Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010710" data-attributes="member: 1129">I admit that I have certain weaknesses as a reader and a GM. When I see stuff about Beholders I instantly think about the damn fine campaign I ran back in 2nd edition using the full color Monstrous Arcana book that detailed out the Beholders and supported it with a trilogy of exciting adventures. How could this compare?By making everything you know about beholders wrong, but not invalidated.The book opens up with an illustration on the interior cover. Already a good sign of well utilized space. It's the Anatomy of the Beholder and it goes into some interesting notes like no organs and no throat or stomach as well as some variants based on Dominion. But what's this dominion you say?Glad you asked. Back in the old Spelljammer Days when you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a Beholder Hive, these monsters waged war against one another based on physical appearance and were labeled as paranoid monsters who hated all life outside of their own. This book doesn't quite ignore that or even reference it, but it does give reasons why beholders fight one another and that's domains.The domains are broken up into different concepts or ideas of how best to do things. We've got full details on nine domains: Consuming Eye, Enigma, Eternal Vigil, Final Forge, First Eye, Flesh Reborn, Poisoned Eye, Revelations, and the Watching Wheel. Each one has just about everything you need to get started. Want to know how they treat other domains or where they prefer to live or what they look like? What to know what changes in class skills or powers they get? How about common equipment, classes or even adventure ideas? The author's got you covered. The reason that people think that beholders all hate one another is that the different domains often battle one another due to differences in ideology, not racial hatred. It keeps the flavor while rewriting the background where no one can see it, perfect for those who think they know beholders.Now that's cool enough for me right there, but there's a lot more. See that weird humanoid on the cover with the cloak and the eystalks coming out of the hood? That's probably an eyekin of some sort. Beholders aren't out to destroy the world but to conquer it through the use of cults and in some of those cults, they get members who have been around beholders too long or who have been exposed to what the beholders 'worship', the Void. This gives them different stats than their fellow human brothers and makes them a nice surprise to throw at the players.Now we've got cultists and aberrations. Those are two of my weaknesses as a GM and a reader. It gets me thinking about the Mythos. But I mentioned the Void didn't I. You see the Void is basically a living plane and it's creation of the beholders, the reasoning, is something not fully known to the beholders but they feel that the Void's will is what they will so things are a little strange. I like the vagueness of it all as it reminds me a lot of the old Mythos creatures who really couldn't be pinned down to human reasoning or intelligence. One or the few things I'd think the book didn't hit enough on was the Void as it's own plane with it's own rules but hey, this isn't a book about the Void, it's about Beholders.Now to further customize your monster, you've got some new character classes, a core class of the beholder cultists who gets eyes that have their own special powers, as well as the aberrant warrior, a being whose blood becomes like that of the eyekin and who gains tentacles which gain their own powers. Now we're talking about some nice elements of horror if properly sprung on an unsuspecting character.  Those who don't want mortal servants but PrCs for their monsters have the Eye of the Void and the Juggernaut. The former gains more eyestalks as it gains levels and it's eye stalks gain strength in level and determining DC. The latter is a physical juggernaut whose brute power enables it to not only increase the range of it's rays but numerous bonus feats that augment it's physical aspects as well.Now a lot of those bonus feats come straight from this book. We've got new feats that increase the beholders jaw damage as well as special feats for the eyekin that let them follow their master's more like Buoyant Blood where the eyekin gains a bonus to his jump check or gains the use of the feather fall spell. One of the things I thought most useful was the authors thinking about metamagic feats and the beholder. For each level needed to boost a spell, the DC to save against a beholder's ray attack is lowered but there is a limit to how low a beholder can take a ray. For example, if the level of effect is 3, the maximum modifier is -4. Good stuff overall and enhances core rules and other 3rd party feats without taking up a ton of space.Just like players, beholders have their own items, both magical and mundane. This makes an encounter with a beholder so much more interesting than merely an unarmed and unprepared aberrant. Once again, the authors acknowledge that there are a lot of magic items already out there by indicating how beholders can use bracers, crowns, rings and other commonly found magic items, even as it introduces new types of armor and weapons, which can have their own enhancements. Nothing like facing a beholder with Juggernaut Plate of Fortification whose biting you with +2 Shocking Razorjaws that fit over it's regular teeth.This is a lot of information to take in at one setting and could be problematic to use all at once, which is why the authors have included several encounters in the book, not only with beholders and eyekin, but with creatures who've suffered some taint that gives them a small glimmering of a beholder's shape and appearance through the eyetouched creature template.Players may be weeping and gnashing their teeth, pondering how they can survive against these monsters. Chapter Nine may be a small chapter, but it has organizations that strive against beholders as well as two new PrCs that specialize in killing beholders, the Knight of Cleansing and the Tyrant Hunter. Those needing more reassurance that there is hope should look to the Purity clerical domain and the new spells found within it's ranks like Cleansing Burst, a spell that can kill weak aberrations while blinding or damaging more powerful ones.It's a nice contrast to have this chapter here as earlier, the book provides the GM with ideas, tips, and tools on how to maximize the beholder's power including the note that hey, beholders are very powerful and a  well played one with intelligence who maximizes it's flight and ranged ability can wipe out most parties and that sometimes they may have other motivations in fighting characters than merely killing them.The book uses standard two column layout. Editing is good for the most part, conforming to 3.5 standards save for a regression to a feat like Ambidextiery that no longer exist. I'm afraid I don't have the devotion to check skill point totals, but I note that skills like survival so most of it looks 3.5 for game stats. Art is top notch, one of  Goodman's best with fan favorite Andy Hopp contributing along with Scott Purdy, Brad McDevitt, Thomas Denmark and William McAusland.There are a lot of  other spots in the book I'm not getting to. For example, there are many new types of monsters to help guard the behodlers lairs, as well as a new template. There are details on beholder reproduction and lifestyle that help the GM decide where a beholder might be if an adventurer came calling to his home. There are campaign notes on how to use beholders in other genres that are simple but good starters. There are reasons why beholders need money and why they don't always kill those they battle with. There are variant rules for different eye effects on the beholders. It's a book I could put down and feel that it was very complete.Is the book perfect? Some minor editing in the 3.5 rules would've been nice but I'd personally like to see more maps. The maps for the beholder lairs are nice but the dark background makes details difficult to see although general material is easy to read. I also don't think we need stats listed for every beholder dominion. A simple listing of the differences would've sufficed for most I think but it's a minor issue for me.If you're into Beholders or are thinking of something new to make as the main antagonist for the party, from low level to high levels, then you need to pick up the Complete Guide to Beholders .</blockquote>

Verification