Homebrew Beholderborn Species Details
Born from the dreams of a Beholder with a keen understanding of humanoid races. Beholder-born are an idea made flesh, a fusion that would be impossible under the natural order.
Note to DMs
This species requires strange rolls and potentially weird decisions on your part. It also comes swinging out of the gate at level 1 with antimagic field effects and petrification. Whenever it is asleep potentially immersion or lore breaking effects may occur. Discretion is advised.
Appearance
Beholder-born appear physically as a regular humanoid for the most part, but have one large eye centered in their skull, and five pairs of eye stalks grow out from their spine.
Beholder-born grow hair on top of their heads like a regular humanoid but this area also extends down to their spinal area as well. This hair grows along with the eye stalks and will often share their color and texture. The coloring is often a darker, less saturated variation of their skin color, but variations are always possible.
Textures can be straight, curly, chitinous, slimey or even other varieties yet to be seen.
Some beholder-borns may even be able to grow a beard.
Their skin most often comes in colors such as Brown, Brown-yellow, Gray, Green, Pinkish, Purple-blue, as well as different mottled combinations.
They may also come in colors you might expect more traditional humanoid races to have.
This skin may have textures unusual for most humanoid, it may be slimey, scale-like, rough, or smooth.
Their eyes can come in almost any color and size imaginable, even their iris shape can come in bizarre patterns that no other creature seems to posses.
Anatomy
The anatomy of a beholder-born can vary between individuals, they may be more in line with that of a beholder or may be closer to that of a humanoid, it all depends on how they were dreamed. Typically their anatomy is as follows:
They have a skeletal structure typical to most humanoids, they walk upright and have two arms and two legs.
Along their spine eyestalks grow in pairs out of special vertebrae with holes for the eyestalks nerves. Eyestalks are capable of independent movement of one another, granting beholderborns a unique vision that lets them see everything around them and themselves at once.
Severed eyestalks can regrow over the course of several weeks (2d6). If an eyestalk is severed, it's magic ray is no longer accessible.
If the main eye is removed it does not regrow however, this permanently disables the beholder-borns antimagic cone but does not blind the beholder-born.
The only way to truly blind a beholder-born is to remove or cover all of their eyes. This would quickly cause them to panic as they would have very little way of knowing anything around them.
A beholder-born's brain is heavily wired for sight. Their senses of taste, smell and touch are incredibly limited.
Their second best sense is hearing, but it is worse than even a humans. Most beholder-borns would be considered tone deaf in many regards. Some beholder born may have visible ears and some may simply have small holes.
Their organs are arranged in a similar pattern to a humanoid, including a single heart, or heart-diaphragm, a single large lung or pair of lungs, and one to two stomachs. Their digestive track usually ends at a cloaca for both urine and feces, but these can also be in separate anus and urethra. Their blood can vary in hue from shades of green, to yellow, to orange, to red, depending on how much of their blood's cellular structure resembles a beholder or a humanoid.
They typically do not contain any reproductive organs, most likely due to beholders having very little knowledge of humanoid reproduction, however exceptions have been seen. Some beholder-born, may even have pseudo mammary tissue on their chests, giving the appearance of a female humanoid but, just like reproductive organs exceptions have occurred as well.
The odd in-between state of their anatomy does mean they are not well adapted for floating or walking, which is why they have such low movement speed.
Personality
Often beholderborns are born with a personality created out of the how their parent beholder views humanoid and/or other beholders. This can give them a huge range of personalities.
Some have devious, wicked, chaotic and evil personalities, the xenophobic anxieties of a beholder might project onto strangers entering its lair.
They may be created with the self-important narcissism most beholders have, complete with the extreme xenophobia.
Some are born into a state of instant fear that their parent might come to expect from a humanoid or lesser beholder-kin to exhibit. These beholder-born may even be afraid of themselves, and may take time to adjust to existing in their body.
Under rare circumstances a beholder may out of love, appreciation, and adoration for humanoids, or even dream of becoming a humanoid. Beholders under these situations may slowly become beholder-born themselves, or dream a new beholderborn. If a new beholderborn is created this way they may be kind and loving towards their parent beholder, and may choose to stay at their side.
Knowledge
Beholder-born are often born with knowledge already embedded into them by their parent when they were dreamed. This includes languages, opinions, history and all sorts of things. This knowledge may also have gaps in it that was not dreamed at the time. This can make beholder-born very strange to engage in conversations with.
