Wandering Monsters: Oculus (Eldritch Eye)

The following text & stats are designated Open Gaming Content as per the OGL:

Oculus (Eldritch Eye)

Freq.	Very rare
Num.	1
Lair%	75%
Horde	9, 19-20
Move	6"
Int.	Genius
Align.	CE
Size	L
L/XP	12,900+20
AC	1
HD	5d6+45
Attk.	1
Dmg.	2d6
S.A.	See below
S.D.	See below
N.A.	See below
R.M.	Std.

Combat: An oculus bites for 2d6 points of damage. It can stretch any of its tentacles out 10 feet to grasp at prey with a successful attack roll, constricting each round thereafter for d4 points of damage, however, an oculus is often loathe to do this, fearing the loss of tentacles and the magical power imbued in each. Tentacles can each sustain 12 points of damage, and the central eye can take 20 points. Tentacles that are destroyed will regenerate at the rate of one per week, while the central eye will regenerate in d4 weeks.

More terrifying are the spell-like abilities that an oculus employs. The central eye of an oculus can project a cone of anti-magic out to a range of 15", that is 1" wide at the base, and 3" wide at the terminus. It is also able to employ a spell-like ability at will, every round, from each of its tentacular eyes (determined randomly, re-rolling duplicate results):

Spell-like Ability	Die Roll (d20)
Cause wounds	1
Charm	2
Cone of cold	3
Confusion	4
Darkness	5
Death ray	6
Disintegrate	7
Fear	8
Feeblemind	9
Flesh to stone	10
Lightning bolt	11
Magic jar	12
Magic missile	13
Paralysis	14
Polymorph other	15
Reverse gravity	16
Silence	17
Sleep	18
Slow	19
Telekinesis	20

The one particular weakness of an oculus is its vulnerability to gaze attacks; an oculus saves against such attacks at a -3 penalty.

Description: The monster known as oculus is sometimes referred to as an eldritch eye, an evil eye, or an eye of the underworld. These horrors usually dwell in the depths of the earth, but are sometimes encountered above ground in wastelands among the ruins of ancient cities or temples. Few of mortal frame have encountered them; fewer still have survived to bring their tale back to the lands of men. An eldritch eye despises other living things, viewing them as nothing more than chattel to be worked to death, or as meat for their maw. They value treasure, however, and will use it to ransom their own life if a battle is going against them. It is not known how long these monsters live, but sages speculate that it is centuries at the least.

In appearance they have the shape of a large orb, and indeed closely resemble a giant eyeball plucked from the face of some monstrous beast of myth. A gaping maw filled with fangs almost smiles with malice from the lower part of the orb, while veins and arteries pulse red beneath the creature's skin. Writhing about the upper part of the orb are d6+6 short tentacles, each ending in a small eye. An oculus moves about by flying slowly through the air.

An oculus never sleeps, and all of its preternatural eyes are lidless and staring; thus, an oculus can never be surprised. An oculus has both infra- and ultravision to a range of 6" with any of its eyes, and it is able to see invisible creatures within 3" with its large, central eye. An oculus is able to communicate telepathically with beings of at least low intelligence, regardless of the language or languages known by the recipient of such communications.

Rumors are sometimes whispered that there are cultists among men that worship and serve these evil creatures, but few dare speak or even think about such perversion.