D&D 4E Beholder Eye Tyrant

[AlHazred]

I've got a beholder NPC in my High Fantasy campaign so I decided to see what kind of Hero stats I could find. Susano has a good writeup on his site, but it's an AD&D beholder and in FRED stats; I'm running 6E, and figured I'd see how hard it would be to convert the 4E D&D -- as it turns out, not too bad.

EDIT - I've increased the range on most ranged powers to 35m, which should make it slightly more difficult to outrun him. Also I added a caveat to the Eyes Of The Beholder power to more closely model the original version.

[Matt Holck]

I'd thought I would be stronger
It is very tough I see

I'd probably give it +8 speed for the multipower -1/2 lim

the telekinesis can't be maintain if the multi-power shifts

[AlHazred]

It doesn't need extra SPD -- it uses Multiple Attack actions every Phase. I would give it three attacks each time; it's CSLs should eliminate some of the penalties associated, as will its Rapid Attack and Two-Weapon Fighting Skills (though that last one is a stretch). Each Phase, I would have it attack with its Central Eye, and two Eye Rays, directed as its high INT dictates. In addition, to be true to its stats in the 4E Monster Manual, each time one of its opponents starts his Phase within 20m of the beholder, it should target him with a random Eye Rays slot, as dictated by its Eyes Of The Beholder Power. Also, when it reaches half BODY, its Eye Ray Frenzy Power activates and it has enough juice to use four slots at once; as GM, I'd allow it to make five attacks with each Multiple Attack, the Central Eye and four Eye Rays. That half DCV is one reason I've given it so much Hardened, Impervious, Resistant PD and ED.

On the down side, I probably haven't given him enough END. Even though 75 is a huge amount, its Eyes Of The Beholder makes it bleed END even when it doesn't have a Phase. I may have to make that 0 END.

In addition, I may make the Fear Ray extra PRE, only for offensive, fear-based PRE attacks. I've attempted to make each slot different in a fundamental way, in order to give this guy some combat options.

[AlHazred]

Also, I forgot to respond to this bit:

the telekinesis can't be maintain if the multi-power shifts

In the creature's D&D writeup, the Telekinesis Ray is only used as an attack; it deposits the foe a certain distance away on the round it's activated, and that's it. While that could have been reflected with a STUN-Only Blast, Increased Knockback, I thought giving him Fine Manipulation TK would explain how beholders are able to do some of the things they must have done, to end up the lords of the dungeons they inhabit.

[Susano]

Could I get a copy to go with the behold I have on my site?

[Mister E]

Lovely write-up, AlHazred. Looking at it, I couldn't find the beholder's central eye anti-magic cone attack. So, 4th edition beholders lack this ability? If so, interesting. Chalk that up as 'old school' beholder action!

For the record: IMHO, beholders are the daleks of D&D.


~ Mister E ("When I say 'run,' run. Run!")

[Chimera 12]

Lovely write-up, AlHazred. Looking at it, I couldn't find the beholder's central eye anti-magic cone attack. So, 4th edition beholders lack this ability? If so, interesting. Chalk that up as 'old school' beholder action!

For the record: IMHO, beholders are the daleks of D&D.


~ Mister E ("When I say 'run,' run. Run!")

*hunts down, finds, and checks D&D4 Monster Manual*

That's true. The 4th Edition Beholder Eye Tyrant (which basically corresponds to the 'classic' Beholder) doesn't have an anti-magic central eye. Instead, its central eye lets it make a single-target attack that, if successful, leaves the victim dazed (limited to only one action/turn, easier to hit, and unable to flank) until the end of the Eye Tyrant's next turn...and it does so as a minor action, so the central eye can almost always be used in addition to other attacks or else up to three times in one turn by itself.

It's a bit of a nerf, I suppose, but then D&D4 doesn't have as many grand, sweeping anti-magic effects as previous editions took for granted any more. Beholders still work as the Daleks of D&D just fine in my book.

[AlHazred]

Could I get a copy to go with the behold I have on my site?

Of course, sir! You know you can have any writeup you'd like!

