Here is a bit of personal history: While I have written encounters using beholders – and one 2nd Edition megadungeon I wrote/ran in California had a whole cavern system dedicated to them and their relatives on the lowest level – I don’t believe than a beholder has ever come up for me in actual play, either as a DM or otherwise. In fact, the first level of the Dungeon of Thale was so large that no one ever made it to a lower level despite years of play.
Beholder: Init +4; Atk bite +5 melee (2d6) or eyestalk ray +5 ranged (special); AC 22; HD 1d30+45; MV fly 10’; Act 5d20; SP anti-magic field, eyestalk rays; SV Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +8; AL L.
This monster appears as a levitating globe of chitinous plates, 1d3+3 feet in diameter, with a single enormous eye and maw on its front side. From the top of the globe sprout 10 flexible eyestalks.
The forward eye of a beholder projects a cone-shaped anti-magic field 90’ long with a 90’ base. Spells fail automatically within this field, and no magic item can function. A beholder can activate or deactivate this field using an action die, but this field is 95% likely to be active when a beholder is encountered. A beholder can also shoot rays from its eyestalks at a 90’ range, although these are magical and do not function in the creature’s own anti-magic field.
When a beholder uses it eyestalk rays, it can control which rays it uses, although it can only use each ray once per round. Each ray is assigned to a specific eyestalk, and a successful Mighty Deed can sever one (as can an attack doing 6+ damage, which does not otherwise harm the creature). Severed eyestalks take 1d5 months to regrow. Likewise, if the central eye is blinded, it heals within 1d7 months. If the judge in unsure which ray to use, simply roll 1d10:
1. Charm person ray (Will DC 15 or view the creature as a trusted friend and ally for 1d6 days; humanoids only).
2. Charm monster ray (Will DC 15 or take orders from the creature for 1d6 minutes; any creature is affected and language is not a barrier).
3. Sleep ray (Fort DC 15 or fall into magical slumber for 1d6 rounds).
4. Telekinesis ray can move up to 250 pounds with a +6 Strength bonus if opposed.
5. Petrifaction ray (Fort DC 10 or be permanently turned to stone; this can be undone with the creature’s anti-magic field for up to 1d3 months).
6. Disintegration ray (Up to 2,000 pounds of non-living non-magical material; if the item is held or worn a DC 15 Reflex save negates).
7. Fear ray (Will DC 15 or flee in terror for 2d6 rounds, suffering a -2d penalty on the dice chain while fleeing).
8. Slow ray (Initiative count reduced by -4, all movement and actions halved so that a victim with a single Action Die can only act once each round).
9. Wounding ray (3d6 damage, DC 15 Fort save for half).
10. Death ray (DC 10 Fort or die; magical healing cannot help but recovering the body is still possible).
These creatures are malevolent and intelligent, using their powers to control a network of agents within a given region. Although they hate each other, each wishes to be the mind that rules entire kingdoms or worlds.
Black Pudding: Init -6; Atk pseudopod +2 melee (3d8); AC 10; HD 5d8; MV 20’ or climb 20’; Act 1d20; SP dissolve wood and metal, immunities (weapons, cold, and acid); SV Fort +6, Ref -8, Will -6; AL N.
A particularly dangerous form of primeval slime (see pages 423-424 of the core rulebook), black puddings are only 1d4+4 feet in diameter, but are composed of countless colonial single-celled organisms which make it incredibly fast and tough for a slime. These beings can dissolve up to 2 inches of wood in a round, and can dissolve metal with devastating speed – weapons that strike a black pudding have their damage reduced by a cumulative -1d on the dice chain and are destroyed if reduced below 1d3 damage. Armor loses 1d3 points of protection each time it is hit by a black pudding – or if the black pudding would have hit had the armor not intervened!
Blink Dog: Init +4;
Atk bite +1 melee (1d4); AC 16; HD 2d6; MV 40’; Act 1d20; SP blinking,
teleportation; SV Fort +3; Ref +6; Will +3; AL L.
These intelligent canines have the unusual ability to “blink”, a form of short-range teleportation taking the creature 30 feet in a random direction. Use 1d6 on a hex map, or 1d8 on a grid, to determine direction with “1” indicating the direction the creature is facing; the author has a d8 marked with cardinal directions which is useful when using theater of the mind. Blink dogs automatically “blink” whenever an attack against them misses, or when they succeed in a Reflex save. A blink dog can also intentionally teleport to any spot within 30 feet, although it must use its action die to do so.
Although aggressively territorial, blink dogs are not necessarily hostile and are willing to bargain with good-willed humanoids.