Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Beholder Secrets

Hey guys! Welcome back to more dnd lore.

Originally the intent was for me to cover everything that you could find on the Monster Manual and Volo's Guide so that then i could make a second video with everything that's not there. However the video ended up being a little bit too long.

So the new plan now is for me to make a part 2 to this video where i go through every single variation we know of that beholders have gone through, whether they are found on the released books or at any point in the past. Hopefully it won't go too long. I'll also try and add in factoids about the beholders that Volo's didn't touch on.

I would like to mention that i am extremely happy with the response I have gotten with these d&d videos, it warms my heart knowing that you guys love this game as much as i do. To be open with you guys, i have never been as passionate about any game as i am with d&d; so its awesome for me to hear that some of you do feel that way as well. Keep leaving me comments! And let me know what would you guys like to hear about in these videos.
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[totem]

We're in a labyrinth, trying to pick up gems for a quest, when we see a yellow beholder with no eyestalks, eating the gems. We insight that he's blind, so we start following him as he's eating the gems. Then he eats a bigger gem, and eyestalks pop out and he gets his sight back, so he starts chasing us. A few rounds later he gets blinded again.
That repeats 3 times, and then we understand that our DM has us playing Pac-Man as the ghosts for 2 hours while he rolls on the floor laughing...

[smexehcougah]

I just got an idea for a campaign that I will surely never get the chance to run. The campaign would start in a Beholder lair, the lvl 1 characters all facing a beholder with no idea how they got there. The beholder kills them immediately. Then they all wake up in a cemetery. The beholder dreamed of a group of adventurers that would kill him. You are those adventurers and as long as the beholder fears you, you will never stay dead.


I think it could be an interesting take on the normal campaign structure. You could make exploiting the "respawn" system a requirement for success when faced with insurmountable tasks.

[GRex]

I actually had some fun with the "limitless" nature of the beholder a few weeks ago while DMing for my group, and actually had a beholder named "Xanathar" (Unoriginal name is unoriginal) who was actually the head scholar for a large group of Bahamut followers. He was also unaware he was a beholder, and used massive amounts of telepathic powers to actually animate a literal army of white gloves around the library he lives in to catalog and research. He ended up being everyone's favorite part of me DMing for the group and I had to promise I'd bring him back later.

[BrigsbyDowers]

I have an idea: what if a beholder dreams about how “humble” it is, and it makes an ACTUAL HUMBLED BEHOLDER!

[shadycactus]

0:16 so... you could theoretically have a beholder that happens to look exactly like mike wazowski?

[Usernom]

1:28 damn I’m accidentally on the moon. Again.

[MrRhexx]

Dont worry guys, it also tilts me that i pronounced it "the Shadowfall". I just cringed at myself re-watching the video.

[artiegatsby]

My warlock buddy and I found a lil tiny football sized gazer, the beholder that dreamed it up had been killed by someone else, so we took the little guy with us. His name is Treble and he's the warlock's familiar now and we love him very much.

[aaronkennedy]

So, Beholders are Asexual, reality bending, varied, egotistical, essentially inmortal, Lovecraftian aliens?

[arthurjeremypearson]

Actually, the secret origin was a player in Gygax's original Greyhawk campaign: Terry Kuntz. His lost 8-11 page short story about how beholders were discovered on a mountain described them as EDIT: living out a "waning existence" in forlorn places. And had some description of their ecology and family structure.

Not to say that they were much different from modern beholders. Gygax only did a few superficial changes to the original monster design by Kuntz.

[dragonmanfirebane]

A guide to riches and power:
Step one: locate a beholder
step two: take out the beholder's eye stocks and central eye and make sure it is alive
step three: chain it up so it can't nom your legs
step four: force it into a permanent sleep state
step five: use a psi crystal or enchanted item to control the beholder's dreams to what you want (wealth, beholder kin minions, power, ect.)
step six: profit

[redstoneequinox]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder :P

[JenoPaciano]

Beholders can be master tacticians all they want, but they are in truth limited by the GM controlling them. I've never met the GM who could outsmart four determined players.

[kamorikioko]

1:20 "you might find yourself there by accident"
Just like our moon 😂

[sonictheaccursed]

A Beholder is the child of Mike Wazowski with his Girlfriend!

[MrKarnator]

very interesting.

Now i just imagine a beholder that has a hobby of collecting knowledge of all kinds. From the tiniest food recepy to the most mind bending puzzle and or spell boyond imagening. And adding them into a massive library, that brings adventurers and wizards and such to him, where he or it could greet them and even talk to them. Learning and adding everything to his collection, and lets them browse around in order to learn more. And probably speaks in a surprisingly polite and well practised manner.

[FoxItAll]

3.5 book of abarrants gives so much info on beholders. great book. has info on mind flayers too. I used that book to make my campaign. The Far Realm was invading the Prime Material Plane and taking over. so many new beholders and flayers and abbarrants.

[thenthapple]

Thoroughly enjoyed the video. Great work :)

[TehNoob]

Hey Rhexx, I've been a very long time subscriber of yours, kept up with your channel through many series, your move to Germany, the on-off periods. Just wanted to say, keep doing what you love and keep on going with youtube

[DJliohazord]

one time when played D&D i took down a beholder with pocket sand.