Where Can I Find Beholder Variants For Homebrew Campaigns?

I usually want something fast and dramatic when I need a beholder variant for a one-shot, so I lean on three places first: the 'Monster Manual' (for the baseline), DMs Guild (tons of user-made variants), and Kobold Press’s 'Tome of Beasts' for polished alternatives. If I’m in a hurry I’ll pick a theme — like ‘‘undead eye tyrant’’ or ‘‘storm-eye beholder’’ — swap two eye rays (one for damage, one for a control effect), and add a simple lair action that plays off the theme.

For homebrew mechanics, small tweaks go a long way: change a ray’s condition (paralyzed, stunned, or slowed), give it a minion or two that spawn each round, or grant a legendary action so it can act between players. I also recommend using GMBinder or Homebrewery to make the statblock look official, and check Reddit communities like r/DnDBehindTheScreen for feedback. If you want old-school inspiration, skim 'Lords of Madness' for weird concepts and adapt them to 5e rules. Mostly I try one bold change at a time so the fight doesn’t break, and then I sit back and enjoy seeing players re-learn how to approach a beholder they thought they knew.

I still get a little giddy thinking about turning a classic beholder into something weird and memorable for my table. If you want ready-made variants, start with the obvious bookshelf suspects: the 'Monster Manual' has the baseline beholder and its kin like the 'death tyrant' appears in various supplements. For deeper, older variants, 'Lords of Madness' (3.5 era) is a goldmine of twisted beholder lore and templates if you don’t mind adapting stuff across editions. On the modern, pay-what-you-want side, Kobold Press’s 'Tome of Beasts' is fantastic — they pack their book with themed options you can drop right into 5e games with minimal fuss.

When I’m building my own, I alternate between two workflows: inspire-first and mechanic-first. Inspire-first means I pick a theme (clockwork beholder, fungal hive-eye, psychic cathedral) and then pick or invent two or three signature eye rays that reinforce that theme — maybe spores that grapple, or a gravity ray. Mechanic-first is more surgical: swap out a few eye rays for status effects (blind, charmed, restrained), give the thing a lair action or legendary actions so the fight feels cinematic, and tune HP/AC/damages to hit your desired CR. Useful online tools: DMs Guild has tons of community-created beholders and templates, D&D Beyond and GMBinder/Homebrewery help with clean statblocks, and Roll20/Foundry marketplaces have tokens and maps if you want to run it online.

If you want conversion tips, I usually: (1) cut or buff hit dice to change durability, (2) replace one high-damage ray with a control ray to make the fight more tactical, and (3) add minions or environmental hazards linked to the beholder’s theme. For flavor and art, search on DeviantArt or Twitter for tokens and portraits, or commission a simple token from an artist on Fiverr if you’re picky. Honestly, the best route is to grab a variant from Kobold Press or the DMs Guild for a quick slot-in, then tweak daring bits at the table. Try tossing a single quirky new ray into a published adventure first — you’ll see how players react and can escalate from there.