![]() ![]() For example, the Gauth from Volo's Guide to Monsters. ![]() There are also some other lower CR Beholder-like foes you could use. Telekinetic Ray, Sleep Ray, Slowing Ray, Petrification Ray. If you still want to sand away the sharp edges of the Beholder Zombie, consider looking to the eye rays of the full Beholder for inspiration. Like, say, handing out stories about soldiers having to hide in the trenches from the instantly deadly eye rays of the necromancer king's minions, until the support mages were able to drop some smoke on it. Personally, when it comes to things that can take out players quickly, I will often foreshadow them or telegraph their more dangerous abilities. And of course you can block its vision and other such things. ![]() For example, its slow speed means that you can easily take advantage of cover, which can provide you +2 (half cover), +5 (three quarters cover), or full immunity (total cover) against the modest dexterity saves. The only one that's really dangerous from a lone Beholder Zombie is Disintegrate, and you can do a lot in terms of counterplay to reduce your chances there. And aren't likely to get the drop on you, either.Įnervation isn't really all that "likely to kill them if they've taken damage at all," because they'll just hit the zero hp gate and the Beholder Zombie doesn't have multiple actions to finish anyone off. They're also very easy to get the drop on, with a passive perception of 9 and negative stealth score. Throw down some fog or darkness or whatever and they're screwed. What are some better Eye Rays to apply?A little strategy can go a long way against zombies.īeholder Zombies can only move 20 feet per round, and can't use eye rays if they can't see you. And Paralyzing Ray just has me expecting our hapless thief to blow the roll and then watch the rest of the fight as a spectator. That leaves me with Enervation, not quite as bad as Disintegrate, but I'd rather have it do something other than pure damage. That'll vaporize some of their goblin mercs, which will be educational. I'll mash together some of the Gauth rays, and split the damage on Disintegrate. I expect the PCs will get to fight the demon too). His girlfriend took their daughter and ran off, someone (the PCs) kidnapped his cooks, someone (the PCs) set his girlfriend's house on fire, the PCs have killed a few of his guards and are about to come assassinate him, and his employer has sent a demon to terminate their relationship. The BBEG is going to sow dragon's teeth, with regular zombies coming out of the ground on turn 1, a few ogre zombies on turn 2, and the zombeholder on turn 3. Alternately, replace the Paralysis Ray with a Slow effect (like the Stone golem), and cut the damage of all the damage dealing rays in half but let it use two/turn, no duplicates.Yep, for two of the three players, it's their first D&D campaign I want to have them worried, and i don't mind killing them late in the fight if that's the way the dice fall, but I don't want to one-shot them. If your issue is avoiding accidentally killing PCs with no recourse, you could sub in a lesser beholderkin like a Gauth, which is CR 6 but less likely to one-shot a PC. If it vaporizes a goblin, good it won't kill a fresh PC if it kills little Eleanor, well, she shoulda stayed in cover. I'm thinking splitting it into two beams of 5d8 ("see the split pupil in that eye?") at separate targets. Granted, I can "randomly" target a goblin with Disintegration, but that seems like a poor solution. (Oh, and one Beholder Zombie seems to be a Medium encounter for 3xL5!) Now, these PCs all have about 38HP, so Enervation is likely to kill them if they've taken any damage at all, and Disintegration can take them from full health to "tear up your charsheet" in one bad roll. That one's okay.ģ) Enervation: Take 36 damage, half if you save.Ĥ) Disintegration: Take 45 damage, or nothing if you save. "Paralyzed" doesn't sound like "fun".Ģ) Fear: "A frightened creature has disadvantage on Ability Checks and Attack rolls while the source of its fear is within line of sight, and the creature can’t willingly move closer to the source of its fear." So, they just need to break line of sight, which will be possible on this battlefield. If you fail, you're paralyzed for a minute or until you do make the save. The eye rays are:ġ) Paralyzing Ray: if you make the save, nothing happens. Next week's session is the last one of the campaign, and I want to use a Beholder Zombie because the party ( L5 tempest cleric, AT rogue, and wild magic sorc, plus half a dozen goblin mercenaries and an eleven year old girl with a couple of molotovs) isn't tough enough to face a real Beholder. ![]()
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