D&D General [LORE THREAD] Your Personal Favorite D&D Lore For a Monster
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Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Agreed. I've always been a huge fan of the 2e Spelljammer lore for beholders, with the hive mothers, orbi, and all the weird variants, not to mention the imaginative spelljamming beholder ships. Built a whole campaign on them.
When they re-imagined them as nightmares come to life from the Far Realm in 5e I was very disappointed.
dave2008
Legend
It actually started in 2e, but not the wish part. I don't really need my demons to be schemers, that's what devils are for. I like how 4e (and 5e) has tried to make devils and demons more distinct. I will interested to see if that trend continues in 5e24. To be clear, this just your and my (differing) opinions. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer and I really shouldn't have responded to your post. It just surprised be because I didn't ever know that to be the lore. I skipped 3-3.5e so it makes sense I wouldn't have know it!
dave2008
Legend
I really liked the 5e lore, but I am not familiar with 2e lore so I can't say if I like one or the other better (or some combination of the two or more)
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
I prefer the 5e as how they spawn is both totally alien to anything and neatly explains how they are not all dead yet from infighting or foes but lets them stay hyper-irritation hateful lunatics.
if they could work together on a large scale they should just rule reality by now, and factions define purely by racism should always be failing in some dumb way as it always blows up in their face
dave2008
Legend
What is the Spelljammer lore? Here is the 2e lore I found from the Monstrous Compendium:
sphere of many eyes[/I] or the eye tyrant, appears as a large orb dominated by a central eye and a large toothy maw, has 10 smaller eyes on stalks sprouting from the top of the orb. Among adventurers, beholders are known as deadly adversaries.
Equally deadly are a number of variant creatures known collectively as beholder-kin, including radical and related creatures, and an undead variety. These creatures are related in manners familial and arcane to the traditional beholders, and share a number of features, including the deadly magical nature of their eyes. The most extreme of these creatures are called beholder abominations.
The globular body of the beholder and its kin is supported by levitation, allowing it to float slowly about as it wills.
Beholders and beholder-kin are usually solitary creatures, but there are reports of large communities of them surviving deep beneath the earth and in the void between the stars, under the dominion of hive mothers.All beholders speak their own language, which is also understood by all beholder-kin. In addition, they often speak the tongues of other lawful evil creatures.
Habitat/Society: The beholders are a hateful, aggressive and avaricious race, attacking or dominating other races, including other beholders and many of the beholder-kin. This is because of a xenophobic intolerance among beholders that causes them to hate all creatures not like themselves. The basic, beholder body-type (a sphere with a mouth and a central eye, eye-tipped tentacles) allows for a great variety of beholder subspecies. Some have obvious differences, there are those covered with overlapping chitin plates, and those with smooth hides, or snake-like eye tentacles, and some with crustacean-like joints. But something as small as a change in hide color or size of the central eye can make two groups of beholders sworn enemies. Every beholder declares its own unique body-form to be the true ideal of beholderhood, the others being nothing but ugly copies, fit only to be eliminated.
Beholders will normally attack immediately. If confronted with a particular party there is a 50% chance they will listen to negotiations (bribery) before raining death upon their foes.
Ecology: The exact reproductive process of the beholder is unknown. The core racial hatred of the beholders may derive from the nature of their reproduction, which seems to produce identical (or nearly so) individuals with only slight margin for variation. Beholders may use parthenogenic reproduction to duplicate themselves, and give birth live (no beholder eggs have been found). Beholders may also (rarely) mate with types of beholder-kin.
The smaller eyes of the beholder may be used to produce a potion of levitation, and as such can be sold for 50 gp each.
Equally deadly are a number of variant creatures known collectively as beholder-kin, including radical and related creatures, and an undead variety. These creatures are related in manners familial and arcane to the traditional beholders, and share a number of features, including the deadly magical nature of their eyes. The most extreme of these creatures are called beholder abominations.
The globular body of the beholder and its kin is supported by levitation, allowing it to float slowly about as it wills.
Beholders and beholder-kin are usually solitary creatures, but there are reports of large communities of them surviving deep beneath the earth and in the void between the stars, under the dominion of hive mothers.All beholders speak their own language, which is also understood by all beholder-kin. In addition, they often speak the tongues of other lawful evil creatures.
Habitat/Society: The beholders are a hateful, aggressive and avaricious race, attacking or dominating other races, including other beholders and many of the beholder-kin. This is because of a xenophobic intolerance among beholders that causes them to hate all creatures not like themselves. The basic, beholder body-type (a sphere with a mouth and a central eye, eye-tipped tentacles) allows for a great variety of beholder subspecies. Some have obvious differences, there are those covered with overlapping chitin plates, and those with smooth hides, or snake-like eye tentacles, and some with crustacean-like joints. But something as small as a change in hide color or size of the central eye can make two groups of beholders sworn enemies. Every beholder declares its own unique body-form to be the true ideal of beholderhood, the others being nothing but ugly copies, fit only to be eliminated.
