The Humble Tree-Wagyu (A GLOGmas gift)

I, the humble writer only known as Isk, am full of love for a topic that you may be familiar with in theory, but will be surprised to find has depth heretofore unknown by us in the west.

Made with GLOGmas cheer for The Greatest Poster In The World, Meg. (Perhaps clarifyingly, also known as Cowfrog)

I, the humble writer only known as Isk, am full of love for a topic that you may be familiar with in theory, but will be surprised to find has depth heretofore unknown by us in the west. I speak of course of the unparalleled Cowfrog, a hefty hopping heifer that has left me gobsmacked.

Never a more gorgeous specimen have I seen in all my life, I assure you. The humble Tree-Wagyu is a bovine amphibian with such an astounding presence, brightly colored hide with a thin furry coat and an even thinner layer of mucus coating. They are the apex prey, with fat eyes that scan separately to achieve 360 degrees of sight, large protective horns that jut like keratinous cones from behind, which the eyes can shift slightly to hide behind for protection. They can smell on a spectrum that includes light and color, and hear tumultuous weather long before it arrives.

Most bovine amphibians herd together in mucky riverbeds to feed on rice paddies and red onions, using their lengthy shovel-like tongues to rip the wild crops up at their roots. In fact, families with the know-how and patience to raise such a beautiful beast will find that they don’t mind sharing the vegetables of their labor, so long as they get their fair share of course!

What seem to be knobbly and pathetic front legs are in fact twin shock absorbers that perfectly counteract the powerful hind legs of the Tree-Wagyu, which has a kick force that would put the most powerful of stallions to shame! In fact, I witnessed a stampede of Tree-Wagyu that shook the very land, and had an unfortunate casualty count of two. Those poor ranch-hands were new to the job, and made a mistake that most experienced with the humble Cowfrog would have burned into their very soul. Never freeze when they begin to hop, you will be flattened as thin as the very firmament in these mountainous lands.

While the sheer size of these bovine amphibians is a defensive measure against the cold and of course due to their digestive rumen, it is not their only benefit! Should you touch the thin mucosae that builds like dew along their grassy fur, you will find yourself stunned both physically and mentally for long enough that they shall escape the area, and any perceived danger. Now, this is not the only problem that the mucosae presents, as if you should find yourself allowing the slime to percolate on your hands for long, you will be dead within the day. I assure you.

But alas, the fruit of the forbidden tree is sweetest, and that is why after all this espousing about danger I must give you the unfortunate news. The humble Tree-Wagyu is delicious in every sense of the word. The milk it leaks from its tadpole-tail looking teats is as sweet as the juice of a fresh peach, with the body of a light cream and the tang of a refreshing lime. But no, it does not stop there! For the marbled meat that makes up its muscled mass is mercifully melting in ones mouth when marinated with mighty flame.

But while the freshly butchered give, so too do the long-living and even young among the Cowfrogs. Within their very guts are a labor force of four chambers that make up such a thrilling stomach. The rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and abomasum, as I have learned they are called, make up a stomach system that can decimate food and multiply gasses. I hear you my readers, my friends (so I should like us to be), you believe this to be the same as the cow, but it is not so! I have made this mistake and the cattlers of these mountains have deemed me a fool, and rightfully so. The gasses that bloat the stomach of a cow rise through a the long paunch sac which ends in the four-bubbled throat of the beautiful beast, and in the powerful paunch is the punch of potent alcohol!

Yes! I hear you gasping, shocked by what you hear. The creature makes alcohol too? It does my friends, and it is a wicked spirit that haunts my bones with flavor and fierceness that I will crave long after my bottles have emptied, I promise you. But for reasons related to its strange (and dangerous, I’m told) collection methods, I am not allowed by my own oath to share how it is made, but alas, you should find it, buy it, and buy more when you’ve realized it’s punch.

To those who find themselves wondering how the humble Tree-Wagyu had gone this long without garnering their attention, I say to you that I felt much the same way, and that is what fueled my mad weeks of research and writings. That, and the addictive zest of learning all I can about the River Kingdom. Farewell my friends, until my next journal makes its way to your shores.

