D&D 5E Crafting armor from a Beholder's hide/scales

[akr71]

TL/DL; What would Beholder Armor give you?

The druid in my game has made it clear that he's on the lookout for an armor upgrade. He asked how rare magical studded leather is and whether it would require attunement. He said that it is likely the best armor he could hope for. I responded that if it is just +x armor, then no, attunement is not required. I also added that just because he can't wear metal armor, doesn't mean that he couldn't get something better. If the party comes across a creature with a particularly tough hide and he gets armor crafted from its hide or scales, it could offer better protection and may convey properties of the creature upon the wearer.

In our last session, the party ran into a Beholder which they successfully defeated. At the end of the session the druid immediately pipes up "All you nimble fingered folk, I need your help getting this thing skinned in one piece. I want some armor."

So what would Beholder scale mail or Beholder hide armor do for the wearer. The anti-magic field is specifically a trait of the large central eye and the eye beams are traits of the eye stalks.

 

[Stormonu]

It would be very colorful scale or hide armor. Might even be able to get chitin plate out of it.

As far as magical properties, none inheritantly. If you want it to have special properties, it needs to be properly enchanted - method up to you, but I would suggest some ritual spells, a ceremony and a heap of gold. Maybe some skill checks (Arcana to harvest the “magic”, Nature to properly skin come to mind).

As for suggested powers, I’ve seen old pictures in an old FR sourcebook with a headdress made of eyestalks (a helm, basically) that could be enchanted to reproduce one, some or all of the eye rays. The hide itself might be steeped in the beholder’s ichor to grant spell resistance (Or maybe potions of spell resistance distilled from its tears). Might also be possible to harvest whatever magic allows the beholder to float/fly and incorporate it into the armor, a cloak, boots or the headdress. Eyestalk bracers or wands might also be appropriate. Amulets of the eye might be a possibility.

 

[akr71]

Since its a druid asking these questions, I think he'd prefer medium armor so I'm leaning toward scale, half-plate or a breastplate. The breastplate doesn't impose disadvantage on stealth, so we'll probably land there...

I was thinking of some sort of limited fly speed and possibly spell resistance. The eyestalk wands or bracers is a neat idea, I hadn't considered other items like those or a helm ... something to think about.

 

[Richards]

I'm sorry for the visual, but the first thing that popped into my mind was taking a section of beholder hide centered around one of the eyestalks...and making a magical codpiece out of it. At the very least, the druid would be very distinctive.

Johnathan

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

This is a cool image. I would probably make it be +1 or +2 armor (dependent on your party's level), as the AC of a beholder is 18 (natural armor, which makes its scales either the equivalent of plain plate armor, or +2 scale mail armor).

A similar idea that is official in 5e is Dragonscale mail, which is very rare +1 scale mail armor that gives the attuned wearer advantage on saving throws against Draconic Presence and Breath Weapon effects, and resistance to a draconic-damage types, and the ability to sense dragons within 30 miles of you as an action once a day.

So, if you were to take this and change it a bit, I would make Beholder-Skin Armor a set of Very Rare scale mail armor that requires attunement, granting a +2 AC to the wearer, advantage on saving throws against Beholder Eye-Rays, and the ability to get a beholder's 20-foot hover speed for 1 minute.

(I also like the ideas of eye-stalk based items, too. Eberron: Rising from the Last War actually has a similar magic item, Belashyrra's Beholder Crown.)

 

[akr71]

I'm sorry for the visual, but the first thing that popped into my mind was taking a section of beholder hide centered around one of the eyestalks...and making a magical codpiece out of it. At the very least, the druid would be very distinctive.

Johnathan

The druid in question already collects penis trophies from combat victories. I am definitely NOT going to be giving him this idea.

 

[akr71]

This is a cool image. I would probably make it be +1 or +2 armor (dependent on your party's level), as the AC of a beholder is 18 (natural armor, which makes its scales either the equivalent of plain plate armor, or +2 scale mail armor).

A similar idea that is official in 5e is Dragonscale mail, which is very rare +1 scale mail armor that gives the attuned wearer advantage on saving throws against Draconic Presence and Breath Weapon effects, and resistance to a draconic-damage types, and the ability to sense dragons within 30 miles of you as an action once a day.

So, if you were to take this and change it a bit, I would make Beholder-Skin Armor a set of Very Rare scale mail armor that requires attunement, granting a +2 AC to the wearer, advantage on saving throws against Beholder Eye-Rays, and the ability to get a beholder's 20-foot hover speed for 1 minute.

