Post/Author/DateTime	Post
devilMonkey 12-29-05, 01:56 PM	I couldn't possibly be the first person who's wondered this, but I couldn't find a "monster faq". Can beholders really fire all of their eye rays in the same round? That's an awful lot of firepower. In v3.5 (I think) they took Gr Teleport off the mind flayer's psionics list. Why? Plane Shift is nice and would let them escape an encounter that wasn't going their way, but it doesn't allow precision teleporting, so it's of no tactical use. Also, if they plane shifted, and ended up 100 miles off target. They'd have to walk the distance to their target.
Talisman 12-29-05, 03:01 PM	Yes, beholders can fire all 10 eye rays in one action (as a free action, no less!). However, they cannot fire more than 3 in any one 90-degree arc. Also, they cannot fire them into the cone-effect of the antimagic eye. Options: close central eye and lose a hefty defense, or keep it open and lose a few shots. Don't forget that each eye ray is a ray--that is, a ranged touch attack. Unlike the spells these effects mimic, the beholder has to hit in order to affect your PCs. Can't help you regarding mind flayer... :coolcthul
ubernex 12-29-05, 03:04 PM	Can beholders really fire all of their eye rays in the same round? That's an awful lot of firepower. They can indeed, but as written they can only focus 3 of the stalks in any given 90 degree arc. So the most any single oppenent has to deal with each round is 3 of the rays. In v3.5 (I think) they took Gr Teleport off the mind flayer's psionics list. Why? Plane Shift is nice and would let them escape an encounter that wasn't going their way, but it doesn't allow precision teleporting, so it's of no tactical use. Also, if they plane shifted, and ended up 100 miles off target. They'd have to walk the distance to their target. The Mind Flayers couldn't teleport w/o error in 3.0 either, they had plane shift then as well. The flavor of the mind flayer seems more of the planer travel, than teleporting beastie. Plus all the constant teleporting stuff is more of an outsider schtick anyway. Giving them greater teleport seems a bit over the top tactics-wise.
ubernex 12-29-05, 03:06 PM	Options: close central eye and lose a hefty defense, or keep it open and lose a few shots. Blinking (the eye, not the spell!) is a free action too ;)
mvincent 12-30-05, 07:44 PM	Blinking (the eye, not the spell!) is a free action too ;)Bravo for the apt use of an emoticon.
devilMonkey 01-01-06, 03:21 PM	So, what I'm hearing as that a beholder could have the anti-magic eye, close it bombard the party with three rays (more if they're scattered), then open its anti-magic eye back up in a single turn? I agree, I guess, that the mind flayer's "flavor" doesn't include teleporting as a combat tactic. But walking 100 miles (or at least 1 mile) to their destination when they plane shift doesn't fit either. Maybe this should be a new supernatural ability.
Raven Dark 01-01-06, 04:02 PM	So, what I'm hearing as that a beholder could have the anti-magic eye, close it bombard the party with three rays (more if they're scattered), then open its anti-magic eye back up in a single turn? No. The beholder chooses each round whether or not his central eye is open. He cannot open and close it in the same round. Personally, I think the mechanics for beholders are stupid. All the party has to do is stick together and the beholder is left with few choices: 1) Use his antimagic cone and bite away (the fighters in the party will surely kill him in this instance). 2) Don't use the antimagic cone, blast away with a measly 3 rays, and get blasted and diced by the party's magic in turn. :rolleyes: 3) Run away.
ubernex 01-01-06, 05:37 PM	No. The beholder chooses each round whether or not his central eye is open. He cannot open and close it in the same round. Personally, I think the mechanics for beholders are stupid. All the party has to do is stick together and the beholder is left with few choices: 1) Use his antimagic cone and bite away (the fighters in the party will surely kill him in this instance). 2) Don't use the antimagic cone, blast away with a measly 3 rays, and get blasted and diced by the party's magic in turn. :rolleyes: 3) Run away. Yup, that's why alot of folks house rule the "blink" option. Sure the party can ready an action for it, but it lets the Beholder actually do what it's ment to do. If you want to stick with the cannonical description you can actually bring many more than just 3 beams to bear on a group of adventuerers. Sure one PC may only have 3 beams targeting it, but the beholder can certainly choose where those 90 degree divisions happen to be. Just split the party down the middle. Half on one side, half on the other - six beams. Or if it really wants to get nasty fly directly above the party, effectively quartereing it, and thus being able to get off all its beams (although no more than 3 can be brought to bear on a single quarter).
Koji 01-01-06, 07:34 PM	You could make things interesting and rule that anti-magic effects don't stop spell-like effects.
Raven Dark 01-01-06, 07:47 PM	Yup, that's why alot of folks house rule the "blink" option. Sure the party can ready an action for it, but it lets the Beholder actually do what it's ment to do. If you want to stick with the cannonical description you can actually bring many more than just 3 beams to bear on a group of adventuerers. Sure one PC may only have 3 beams targeting it, but the beholder can certainly choose where those 90 degree divisions happen to be. Just split the party down the middle. Half on one side, half on the other - six beams. Or if it really wants to get nasty fly directly above the party, effectively quartereing it, and thus being able to get off all its beams (although no more than 3 can be brought to bear on a single quarter). That's why it needs to be changed. As is it is either worthless or abusable. It needs clarification/alteration.
Sarlax 01-03-06, 02:23 AM	I agree, I guess, that the mind flayer's "flavor" doesn't include teleporting as a combat tactic. But walking 100 miles (or at least 1 mile) to their destination when they plane shift doesn't fit either. Maybe this should be a new supernatural ability. It's actually 5 to 500 miles. The options available to illithids because of their ability are really very diverse. First, they should usually escape a battle which turns against them. If I were about to be decapitated by a paladin, I wouldn't mind popping into the Positive Energy Plane for a minute before facing a journey of a few hundred miles back to my home. Second, as noted, it's a fun way to get rid of weak-willed enemies. Third, travel isn't so terrible with Plane Shift. Depending on your cosmology, it can make transit quite rapid. In the Planescape cosmology, it was possible to find color pools in the Astral which led to specific locations in the Prime if you searched long enough. This allows you to jump to the Astral, hunt for a pool for a few hours, then pop out back in the prime with reasonably good precision. They could jump in and out of the Material until they are within an acceptable distance of their target; Know Direction and Location or simple Knowledge will help here. Finally, I'd expect that an illithid city would have knowledge of at least a few safe, small demiplanes. If a plane's only 300 feet wide, you can't be very far off target. With the power at their disposal, they could have such a plane linked to a fixed location on the Prime via a portal.
Ivellios95 01-03-06, 11:35 AM	:behold: Beholders are cool but I get the feeling I can't beat one!
Ivellios95 01-03-06, 11:42 AM	The Beholder can be a complicated monster to put in a game, can't it?