Aurelion, the Gentle Watcher

Large Aberration

Hit Dice: 11d8+44 (93 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 5 ft., fly 20 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 26 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +15 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 24
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+12
Attack: Eye rays +9 ranged touch or bite +7 melee (2d4)
Full Attack: Eye rays +9 ranged touch and bite +7 melee
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Eye rays
Special Qualities: Antimagic cone, all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft., flight
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +11
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 18
Skills: Hide +12, Listen +18, Search +21, Spot +22, Survival +2 (+4 following tracks), Knowledge (arcana) +17, Diplomacy +16
Feats: Alertness, Flyby Attack, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will
Environment: Any underground or urban
Organization: Solitary (unique)
Challenge Rating: 13
Treasure: Double standard (often redistributed)
Alignment: Neutral Good (unique)
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Combat

Aurelion avoids combat whenever possible, relying on positioning, restraint, and nonlethal resolution. When conflict is unavoidable, they prioritize disabling threats, separating combatants, and protecting weaker creatures. Lethal force is used only when no other option remains. Aurelion frequently suppresses their antimagic cone to avoid interfering with beneficial magic, activating it only in response to hostile spellcasting or unstable magical phenomena.

Eye Rays (Su)

Each of Aurelion’s ten eyestalks can produce a magical ray once per round (CL 13th, range 150 ft., save DC 18). They may fire up to three rays into any one arc per round, as normal for beholders .

Charm Person - Will negates; as the spell. Used to de-escalate aggression and halt conflict.
Charm Monster - Will negates; as the spell. Used when broader influence is required to prevent violence.
Sleep - Will negates; affects one creature regardless of Hit Dice. Used to neutralize threats without harm.
Flesh to Stone - Fortitude negates; as the spell. Used as a controlled restraint; subjects are often later restored.
Disintegrate - Fortitude negates; as the spell. Typically used on objects, barriers, or weapons rather than living creatures.
Fear - Will negates; as the spell. Rarely used; employed to disperse groups when necessary.
Slow - Will negates; as the spell. Commonly used to reduce the danger posed by aggressive creatures.
Inflict Moderate Wounds - Will half; deals 2d8+10 damage. Used sparingly.
Finger of Death - Fortitude partial; death or 3d6+13 damage on a successful save. Reserved for extreme circumstances only.
Telekinesis - Will negates; as the spell (up to 325 lb.). Frequently used to disarm, reposition, or separate creatures.

Antimagic Cone (Su)

Aurelion’s central eye projects a 150-foot antimagic cone, as antimagic field (CL 13th). They typically suppress this ability unless facing hostile magic or dangerous arcane instability.

All-Around Vision (Ex)

Aurelion cannot be flanked and gains a +4 racial bonus on Spot and Search checks.

Flight (Ex)

Aurelion’s body is naturally buoyant, allowing them to fly as the spell with perfect control and granting a constant feather fall effect.

Physical Description

Aurelion possesses the unmistakable spherical form of a beholder, yet their presence lacks the immediate hostility typical of their kind. Their hide is a muted pinkish ivory, traced with faint gold veining that catches light subtly across their surface.

Their central eye is steady and observant rather than predatory. The eyestalks move with deliberate control, often remaining still unless needed. Their mouth, filled with sharp teeth, is typically closed, minimizing their threatening appearance. They often smile, however, causing most sentients to take a second glance.

Description

Aurelion is a profound anomaly among beholders. They do not perceive themself as the singular ideal of existence, nor do they exhibit the paranoia and supremacy that define their kind.

Instead, they observe.

They study cooperation, restraint, and the behavior of other creatures with careful attention. These are not instinctive qualities, but learned ones - applied deliberately and consistently.

Aurelion understands what they are. They simply choose not to act as expected.

Lore

Aurelion’s origin remains unknown. Some believe them to be the result of an aberrant self-conception - a beholder whose internal reality formed without the defining paranoia of their species. Others suggest external influence, though no evidence confirms this.

They did not remain among other beholders. Whether they left or were driven away is unclear, but their continued existence implies separation was necessary.

Accounts of Aurelion are rare but consistent: conflicts halted without bloodshed, aggressors rendered unconscious, weapons destroyed mid-strike, and entire groups petrified only to be restored later. To most beholders, Aurelion represents an unacceptable contradiction. Their existence challenges a foundational belief in singular perfection.

Kelwyn’s Notes

It is a rare and quietly disarming experience, in one’s long traversal of the planes, to encounter a thing so thoroughly defined by terror and find that it does not fulfill its reputation. I had prepared myself, quite instinctively, for hostility - for the cold geometry of malice that so often accompanies the floating tyrants of ocular design. Yet in Aurelion, I observed no such immediate cruelty. Instead, there was a stillness, a patience, and an awareness that did not seek to dominate, but to understand. I confess, without hesitation, that I was both surprised and sincerely gladdened.

One must not mistake gentleness for transformation. Aurelion remains, in all structural and arcane respects, precisely what they appear to be. The same dreadful arsenal rests within them, unchanged and ever-present. Their divergence lies not in what they can do, but in what they consistently choose not to do. This is not the absence of horror, but the deliberate refusal to express it.

Those who encounter Aurelion rarely shed their fear quickly. Their form is too deeply tied to expectation. Even as they act in preservation, many suspect hidden intent or delayed cruelty. Yet, in rare cases, prolonged exposure gives rise to something far more destabilizing than fear: a cautious trust. Such trust does not come easily, nor should it, but once formed, it has a way of reshaping one’s understanding of what is possible.

I find Aurelion to be less a curiosity and more an argument. If a being so thoroughly constructed for domination can choose, repeatedly and without visible strain, to act with restraint, then one must question how many other certainties are merely habits mistaken for laws. I do not suggest safety. Aurelion remains profoundly dangerous. But they are, undeniably, significant.

There are horrors that announce themselves plainly, whose intentions are written in ruin and blood. One prepares for such things. Aurelion offers no such clarity, yet neither do they conceal some deeper malice. They exist in defiance of expectation. I suspect others of their kind will one day seek to correct what they perceive as an error. Whether they succeed is of little consequence. That such a “mistake” was possible at all is the revelation worth keeping.