Oculus Rex, Emperor
- Armor Class
- 0 [19] body; 2 [17] main eye; 7 [12] eye stalks
- Hit Dice
- 13
- Attacks
- Bite (1d6+1) or Eye Power
- Special
- anti-magic main-eye cone, seven eye powers, eyestalks can be severed, eye regeneration, surprised only 1-in-8
- Move
- Fly 6
- HDE/XP
- 15/2,900
Description
An oculus (plural oculi) is a strange monster, a floating chitinous sphere with a single large eye. How an oculus floats is a matter of much conjecture, but at present there is no agreement among the sages and wizards who have studied them. All oculi ever encountered have been very intelligent, hateful, and cruel; they do not willingly associate with any other intelligent creature, not even other oculi. Only adult oculi have ever been discovered, and their means of reproduction are entirely unknown.
The Oculus Rex is the largest and most powerful of all the oculi species, and the Imperial Oculus Rex (sometimes called "Oculus Imperius") is simply an even larger, older, and more powerful version.
Besides the large central or "main" eye, an oculus rex has seven lesser eyes on short stalks arranged in a crown-like fashion. These lesser eyes are limited in their viewing angle, but despite that fact they reduce the chance that one can be surprised to just 1 chance in 1d8 if the opponent is visible.
However valuable this resistance to surprise may be, it is the least of the powers granted by the many eyes of an oculus rex. The main eye projects a beam that dispels magic (as the spell) in a conical area 60 feet wide at the base and 120 feet long. This power functions constantly, virtually guaranteeing that all spells will eventually be ended, all potions and scrolls destroyed, and all permanent magic items suppressed in just a few rounds. The spell effect is applied as if the oculus rex were a spellcaster of the same level as its number of hit dice.
The remaining eye effects are generally distributed as listed below, where the first eye listed is the eye just to the monster's right of center in front and proceeding around to the eye just to the left of center in front. About 20% of individuals have their eyes arranged in the opposite order, and one in a hundred (i.e. a roll of 00 on the dice) have them arranged randomly.
The eye powers are as follows. Note that all spell effects are applied as if cast by a Magic-user of the same level as the monster's number of hit dice. Each eye can use its listed power once per round. 1 Cause Fear (as the reverse of the Remove Fear spell). 2 Alter Time (Slow only) (as the spell). 3 Charm Monster (as the spell). 4 Transform Stone-Flesh (Flesh to stone only) (as the spell) with a 30-foot range, affecting a single target who does not need to meet the monster's gaze to be affected. 5 Cold (as the wand of cold). 6 Sleep (as the spell, but at the monster's option it may affect any one chosen target of any level who may make a saving throw against magic to resist). 7 Telekinesis (as the spell).
Figuring out which eyes an oculus rex can use in a given encounter can be tricky. Please review the example diagram to help you see how to work this out.
The Oculus Rex is the largest and most powerful of all the oculi species, and the Imperial Oculus Rex (sometimes called "Oculus Imperius") is simply an even larger, older, and more powerful version.
Besides the large central or "main" eye, an oculus rex has seven lesser eyes on short stalks arranged in a crown-like fashion. These lesser eyes are limited in their viewing angle, but despite that fact they reduce the chance that one can be surprised to just 1 chance in 1d8 if the opponent is visible.
However valuable this resistance to surprise may be, it is the least of the powers granted by the many eyes of an oculus rex. The main eye projects a beam that dispels magic (as the spell) in a conical area 60 feet wide at the base and 120 feet long. This power functions constantly, virtually guaranteeing that all spells will eventually be ended, all potions and scrolls destroyed, and all permanent magic items suppressed in just a few rounds. The spell effect is applied as if the oculus rex were a spellcaster of the same level as its number of hit dice.
The remaining eye effects are generally distributed as listed below, where the first eye listed is the eye just to the monster's right of center in front and proceeding around to the eye just to the left of center in front. About 20% of individuals have their eyes arranged in the opposite order, and one in a hundred (i.e. a roll of 00 on the dice) have them arranged randomly.
The eye powers are as follows. Note that all spell effects are applied as if cast by a Magic-user of the same level as the monster's number of hit dice. Each eye can use its listed power once per round.
Oculus Rex Eye Powers
| Eye | Power | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cause Fear | As the reverse of the Remove Fear spell. |
| 2 | Alter Time (Slow only) | As the spell. |
| 3 | Charm Monster | As the spell. |
| 4 | Transform Stone-Flesh (Flesh to stone only) | As the spell, with a 30-foot range, affecting a single target who does not need to meet the monster’s gaze to be affected. |
| 5 | Cold | As the wand of cold. |
| 6 | Sleep | As the spell, but at the monster’s option it may affect any one chosen target of any level who may make a saving throw against magic to resist. |
| 7 | Telekinesis | As the spell. |
Figuring out which eyes an oculus rex can use in a given encounter can be tricky. Please review the example diagram to help you see how to work this out.
The gray area in the diagram shows what part of the battlefield around the monster can be targeted by eye number 2 (the slow eye, normally). This does not mean that all creatures in the area are targets at the same time, but rather that only those creatures within the area can be targets of that eye.
Of course, the oculus rex can turn around whenever it wants to, but in the interest of fairness it should only be allowed to turn once per round, before performing its attacks.
An oculus rex can suffer the loss of any of its lesser eyes without also suffering a loss of hit points. Severing an eyestalk requires 8 hit points of damage, or 12 hit points for the larger oculus imperius. Any successful hit to the monster's main eye which inflicts more than one- third of the monster's total (original) hit points in damage renders that eye useless. The monster regenerates slowly, such that any individual that survives an encounter will regrow any lost or damaged eyes (even the main one) and all will become functional when its hit points reach the normal figure once again.
See Also
Other creatures grouped under Oculus Rex: Oculus Rex, Common.
Source note: This creature is converted from The Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign – Omnibus Edition, 1st Edition Release 4, © 2010–2025 Chris Gonnerman, R. Kevin Smoot, James Lemon, Matt Sluis, and Contributors. The Basic Fantasy Field Guide textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.