It's dead, how is it still flying.

I'm not sure if someone already pointed this out, but a graveyard of floated dead beholders would be a visual pretty cool to look at. With some of them that are actually undead. And undead flies festering on the corpses and flying everywhere.

More seriously:

Beholders sadly don't make graveyard. Although LE, they don't like being in group (despite some fabled beholder cities and hives in the underdark); and thus can't gather their dead.

Now, if there is a "Cemetary of the Beholders" in the same way there are for mighty beasts such as Elephants and Dragons, why not. It would be a cool quest to find such a mythic place. But without ivory or treasure, I'm not sure of what could motivates the adventurers, however. Except, of course, looking at a cool visual.

Normal Beholders don't have, to the extent of my knowledge, helium bladders of things like that. However, in 2e, there were the Gorbels, herd beholderkin who floated thanks to a highly volatile gas in a bladder in their body. Killing one of them made it explode, making sure the other Gorbels nearby would also die and explode in the blast, thus creating a chain reaction making them look extremely silly. (Although a huge herd of explosing Gorbels was also a cool visual.) Problem is, they usually lived in cramped areas of the underdark.

Most DMs assume standard Beholders fall when they die, as the magic that make them levitate is in their soul, not their body. However, Beholders are a highly mutable race, so they should be allowed to fall of stay afloat (or explode !), depending on the individual.


Now, a new question: Does an Arrowhawk fall when he die (considering even their eggs are floating) ?
 

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Xarlen said:
I have to wonder why everyone thinks magic stops when something dies.

I mean, it's Magic! It could still stick around. :)

It depends. Regeneration is obviously magic. Usually a dead creature stop regenerating. However, the Tarrasque is an exception, and you have to wish that she can't regenerate anymore once she's unconscious.

Litterature is rich with scene were a wizard's work turn to dust and nothingness upon his death. Enchanted items don't work anymore, curse are lifted, and summoned demons sent back to their planes. On the other hand, there are also plenty of example where a magical legacy endure forever.

Both are possible. A DM should choose what he prefer, knowing that floating dead beholder graveyards are a cool visual. He should also know that, in most case, he's not bound by his decision and can vary ("this particular beholder is still floating, despite his obvious death; but his eyeball familiar has fallen on the ground").
 

Saeviomagy said:
The beholder turns on the players, it's eye-beams dancing across them. The wizard is turned to stone, and the manly barbarian runs for his life.

Reversing that, what happens if the wizard turns the beholder to stone?

Would it still keep floating then?

If so, that would probably even be a better visual: imagine a whole mausoleum of floating beholder 'statues', just waiting to be brought back from petrification...
 

Anyone remember the old 2e product specifically on beholders and beholder society? I don't remember for sure (and I don't have it in front of me), but I think that it answers most of your questions about beholders. Just ignore the rule bits, and you should have a nifty tool for running beholders.
 


Oh, how about a floating ship made out of undead beholder corpses. With a liche as its captain! Its broadside would be when the undead beholders open their eyes like gunports along the side.
 



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