March and Beyond Preview

[Pants]

I have my 2e Monstrous Manual in front of me at the moment:

The beholder entry lists the following:
Beholder (duh, already in MM)
Death Kiss (Monsters of Faerun)
Eye of the Deep (Lords of Madness, also in Tome of Horrors)
Gauth (Very different version in the MM3.5)
Spectator (Magic of Faerun and Lords of Madness)
Undead - Death Tyrant (FRCS)

Abominations:
Hive Mother (Lords of Madness)
Director (Lords of Madness)
Examiner (??? Looks not to be converted yet)
Lensman (??? Not converted yet)
Overseer (Lords of Madness)
Watcher (??? Not converted yet)

The book also lists these with just sidenotes:
Beholder Mage (PrC in Monsters of Faerun)
Elder Orb (Lords of Madness)
Orbus (???)
Doomsphere (Monsters of Faerun maybe)
Kasharin (???)
Astereater (???)
Gorbel (???)

So, no Observer in the book. Methinks you're thinking of the Overseer or the Spectator maybe?

So, looks like 3 Abominations aren't being converted. It would've been nice if the book took all the beholders from other books and updated them, but it it was a decision made so that the book would have more new material rather than merely reprinted material, I guess that could be okay.

I'm wondering if the Gas Spore will make a reappearance in the Beholder chapter?

All in all, Lords of Madness looks excellent. I eagerly await it with my grubby, gamer hands. Sandstorm... looks okay, though I remember that the previews for Frostburn did very little to excite me.
I think it's great that the Unholy Toughness ability has made it's way into other books now.

 

[DaveMage]

I have my 2e Monstrous Manual in front of me at the moment:
So, no Observer in the book. Methinks you're thinking of the Overseer or the Spectator maybe?

The 2E Book, "I, Tyrant" lists the following beholders/beholder-kin:

True Beholders:
Beholder
Beholder Mage
Hive Mother
Beholder Priestess
Elder Orb

Beholder-Kin:
Death Kiss
Eye of the Deep
Gauth
Observer
Spectator

Beholder Abominations:
Director
Examiner
Lensman
Overseer
Watcher

Undead Beholders:
Death Tyrant
Doomsphere
Kasharin

Unrelated:
Gas Spore
Crawler (Beholder Mount)
Patroller (Beholder Mount)

Rumored Variants:
Astereater
Evil Eyes
Gorbel
Orbus

So there you go.

 

[Henry]

Regarding the name changes: Does anyone know if Marketing's management has changed at WotC recently? Working in a corporation, from experience "change for change's sake" is the first thing a new manager will engage in.

Looking forward to Races of Eberron, and Champions of Ruin looks interesting, too - if I were running FR again, it would be a must-have. As it is, I may pick it up later in the year (as my RPG budget just got spent for the quarter with Lone Wolf, Grim Tales, C&C, AND Arcana Evolved.)

 

[MrFilthyIke]

why not Voyeur then. at least with all those eyes...

...on tentacles...

 

[Pants]

So there you go.

There I go, I never owned that book.

 

[ivocaliban]

Lords of Madness is a maybe...the rest doesn't do much for me. Of course, considering I've never had a beholder, illithid, or any of the rest of these buggers in any of the games I've ran...I don't know how much use I'd get out of it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I sure hope the gas spore returns. It's a sort of silly "gotcha" hazard, but if you're devoting this much space to beholders, why not?

 

[diaglo]

I sure hope the gas spore returns. It's a sort of silly "gotcha" hazard, but if you're devoting this much space to beholders, why not?

it went the way of the green slime, yellow mold, rot grub, and brown mold.

it is a hazard now.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

it went the way of the green slime, yellow mold, rot grub, and brown mold.

it is a hazard now.

By definition, aren't ALL hostile monsters a hazard?

 

[diaglo]

By definition, aren't ALL hostile monsters a hazard?

by definition everything not a PC is a monster.