Beholders will normally attack immediately. If confronted with a particular party there is a 50% chance they will listen to negotiations (bribery) before raining death upon their foes.
Ecology: The exact reproductive process of the beholder is unknown. The core racial hatred of the beholders may derive from the nature of their reproduction, which seems to produce identical (or nearly so) individuals with only slight margin for variation. Beholders may use parthenogenic reproduction to duplicate themselves, and give birth live (no beholder eggs have been found). Beholders may also (rarely) mate with types of beholder-kin.
The smaller eyes of the beholder may be used to produce a potion of levitation, and as such can be sold for 50 gp each.
The 5e lore doesn't seem to contradict anything here. What is the stuff you like? Do you have any links?
OK, I read this wiki (Beholder / Spelljammer) and it does the typical think of D&D monsters in space. Still doesn't seem incompatible with the additional lore in 5e.
Personally I find the 5e lore more fitting of the bizarreness of beholders, but I could incorporate some of this spelljammer stuff if I ever desired to use that setting. My issue is that it is just to much like every other spelljamming creature. Seems less inspired than the 5e lore to me (though I should clarify my memory of the 5e lore is pretty shaky, I could be remembering my take on the lore - which is a constant problem for me).
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Alzrius
The EN World kitten
The werefox (aka the foxwoman) from AD&D. It always seemed like there was some sort of mystery built into how women who contracted this female-specific form of lycanthropy turned into elves. Unfortunately, there were virtually no clues about this given in the (scant) information we got about the werefox goddess, Eshebala, in DMGR4 Monster Mythology, and so the mystery seems destined to remain forever unsolved.
A foxwoman is an elven-appearing woman who is able to transform herself into a silver fox form or a silver-furred humanoid (vixen) form with a fox's head. They are extremely self-centered.
The female elven form of the foxwoman is extremely beautiful. She has silver or silver-streaked hair, including a widow's peak. She dresses attractively in loose garments. A pouch holds valuables and spell components.
The vixen form is a hybrid of elven and fox-like features. The body and limbs are those of the elven form but covered with silvery fur. The head and tail are fox-like. The vixen may wear elven clothing. The vixen can run very quickly (18).
The silver fox form appears to be a normal, large fox. It moves extremely fast (24), can pass without trace, and is 90% undetectable in undergrowth if it passes out of view for a moment.
Combat: The silver fox's bite inflicts 1-2 points of damage but is otherwise harmless.The vixen's more savage bite causes 2d6 points of damage. Human or elven women who are bitten by a vixen for 50% or more of their hit points become foxwomen within three days unless both a cure disease and a remove curse spell are cast upon the victim by a priest of at least 12th level.
In elven form, the foxwoman relies on weapons. She gains a +1 bonus with bow or sword. Her best weapon is her incredible beauty. Any human, humanoid, or demihuman males whose Wisdoms are 13 or less are effectively caught by a charm spell. Those whose Wisdoms are 14 or greater are not charmed but still find the foxwoman extremely attractive. In elven form, the foxwoman has magic use as a wizard of level 1d4. She is 90% resistant to sleep and charm spells.
In any form, the foxwoman is able to see by infravision (60-foot range). They can only be harmed by silver or +1 or better magical weapons. Scars from nonfatal wounds vanish within a month.
Habitat/Society: Foxwomen dwell in lonely woodlands far from humanoid communities. Their homes may be hidden cottages or comfortably furnished cave complexes; in either case their homes are filled with typical human comforts. Foxwomen are solitary in regard to their own kind. They are self-serving, vain, and hedonistic. Foxwomen serve their vanity by enslaving humanoid males. Those males become servants and companions.
Werefoxes do not keep dwarves, gnomes, or halflings; such males are slain quietly as soon as the opportunity arises.
Each foxwoman is always accompanied by 1d4+1 charmed males. At least one of the males is a fighter (70%) or ranger (30%) of level 1d4+1. There is a 50% chance that any one of the other males is also a fighter of level 1d4. There is a 10% chance that one of the remaining males is a cleric (10%), druid (45%), mage (10%), thief (25%), or some other class (10%) of level 1d4. Of her elven or half-elven companions, 25% are multi-class characters. All males who do not fit into any of the above categories are 0-level fighters and elves or half-elves of 1 Hit Die. The males may use such magical items as they possessed prior to being charmed into the foxwoman's service.
Foxwomen are barren. They must kidnap or adopt their children. There is a 10% chance that a foxwoman has a "daughter." The foxwoman has stolen an elven girl, infected her with lycanthropy, and is raising her as a foxwoman. Such a child is be 1d8+5 years old. If she is 12-13, she is treated the same as a normal foxwoman; otherwise she is a noncombatant.
Non-elven women who are afflicted with lycanthropy undergo a slow transformation that alters their normal form. Over a period of one to two years, such women turn into elven women; only their faces and odd marks (tattoos, birthmarks) provide faint proof of their old identities.