Lovely write-up, AlHazred. Looking at it, I couldn't find the beholder's central eye anti-magic cone attack. So, 4th edition beholders lack this ability? If so, interesting. Chalk that up as 'old school' beholder action!

As Chimera already remarked, the Beholder Eye Tyrant lacks the anti-magic cone. 4E D&D does away with the idea that monsters "advance" or develop. Instead of just having, say, a juvenile form and then an adult form, you have different focuses for monsters. So, the Monster Manual has a less-powerful beholder, the Eye Of Flame, and then the big hitter, the Beholder Eye Tyrant; you can deduce a development from one to the other, but it's not necessarily true. I'll probably be attempting a port of the Eye Of Flame beholder as well, and maybe the Beholder Gauth, Eye Of Frost, Eye Of Chaos, and Ultimate Tyrant from Monster Manual 2. I'd like to get a good range of abilities for my guy, and I definitely want a central anti-magic eye.

D&D4 doesn't have as many grand, sweeping anti-magic effects as previous editions took for granted any more. Beholders still work as the Daleks of D&D just fine in my book.

Overall, 4E D&D seems like an attempt to reduce the individual scope of each PC ability such that you can spread them out over thirty levels, and a general watering-down of the high-powered spellcasters of which D&D was overburdened. It was getting so that playing a decent Conanesque mage-killer was becoming untenable in the Forgotten Realms.

[Susano]

Of course, sir! You know you can have any writeup you'd like!

In that case....

Feel free to send me anything you've done akin to this that you think would make a nice fit for the archive.

[AlHazred]

I checked out the Advanced Players Guide and have found a better fit for the Central Eye power. Will be adjusting the character sheet forthwith, probably tomorrow noonish...

[AlHazred]

Okay, I modified the Beholder considerably.

There is a much better fit for the Central Eye power of the 4E beholder. In the APG, they include new options for Change Environment, including Stunning. In game terms, when someone's hit by the Central Eye beam, they need to make a CON Roll (at -2, as that's built into this guy's CE) or be Stunned. Since it's an Instant Power, they are only Stunned for their next Phase; the beholder has to hit them again in order to do it to them again. This is a better fit for the 4E condition the attack is supposed to impose.

In 4E D&D a big deal is made about Conditions, that is to say, combat-effecting conditions that apply to your opponent (or yourself). Most special attack powers impose a Condition or two, and many defenses remove them. The Condition the beholder Central Eye Power imposes is "the target is dazed until the end of the beholder’s next turn." Dazed as a condition means "You grant combat advantage. You can take either a standard action, a move action, or a minor action on your turn (you can also take free actions). You can’t take immediate actions or opportunity actions. You can’t flank an enemy." There's no specific Hero equivalent to this. However, since Hero System gives more Phases to act during combat than D&D, I figure Stunning is a decent fit. Plus the attack as written does no damage, which fits the special effect of the Change Environment better.

I also applied the Beam limitation to the slots in the Eye Rays Multipower (forgot to do that before) and gave him Penalty Skill Levels to offset the DCV penalty of using Multiple Attack Actions (6E2 73-78) every Phase. It's Rapid Attack Skill means it does these as Half-Phase Actions, and the PSLs cancel some of its massive DCV penalty. It's still easy to hit, but now slightly higher than the hex it's in.

[Mathew]

I was working on a Beholder racial package on my web site a while back:

http://home.comcast.net/~mathewignash/pabeholder.html

I also have a lower cost version, for the Astereater, a Beholderkin.

http://home.comcast.net/~mathewignash/paastereater.html

[AlHazred]

Thanks for bringing this back to the top. I'd forgotten to mention, I made one more refinement. There's a power called Defensive Attack (APG 38) which lets the beholder do Multiple Attacks without suffering the massive DCV penalties (it's only -2). Normally this might be an abusive Skill, but it fits them just fine -- it's either that or give them a ridiculous SPD to do all their Eye Ray attacks. With the rest of the character as it is, it's not going to have a good chance to hit targets, but with so many attacks some are bound to do some real damage.