D&D 5E Do GRICKS have eyes?

[Klaudius Rex]

In my DotMM campaign, the party fought some super stealthy gricks, and this question came up by one of the players:

"Do these gricks have eyes?"

as a semi-good DM, i responded with "i dont know."...which i dont....the picture doesnt seem to have eyes, yet they do have darkvision, but not any tremorsense or other way to locate prey without eyesight.

my player pointed out that worms in real life dont have eyes, and this creature has worm-like qualities.

so i ruled that it probably doesnt have eyes, and added tremorsense to its abilities.

no one is mad or anything about the decision, but its been on my mind since then for some odd reason, and i came to you gurus here at EnWorld.

what do you think?
do they have eyes?
anyone got definitive canon clarity on this?
was it a dumb DM decision to make even if none of the players are upset and probably could care less?
or am i incredibly brilliant? =)

be nice!

 

[Mannahnin]

Based on the art and minis I've seen and used in the past, my immediate reaction was to say no, they don't.

As you note, however, mechanically they have darkvision rather than tremorsense; so maybe they have tiny little eyes?

 

[Tonguez]

yes they do, although none of the art work shows them, the Forgotten Realms version says they have tiny eyes by the beak. Personally I dont think they need them - they do have a sensory organ that allows Darkvision, but I dont think they need to be 'eyes' per se

 

[embee]

In 4e, they do have eyes, which are specifically referenced in the MM (p145). 5e is silent as to the presence of eyes.

 

[aco175]

I would say yes since they have a climb speed and not a burrow speed. This makes them more like snakes and not worms, which snakes have eyes. This and the darkvision thing mostly. I guess bullettes have eves and burrow speed maybe making my point moo. Their description also calls them worm-like, so maybe I'm just guessing, but mostly the darkvision thing.

 

[fba827]

In the area where your PCs fought the creatures, they had a genetic mutation causing those in that brood to not have eyes. But others in the world do have tiny eyes at the base of their beaks.

Or, you know, being the odd creatures that they are and the PCs not having dissected one before, they did not realize that the tiny bubble by the beak are the ocular receptors for the creature.

 

[Oofta]

They may not look like eyes, but they do have receptors that serve the same purpose.

 

[the Jester]

They have darkvision and aren't immune to the blinded condition. Seems pretty clear to me that they have eyes or something functionally identical.

 

[Stormonu]

Neither gricks, grells or skeletons have eyes, and use supernatural means to "see".

 

[Deset Gled]

They may not look like eyes, but they do have receptors that serve the same purpose.

If it's a sensory organ that provides images to the brain, doesn't that make it an eye? Many insects have compound lenses that are fixed bulbous protrusions rather than mamalian squishy rotating orbs with a single point of focus, but we still call both sensory organs "eyes."

See also: Does a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? When is a door not a door?