Ecology: Foxwomen are unique among the lycanthropes. They have no major goals or desires aside from pampering themselves and feeding their vanity. They have little contact with other foxwomen (whom they see as rivals), real foxes (irrelevant beasts), or other lycanthropes (crude, unattractive, and uncharmable).
The female elven form of the foxwoman is extremely beautiful. She has silver or silver-streaked hair, including a widow's peak. She dresses attractively in loose garments. A pouch holds valuables and spell components.
The vixen form is a hybrid of elven and fox-like features. The body and limbs are those of the elven form but covered with silvery fur. The head and tail are fox-like. The vixen may wear elven clothing. The vixen can run very quickly (18).
The silver fox form appears to be a normal, large fox. It moves extremely fast (24), can pass without trace, and is 90% undetectable in undergrowth if it passes out of view for a moment.
Combat: The silver fox's bite inflicts 1-2 points of damage but is otherwise harmless.The vixen's more savage bite causes 2d6 points of damage. Human or elven women who are bitten by a vixen for 50% or more of their hit points become foxwomen within three days unless both a cure disease and a remove curse spell are cast upon the victim by a priest of at least 12th level.
In elven form, the foxwoman relies on weapons. She gains a +1 bonus with bow or sword. Her best weapon is her incredible beauty. Any human, humanoid, or demihuman males whose Wisdoms are 13 or less are effectively caught by a charm spell. Those whose Wisdoms are 14 or greater are not charmed but still find the foxwoman extremely attractive. In elven form, the foxwoman has magic use as a wizard of level 1d4. She is 90% resistant to sleep and charm spells.
In any form, the foxwoman is able to see by infravision (60-foot range). They can only be harmed by silver or +1 or better magical weapons. Scars from nonfatal wounds vanish within a month.
Habitat/Society: Foxwomen dwell in lonely woodlands far from humanoid communities. Their homes may be hidden cottages or comfortably furnished cave complexes; in either case their homes are filled with typical human comforts. Foxwomen are solitary in regard to their own kind. They are self-serving, vain, and hedonistic. Foxwomen serve their vanity by enslaving humanoid males. Those males become servants and companions.
Werefoxes do not keep dwarves, gnomes, or halflings; such males are slain quietly as soon as the opportunity arises.
Each foxwoman is always accompanied by 1d4+1 charmed males. At least one of the males is a fighter (70%) or ranger (30%) of level 1d4+1. There is a 50% chance that any one of the other males is also a fighter of level 1d4. There is a 10% chance that one of the remaining males is a cleric (10%), druid (45%), mage (10%), thief (25%), or some other class (10%) of level 1d4. Of her elven or half-elven companions, 25% are multi-class characters. All males who do not fit into any of the above categories are 0-level fighters and elves or half-elves of 1 Hit Die. The males may use such magical items as they possessed prior to being charmed into the foxwoman's service.
Foxwomen are barren. They must kidnap or adopt their children. There is a 10% chance that a foxwoman has a "daughter." The foxwoman has stolen an elven girl, infected her with lycanthropy, and is raising her as a foxwoman. Such a child is be 1d8+5 years old. If she is 12-13, she is treated the same as a normal foxwoman; otherwise she is a noncombatant.
Non-elven women who are afflicted with lycanthropy undergo a slow transformation that alters their normal form. Over a period of one to two years, such women turn into elven women; only their faces and odd marks (tattoos, birthmarks) provide faint proof of their old identities.
Ecology: Foxwomen are unique among the lycanthropes. They have no major goals or desires aside from pampering themselves and feeding their vanity. They have little contact with other foxwomen (whom they see as rivals), real foxes (irrelevant beasts), or other lycanthropes (crude, unattractive, and uncharmable).
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Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
I don't care for the dream spawn aspect of the 5e lore. Feels accidental and random for a species so obsessed with exact physical characteristics. I especially dislike the chaos inherent in variants being born based on whatever the beholder happens to be dreaming about. Like mind flayers, beholders are almost always Lawful Evil creatures obsessed with control and domination. It feels very off-brand to me.
You're right that its not necessarily incompatible, but I don't the 5e adds bringing anything to the table I want.
dave2008
Legend
Fair, everyone is different. I don't find the old lore particularly inspired, while I find the 5e lore to be the first Far Realm/aberration lore that really interested me. I love the idea that they could, whether it is true or not, dream things into creation. That speaks to their alien nature more than anything in 2e to me. Now, I take that as a possibility, not always true or even fact - but I love that is what people think happens.
Necropolitan
Hero
I actually enjoyed the contradiction of the Beholders being a Lawful Evil control-obsessed species whose goddess was Chaotic Evil and whose lives were actually determined by random chance.
The denialism and delusion required by their mindset (each of them even sees their goddess as looking exactly like them) adds to their characterization as alien beings. Their psychology is completely at odds with every part of the reality of their existence, but they are incapable of seeing it that way.
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