(I also like the ideas of eye-stalk based items, too. Eberron: Rising from the Last War actually has a similar magic item, Belashyrra's Beholder Crown.)

Good idea limiting the hover speed. However, even at 1 minute I have to resign myself to the fact that, should he get this armor crafted, I'm going to have a cave bear flying about the battlefield. Its only 20 feet so it shouldn't cause too much chaos.

 

[TheSword]

I would allow the hide to give attack rolls from rays against it disadvantage if properly enchanted.

 

[akr71]

I've now got a spreadsheet outlining what items are needed to craft beholder armor, as well as additional reagents, enchanter's fees and time needed to enchant it. Looking at the Armor table in the PHB, I decided that Scale Mail, Breastplate, or Half-plate could all be crafted. If the party is able to harvest enough of the right materials, the druid will be able to choose which to get crafted. I think my construction costs & times are a little on the low side. The party isn't in a position to take a whole lot of down time and gold is easy to come by so numbers don't mean much.

I also have 'add-ons' should they manage to harvest other organs and fluids, which could be used to add further enchantments to the finished armor.

Armor
type	ac	stealth	additional properties	materials	construction cost	construction time
Scale Mail	16 [max +2 Dex]	disadvantage	fly 20' for 1 minute/day	30# scales	3000gp	3 weeks
				5# hide
				3 vials of beholder ichor
				10 gems worth at least 100gp each
			advantage vs beholder eye rays	tear duct from the main eye	1500gp	1 week
				gem dust worth 1000gp
				1/2 pound of beholder liver
			cancel beholder anti-magic field [30' line, 5' wide]	intact brain stem	1000gp	1 week
				bile duct
breastplate	16 [max +2 Dex]	-	fly 20' for 1 minute/day	15# scales	2000gp	2 weeks
				5# hide
				2 vials of beholder ichor
				gem dust worth 2000gp
			advantage vs beholder eye rays	tear duct from the main eye	1500gp	1 week
				gem dust worth 2000gp
				1/2 pound of beholder liver
			cancel beholder anti-magic field [30' line, 5' wide]	intact brain stem	1000gp	1 week
				bile duct
half-plate	17 [max +2 Dex]	disadvantage	fly 20' for 1 minute/day	30# scales	5500gp	4 weeks
				10# hide
				3 vials of beholder ichor
				a gem worth 5000gp
			advantage vs beholder eye rays	tear duct from the main eye	1500gp	1 week
				gem dust worth 3000gp
				1 pound of beholder liver
			cancel beholder anti-magic field [30' line, 5' wide]	intact brain stem	1000gp	1 week
				bile duct

 

[NotAYakk]

Beholder Armor:
This +1 Breastplate is made out of the carapace of a Beholder and partially preserved eyes and eyestalks. When attuned it has the following effects:

• The residual anti-magic effects of the central eye mean that magical effects originating or ending in the 5' square immediately in front of the wearer roll saving throws at advantage.
• The armor has 4 eye tentacles attached to it. Tentacle #1 can store a 1st level spell, tentacle #2 a 2nd level spell, tentacle #3 a 3rd level spell and tantacle #4 a 4th level spell. The wearer can cast a spell of the appropriate level into the tentacle and it is absorbed. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action or 1 bonus action. As a bonus action, you can cause a random tentacle to activate (roll 1d4), and cast the spell stored within it; once a tentacle does this, further attempts to activate it fail until a new spell is put into it. If the spell requires concentration, the wearer must provide it. The eye stalks lose their spells if the armor is unattuned, or attuned to a new user.
• You can cast Featherfall, but only on yourself, as a reaction.

---

This is basically a +1 breastplate with a modified ring of spell storing, plus some ribbons.

The ring of spell storing is missing the shenanigans of moving spells between casters and some flexibility, but gains action economy, loses flexibility, loses control (you can't pick which spell to use!), and gains total slot levels (1 2 3 4 sums to 10).

It evokes the feeling of a beholder, which is what I'm aiming at.

I consider the anti-magic to be a ribbon; the character could go up to an enemy spellcaster and force advantage on all spells the spellcaster imposes, but also grant advantage to that character. Or protect a single ally who stands right in front of them.

The self-only featherfall is residual hover magic. You fall slower.

---

A way to approach this that doesn't require spending months of downtime on crafting is to require other magical items as ingredients. If the above requires consuming a ring of spell storing, you could imagine it being faster and cheaper.