Beholder's combat

[hong]

Yeah, cut and dried.

Up = all 10 eyestalks.

Any other direction = only 3.

Not, "only 3 unless the beholder tilts itself," just "only 3."

As in, if a PC is anywhere around the beholder besides flying in the air above it, the beholder can only bring 3 eyestalks to bear.

*scratching head* If there's latitude to argue otherwise here, I guess I'm just too dumb to see it, so I suppose I'll bow out here and let the discussion carry on without me to hinder it.

Note that the MM does specifically say that the beholder can "tilt and pan its body each round to change which rays it can bring to bear in an arc". That could be read as saying that the beholder can, in fact, tilt its body towards the ground so as to aim all its eyestalks into the "upwards" arc.

As to why they'd mention the restriction if you could just aim all 10 eyes at someone? Two possible reasons:
- If the beholder is flanked by two opponents, it can't bring 5 eyes to bear on one and 5 on the other.
- After the beholder has selected arcs for its eyes, it can't change them until its next round, eg for AoO purposes.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Well, I had thought it was pretty straightforward, but I'll have to admit, several things, especially flanking, I hadn't considered. Emailed the Sage, so we'll see what he says.

 

[HeavyG]

According to the book:

Front: 3 eyes plus central eye.

Wouldn't this be quite pointless, firing rays in an antimagic field ?

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Wouldn't this be quite pointless, firing rays in an antimagic field ?

Yes. But the point he was making is that you have to take the central eye into consideration when making arguments about whether the "3 eyestalks in any direction but up" line is significant.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I got a reply back from the Sage today. I tried to make my question as short and concise as possible to avoid confusion, as he usually gives short answers with little to no explanation. Here is what I got (Sage's reply in yellow.)

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From: Lord Pendragon
Posted At: Monday, January 28, 2002 1:21 AM
Conversation: A question about beholders.
Subject: A question about beholders.

Dear Sage,

Once again, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to answer questions pertaining to the D&D game. I really appreciate the care you show the gaming public, outside of your regular job. I really appreciate whatever time you can spare us! ^_^


I have a question regarding beholders. In the Monster Manual, it stats that they can only use 3 eyestalks if a target is in front of, behind, or to the right, left, or bottom of the creature. But, it can use all 10 of its eyestalks if a target is above it.


What I'd like to know is, can the beholder rotate itself forward, so that its central eye is facing down and all 10 eyestalks are facing forward, and this hit a single creature (not above it) with all 10 of its eyestalks?

No.

*******************

Now whether the beholder deserves a CR 13 when this ruling is taken into account is a whole different question.

 

[BlindKobold]

I'm going to say "NO", a beholder must maintain a static orientation. I see the beholder as more as a mobile ballon. Sure, he can move, he he maintains his orientation.

Otherwise, consider that the anti-magic eye will be COMPLETELY off-line while he swivels his eyestalks toward a single target and this would actually make it EASIER to kill it with a few readied actions.

Also, it was always the tactic of choice to dimension door underneath the beholder (where no stalks can point) and blast it or sneak attack it.

 

[Artoomis]

If a Beholder could reorient to any direction (including tipping itself on its side), why would it need vertical lairs?

Vertical lairs are only needed to force attackers to face all ten eyestalks while descending the shaft.