The following statistics are for use in the hack of your choosing, formatted shamelessly like the creatures found in the Monster Overhaul.

Cowfrog

# Appearing: hopping stampedes of 2d6
HD: 6 (27 HP)
Appearance: Snuffling nose, bulging eyes, powerful legs, thin fuzzy hide, nigh-invisible mucosae.
Voice: Deep, yawning moo-ribbits
Wants: To be left the hell alone. To eat buggy grass.
Morality: Once startled, hard to calm.
Intelligence: Quiet contemplation, wide-eyed caution.

Armour: as chain.
Move: normal, swim 2x normal. deep mud is not difficult terrain. Can leap up to 20′ vertically or 40′ horizontally without warning.
Morale: 9
Damage: 1d8 gore / 2d10 full-body crush. Those unfortunately caught under the Cowfrog after it hops must save to take half damage.

If a Cowfrog is touched without protective gear, the unprotected creature must save or be paralyzed for 1d4 hours. If the mucous is not cleaned off within the hour, the paralyzed creature will die in 2d12 hours if they do not drink the fresh milk of the very Cowfrog which affected them.

Treasure: Mucous, if collected in a glass vial, is worth 40gp. A bottle of the lime-green milk is worth 10gp. The four-bubble paunch sac will sell for 300gp to the right buyer, only if kept intact.

A Sense of Immersion: Troll

You gotta pay the troll toll, if you want this little boy’s soul.

Be sure to submit your own monster with E-Mail or Twitter!

This week’s monster was suggested by Reddit User /u/Singhilarity

Far worse than the internet kind. But just as smelly.

The Troll Toll
While in our world, Trolls are creatures who live under bridges and in internet forums. In the world of D&D, they are based on old Nordic and Scandinavian folktales and lore.

Nordic Trolls generally dwell in mountains and seemed to be an “other” type of being (A creature that can represent something not quite human, with very human features).

Scandinavian Trolls were much more focused on nature as a whole, and would represent all forms of nature as a characterized “being”. Sometimes the Trolls would even eat people and would turn to stone in sunlight. Both medias “The Hobbit” and “Frozen” use these Scandinavian trolls as inspiration for their own Troll creatures.

It seems accurate than that the Troll of D&D lore is mostly based on the Scandinavian tales, but it also has a good amount of inspiration from other sources, which is where the weakness from fire, rubbery skin, and regenerating body comes from. Some have theorized that these features originate in the fantasy novel “Three Hearts and Three Lions” by Poul Anderson, but these claims are, as far as I can tell, speculation.

If you’d like more info on a more accurate Scandinavian form of the troll in D&D, go check out this awesome article on Nerdarchy.

Senses
Trolls mostly look like extremely tall humanoids with thick, rubbery skin. They are a dark greenish color, with specks of blue, silver, or brown. They have small bumps and sores all over their bodies, presumably because their rubbery skin does not have easily opened pores.

Their skin looks constantly wet is complimented by thick clumping hair that dangles down in heavy ropes around it’s face. This could lead a creature to think they are from a watery area, though far from it. They have simple humanoid feet, with sharp and stubby claws that protrude from each toe. Their arms hang down to their knees, which gives them a very simian feel, which can be misleading when viewed in silhouette.

When you spy a Troll, you usually won’t be surprised. That’s because the Troll’s stench will have alerted you beforehand. A Troll stinks like rancid meat, mixed together with spoiled milk in a barrel of fish. The closed up pores I mentioned before mean that the sweats and the body odors of the Troll are trapped for decades, before being released randomly after being built up so long. This smell is the origin of many long held superstitions, and some even say is the reason for the Trolls weakness to fire.

When a Troll crashes into you, it’s rubbery skin will feel like a slick, featureless, and uncomfortable texture, but you will struggle against it’s friction to escape while it holds you. It’s claws are short swords and sharp as rusted nails, and it’s jagged teeth are like stepping on a broken bottle.

