thaluul, who kept cloakers, orogs, duergar, illithids, minotaurs, and goblins in his collection (as well as Gus, and other Underdungeon adventurers).

Notably, Thaluul was known to keep a minotaur servant near himself at all time. Originally the Minotaur known as Wortgor served him, but he would later trap his servant and take on a different slave known as Torrance.