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Ser Loras
2017-10-24, 06:30 PM
In the pantheon of D&D bad guys, the two monsters I am most excited to encounter in my career have been the ubiquitous Beholder, and the mighty Chromatic Dragon. Today, with my (relatively) new group, I finally knocked off the first of that duo :D

It was, granted, a Zombie Beholder, not a "true" Beholder, but Jesus Christ those things put you through your paces (we're a party of 7, at level 5). I haven't looked at my Monster Manual in weeks so I can't say if a Zombie Beholder is strong enough naturally to pose a threat to that sort of party or if our DM simply boosted it or whatever, but we lost a buddy - our Barbarian got disintegrated - and the only reason we were saved from losing more is 'cos our DM got VERRRYYY liberal with the rules in the final rounds of the battle hahaha.

My Half-Wood Elf Paladin was basically rendered ineffectual after I had a complete brain fart and, having failed Turn the Unholy, cast Shield of Faith on myself (momentarily forgetting for all of the 3 seconds it took me to action the decision that a Beholder doesn't give a FRIG about AC at the best of times). With that wasted round I suffered a ray beam that left me terrified for the entire encounter while the rest of the party was either paralysed or devastated xD It's cool, I mean, our last epic brawl against a pack of werewolves resulted in me putting down 2-3 of them so it was high time to share the glory (a recurring joke in this campaign has been the constant ineffectualness of our would-be "leader," who, this time, managed to actually do a lot of damage against the Beholder and win back a sliver of his wounded, fragile pride).

By the time I'd rolled my way out of my state of fear, virtually every player was using their turn to "Run the Feck Away!" and we'd basically decided, this is it, this is where we all turn tail and flee and make the bad guys laugh at us. It was a lucky Scorching Ray from our resident Half-Orc Wizard (I've never, ever seen such a thing, but now I love them) that FINALLY put the bastard down just as everyone was scattering in every direction at once.

What's funny is we had basically been setting up camp for the night to undergo a long rest (though, for context, an entire day's journeying without incident meant that we were nonetheless at full capacity and hitpoints), but once the Beholder was killed and our session ended the DM was like, "No long rest, our next session begins 5 seconds after the Beholder dies." So things are gonna' be interesting as Hell as we all stagger half-conscious back to camp, holding in our insides and mourning the loss of our friend.

I've gotten to the end of my story and I realise that this thread serves absolutely no purpose but to say, YAY, WE FOUGHT & KILLED A BEHOLDER!!!

Also, having gotten used to our DM's style it's very, very apparent that there will be a dragon at the end of this, so I will probably soon get my second big wish for D&D baddies :D

Hooray!

Malifice
2017-10-25, 04:37 AM
AFB but do Zom-be-holders not have Antimagic cones?

DarkKnightJin
2017-10-25, 06:16 AM
AFB but do Zom-be-holders not have Antimagic cones?

Cones. Meaning the Wizard has a whole lotta area NOT being looked at by that thing to cast magic from.

Beholders are as vulnerable to magic as most everything else is. They just come with a magic-denial area built-in for added challenge.

Malifice
2017-10-25, 10:00 AM
Cones. Meaning the Wizard has a whole lotta area NOT being looked at by that thing to cast magic from.

Beholders are as vulnerable to magic as most everything else is. They just come with a magic-denial area built-in for added challenge.

I'm just saying a lot of characters was spending actions casting spells...

Ser Loras
2017-10-25, 06:49 PM
AFB but do Zom-be-holders not have Antimagic cones?

Not Zombie Beholders, nope. Thank the Emperor for small mercies, I suppose xD

DarkKnightJin
2017-10-25, 11:25 PM
Not Zombie Beholders, nope. Thank the Emperor for small mercies, I suppose xD

Then I suppose you haven't been able to properly check that off your bucket/to-do list yet, now have you? 😁

Kuulvheysoon
2017-10-27, 08:43 AM
Not going to lie, I've been DMing for a 5E group for over a year and I've somehow never noticed that there's a beholder zombie hidden at the very back of the book.

I've sent Spectators against my players, but they also haven't had the iconic encounter yet.

imanidiot
2017-10-27, 01:14 PM
I'm just saying a lot of characters was spending actions casting spells...

The OP mentioned exactly two spells being cast. You're just nit picking to show everyone how much better you are at D&D. Again.

ZorroGames
2017-10-29, 08:33 PM
The OP mentioned exactly two spells being cast. You're just nit picking to show everyone how much better you are at D&D. Again.

Why do you bother responding to him?

Shield of Egomania +7

furby076
2017-10-29, 09:58 PM
An update to this story, once you have your next session, is now and officially, requires.

Kthx