Companion and Masters Level threat, this one. Gugs are intelligent and organised, they are able to use their antimagic abilities cooperatively with the abilities of other gugs to neutralise the magical abilities of their foes while closing in with weapons. Used tactically the Gug is a worthy foe for high level PC's.
Beholder Gug
by Cab Davidson
| STATS (BECMI) | Beholder Gug |
| Armor Class | -3 |
| Hit Dice | 8* to 16** |
| Move | 120' (40') |
| Attacks | 1 weapon or special |
| Damage | By weapon or special |
| No. Appearing | 4d4 (4d4) |
| Save As | MU of HD in level |
| Morale | 12 |
| Treasure Type | L + special |
| Intelligence | 0 |
| Alignment | Chaotic |
| XP Value | Variable |
Originally bred from beholders by followers of the lost immortal Arik to act as servitors, the gugs soon overthrew their masters and established their own identity as intelligent, savage and cruel enemies of everything that is good. They soon learned that while they could breed, they did not breed true, and they learned to harness the peculiar array of abilities their offspring had to a collective good.
An individual gug resembles a bulky, headless humanoid with a single eye in the centre of a large, muscular chest. A toothy mouth, very like that of a beholder, resides beneath the eye. Their viscid brown bodies are coated in hard, bony scales. The eye is able to produce a single magical effect, useable once per round or less often depending on the effect, as determined using the table below:
| % | Effect | Uses per round | Range |
| 1-50 | Anti Magic Ray | Constant | 60’ |
| 51-54 | Charm Person | 1/1 | 120’ |
| 55-58 | Charm Monster | 1/1 | 120’ |
| 59-62 | Sleep | 1/1 | 240’ |
| 63-66 | Telekinesis | 1/1 | 120’ |
| 67-70 | Disintegrate | 1/1 | 60’ |
| 75-78 | Cause Fear | 1/1 | 120’ |
| 79-82 | Slow | 1/1 | 240’ |
| 83-86 | Cause Serious Wounds | 1/2 | 60’ |
| 87-90 | Death Spell | 1/2 | 240’ |
| 91-94 | Cause Critical Wounds | 1/2 | 60’ |
| 93-98 | Finger of Death | 1/3 | 60’ |
| 99 | Obliterate | 1/4 | 100’ |
| 100 | Power Word Stun | 1/4 | 100’ |
They are highly militaristic in nature, but their chaotic tendencies lead to many fights between individuals. While this ensures that only the strongest survive, it limits their numbers and restricts the maximum group size typically encountered
As soon as a gug hatches, it begins training with weapons. The result is that every gug is at least skilled in 1 weapon, and they improve with age. The more HD a gug possesses, the greater their weapon skills, as shown below.
| Gug HD | Weapon Mastery |
| 8-9 | Skilled in 1 weapon |
| 10-11 | Skilled in 2 weapons |
| 12-13 | Skilled in 1 weapon, expert in 1 weapon |
| 14 | Skilled in 2 weapons, expert in 1 weapon |
| 15 | Skilled in 2 weapons, expert in 2 weapons |
| 16 | Skilled in 3 weapons, expert in 2 weapons, master in 1 weapon |
Gugs organise into units of 4-16, of varying hit dice and magical abilities. Typically they will carry a mixture of potently defensive and offensive weapons, often favouring halberds, swords, and heavy crossbows (which their great strength allows them to use every round) but units specialising in siege weapons or indeed choosing various unusual armaments are not unknown. A unit will use its varying abilities cooperatively when working together to defeat a foe – the only thing a gug hates more than another gug, is every other intelligent life form.
Gugs individually have treasure type L, but each also has a 30% chance of possessing a magical weapon they are at least skilled with.
Gugs are, mercifully, rare.