Names
Beholder-born are rarely born with a name in mind, but they will almost always be born knowing their parent's name, which they may adopt as their own or adopt some variation of.
Beholderborn Traits
They have the same abilities as a beholder, but their smaller bodies are more clumsy bodies take a while to get used to.Ability Scores
When determining your character’s ability scores you have the choice of:
Increasing one score by 2 and increasing a different score by 1,
or increase three different scores by 1,
or Strength -2, Constitution +2, Intelligence +1, Charisma +1.
Age
Often born an adult of unknown age, it's impossible to really know their proper lifespan.
They would likely live anywhere from 110 to 130 if they were born an infant.
Typically they live around a century past the day they were dreamed into existence.
Size
Beholder-born can come in a many sizes.
It all depends on how big their parent dreamed them.
They could be as small as a gnome or as large as an half-orc.
Size can be small or medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Your base flying speed is 10 feet. (Hover)
Languages
Beholder-born are born knowing a languages their parent beholder both knows and dreamed the beholder-born knowing, this almost always is either Deep Speech or Under Common.
If those were the only languages you knew that would suck, so pick another too.
Senses
Most of your sense of the world comes from your sight.
Like most beholders you are very perceptive, but this is mostly vision based.
- Darkvision: 120ft
- You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
- Passive Perception +3.
- Roll disadvantage on all checks that are related to only, touch, taste, or smell.
- You have worse hearing than a human, sound based rolls can be at disadvantage. You are considered tone deaf. (Up to DM)
- 360 Degree vision
Natural Armor
You inherited a little of your beholder parent's tough skin. When you aren’t wearing armor, your base AC is 12+ your Dexterity modifier.
Movement Bonus
Unlocks at Level 7 and 13.
Through your travels you have mastered your body and have gotten better at moving.
- You can now use your floating ability ever so slightly to help you while walking, increasing your base walking speed to +5.
- Thanks to your new awkward air swimming your base flying speed is now +5.
Wild Dreams
Like your beholder parent, beholder-born can also bend reality with their dreams. This may result in odd occurrences whenever you sleep.
Each time you fall asleep flip a coin, if heads, find a fair die that can display results greater than or equal to the max number on the below table and roll it until you get a number on the table.
The effects of this can occur within 0.5 miles of your location, concentrated heavily around you in particular.
Any creature within that radius will also have the feeling they are being watched.
These effects apply mostly to natural surfaces and to nonmagical objects that aren’t on anyone’s person.
Wild Dream Table
1. Grass clippings fall in the area around you, slowly covering everything over the course of your sleep.
2. It starts raining in the area around you.
3. Everything in the area is covered in a thin layer of harmless slime.
4. A puddle of grease appears around you.
5. An evil version of yourself appears when you wake up. They will have the same stats and abilities as you, but will only be equipped with what you are currently wearing.
6. Roll a die that lets you select a random party member (not including yourself), an evil version of that party member appears when you wake up they will have the same stats and abilities as your party member, but will only be equipped with what they are currently wearing.
7. An animal, that you have seen before, spawns in the area by you. (DM decides)
8. An authority figure of some kind appears by you and starts scolding you and your party members, you are unable to wake up from their scolding though. (DM decides)
9. A small trinket will appear by you. (DM decides)
10. Objects in the area are rearranged randomly.
11. Gravity in the area becomes significantly lessened, objects may start floating upward.
12. A beautiful warm feast appears by you, and remains warm until you wake up, at which time it will still be warm but start to cool down as normal food would. The food however is extremely bland to other species, as your perspective on taste is not great.
13. A feast of disgusting rotten food appears by you.
14. Your body is permanently modified slightly in a way that the DM thinks is funny.
15. Your body is permanently modified slightly in a way of your choice.
16. While you are asleep, you can now break the 4th wall and can address the DM and the other players directly. You forget all of this when you wake up.
17. You start sleep talking, roll a die to determine a random player or the DM that gets to say something outloud through you.
18. You start sleep floating, roll (1d8)x5ft to determine how far away you float and (1d4)x5ft for how high you float and roll a 1d4 for which direction you go. Windows, doors, floors, ceilings and walls cannot stop you will have a cartoonish hole in the shape of you as you go through them. These holes repair themselves after you pass through, but will have a slight outline of the hole that was once there.