The Troll may smell awful, feel disturbing, and look horrible. But it sounds just disturbing. That’s because the Troll has fairly human-like speech, and talks in Giant language. It’s language similar to Common and Dwarven, but when you hear it, it feels like Common without context, like it should make sense but doesn’t. This can be unnerving, because if you get a Troll to talk, it won’t be saying anything nice.

Environments
Trolls love the mountainous areas of the world, specifically the ones with forested areas. They find shelter in caves, hunt in rivers, and climb through trees to pick eggs and chicks from birds nests. They munch on these like little treats while hunting down more food.

In some lands, Trolls are intelligent, so they have very basic tent-like structures and wooden cabins. These Trolls set traps, hunt in packs, and work with a community. They follow a Shaman who leads them through the land with a bit of Druidic magic and wit.

You can tell if a Troll is in the area by the rocks. Like an Owlbear sharpening it’s claws on a tree trunk, the Trolls like to use rocks and boulders for this purpose. They will have four to five deep gouges in them, because Trolls are habitual, and like to use the same rock.

Encounter
As far as more peaceful encounters go, unless you can speak Giant and are charming as a snake, you won’t have an easy time convincing a Troll not to attack if it’s already made up it’s mind.

Trolls acting on their own will attack or avoid you, and will usually only attack if you give them a good reason. The best bet to avoid a Troll fight is to brandish fire very clearly, and be in greater numbers. If you’re alone and it’s raining, I’ve got bad news for you. You’re kinda fucked.

Fighting one Troll can be brutal. It can eat lesser hits easily due to it’s regenerating health. As long as your attack wasn’t fire or acid, it’ll regain 10 HP per turn! That’s an insane amount of health, and is the common concern when fighting a Troll. Sometimes, you’ll cut a limb off, and it’ll end up with two in it’s place! Heads, feet, arms, hell, even ears or noses will be regrown if the Troll loses them. Because of this, a Troll may regenerate it’s entire body in a month, leading to it being an entirely different Troll mentally and habitually.

Aftermath
Trolls blood weighs at a heavy cost in most markets. It’s incredibly useful for potions of healing or regeneration, and can be used as ink in healing spell scrolls to increase their power. If modified, it can also be used to fuse flesh together, so occasionally a necromancer might find it useful to make a more clean Flesh Golem.

Vampires, surprisingly, are not a fan of Troll’s blood. It gives them the closest thing that Vampires get to acid re-flux.

The rubbery skin of a Troll is excellent when used as a watertight material. Stretched across the bottom of a boat, or used to make a bag, and it would work perfectly.

The hair can be used to make fairly strong rope, but doing so takes a long time to master. You must unwind the hair into long strands, and then wind it up together slowly.

Conclusion
The Troll is a complete classic of fairytale lore, and will be a stubborn and interesting addition to any travel session, forest crawl, or mountain hike. Don’t be afraid to get creative when you design your own Trolls, because honestly they don’t have to be any one specific type. The fun of these creatures is that they leave a lot of room for you to interpret them as your own.

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back with another Sense of Immersion every other Tuesday!

To read this early, along with a bunch of other content, please check out My Patreon!

If you’d like to discuss today’s monster, we have a Discord!

Image Sources: Wizards of the Coast

Roll a D6 to see how the Trolls have mutated!

1: Every time the Troll regains health, its mass increases, which lowers it’s AC by 1.

2: The Trolls regain 15 health instead of 10 with regeneration.

3: The Troll has three eyes, giving it +6 in Perception.

4: Whenever the Troll loses a limb, it will always regain two of said limb in it’s place, unless damaged with fire or acid.

5: Whenever a creature is bitten by the Troll, they must make a DC 14 Con Save or be paralyzed for 1 minute.

6: When the Troll is damaged by fire damage or acid damage, it will explode, dealing it’s remaining health in damage to all creatures within 5 feet of it, and half that to all creatures within 20 feet of it.

