The third of four planned Spelljammer adventures for Dungeons & Dragons 5e is now available to download for free on the D&D Beyond website, and it gives players the chance to take a Beholder ship and use it as a vessel. Spelljammer is a D&D campaign set in space, which is coming to 5e in the upcoming Spelljammer: Adventures in Space set, involving sailing ships that use magic to fly through the cosmos.
Two of the scariest monsters in D&D are Beholders and Mind Flayers. There are certainly more powerful monsters in the game, but Beholders and Mind Flayers are more likely to show up in campaigns than something like a Tarrasque. The Beholders are scary due to their eye beams, which can kill a character through a single-blown saving throw, and Mind Flayers bring terror through their paralyzing mind blast ability. Spelljammer is a creepy campaign setting thanks to the Beholders and Mind Flayers possessing their own ships, sailing the stars in search of new victims.
The third part of the Spelljammer Academy mini-campaign is now available to download for free on D&D Beyond. This chapter is called "Realmspace Sortie!" and it kicks off with the players needing to acquire a Beholder tyrant ship and install a spelljamming helm inside, so that it can be used as a spelljammer ship for an upcoming mission. The ship (luckily) doesn't have any Beholders, but it doesn't take long for the mission to go off the rails and for the party to be in danger.
Dungeons & Dragons Beholders Are Not Friendly To Their Own Species
In most D&D games, Beholders utterly despise others of their kind, as well as all other living things, which is why they're often presented as a solo threat, rather than the leader of an organization. The tyrant ships in Spelljammer are host to a whole crew of Beholders, as they are under the thrall of a hive mother, a Beholder with the ability to control other Beholders. A tyrant ship with a full crew is incredibly dangerous, as the Beholders use the vessel to channel their powers, in order to perform devastating attacks against spelljammer ships and their crews. Spelljammer players are encouraged to flee at the sight of a tyrant ship unless they want to face a lot of eye rays.
The Spelljammer Academy prequel adventures will conclude next week, when "Behold... H'Catha" is released. Fans won't have to wait much longer for the full Spelljammer experience, as Spelljammer: Adventures in Space launches on August 16, 2022, and comes with its own campaign, Light of Xaryxis, which groups can use to go on adventures throughout Wildspace. Spelljammer is a huge departure from the standard fantasy D&D campaign, as it includes science fiction elements, with players meeting aliens and exploring strange new worlds. It will likely be a lot to take in, and the Spelljammer prequel adventures are a great way to ease players into the strangeness of the realms beyond the Dungeons & Dragons campaign worlds.
The Spelljammer: Adventures in Space campaign set for Dungeons & Dragons will launch on August 16, 2022.
Source: D&D Beyond