Beholder Mouthpick (Magic Weapon)

For all their formidable might, the eye tyrants cannot accomplish the simple task of picking up a stick without some aid. To circumvent their lack of appendages and limbs, beholders sometimes use mouthpicks or tongue-arms to manipulate items. These are nothing more than reaching aids, often articulated and of metal, held in an eye tyrants' mouth. They are manipulated with lips, tongue, and teeth (in a manner akin to a human pipe smoker moving a pipe around in his or her mouth) to move, trigger, or carry items that the beholder would rather not carry in its mouth to spit out later. Mouthpicks may be improvised from wooden masts, tree-trunks, or spars in a pinch, but beholders prefer to use more sophisticated specimens, generally made of metal, which may end in spikes (1d6 points of damage), scraping or cupping flanges, shovel-bowls, or pincer-like arms (one point of piercing damage to any creature gripped). Numerous beholder mouthpicks have many-branched ends incorporating all of these control devices and more.
Mouthpicks save against attack forms according to the material of their construction. Severing one or shattering a grasping attachment usually requires characters to inflict at least 12 points of damage. Beholders set such mouthpicks between their teeth, and can withdraw lip and tongue pressure in an instant-so an attack that rams a mouthpick back into a beholder's mouth only does 1d6 points of damage, as the mouthpick strikes the bony interior plates that protect the inner organs of every beholder.
Several types of magical mouthpicks have been reported. One, known to still exist in Undermountain, is described here. A fangpick of electrum plated stainless steel. Worth about 20 gp for its metal content, this 12' long shaft ends in a rake or scythe-shaped arc of metal, set with many long, curved metal teeth. This metal arc grazes opponents for 1d4 points of damage; if an attack roll is 19 or 20, the pick automatically closes its are in a “bite,” allowing the toothed scythe to wrap around the victim to inflict 1d12 points of damage and hold him or her immobile fora round. These actions are mechanical, operating for any wielder of the item.
Grooves in the base of the pick contain tiny contacts akin to the buttons on a rod of lordly might. If manipulated by the tongue or fingers of a skilled user, these contacts activate the pick's power (maximum of three times per day) to paralyze any being struck. A normal saving throw vs. paralyzation is allowed; if failed, onset time is 1d2 rounds after being struck, and the paralysis lasts for 1d4 turns. (This magical effect is besides physical tooth damage).
A fangpick will levitate whenever released by a being, to hang motionless in midair until next grasped or disturbed. Some of these items automatically absorb electrical energy (such as lightning bolts) into themselves, sparing anyone touching a pick from any damage.
The name of the inventor of the mouthpick of absorption is lost to the ages; presumably, its invention has limited use for normal beholders, as their antimagic ray negates any magical functions of the item. Any magical beholder mouthpicks can only be fully used by those beholder-kin that do not radiate an antimagic field.
Category:Encyclopedia Magica Magic Items
Category:Magic Items
Category:Magic Weapon