What Loot Should Players Get After Defeating A Beholder?

First off, congrats on running a good fight and getting your party through it. That is no small thing, for a Beholder is a formidable foe. I think of loot in terms of three things: 1) Immediate, practical stuff to spend on things in the upcoming days; 2) Weirid and wacky trinkets and oddments that relate to the monster they just downed; and 3) Long-term story hooks and Leads. For the coin and gems of a Beholder, stick with the tried and true: a pile of coin, some few rare and interesting items of art, and a few polished gems that it liked, I guess. Uncommon potions and scrolls of various sort would also be here, perhaps a few copied spells of illusion or divination, for the paranoid eye tyrant was surely very interested in such things. I usually pull from the 'D&D' loot tables, but mix it up a bit and swap out a random rare item for somethingBeholder-themend.

And for the rest of the eye, fun little bits and bobs. When I’ve had the chance to do this before, I’ve created little reagents out of the harvested eye rays. For example, you could have a preserved ocular gland that you can use once as a special reagent to allow a caster or wielder of that item to use one of the eye rays once each (petrify a creature, charm a creature, disintegrate a creature in a cone in front of you, and so on). I like to make the number of uses for a time limited as well (i.e. a day, a number of days, etc). Also, I like to make sure there is an unpleasant or random consequence for over using the item. Another fun little bit I like to add is the Gazer Shard. This is a crystalline piece of the central eye that the players can attune as an artefact. As the item is used, the wielder of the item gains the ability to choose an eye effect to use once per day for a certain number of days (again, limited in some way). However, each time the item is used, there is a risk of the item turning on the wielder with paranoia-type effects or even temporary madness. There are also several fun little trinkets that you can include such as a stitched beholder-skin hood that gives the wearer resistance to psychic effects, but makes stealth checks harder because the wearer can’t help but glance over their shoulder every now and then. Or a pair of spectacles made from a lesser eye that gives the wearer truesight for a minute or so, but with each passing moment, the wearer begins to hear horrifying whispers in their mind.

Next, I decide on some story elements that players might find in a Beholder’s lair. Perhaps there are maps, notes on or descriptions of various mutated creatures that the party can battle later, or perhaps letters from an obsessed collector willing to pay a pretty penny for the central eye. In the past, I’ve hidden a ledger full of a Beholder’s various bribes and deals in a vault or similar locked container, and had the party sell it to a noble for a large sum of gold, leading to an urban political drama. As to balance, I typically decide on 1-2 rares/very rares, as well as a handful of consumables, and then one or two unique items for the Beholder. These items can grant more power to the players as they complete a crafting or corruption story. It’s all about making the loot dangerous to take and tempting to the players in the end.

My ideas for what players would want to find after having killed a Beholder, include practical things for the lair that they are in. This would include a cache of coin, some gems, and some artwork that the creature had collected for its own entertainment. Following that, 2-4 uncommon magic items and some consumables such as healing potions, a potion of invisibility, and maybe a wand with some limited charges to it. The final item would be a signature relic of the Beholder, in this case a piece of the central eye, which grants a single use of one of the Beholder’s eye abilities (you choose which), with a curse or other side effect to the use of that ability.

Preserved ocular glands to make eye reagents for one-time use as a spellslot-free cast of a spell by a spellcaster. A short list of hooks (tunnel maps, notes of a rival Beholder, someone who wants to buy the intact eye) and then be sure to keep the total power level of the ‘loot’ down to that of the parties level. So no legendary items to use against future beholders to drastically change the nature of future encounters with them. Just creepy and weird trophies for flavor and a handful of gold, scrolls, and a few useful (but not a game-changer) items for utility.