See the quote below where it says, "On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), a beholder can take one lair action.

The "On initiative count 20" portion seems to be creating a context for this action that I'm having difficulty grokking.  I get initiative and all that, but what does it mean by count 20.  I cannot imagine this is only usable if a 20 initiative was rolled?

Anyhow, thanks for any input in this matter. 

Lair Actions

When fighting inside the Beholder's lair, the Beholder can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Beholder can take one lair action to cause one of the following effects:

Think of it like "Beholder Lair" being another monster on the Initiative track, with an Initiative roll of 20.

Quote from SlaughterMachine >>

See the quote below where it says, "On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), a beholder can take one lair action.

The "On initiative count 20" portion seems to be creating a context for this action that I'm having difficulty grokking.  I get initiative and all that, but what does it mean by count 20.  I cannot imagine this is only usable if a 20 initiative was rolled?

Anyhow, thanks for any input in this matter. 

Lair Actions

When fighting inside the Beholder's lair, the Beholder can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Beholder can take one lair action to cause one of the following effects:

 

Effectively, you can think of this as the Lair having a turn and always rolling 20 for initiative, losing all ties (2 Lairs having a tie just goes back to the standard of the DM adjudicating initiative ties).  On the Lair's turn, its creature takes some action which is out-of-turn for that creature.

Quote from pdegan2814 >>

Think of it like "Beholder Lair" being another monster on the Initiative track, with an Initiative roll of 20.

 So the lair acts as another monster and is always first in the initiative order?   Did I understand that correctly?

EDIT: Or always rolls a 20 initiative, so it's not always first, but always a 20.

Quote from SlaughterMachine >>

Quote from pdegan2814 >>

Think of it like "Beholder Lair" being another monster on the Initiative track, with an Initiative roll of 20.

 So the lair acts as another monster and is always first in the initiative order?   Did I understand that correctly?

EDIT: Or always rolls a 20 initiative, so it's not always first, but always a 20.

You can think of it as another monster that always rolls 20.  It does not always go first.

There are more complex lairs that also act on Initiative 10, which work exactly the same way - you just pretend there are creatures that rolled 20 and 10, and on their turn, instead the Lair's creature does some out-of-turn action.

Effectively, you can think of this as the Lair having a turn and always rolling 20 for initiative, losing all ties (2 Lairs having a tie just goes back to the standard of the DM adjudicating initiative ties).  On the Lair's turn, its creature takes some action which is out-of-turn for that creature.

Thanks, that makes more sense!