19. You grow a beard. If you already had a beard, it doubles in size.
20. All of your hair falls out, it regrows at a normal rate.
21. All your teeth fall out. But you regrow a new pair instantly. You now have a collection of beholder-born teeth.
22. You gain a sense that you did not have before, roll 1d4 to gain human levels of either 1.taste, 2.scent, 3.touch or 4.hearing, and make note of it on your character sheet. You no longer need to roll checks with that sense at disadvantage unless it's for identifying something you don't know.
23. You wake up covered in various cheeses.
Bite
You can use your beholder like teeth to bite enemies.
Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2d6 piercing damage.
Antimagic Cone
With concentration your central eye creates an area of antimagic, as in the antimagic field spell, in a 75-foot-cone. At the start of each of your turns, you can decide which way the cone faces and whether to deactivate it.
If your main eye is injured or removed you lose this trait.
The area works against the your own magic and eye rays.
Can only be used once per long-rest.
Eye Rays
Each of a beholder-born's eyes has an innate spell it can preform in the form of a ray, if a beholderborn wants to use these rays, magic will swell up in their bodies and push its way into their eyestalks. Almost like unplugging a pipe, the first eye this building magic reaches will drain all of the magic into itself which will then get shot out in that eyestalk's eye ray.
First roll a 1d10 to determine which eyeray will be used and then choose a target, the ray it then blasted out in a 60-foot Line that is 5 feet wide.
The target must then make a saving throw (DC 8 plus your Wisdom modifier and Proficiency Bonus), the kind of saving throw depends on the ray.
Follow each rays description to determine what happens of next.
At Lvl 10-20 this can be cast as an action or bonus action.
Usage:
Level 1-6: 1/LR
Level 7-12: 2/LR
Level 13-20: 3/LR
Damage (If applicable):
Level 1-2: 1d8
Level 3-5: 2d8
Level 6-9: 3d8
Level 10-12: 3d10
Level 13-16: 4d10
Level 17-20: 5d10
Ray Type (Roll 1d10)
1. Charm Ray: The targeted creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you for 30 minutes, or until you harm the creature.
2. Paralyzing Ray: The targeted creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 30 seconds. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
3. Fear Ray: The targeted creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 30 seconds. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
4. Slowing Ray: The targeted creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the target’s speed is halved for 30 seconds. In addition, the creature can’t take reactions, and it can take either an action or a bonus action on its turn, not both. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
5. Enervation Ray: The targeted creature must make a Constitution saving throw, taking necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
6. Telekinetic Ray: If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or the beholder moves it up to 15 feet in any direction. It is restrained by the ray’s telekinetic grip until the start of the beholder’s next turn or until the beholder is incapacitated.
If the target is an object weighing 150 pounds or less that isn’t being worn or carried, it is moved up to 15 feet in any direction. The beholder can also exert fine control on objects with this ray, such as manipulating a simple tool or opening a door or a container.
7. Sleep Ray: The targeted creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or fall asleep and remain unconscious for 30 seconds. The target awakens if it takes damage or another creature takes an action to wake it. This ray has no effect on constructs and undead.
8. Petrification Ray: The targeted creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature begins to turn to stone and is restrained. It must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn. On a success, the effect ends. On a failure, the creature is petrified until freed by the greater restoration spell or other magic.
9. Disintegration Ray: If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take force damage. If this damage reduces the creature to 0 hit points, its body becomes a pile of fine gray dust.
If the target is a Large or smaller non-magical object or creation of magical force, it is disintegrated without a saving throw. If the target is a Huge or larger object or creation of magical force, this ray disintegrates a 5-foot cube of it.
10. Death Ray: The targeted creature must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or take necrotic damage. The target dies if the ray reduces it to 0 hit points.
Note: If an eyestalk is severed, it's magic ray is no longer accessible. In this case roll 1d10 as if rolling for the eye rays action, take note of the ray that would have been selected, marking it as disabled. When preforming eye rays until the stalk has regrown, if the disabled ray is rolled you can redo the roll.
Previous Versions
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9/10/2024 4:09:24 PM
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9/10/2024 8:18:44 PM
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1.1
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9/12/2024 1:12:20 PM
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62
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1.2
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9/17/2024 1:01:10 PM
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63
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1.3
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Coming Soon
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