A Sense of Immersion: Nothic

“C’mon down to Nothic’s Used Adventuring Gear Emporium! Only small amounts of blood on any one item!”

Be sure to submit your own monster with E-Mail or Twitter!

“C’mon down to Nothic’s Used Adventuring Gear Emporium! Only small amounts of blood on any one item!”

Nothic Knowledge
This abberation is one ugly motherfucker, as Arnold would put it. The Nothic is a result of a wizard who goes far too into knowledge and becomes cursed by the Lich Vecna. They have a single horrifying cyclopian eye, and several unique talents, such as incredible insight and a rotting gaze. Some would think them cousins to the Beholders, just judging by looks, but this is definitively untrue. They have much more in common with the undead, given their curse and the nature of it.

The first Nothic was introduced in 3rd Edition, and boy oh boy is it just… something.
A face that only Vecna could love, if that. While the Nothic can only speak the Undercommon language normally, there are sources that have the Nothic speak in a telepathic sense. This is pretty thematic, and in my opinion, adds to the disturbing and intrusive quality of the monster. They’re designed to unease somebody with the way they move, the way they act, and the way they look. Why not also unease them with how they talk to people?

Memorable Senses
Nothic’s smell like nothing. This is by design, as they are sneaky and hidden little buggers, too much of a smell would make them easier to find. The smell around a Nothic nest however is usually one of their last meal: of children or animals, rotting and oozing, licked clean off the rocks used to break them open. Unrelated, but a Nothic itself usually tastes like fairly dry chicken. Spices and Broth are recommended.

Despite the heavy stenches, when you see a Nothic, or it’s space, it’s usually hard to focus on the nest. The huge hypnotic eye draws your focus towards the Nothic itself, and you never want to look away again for it’s plans could be evil and you wouldn’t want to turn your back to it. In order to keep the eye interesting, the skin and claws of a Nothic are dark in color and smooth without interesting patterns. This is to keep the eye the most distracting part so that creatures become entrapped.

While it crawls, it uses a mixture of quick and slow movements, which gives it’s crawling and gesturing an eerie stop-motion effect. Like there is a strobe light flashing at it and you are only seeing every other movement. This is not the case though, and is just more intimidation and distraction methods at work.

While it speaks, you’ll feel the slimy growls and chattering in your head as a half-sound, half-feeling. It’s like the creature itself is crawling around inside your brain, plucking out your secrets and thoughts as tasty morsels to munch on. It’s just further mind games and distractions. The more a Nothic does this, the more it controls the situation, and even the most resolute paladin has a hard time being affected by it all.

The truest feeling of a fight with a Nothic however is the horrible pain of it’s Rotting Gaze. Suddenly, you feel your arm start to numb and you look down as the skin starts to dry and flake off. Then as it continues, your arm darkens and dies, the flesh sloughing right off the bone and beginning to tear apart at the elbow. It’s mostly in your head, but you’re still losing some flesh off that arm, and it’s excruciating as it rots.

These are the trials you must face if you encounter and discuss things with a Nothic. It is a creature that owns all conversations it takes part in, because it is in many ways the ultimate intimidator.

Environments
The Nothic nests and homes are simple caverns to sleep in for the night. Otherwise, the Nothic will, in a way, haunt their old wizardly towers or favorite locations, out of habit. This can include dark towers, ancient dungeons, labyrinthine caves, and even pocket worlds or personal planes of existence.

Encounter
When fighting a Nothic, or speaking with one, it will do it’s best to distract you, trick you, or run. These are rarely brave creatures, and do their best to win without needing to fight at all. You will more than likely have to hunt it down, or entrap it.

Aftermath
The surprisingly clean and small caverns and nests of a Nothic are sparse of things with value. The Nothic trades in secrets, and wields them as weapons, becoming a duelist with words, and a great one at that. It’s material possessions are usually food, and not long for this world, as its hunger is a constant.

