Adventuring Tactics Masterclass: Beholders.
- Thread starter nikolai
- Start date
Oh, here's an important point:
Never, ever, ever, split up.
When facing a beholder, never attack from many directions, flank it, ect. Here's why: A beholder's greatest weapon is its antimagic cone, but within it, a beholder cannot function well. However, if a party splits up, the beholder can half of you with its cone, and the other half with its rays. So, if you want to not die/be charmed/ ect., DO NOT SPLIT UP.
Thank you.
Never, ever, ever, split up.
When facing a beholder, never attack from many directions, flank it, ect. Here's why: A beholder's greatest weapon is its antimagic cone, but within it, a beholder cannot function well. However, if a party splits up, the beholder can half of you with its cone, and the other half with its rays. So, if you want to not die/be charmed/ ect., DO NOT SPLIT UP.
Thank you.
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GuardianLurker
Adventurer
Heh.
I hadn't thought about Blindness, but I can think of a way to take down a Beholder using a single character, without magic.
This assumes that the beholder-victim lives in a rural area and has to go on long hunting trips. It also assumes foreknowledge and prep time for our hero.
Our hero is a Rogue, or even better a Rogue/Fighter or Arcane Trickster. He needs access to Sneak Attack, Hide, and possibly Wilderness Lore.
He observes the Beholder's habits, and on one of it's hunting trips digs a little shallow trench to hide in, lying face down or couched, right where the beholder will have to pass over it. Obviously, this uses the Hide skill, and possibly Wilderness Lore to seamlessly camoflage the blind. Then he waits. Eventually, the beholder will pass overhead.
He surprises the Beholder, and being underneath it, it can't use any of its attacks. It's also flat-footed, so he can use his SA.
The tricky part is avoiding the Beholder's spot bonus, but it's fairly easy to block Line-of-Effect to the interior of the blind, so magic is still usable within it. Scrolls of Silent Image, Cloaks of Hiding, etc will all still work. Given even more extensive prep-time, you can also condition the beholder to expect false alarms - it won't do it any good to spot the hiding place if it thinks its empty. Or perhaps you'll just have your captive blind kobold throw a rock at the right time to distract it.
Also, depending on your GM, the Beholder may or may not be able to fly upside down. Regardless, the safest place on the battlefield is directly "underneath" the Beholder, outside the arc of its eye rays. Our hero should attempt to stay there as much as possible.
You even vary this basic strategy (attack-from-beneath) with assorted mundane and magical traps. Or even just shove an entire adventuring party underneath.
I hadn't thought about Blindness, but I can think of a way to take down a Beholder using a single character, without magic.
This assumes that the beholder-victim lives in a rural area and has to go on long hunting trips. It also assumes foreknowledge and prep time for our hero.
Our hero is a Rogue, or even better a Rogue/Fighter or Arcane Trickster. He needs access to Sneak Attack, Hide, and possibly Wilderness Lore.
He observes the Beholder's habits, and on one of it's hunting trips digs a little shallow trench to hide in, lying face down or couched, right where the beholder will have to pass over it. Obviously, this uses the Hide skill, and possibly Wilderness Lore to seamlessly camoflage the blind. Then he waits. Eventually, the beholder will pass overhead.
He surprises the Beholder, and being underneath it, it can't use any of its attacks. It's also flat-footed, so he can use his SA.
The tricky part is avoiding the Beholder's spot bonus, but it's fairly easy to block Line-of-Effect to the interior of the blind, so magic is still usable within it. Scrolls of Silent Image, Cloaks of Hiding, etc will all still work. Given even more extensive prep-time, you can also condition the beholder to expect false alarms - it won't do it any good to spot the hiding place if it thinks its empty. Or perhaps you'll just have your captive blind kobold throw a rock at the right time to distract it.
Also, depending on your GM, the Beholder may or may not be able to fly upside down. Regardless, the safest place on the battlefield is directly "underneath" the Beholder, outside the arc of its eye rays. Our hero should attempt to stay there as much as possible.
You even vary this basic strategy (attack-from-beneath) with assorted mundane and magical traps. Or even just shove an entire adventuring party underneath.
GuardianLurker
Adventurer
On a more humorous note, you could always try Marvin the Robot's tactic against the Frogstar Scout Class D.
John Smallberries
First Post
Why are all these Beholders floating within melee range?
LuYangShih said:
Hmm, sounds like people are quoting the rules without thinking about them. Beholders live in a 3-dimensional environment and float around above the ground. Beholders have no eyes on their underside. To say a beholder can't be flanked is to say that all players are idiots and all DMs blindly obey the rules even when logic tells them they're bunkum. As a DM, I would applaud the party who drew the beholder over an area in which their rogue had concealed himself in a covered pit or somesuch.
Cheers, Al'Kelhar
[Oops, posted this before reading GuardianLurker's post. Looks like we're on ther same wavelength.]
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Al'Kelhar said:
That has nothing to do with flanking. I would think you could still get the drop on it with improved invisiblity or sustain sneak attack with blinking.
As far as attacking from below, I have my doubts. The small eyestalks are illustrated as being more than a few inches, and those long eye-stalks could probably point down. In fact, the description of the eye rays states the creature can point three eyes down and it can pan to change which eyes those are. "Underneath" is not such a great place afterall.
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