Turn Beholder Eyestalks Into Useful Tools With New 'Dungeons & Dragons' Harvesting Supplement

A new Dungeons & Dragons supplement provides a practical guide on transforming monster parts into [...]

A new Dungeons & Dragons supplement provides a practical guide on transforming monster parts into useful items and potions.

Earlier this month, we reported on the Creature Harvest Index, a new series of third-party supplements released on the DMs Guild, a Wizards of the Coast owned marketplace for Dungeons & Dragons material. The first volume explained what items could be harvested from various monsters classified at "beasts" along with how much those monsters parts could be sold for at a shop or market.

The second volume of Creature Harvest Index covers aberrations, a class of monsters that includes classic monsters like beholders, aboleths, and mind flayers. Released earlier this week by D. Larson, many DMs and players will find the guide useful for what parts they can harvest from exotic D&D monsters and how to use them.

One of our only criticisms of the first volume of the Creature Harvest Index was that the guide didn't provide instructions on what to do if a party wanted to craft those monster parts into something. The new volume seemed to take that criticism to heart, as it provides 30 new different items that players can make with the monster parts they pull off of a beholder or aboleth.

While not every monster part is covered in the Creature Harvest Index, the items that appear in this volume are both creative and handy. You can turn a beholder eyestalk into a Stalk Wand that can shoot the beholder's various magic rays, or brew aboleth blood into a potion of the aberrant gaze. Each item comes with its own instructions on how to craft it, along with any skill checks that a player will need to make while making it.

As with the first guide, the guide also explains how to "skin" a creature, which also doubles as a guide for harvesting parts from monsters. The difficulty a particular beast is determined by their size and players will need a "skinner's kit" in order to properly skin a creature. This volume also comes with a table for what happens when you eat aberrant meat, just in case one of your players wants to try a beholder burger.

Obviously, I'm a big fan of this series of supplements and I think the second volume is an invaluable tool for DMs and players. This guide provides the perfect answer to "can I eat this monster," a question that seems to come up way too often in Dungeons & Dragons.

Creature Harvest Index: Volume 2 is available to purchase for $1.00 on the DMs Guild.

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