Beholder

Figure 1- Beholder's Eye

In Belegarth, beholders, sometimes called a sphere of many eyes, is a race of large aberrations normally found around the outskirts of battlefields. These beings can be easily recognized by their single 'eye' (See Figure 1 - Right), and often additional, smaller eyeballs, each containing powerful magic. Powerful and intelligent, beholders are among the greatest threats to the world. They can sometimes be disguised as what pinkies would call "photographers".

Description

Beholders are immediately identifiable, being essentially a floating head with one single, cyclops-like eye surrounded by smaller eye stalks. Because of these features, beholders were occasionally known as "spheres of many eyes". They also can be identified by the yellow coloring they don as protection on battlefields.

Because their entire body is covered in eyes, Beholders had the capacity to see in all directions at once, making it nearly impossible to ambush them while also giving them an unusually high degree of perceptive ability. Although Beholders lack the capacity to constantly use their omnipercipience, they have the ability to capture a moment in time to call back to, in which a human or similar creature would never be able to see.

Beholders were also capable of flight, in spite of their lack of wings or similar physical features, being able to move across battlefield unhindered.

Personality

Xenophobic and vicious creatures, Beholders are quick to move away from others -- anyone they deemed not "like themselves." This was made all the more complicated since more than one Beholder exists and each believe itself to be the pinnacle of perfection and view other beholders as inferior. This is the reason you seldom see more than one Beholder near each other on the battlefield.

Combat

Beholders are not particularly strong but are inherently magical creatures, with each of their eyes possessing an innately magical nature. Beholders, who are often attacked for seemingly no reason, would often try to end a battle as quickly as possible, unleashing their terrifying abilities all at once. Among the most basic of these attacks was their deadly ability to project magical power from their eyes, in varying forms such as instilling fear within, charming, knocking out, petrifying, disintegrating, slowing, or killing their enemies.

Many, but not all, Beholders also had the capacity to use their central eye to project a field of anti-magic, which canceled the effects of all supernatural abilities within a small cone of 50 feet in length. In addition to enemy spells, prayers, or similar effects, this also affected a beholder's own eye rays, suppressing their power.

Subraces

Figure 2- True form of a Beholder

In spite of their hatred of diversity (or perhaps because of it), beholders come in a variety of forms. Each Beholder type has its own set of abilities.

The beholderborn are an aberrant race that, on the surface, appear to be normal humans or other races. However, in moments of extreme emotional stress, with significant practice, or at the mention of a word of power, they can morph into beholder-like creatures. The beholderborn often appear human or other races, and may never know they are beholderborn, or even the story of their heritage, but through studying and some awakening event, they arise, and attune to their powerful abilities.