I'm about to run my group against Vhalantru in SCAP and would like to fine-tune the unique performance of a Beholder before game time. I have some questions and issues to work out and I'd like some opinions:
- Using eye rays is a free action: Only one per round, two, or all?
- The anti-magic cone can be turned on or off per round; "Once each round, during its turn, the Beholder decides whether the antimagic cone is active or not" ...meaning that it must decide on the beginning of each round either 'on/off', or can it start out with it on, turn it off then use eyes, or start with it off, use its eyes then turn it on?
- Can the Beholder rotate itself in three dimensions to bring all eyes to bear on the party; i.e., turn itself upside-down and fire all ten eyes on a party below it?
I have the "Lords of Madness" book and plan to refer to it later tonight - feel free to direct me to it.
Thanks for all comments,
M
Mmm....Beholder goodness. It is a complicated critter, isn't it?
- Using eye rays is a free action: Only one per round, two, or all?
I don't have my MM in front of me, but I believe it can use as many as it can direct at a target. There should be language in the power indicating how many can be used within an 'arc'. Note how many ray attacks are listed in the statblock.
- The anti-magic cone can be turned on or off per round; "Once each round, during its turn, the Beholder decides whether the antimagic cone is active or not" ...meaning that it must decide on the beginning of each round either 'on/off', or can it start out with it on, turn it off then use eyes, or start with it off, use its eyes then turn it on?
You're overthinking. =)
On its turn, the beholder chooses whether the cone is active or not - and it can only make this decision once a round. It cannot close its central eye, fire off its eye stalks, then re-open it again unless you have a seriously cracked-out beholder. *G*
- Can the Beholder rotate itself in three dimensions to bring all eyes to bear on the party; i.e., turn itself upside-down and fire all ten eyes on a party below it?
Yes, but that does limit the area the rays can target, as the party would have to be directly beneath it. The beholder's advantage is that it can hit anyone it can see with those pesky eyestalks. =)
-Alex R.
I don't have my MM handy, and the beholder is oddly missing from the SRD hypertext.
- Using eye rays is a free action: Only one per round, two, or all?
A free action, may fire all in one round. But only three can target any given quadrant IIRC.
- The anti-magic cone can be turned on or off per round; "Once each round, during its turn, the Beholder decides whether the antimagic cone is active or not" ...meaning that it must decide on the beginning of each round either 'on/off', or can it start out with it on, turn it off then use eyes, or start with it off, use its eyes then turn it on?
I have always played it as, at the start of its turn, the central eye is either open, or closed and remains that way until the next turn. I try to keep casters in that zone, however, the Beholder can blast no eye rays into that zone either.
- Can the Beholder rotate itself in three dimensions to bring all eyes to bear on the party; i.e., turn itself upside-down and fire all ten eyes on a party below it?
Not IIRC, I believe it can fire any 3 rays in any quadrant (believe it to be 90 degrees, but am not sure). So one quadrant gets disintegrate, charm and sleep, while another gets inflict wounds and telekinesis, etc.
Hope that helps!
-c
Thanks to all!
I'll take time to review the 'Lords of Madness' book before gametime, too, in case there are any details on eyes per quadrant or anything I missed.
I'll post the results of the encounter
M
Marc -
Clint is correct in his assessment except that he missed the vector above the beholder. Lords of Madness contains good source material for encounters such as the one you are about to set up. If you want to beef up the CR for one beholder, give it some of the feats described in LoM...some of them are pretty ugly.
As ever,
ACE