[I mentioned when I discussed the beholder that I love the idea that beholderkin are dreamed into existence, so I knew I had to stat at least one variation. The death kiss has existed since 2e’s Forgotten Realms Monstrous Compendium, and has cropped up in every edition since then. The 4e version was a literal undead vampire, but this reverted back to an aberration in 5e.. I like how apologetic and shy this one looks, like it’s sorry that it has to drink all of your blood.]
Beholder, Death Kiss CR 10 NE Aberration This spherical horror is pale and leathery, with a single red eye set in its center. It has ten long tentacles, each of which ends in a bloodstained, lamprey-like maw.
A death kiss is a beholder-like horror, created when a beholder has a nightmare about losing blood. A newly created death kiss flees from the dreaming beholder as soon as possible, as these creatures have no ranged capacity and can be slain easily by a beholder on a rampage. Death kisses are blood feeding predators that leave the drained husks of their prey behind to feed scavengers. They usually hunt alone, but occasionally team up if two come across each other and neither thinks they have the upper hand.
When a death kiss attacks, it does so from ambush, lashing out with its tentacles extended to their full length. Each tentacle is tipped with a rasping, muscular mouth, and a death kiss may drink from multiple enemies simultaneously. They do this only if they are confident that prey cannot escape—otherwise they wrap a single foe in multiple tentacles and drain them dry. A death kiss is often cocky in melee—their electrically charged blood delivers painful shocks to any creature that would spill it—but flees when badly injured by spells or ranged weapons.
A death kiss can speak through any of its mouths, either one at a time or in unison, and they do so in reedy, high pitched voices. They do not intentionally collect treasure, but when slain, their brain shrinks and crystallizes into a faintly luminous red gem called a “blood-eye”. A blood-eye gem is worth the equivalent of ½ of the normal treasure value of a creature of the death kiss’ CR.
The idea of beholderkin each being spawned by a different kind of dream really fascinates me, especially in regards to trying to piece together how other types could come into being. Like, okay, a beholder reproduces by dreaming of being in many places at once, death kisses come from nightmares about blood and eyedrakes from dreams about draconic enemies, but what else? Do eyes of the deep spawn from nightmares about thalassophobia or sea monsters? What kinds of bizarre entities might be born by dreams haunted by fire or thunder or darkness? What might result if a beholder starts to obsess over the horrible thought that maybe, just maybe, it isn’t perfect?
I don’t much like the hive mother and the social beholders of Spelljammer, but if I ever had to write them up, that last idea is the hook I was planning on using. A beholder having a nightmare about being inferior to another creature creates a hive mother. Hive mothers have lucid dreaming abilities, which spawn the directors and overseers and whatnot intentionally to give her a hive to control. She cannot spawn true beholders, so collects them with her mind-influencing abilities, and true beholders hate and fear hive mothers even more than they do each other.
