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A typical beholder gestates up to twelve young in its womb over a period of nearly six months, during which time it grows more and more active and cantankerous. A pregnant beholder eats nearly four times its normal amount of food for the first four months of its term, storing up food reserves in its stomach, intestines, and even its lung. During the final two months, the creature’s womb has swollen so large that its mouth becomes incapable of
swallowing more food, and its tongue protrudes grossly from its maw. A beholder is at its most paranoid during this time and remains hidden in its lair until it gives birth.
The birthing of new beholders is a sight that few have witnessed, and by all accounts, it’s something that even fewer would want to witness. When a brood comes to term, a beholder’s jaw unhinges, and it regurgitates its womb out through the mouth. The creature bites the womb off, and it floats gently in the air. The young beholders are forced to chew their way out of the gory mass to freedom; they are capable of flight immediately, but their eye powers develop later in life.
Although a beholder gives birth to up to a dozen young at once, only a handful survive. The parent observes its young and decides which look most like itself. The others are eaten by the ravenous parent, along with the discarded womb, and the surviving young are forced from the parent’s lair within
the hour to fend for themselves.