On the simple occasion that a Nothic does have a magical item, it will be one that can cause a huge amount of trouble, such as a Deck of Many Things or a Book of Vile Darkness. These are incredibly powerful and tricky magic items, and would wildly increase the CR of the encounter the Nothic is apart of, so keep that in mind. But there is a dark fun in handing a smaller CR creature a powerful set of items, just to see how long it can last.

Conclusion
No matter what the situation, an encounter with a Nothic is a really disturbing one. They will attempt to make deals, they will attempt to win with fear, and they will attempt to run.

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back with another Sense of Immersion every Tuesday!

Sense of Immersion is one of many materials I put out each week.
To support me and read these early, please check out My Patreon!

Image Sources: Wizards of the Coast

Roll a D20 to see what the Nothic wants you to give it in exchange for dark secrets.

1: Children.

2: Jars of colored ink.

3: Old ceramic mugs.

4: The ashes of spell scrolls.

5: Hairless Cats.

6: Trapped Ghosts.

7: Magic Wands.

8: Preserved Brains.

9: Two fingers.

10: Unfinished Maps.

11: Tears collected in a metal bottle.

12: Wooden Toys.

13: Porcelain Dolls.

14: Glass Eyes.

15: Burned Books.

16: A large piece of coal .

17: A colorful strip of silk.

18: A small clay figurine.

19: A dark metal bust.

20: A lost key.

A Sense of Immersion: Flumph

In all of D&D, there is nothing quite like the Flumph.

Be sure to submit your own monster with E-Mail or Twitter!

In all of D&D, there’s just nothing quite like a Flumph.

Flumph Farts
How can something so gross, so ugly, and so weird…be adorable? Yeah, that’s right. Adorable. The Flumph is a sweet creature, with a good heart, and absolutely no spine. Mentally or physically.

The Flumph was designed by Ian McDowall and Douglas Naismith, and first appeared in the Fiend Folio. It was a silly monster and included in all sorts of goofy encounters that found themselves in adventures to break up the pain-filled dungeon with some laughs.

The Flumph finds purpose in absorbing the latent psychic energy of an evil powerful creature, like an Aboleth or a Mind Flayer. It then relays all the evil thoughts it hears to adventurers so they may better defeat said creature. It also feels very unclean with the thoughts of evil inside its mind, and feels that gossiping and discussing the plans will clean it of wrongdoing. This is a weird reason to be good, but still works out for the Flumph all the same.

Senses
The sight of a Flumph is, to be frank, kinda gross. Equal parts Jellyfish and Stoner Grandma, they have uncomfortable placements of limbs and mouths, with all sorts of barbed tentacles that flap around to emphasize matters of great importance. Their skin is slighty see-through, but with a hint of opacity that brings about the true jellyfish “style”.

The Flumph uses its large, hollow body to propel itself forward with air. This comes out with a very quick burst of air, and sounds an awful lot like somebody… well… farting. So the Flumph farts around the galaxy, with a high-pitched and whiny voice. Its limbs even make an odd sound when they wiggle, like when you shake a large sheet of plastic or metal.

The skin of a Flumph is soft and wet. It feels like slime you would make with glue and borax. Not dense enough to stop you right away, but not liquid enough that you can just rip it apart. This lightweight flesh is how the Flumph can float so quickly, powered only by air.

The heavy scent of grape follows Flumphs everywhere they go. It’s not naturally produced, and is overpowering among all other smells. Nobody, not even the Flumphs, knows where it comes from.

A Flumph tastes like nothing. It’s the most boring flavor. But in an act of karma, if you eat a Flumph, all other Flumph you come across will know that you ate their kind. This is a natural cosmic defense system that these Lawful Good creatures were blessed with a long time ago.

Environments
Wherever you are, that’s where the Flumph will go. Like the postal service of the D&D Cosmology, the Flumph can pass through all manners of portals and planes to get to the person they wish to see and talk to. You would assume this Lawful Good creature would inhabit the seven heavens, but in reality, they were kicked out long ago. There’s no confirmation of exactly why, but most can assume it’s because they were too silly.

None the less, there is one place you can always find a Flumph.

Any carnival near an extra planar portal, since they love to eat Cotton Candy and can hide out in the plush prizes.

