Adventuring Tactics Masterclass: Beholders.

Steverooo · Mar 5, 2003

Antimagic Shell on the Beholder.

If you're a magicless Fighter-type, Tanglefoot Bag and Smokestick it, then puree with arrows, or close to melee while it's shrouded in smoke.

Al'Kelhar · Mar 6, 2003

LokiDR 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.

Loki, Loki, as deity of mischief I thought you would've been a bit more lateral, er, vertical, in your thinking. Why can't beholders be flanked by a person directly above them and a person directly below them? As far as the length of eyestalks goes, unless the eye-stalks are able to wrap around to the underside of the beholder, being directly underneath the beholder is safe. It's 6' across. Last time I checked, my shoulders weren't that broad, and most of the PCs are unlikely to be that wide either. I'm speaking as a DM here, too, not some namby player whose PC has been offed by a rampant beholder the DM fudged all-heck out of to kill me. I can kill my players as easy as the nastiest DM; on the other hand, I reward clever thinking. In my book, a PC smart enough and brave enough to position themselves directly (and I mean directly) underneath a beholder gets cut a bit of slack. Next round, the beholder tilts and blasts the PC with 3 eye rays (as per Monster Manual description), but the PC has had at least one round to do something...

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

Tisvon · Mar 8, 2003

Might it be time for another thread?

nikolai · Mar 8, 2003

Done.

If you've ideas about Elementals, go here:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43420

nikolai.

LokiDR · Mar 9, 2003

Al'Kelhar said:
Loki, Loki, as deity of mischief I thought you would've been a bit more lateral, er, vertical, in your thinking. Why can't beholders be flanked by a person directly above them and a person directly below them? As far as the length of eyestalks goes, unless the eye-stalks are able to wrap around to the underside of the beholder, being directly underneath the beholder is safe. It's 6' across. Last time I checked, my shoulders weren't that broad, and most of the PCs are unlikely to be that wide either. I'm speaking as a DM here, too, not some namby player whose PC has been offed by a rampant beholder the DM fudged all-heck out of to kill me. I can kill my players as easy as the nastiest DM; on the other hand, I reward clever thinking. In my book, a PC smart enough and brave enough to position themselves directly (and I mean directly) underneath a beholder gets cut a bit of slack. Next round, the beholder tilts and blasts the PC with 3 eye rays (as per Monster Manual description), but the PC has had at least one round to do something...

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

If you recall how Loki had his brother killed, you should remember I am a lawer. The law is clear. Beholders can fire down. Beholders can not be flanked.

If you want to apply "common sense", or fair play, or any other non-rule concept, it is a house rule, especially when the rules are clear. But if you say the beholder can pan and fire, why should underneath be any safer than any other location (besides above)? If the beholder is firing, then it can pan. And a 3 foot eye-stalk comming out of the side of a sphere shouldn't have a problem with that.

Next, why don't you apply your skills to falling damage. Your book should have at least a few pages for that