Beholder (monster)
Contents
SLASH'EM
e Beholder 
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|---|---|
| Difficulty | 24 |
| Attacks |
Gaze 1d4 Death, Gaze 3d8, Gaze 1d3 stun, Gaze 1d3 confusion, Gaze 1d4 sleep |
| Base level | 15 |
| Base experience | 538 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -4 |
| Base MR | 70 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 500 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
The Beholder:
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| Reference | SLASH'EM_0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line4590 |
The Beholder is the quest nemesis for the Neutral Quest. It holds the Key of Neutrality, one of the three Alignment keys; you need two of these keys to unlock the indestructible doors in Vlad's Tower. Its corpse remains as The Eye of the Beholder when killed.
The Beholder combines the gaze attacks of various creatures: the catoblepas (instant death), bloodshot eye (stun), umber hulk (confusion), and chasme (sleep). It also has a gaze attack which deals up to 24 damage.
Despite its description, it does not have a bite attack and is, in fact, possibly the easiest Alignment Quest nemesis.
Strategy
The easiest way to defeat the Beholder is to put on a blindfold or towel before entering its room, which will block all of its attacks. Even if you don't have telepathy, the Beholder is easy to find if you close the door behind you. Reflection will only protect against the gaze of death: blinding yourself is almost always preferable.
Important Note: There is an interesting quirk (possibly bug) about the Beholder's death gaze attack when you have reflection - it will not be reflected at all if the Beholder cannot see you (for example, if you are invisible). With other gaze attacks what usually happens is that you are protected from the effects of the gaze but the monster is not hit by it (because it can't see the reflection), but in the case of the Beholder's death gaze, it simply bypasses reflection entirely if it cannot see you. This means that if you are invisible, reflection will not protect you from instant death.[1]
You'll know it has been defeated when the game says "All that remains is a single eye..."
Origin
An important monster from the Dungeons and Dragons universe. It's an original creation by D&D.
The encyclopedia entry comes from a manual of Dungeons and Dragons. As the encyclopedia describes it. It is a floating sphere with one great eye and a mouth with multiple teeth. On top, it has ten eyestalks( eye at the tip of a protrusion) with various magical properties. They are evil and xenophobic.
"Beholder" is a less frequent English word for "observer". Usually encountered in the famous quote "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". An obvious inspiration for the monster. This is also, why it leaves the eye of the beholder artifact, when killed.
Encyclopedia entry
The beholder (A.K.A the eye tyrant, the sphere of many eyes)
is most frequently found deep underground, although infrequently
it will lair in desolate wilderness. The globular body of this
monster is supported by levitation, and it floats slowly about
as it wills. Atop the sphere are ten eyestalks, while in its
central area are a great eleventh eye and a large mouth filled
with pointed teeth. Each of the eyes is said to have a different
magical property, all of which are deadly or malicious. The
beholder is hateful, tricky, and avaricious and is known to have
a fondness for both traps and artifacts.
See also
- The Beholder, a deferred monster in vanilla NetHack
References
dNethack
e beholder .png){kind=small}
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 10 |
| Attacks |
Gaze attack 4d6 random gaze type, Gaze attack 4d6 random gaze type, Passive 1d100 paralysis |
| Base level | 6 |
| Base experience | 97 |
| Speed | 3 |
| Base AC | 4 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | -10 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1000 |
| Nutritional value | 1000 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | fire, cold, shock |
| Resistances conveyed | |
|
A beholder:
| |
Beholders in dNethack attack twice a round with random gaze attacks, and share the Floating eye's paralysis gaze counterattack.
Since the random gaze attacks include death and petrification gazes, it is best not to go near one without reflection AND a blindfold.