Encounter
When dealing with a Flumph, you won’t usually have to fight it. A fight only breaks out if the Flumph is being mind controlled by something, or is so desperate and afraid that it would rather attack you and die than let you do whatever it is it doesn’t want you to do.

Flumphs will arrive to share news, information, or thoughts that they have gathered from darker foes. This is to give you an advantage if you attempt to face or attack these evil forces. So discussions with Flumphs will be hurried, frank, and for the people the Flumph is talking to, very very annoying.

Aftermath
Once you’ve dealt with a Flumph, you will either have a corpse or an ally (most adventurers find that there is no middle-ground here). If you have a corpse, it cannot be used for anything besides candy making. Its acids are quite sour when added to batches of flavored sugar. Sigil has more than a few candy shops that make their sours out of the tentacles of a Flumph.

As for an ally, the Flumph is actually quite useful, should you get past its adorable-to-some, and obnoxious-to-others attitude and voice. They could be a valuable asset, sharing all sorts of plans and tactics used by the darkest creatures in the galaxy.

Conclusion
While the Flumph can be a two sided coin, it’s always a brightly shining one. It’s absolutely terrible at defending itself, but is intelligent, well-meaning, and very fun to play or DM.

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back with another Sense of Immersion every Tuesday!

Sense of Immersion is one of many materials I put out each week.
To support me and read these early, please check out My Patreon!

Image Sources: Wizards of the Coast

Roll a D20 to see what odd trait or quirk this particular Flumph has!

1: Very handsy while talking

2: A lisp

3: Stuttering

4: Yells everything they say

5: Cries all the time

6: Mood Swings

7: Addicted to drinking sugar water

8: Sprays ink when nervous

9: Always hungry

10: Weirdly attracted to the creatures they steal evil plans from

11: Smelly

12: Likes to be paid in seashells

13: Eats small animals

14: Turns invisible when scared

15: Very quiet

16: loves cats

17: Loves dogs

18: Afraid of Humans

19: Accident-prone

20: Friends with a Mindwitness buddy.

A Sense of Immersion: Beholder

Eye think that you should run, because you’re being stalked.

A creepy feeling flies up your spine, and a shadow crosses your cone of vison.

Behold your doom!

Be sure to submit your own monster with E-Mail or Twitter!

Eye think that you should run, because you’re being stalked.

A creepy feeling flies up your spine, and a shadow crosses your cone of vison.

Behold your doom!

Beholder Breakdown
The Beholder is a freakin classic. The very most iconic of all the Dungeons & Dragons monsters, besides the Red Dragon itself. It didn’t always look so cool, but it comes in all sorts of flavors. A hateful creature, with a paranoia unparalleled by any creature, it can see in all directions, but continues its attempts to see farther than that. A Beholder would be the type to attempt controlling fate or destiny, luck or purpose.

The reason the Beholder is so iconic is their ten eye stalks. The Beholder has a wide list of powers and abilities, all of which are unique, odd, and fun. It’s great center eye has a cone of vision that acts as an Anti-Magic zone. Each other eye ray does one of many things. Some are disintegration rays, that burn away all matter. Some are telekinetic rays, that move things for the Beholder, who sadly doesn’t have hands.

Beholders come from the good ole Greyhawk supplement, from the very first edition of D&D. They received the bulk of their style and lore in an article included inside Dragon magazine issue #76. The Article was titled “Ecology of the Beholder”. This article was written out by Roger E. Moore and Ed Greenwood, two of the D&D greats.

(As an aside, I really cannot recommend the old Dungeon and Dragon magazines enough. They are chock full of great ideas and lessons that work easily for 5th edition.)

Some of those details include the birthing of Beholders. Which is shockingly, not that gross. When a Beholder dreams, it has intense psychic power. The Beholder’s nightmares, for that matter, will be of a Beholder that can kill it. This nightmare will usually come to life and fight the one who dreamed it up. These battles are extreme, and chaotic. The smartest Beholder survives, and so the cycle continues.

