Monsters of Faerûn, Part 2: Baneguard to Beholderkin

We continue with the Baneguard. This is another undead, Medium-size, with 4 HD and a CR of 2. It looks more or less the same as a regular skeleton, but it's got a few surprises that are sure to give your players fits of joy. They can fire off magic missiles or blink as a 4th-level sorcerer, which makes them a wee bit tougher than one might think. Some of them are called Direguards, and they're basically the same thing except that they have semitransparent, shadowy black armor and red flames for eyes. And they can see invisible creatures; otherwise, they're basically the same thing as a normal baneguard.

The Banelar is a Huge Magical Beast with 7 HD and a CR of 5. They're very intelligent and strong, and they're evil naga-type creatures with plenty of spell power: 6th-level clerics and 6th-levle wizards. And their bite is poisonous, and so is their tail. More importantly from an adventurer's perspective, banelar collect magic items...and they use them if they can. So, they won't be wielding a magical sword, but they will use a ring, wand or amulet, for example. That makes them very unpredictable, which is always a good thing.

Up next, we have a trio of creatures called 'Deep Bats'. They are the Bonebat (Medium-sized Undead, 4 HD, CR 2), the Night Hunter (Medium-sized Beast, 2 HD, CR 1), and the Sinister (Large Magical Beast, 4 HD, CR 3). I recognize the Night hunter and the Sinister from an old Dragon magazine, #90 if I'm not mistaken, where Ed Greenwood offered up six species of bats to flutter around the Realms. Bonebats are analogs to a familiar for an evil cleric or wizard, as well as powerful undead such as vampires and liches. Their bite paralyzes their victims, and they can see the invisible as well as the living. The night hunter has a seven-foot wingspan and razor-sharp tails, and they emit an eerie scream that affects weaker creatures; specimens as large as 6 HD (Large size) have been seen. The sinister has a nine-foot wingspan, I'm sure that won't terrify anyone, and they can cast a hold monster spell once per day if they're in trouble (or if they're hunting). They can also deflect attacks thanks to a special force field they project around themselves. It even absorbs spells like Melf's acid arrow and magic missile. I'd bet parts of this beastie would be useful components for making a brooch of shielding. They can get to Huge size as well, and up to 12 HD.

The Beast of Malar is one creature, a medium-sized Shapechanger, with three forms: A panther, a bat, and a 'claw slayer', whatever that is. These things are chaotic evil to the core. Regardless of its form, it has 9 HD and a CR of 11. The panther form does panther-things like pounce and rake; the bat flies, and the claw slayer does lots of damage with both its claws and its bite. Oh, the claw slayer is basically a jacked-up wolverine. Thank you, I'll avoid the hell out of that.

Our next monster is...not actually a monster. It's a prestige class. For monsters. Specifically, it's the Beholder Mage prestige class. Because beholders aren't bad enough; let's give them magic on top of their other abilities. Of course, there's a very steep entry curve to take this prestige class: The beholder has to put out its central anti-magic eye. That's not an insignificant sacrifice; the beholder will be losing out on one of its primary abilities. On the other hand...beholder mage. And...oh, there's even more of a cost. For every spell level (including cantrips) that a beholder mage has, it has to sacrifice one of its ten small eyestalks. Or rather, it switches that eyestalk from a spell-like ability to a 'spell-stalk'. Beholder mages learn and cast their spells like a wizard. Yes, they have spellbooks. And they can get all the up to 10th level, giving them access to 9th-level spells. Yay, a highly-intelligent, evil floating orb that can cast meteor swarm or wish. No, I'm not worried at all.

Let's move past that and into some beholder variants. We have the Death Kiss, which is a Large Aberration with 12 HD and a CR of 11. It doesn't have eye rays; it has tentacles that latch on and drain blood. I'm not if that's better or worse. Death kisses don't generally do subtle; they prefer to just stay out of melee range and lash out with their tentacles until they get a bite. Getting blood-drained by a death kiss costs 1d3 temporary Con points, and the death kiss gets to recover 1d6 hit points in the process. Nice deal for him. They don't just float, either; they fly, legitimately. And if you cut into one, there's a 1% chance per point of damage that it will zap the weapon's wielder for 1d10 damage (Reflex save for half). Nasty. And if you're feeling particularly sadistic, how about running your players into a Gargantuan, 36-HD death kiss? Because you can do that.

Next in the beholderkin list is the Eyeball. This is a Tiny Aberration with 1 HD and a CR of ½. So, a baby beholder for the beginning party. These things can be familiars for a wizard, and they have only four eyestalks instead of the usual ten. Their central eye lets them see, not use anti-magic, so these guys are mostly harmless. Their eye rays are cause fear, daze, mage hand, and ray of frost. Again, not that dangerous, even for 1st-level characters. Just don't assume they're alone.

The last of the beholderkin in the book is the Gouger. This is a Large Aberration with 14 HD and a CR of 11. They have the anti-magic eye of a normal beholder, but that's because they were bred to stalk and kill regular beholders. Their eyestalks are nonfunctional except for sight; no spell-like abilities here. Instead, they have a very long tongue that can slash and stab outward, aiming for a beholder's eye or eyestalks. If they strike, the beholder is a Reflex save away from losing the use of one of its eyes or even its central eye. And there's a small but not miniscule chance that the loss is permanent. So this thing scares beholders. And they can get up to Huge size and 42 HD. The gouger is what beholder parents use to scare their kids into going to bed.

And that will do it for this episode; next time we'll start with a familiar swamp creature.