Beholder needs an ambition

[Monstrrr]

So my players are going to be fighting a beholder. He isn't the big bad of the campaign, but the big bad did need a beholder eye stalk for a ritual he's making.

So, this beholder is a new beholder, and he's only recently arrived to the location he had decided to make his lair. He was drawn there by an Artifact of great power... one that the PCs will need.

But aside from him appropriating this long-buried temple and the Artifact within, i don't really have an ambition for him. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Nidgit]

Beholders generally look to accumulate power and wealth to prove their superiority. Beyond that, they're insane so anything will do.

Perhaps your Beholder wants to take over the region but has concluded that the existing power in the area has taken the form of a cuddly stray cat in town. Convinced of this kitty's subtle ingenuity, the beholder has fomented a number of absurdly complex plans to remove the cat from power (the cat's obviously too strong and devious to assault head on).

Maybe, jealous of a gallery it's heard of, the Beholder has decided to kidnap famous painters and have them produce exclusive artworks for it to brag about.

Maybe the Beholder has invented cryptocurrency and is looking for investors.

Perhaps the Beholder is lonely and seeks to use the Artifact to create a perfect companion for itself, Bride of Frankenstein style. What's the point of being superior if no one's around to see it? But no natural creature can be fully trusted not to betray it.

[kingcheesepants]

So presumably this artifact of great power does something. If the beholder has it (or is trying to get it) then it would make sense for his ambition to be an end which that artifact is a means to. So if the artifact summons a ghost army then the beholder wants to use a ghost army to take over. If the artifact is a staff that can cast banishment on anyone than he wants to use it to banish all the grandmas in town. Just think about what the artifact does and then you can give him something nefarious that he wants to do with it.

[loki_ragnarock]

"To finally kick that damned football THAT YOU KEEP YANKING, LUCY!"

Beholders are insane. Lean in. Break the fourth wall. Find the magic of the Great Pumpkin.

[Psyren]

Beholders generally look to accumulate power and wealth to prove their superiority. Beyond that, they're insane so anything will do.

Perhaps your Beholder wants to take over the region but has concluded that the existing power in the area has taken the form of a cuddly stray cat in town. Convinced of this kitty's subtle ingenuity, the beholder has fomented a number of absurdly complex plans to remove the cat from power (the cat's obviously too strong and devious to assault head on).

Maybe, jealous of a gallery it's heard of, the Beholder has decided to kidnap famous painters and have them produce exclusive artworks for it to brag about.

Maybe the Beholder has invented cryptocurrency and is looking for investors.

Perhaps the Beholder is lonely and seeks to use the Artifact to create a perfect companion for itself, Bride of Frankenstein style. What's the point of being superior if no one's around to see it? But no natural creature can be fully trusted not to betray it.

Any suggestion I have would pale in comparison to these.

OP - what does the artifact do?

[Unoriginal]

OP - what does the artifact do?

This is very important. What the artifact can do, or is believed to do, will help us give suggestions for what the Beholder wants to do.

[Jervis]

Since crypto has been mentioned I should say I’ve been toying with the idea of spells being stored in the astral plane via magical stone blocks on a magic chain. The beholder of course does not do this and instead sells doodles on small scraps of paper that he calls NFTs for some reason.