The paranoia of the Beholder is not to be played lightly. Attempting to get the drop on a Beholder is so incredibly difficult that even when it’s delivering a monologue, it has a specific and thought out reason. A Beholder’s mind is one of intense and constant storm.

Senses
The Beholder has a lot of disturbing imagery and senses brought on by it’s presence, so lets start with what it looks like.

Each Beholder species is different, some with solid plates all over its body, some with fleshy skin and bumps all over, some even with solid and sharp spikes that protect it. The only consistency is the general silhouette, with the huge glowing main eye, and the ten smaller eyestalks. Each eye will be a color and style that has to do with it’s particular ray: bloodshot eye for petrification, a fiery orange eye that emanates heat for disintegration, and even a black eye with a purple pupil for enervation.

The pure and retched stench of a Beholder is equal only to how well they take care of their teeth. Usually, this isn’t very well, so as a Beholder discusses the finer points of your bad situation and impending murder, you’ll be awash in all sorts of absolutely funky junk air. Rotting fruits or vegetables, the shredded and sour remains of a human body, rancid fluids from the sick and twisted creepy crawlies that call the Beholders realm home. These and many more are examples of what you will wish you had never experienced.

Feeling a Beholder is on the bucket list of many a sick little adventurer. To touch one and live would prove that you’re a true-blue fighter of monsters. It would prove you a thing to be feared, a person to be respected, or it’ll get you killed; but that’s your own fault. The Beholder was merely protecting it’s home. The slimy eyeball of a Beholder feels like the firmness and sponge of a human’s own eyeball, with a thick coating of goo that keeps it nice and preserved. It’s like sticking your hand into a bowl barely filled with corn syrup. The skin of a beholder feels solid, like a thick callous. If you aren’t sure what that is, find your nearest guitar player and ask to give their hands a rub.

The third most chilling thing about a Beholder is it’s voice. The movement is silent, so when a Beholder speaks, it catches you off guard with it’s relative loudness. Many Beholders have deep voices, with a slightly chilling echo to it. Some Beholders hiss through their teeth, as if they are so disgusted with you they’d rather not even open their mouths. Some Beholders are so lazy they just telepathically transfer their orders and ideas, and if you don’t agree, bwaaam you’re disintegrated. All the rays sound like that by the way, basically whatever lightsaber noise you can make with your mouth. Telekinetic Ray is like a bwum bwum bwum, but really, it’s up to you. Have fun with it.

Every single time I do these articles I have to think about the taste of the monster. It’s honestly disgusting, but I love it all the same. Who wants to eat a Modron? Y’know?

But a Beholder wouldn’t be a delicacy at any party a hero would go to. No no, a Beholder tastes like the ass end of something vile. Something cruel and putrid. Something with so much hate you can taste it in your blood. Beholder meat is tough and can only be softened in it’s own blood. It’s eyes are made for popping and juicing, easily used in potions or alchemist’s ingredients. Baked eye and stalk steak anyone? No? More for me.

Environments
Beholder lairs are something special. Generally carved out by it’s disintegration ray. They will be stocked with slaves and creepy crawlies that would scare off any would-be explorers. Tunnels go in every direction, with areas only the Beholder can pass through, and then finally, the Beholders chamber. A nest with a big round bedded area in the center of the room far far from any doors or cover so that it can watch all in 360 degrees, even in its sleep. It has no minions in its own chambers, and has hundreds of traps and emergency exits throughout it’s design.

It stands to mention, that the Beholder would have a labyrinth of a dungeon. It would be designed to kill, tire, or enslave anybody who came in on their own. Basically, the Beholder will not pull any punches. The Beholder will foresee many of the players own plans, and the Beholder will not be afraid to win with tricks. In all eleven of its eyes, the Beholder has no honor.

Encounter
The fight with a Beholder is one of truly intense chaos. It’s constant eye ray attacks, its magic-cancelling cone, and its flying cause a true collection of challenges to every single party of characters. Add in environmental concerns like heavy rocks, pre-set traps, and even ray-created hazards, and you’ve got a challenging fight on your hands. The Beholder is one of the most fun monsters to fight. Its intimidating, it’s chaotic, and it’s something that no plan would ever survive against.

