How do Beholders digest their food?

[shilsen]

So, if they disintegrate their food and then inhale it, why do they have teeth?

The real reason? Because when they were invented, which was solely for game purposes, the inventor figured that they should have a melee attack. The made-up ecological reason? Galethorn's is as good as any other, though I personally prefer Scribble's

 

[Tonguez]

yep in I tyrant they show a diagram of the beholders insides showing stomach, lungs, heart etc. it also has a single orifice in its back...

 

[Hand of Evil]

The mouth and stomach could be one, basicly the beholder would take a body or part into its mouth, grind it and adsorb what it needs in the lining of its mouth and tongue.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Plot ideas is that this could cause the underside of the mouth look swollen and treasure can sometimes be found under the tongue of a beholder. Another, this is why a beholder always looks like it is eating something, spitting out parts during attact.

 

[Klaus]

So beholders ruminate?

 

[Jdvn1]

Seriously. Their entire bodies are composed of eyes, a mouth, and presumably a large cranial cavity. So...how do they digest what they would eat with those ginormous mouths?

Maybe you can have your players go on a quest to find out!

 

[GreyShadow]

Their big eyeball is really a huge plasma screen and they store food behind it?

 

[Angcuru]

Maybe they're like vampires, and those biggie fangs latch onto stuff and suck the life juice right out of 'em when nobody's looking.

 

[rbingham2000]

Heh. I played Doom II for a while, and there are two monsters in that game that are floating snaggletoothed gasbags like the Beholder: the Cacodemon and the Pain Elemental. One thing that always amused me was the fact that whoever designed the things was thoughtful enough to stick in a little orifice that the critter used to dump off its waste. What those things ate, however, will forever remain a mystery.

 

[Humanophile]

Bag of Devouring, V. 2.0

If I ever feel foolish enough to try making sense out of D&D.