Monster Prestige Class : Ocular Master
The ocular master learns to combine the power of its eye rays, melding two or more of them into a single powerful attack that can send its enemies fleeing in terror. The beholders that pursue this prestige class are among the elite of their kind. Not only do their melded abilities give them versatility in battle, but in many beholder colonies, becoming an ocular master ranks as a prestigious accomplishment. For this reason, the ocular master's secrets remain closely guarded by the few beholders that master them. These eye tyrants practice in secret and spend many hours fine-tuning eye ray combinations to produce new effects.
Requirements
To qualify to become an Ocular Master, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Race: Beholder
- Skills: Knowledge (Arcana): 8 ranks.
- Feats: Versatile Tyrant,
Class Skills
The ocular master's class skills are Concentration, Decipher Script, Knowledge (arcana), and Spellcraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are Class Features of the ocular master prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An ocular master gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Save DC Increase: At 1st, 3rd, and 5th level, the save DCs of eye rays fired by an ocular master increase by the listed amount. This bonus also applies to eye of madness, wandering eye, and ocular hammer.
Eye of Madness (Su): A 1st-level, an ocular master can combine its charm monster and fear eye rays to greater effect. The mix of terror and feelings of amity toward the beholder leaves the victim so confused it goes insane. To use this ability, the ocular master must be able to train both eye rays on a single target. A ray shoots from each of these two eyestalks, combining just as they're fired to form a single devastating ray. If the beholder hits with a ranged touch attack, the target is subject to an insanity effect, as the spell. The target must make a successful Will save (DC 10 + one-half the ocular master's racial Hit Dice + the ocular master's Charisma modifier + the ocular master's save DC increase bonus) to resist the effect. Even on a successful save, the target is shaken for 1d10 rounds. This effect counts as one ray for the purpose of determining how many rays per 90-degree firing arc the beholder can use (thus, it can still use two more eye rays in the same firing arc in which it uses eye of madness). The charm monster and fear rays cannot be used as normal during the round that the ocular master uses eye of madness.
Agile Aim (Ex): By 2nd level, the ocular master has learned to use its spell rays with greater accuracy. The practice required to combine two rays into a single attack improves its aim, granting it a +2 competence bonus on ranged touch attack rolls for all its eye ray attacks, including wandering eye, eye of madness (see below), and ocular hammer (see below).
Power Blast (Ex): At 4th level, the ocular master learns to focus its internal magical energy with great precision, blasting through its enemies' defenses and overwhelming their ability to resist. The save DC for each of its eye ray attacks increases by +1 This bonus also applies to its wandering eye, eye of madness, and ocular hammer abilities.
Wandering Eye (Su): At 3rd level, the ocular master learns to combine its slow and telekinesis eye rays to produce an attack that forces the target into a maze (as the spell). To use this ability, the ocular master must be able to train both eye rays on a single target. A ray shoots from each of these two eyestalks, combining just as they're fired to form a single devastating ray. If the beholder hits with a ranged touch attack, the target is subject to the maze effect. The target creature does not get a save to resist the effect. This effect counts as one ray for the purpose of determining how many rays per 90-degree firing arc the beholder can use (thus, it can still use two more eye rays in the same firing arc in which it uses wandering eye). The slow and telekinesis rays cannot be used as normal during the round that the ocular master uses wandering eye.
Ocular Hammer (Su): With a single, powerful blast of energy, the ocular master combines three of its eye rays in a single 90-degree firing arc into an overwhelming flood of energy that it aims at a single target. One of these three eyes must be its disintegrate eye, and the others can be any two of the beholder's other eyestalks. The beholder can use its remaining eyestalks to make other attacks normally in other firing arcs, but using ocular hammer replaces the individual effects of the three eye rays used for this round.
Twice per day, the ocular master can make a ranged touch attack at a single target. The target of ocular hammer must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + one-half the ocular master's racial Hit Dice + the ocular master's Charisma modifier + the ocular master's save DC increase bonus) or be affected by an empowered disintegrate ray. Failure means the creature still takes damage per the disintegrate spell (although this lesser damage is also empowered). Any creature reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by this ray is entirely disintegrated, as per the spell, although its equipment is unaffected.
| Ocular Master | Hit Dice: d8 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Save DC Increase |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Eye of Madness | +1 |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Agile Aim | |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Wandering Eye | +2 |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Power blast | |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Ocular Hammer | +3 |
Source: Dragon #313