Three eye rays per it’s turn, with one eye ray after three more turns. This means that the Beholder gets a total of six random eye rays every single round. That is an insane amount of damage, if the Beholder is rolling high that is. Every one of the attacks calls for a saving throw, and this is where the Beholder shines. It does not matter how high the AC of your character. It does not matter how healthy you are. It does not matter how well thought-out your tactics are.

The eye rays hit automatically, and you can only make saves for so long. However, there is one weakness of the Beholder. It’s anti-magic cone affects its own eye rays. This is a key tactic in fighting it, if you can stay within it’s main anti-magic cone, you can get in close and stab it. This means that a solid diversity of Dungeons & Dragons characters is important, in order to properly take advantage of each and every small advantage the characters have.

Aftermath
Once you’re done fighting a Beholder, you gain access to all that is theirs. The magical items, the collected servants, the lair. But, I wouldn’t put it past the Beholder to set the lair to self destruct once it has died. The magic items are more than likely cursed, or at the very least, highly sought after by some powerful folks. Thus, making them basically cursed. The minions won’t listen to your orders, because you just killed the only thing keeping them charmed.

The magic items a Beholder might have that aren’t cursed are the ones it finds fascinating. Immovable Rod, Magic Rings, and various other oddities, for example.

Conclusion
In the end, the most important things to keep in mind are the Beholders intelligence and its ability. Not just its physical ability, it’s resources. A Beholder like the Xanathar for instance, has an entire underground network of crime that it controls.

Beholders are incredibly full of personality, and entire campaigns and adventures have been designed around them. Have a good time letting yourself think like a Beholder.

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back with another Sense of Immersion every Tuesday!

Sense of Immersion is one of many materials I put out each week.
To support me and read these early, please check out My Patreon!

Image Sources: Wizards of the Coast

Roll a D20 to see which Rays your species of Beholder has!

1: Charm Ray*

2: Transformation Ray (As of the effects of the spell Polymorph)

3: Paralyzing Ray*

4: X-Ray (DC 16 Charisma Save vs All Magical Effects on the target ending.)

5: Fear Ray*

6: Shrink Ray (DC 16 Dexterity Save vs effects of the Reduce spell)

7: Slowing Ray*

8: Heat Ray (As of the effects of the Heat Metal spell at 5th level)

9: Enervation Ray*

10: Manta Ray (DC 16 Constitution Save vs 3d10 Poison Damage and the Poisoned Effect for an amount of turns equal to half the damage.)

11: Telekinetic Ray*

12: Punch Ray (DC 16 Strength Save vs being pushed back 300 feet. If pushed into a solid surface, the character takes damage equal to the remaining distance divided by five.

13: Sleep Ray*

14: Blood Ray (DC 16 Constitution Save vs taking Necrotic Damage equal to 1/4th your health.)

15: Petrification Ray*

16: Glue Ray (DC 16 Dexterity Saving Throw or your speed becomes 0. Each of your turns you may use your action to attempt a DC 16 Strength Saving Throw to free yourself)

17: Disintegration Ray*

18: Beam Ray (DC 16 Dexterity Saving Throw vs 3d10 Radiant Damage. If the target is damaged, the beam bounces off and hits its closest ally. The beam continues bouncing until someone makes the save)

19: Death Ray*

20: Black Hole Ray** (DC 16 Wisdom Saving Throw or targets mouth becomes a Black Hole, sucking in all objects and creatures within 5 ft of it. All creatures that would be sucked in must make a DC 13 Strength Saving Throw to resist. All items and creatures that are sucked into the Black Hole are destroyed/killed immediately.

(*Stats in the Beholder section of the Monster Manual)
(**This one is total bullshit, but it’s nuts right?!)

Cowfrog

Share this article!

Share this article!

Share this article!

Share this article!

Share this article!