Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
Just like the title says: Are there beholders in Dark Sun? Thanks!
Are there beholders in Dark Sun?
- Thread starter Wednesday Boy
- Start date
Stumblewyk
Adventurer
The correct answer to this question (and all others like it) is simply "Do you want there to be beholders in Dark Sun?"
If it's your game and you want to work them in, then yes, there are beholders in Dark Sun.
If it's your game and you want to work them in, then yes, there are beholders in Dark Sun.
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
I should have specified that I'm going to be a player in a pickup Dark Sun campaign, so it's a little out of my hands. I was considering playing the shaman I based on the "Leader of a Beholder Cult" picture that was in the FR 2nd Ed. deities book. Maybe I'll see if the GMs will allow it anyways.
Mark Hope
Hero
The DM should be honour-bound to allow it, simply because it would mean your PC got to wear an awesome hat. Take a look at any of the pictures of Dark Sun NPCs (City State of Tyr is a great example, as are any pictures by Baxa) - 90% of them are wearing totally outrageous hats. The beholder-cultist hat would fit right in. Your PC would be the talk of the town based on his hat alone.
Dragonbait
Explorer
I don't think there were beholders in the original version, but a Dark Sun scholar might have more information. With the new version? Who knows?
Still, maybe you can work things out with the GM? You need the hat.
Still, maybe you can work things out with the GM? You need the hat.
Mark Hope
Hero
I do . There weren't
.Not me. My scholarship ran out with 4e, heh.
Whatever else, this remains true. Dark Sun is worthless without a decent hat.
Stumblewyk
Adventurer
I don't think there's anything in the 4e Dark Sun material that explicitly says "no beholders," but then again there's nothing in there that explicitly says "yeah, we've got beholders" either.
The tone and tenor of the 4e Dark Sun material seems to be "if you want it in there, it's in there," as opposed to 2e's DS model of "only what we allow."
All that being said, it's entirely up to the DM. I can't see a good reason why there couldn't be beholders. They can be exceedingly rare, exceedingly strange, and even more exotic than they are in "vanilla" D&D.
After all, if 4e can find a way to squeeze in Tieflings and Eladrin, why couldn't a good DM squeeze in beholders?
M.L. Martin
Hero
"Sage Advice" was asked this question back in the 2E days and gave three possible answers:
1. They were never there in the first place;
2. They were obliterated during the great ecological catastrophes of Athasian history;
3. They're still around, but rare and/or hiding deep underground.
Take your pick.
1. They were never there in the first place;
2. They were obliterated during the great ecological catastrophes of Athasian history;
3. They're still around, but rare and/or hiding deep underground.
Take your pick.
Cerebral Paladin
First Post
I agree with the rest of the commenters--to the best of my knowledge, there were no beholders in Dark Sun traditionally, but there's no reason to not include them in a 4e campaign. (I don't even remember if one of the Champions was anti-beholders--the Champions only targeted humanoids, right?)
The weird thing is that beholders fit Dark Sun really well. They're very consistent with the powerful weird things that dwell in the desert and might eat you or kill you without even caring vibe. As I think about it, I can't see any good reason to leave them out, except to try to make Dark Sun less like other D&D worlds, but it seems much more important to make Dark Sun not traditional medieval fantasy rather than "not D&D."
So <shrug>. If I were DMing a Dark Sun game, I'd be totally happy to include beholders in it. I think you should totally pitch the idea to the group, and I think they should say yes.
The weird thing is that beholders fit Dark Sun really well. They're very consistent with the powerful weird things that dwell in the desert and might eat you or kill you without even caring vibe. As I think about it, I can't see any good reason to leave them out, except to try to make Dark Sun less like other D&D worlds, but it seems much more important to make Dark Sun not traditional medieval fantasy rather than "not D&D."
So <shrug>. If I were DMing a Dark Sun game, I'd be totally happy to include beholders in it. I think you should totally pitch the idea to the group, and I think they should say yes.
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