Post/Author/DateTime	Post
BenSan 01-01-07, 12:54 AM	So I was just reading through Lords of Madness the other night. I like the stuff in it (although I wish there was more useful illithid content) including the beholder mage, but it brings up a weird question that's going to keep bugging me if I don't ask it. Sorry if this is an obvious question that's been asked before, but.. How does a creature with no hands, relying mainly on telekinesis to manipulate objects, ritually put out an eye that emits an antimagic ray? Beholder skin is "as strong as steel", so closing the eye isn't an option or it'll be very hard to stab. Opening the eye even a crack means your knife falls to the ground. Using an eye-beam directly is obviously out of the question. The only two answers I can think of are "fly at a stalagmite really fast" or "levitate a sword above himself pointing down, point the central eye up, and open it". Both strike me as kind of silly.
shadowflamedancer 01-01-07, 01:29 AM	It is probably one of those things that nobody gave any serious thought to until afterwards, and then was left with a gorup of poeple looking around at each other sheepishly for answers. Either one works, although dropping a sword on yourself seems a bit more ritualistic to me.
OamuTheMonk 01-01-07, 03:38 AM	My problem arises when the Beholder finally has to put out his Telekinesis eye-stalk, to make it into a spell-stalk. The Arcane Hands class feature is insanely weak, by comparison. A recent Dungeon or Dragon had a Beholder mage-related module where the doors were all 300 pound slabs of stone, designed to be lifted by the TK ray. Which basically meant that The Beholder Mage either had to travel with a Beholder underling at all times, to open Doors for him, or he had to devote spell slots to Telekinesis (which he used to get for free), just to be able to navigate his own vault. Kind of a Gyp, there.
Slagger the Chuul 01-01-07, 08:31 AM	For the ritual, the potential beholder mage could simply plunge a blade into its own eye with the violent thrust option of telekinesis, just like it can telekinetically hurl boulders at a party of adventurers cowering inside their own antimagic field.
runestar 01-01-07, 09:22 AM	It could charm an ogre and have it do the eye-blinding for you...:P Just pray that it is not merely pretending to be charmed...:D
dengarbountyhunter 01-01-07, 10:48 AM	Why do beholders have to put out their central eye to become mages? I don't own Lords of Madness, so if it's something ritual, I can understand... But they could just close it, shoot fireballs, and open it back... Plus, how do beholder mages use material spell components and focus without hands? Is their spell component pouch attached near their telekinesis eyestalk so that they can get the components inside? Do they all get the Eschew Component (or something like this) feat?
General_Ridley 01-01-07, 12:56 PM	Why do beholders have to put out their central eye to become mages? I don't own Lords of Madness, so if it's something ritual, I can understand... But they could just close it, shoot fireballs, and open it back... Plus, how do beholder mages use material spell components and focus without hands? Is their spell component pouch attached near their telekinesis eyestalk so that they can get the components inside? Do they all get the Eschew Component (or something like this) feat? the central eye becomes an arcane focus for all spells, and so it does not need to use material components. Costly material components are instead converted into an XP cost, though not usually that much. And 10th level returns use to your ruined central eye (not antimagic cone, though).
dengarbountyhunter 01-01-07, 01:31 PM	Ah. Okay.
BenSan 01-02-07, 04:51 AM	It could charm an ogre and have it do the eye-blinding for you...:P Just pray that it is not merely pretending to be charmed...:D Won't the ogre's Charm be broken when he steps into the antimagic field? Violent Thrust is a good one, but it has to go in a straight line, doesn't it? Any line that starts outside the conical zone of antimagic and ends in the beholder is going to stab him in the side of the head/body, not the eye.
runestar 01-02-07, 09:03 AM	Won't the ogre's Charm be broken when he steps into the antimagic field? I was initially thinking along the line of using an L-shaped weapon with reach to try and stay out of the AMF cone's range, but you have a point there nonetheless...:embarrass