Elder Gazer

An elder gazer is a gazer tyrant grown so old that its power dwarfs that of its kin. It has fewer working eyes than a young tyrant but has learned to cast spells to make up the difference. The shrewdest and wisest of its race, it is a patient planner and a relentless enemy, a true mastermind.

Growing this old strips 1-4 of its eyes of their powers, and aged tyrants cannot regrow lost eyes, though ordinary wounds still heal. It studies and memorizes spells as a wizard does, holding one spell per 8 current hit points but never more than one of any spell level at a time. Its spells are verbal only, whether invented, bought or stolen from verbal casters, and it uses potions, scrolls, spellbooks and any command-word item that need not be worn.

Elders guard their spells jealously, so few are widely shared. Favorites include wall of force, ESP, dig, power word blind, dispel magic, the darkness 15' radius spell, minor globe of invulnerability, detect invisibility and protection from normal missiles. The most important is control deathgaze tyrant, equal to a 4th-level spell yet beyond any human below 18 Intelligence. Its reach is a mile for each Hit Die the elder currently has, and the undead obey as rigidly as a human under charm person, unable to rebel; this control overrides all earlier orders. An elder can command one such servant per current point of Intelligence. Facing more than that, it can release one in a round and seize another the next, both standing idle meanwhile.

An elder always memorizes that control spell when danger and undead servants are both at hand, along with the 8th-level create deathgaze tyrant spell its kind invented to keep the servants coming. In a fight it lets its undead do the work, hiding behind them and herding enemies into its own eyes' reach. Its spells stay hidden as surprises to swing a battle or cover an escape.

Elder gazers lead gazer factions, keeping spacefaring tyrants organized and roughly obedient, unlike the paranoid loners found on worlds. Each schemes to stay on top and lift its faction above all others, seeking every edge, so adventurers interest it as sources of information, magic, weapons and wealth. That makes elders more curious, patient and farsighted than most tyrants. Their arrogant manner is an act meant to fool opponents, not the reckless pride of younger gazers.

Each elder dreams of fathering a new breed loyal only to itself. Guarded by its undead, it arranges carefully protected meetings with lesser tyrants to breed, since gazers are hermaphrodites with magically weak young, then raises the offspring to obey. Afterward the mate and any disloyal young generally end up slain and raised as deathgaze tyrants. Rival elders constantly try to kill or turn these offspring, and no elder has yet bred true loyalty or ruled more tyrants than it could frighten into line.

It eats less than other tyrants and will eat many things. It saves vs. ingested poisons on a 3 and vs. contact and insinuative poisons on a 2. Spells that slip past its central eye meet strong magic resistance born of experimentation and fierce focused will, and its staggering intellect makes it immune to illusion spells of levels 1 through 4.

An elder collects all the magic it can, hiding it in caches near its haunts for emergencies and far away for safety, so killing one can pay richly. Sages suspect its brain would make a potent component for spells and item-making, but no specific use is yet recorded.