I hate Beholders

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Ragusa, as for having only two scrolls of magic protection, if you put one in your mage's quickslot, and then have him cast simulacrum, you can use the duplicates' scroll to cast it on one of your fighters...

However, I'd only use this if you're really stuck against those beholders. If you use this a lot, the game will get very ridiculous.

 

You have to "Die scum!!!" with Korgan,
and chaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!

 

You gotta be kidding me right? The easiest way to get rid of beholders of ANY type is to get the 'cloak of mirroring'. Equip your paladin with it and Carsomyr. Boots of speed are good, as well as a decent giant strength potion. The cloak will reflect all magic attacks back to source, thus usually frying said beholder into oblivion, while you hack n' slash your way through his gizzards. Boo-YA! Don't forget that Carsomyr gives 50% magic resistance, and dispels magic on each hit.
Rarely have I had my paladin get toasted, even when multiple beholders are attacking. The carnage is just too good when you get half a dozen lightning bolts thundering around you and the beholders are dropping like flies.

 

I just about to bring up the Cloak of Mirroring. My Ranger character had no problem taking on several beholders with the cloak and a few potions of healing.

 

If you like to make the attempt on killing eye tyrants without resorting the Shield of Cheeseran or the Cloak of Cheesing then here is a good way to do it. Once your scout (you ARE scouting aren't you?) has detected a group of eye tyrants, assemble your party just out of visual range and buff up with spells that help your saving throws and thaco..you know what they are...then haste everyone and turn off the AI....then the key step in the process is to put everyone under an invisibility 10' radius and close the distance. The main problem with the beholders is how many attacks they get on you before you ever get within striking distance. This way, you get up close and personal before they launch a single beam on you and doing the beholder fights thusly, I've been able to clear them out without resorting to overpowered items like the shield and cloak....if you're going to use those items, you might as well instant kill them from the console...becuase there is no risk to you using shield and cloak.

 

A slighly extreme opinion don't you think? First off, neither will protect against imprisonment . Second, I agree that they are overpowered, but you still have to work to get the bloody cloak. Thirdly there are other items that make difficlut opponents easier: amulet of power, daystar and improved mace of disruption Vs vampires, greenstone amulet Vs Illithids etc. Do you not use any of them?

(I agree about the shield though - an item available since the beginning of the game that has no worldly use except against beholders is a tad overpowered).

[This message has been edited by Vukodlak (edited June 04, 2002).]

 

I like to complete all quests outside of the Underdark before I go to spellhold. And the shield is a bonus merchant item so I don't use it.

A few other things:

- I found the potions of Magic Protection and Magic Blocking that you can buy from Roger the Fence to be of great use.

- Web and Stinking Cloud in a minor sequencer + melee fighter with immunity to posion and free action.

- You cannot backstab beholders.

- Try to seperate the large groups of beholders by going near them and quickly running away. One or two will come after at a time instead of 5 constantly pelting you with magic.

- Any summons work well as fodder, send them in first while you launch offensive spells and missle weapons from behind.

- SAVE A LOT!

 

The REAL problem with the Beholder kin is that they can get an over 100HP warrior to Near Death before he can even strike them. That's what I have done in the unseeing eye quest (I didn't had the Cloak of Mirroring yet, and I found the Shield of Balduran quite cheesy):

- Have my mage cast Invisibility to my 2 strongest fighters (Korgan and me).

- Then switch off the AI and when we got near Beholders without being noticed started attacking. Then they had no chance because their bite attack is a piece of cake for Korgan.

 

That tactic won't work on Elder Orbs, though...

 

My opinion isn't really extreme...its logical. If you are going to use overpowered items to be able to do a thing without any risk whatsoever, you might as well do it from the console because it removes any sense of belief to do that. I gave tried and true tactic for beating them and others have also....play how you like, but it won't change my "extreme opinion".

 

Subra; I think your objections may be valid, but consider the following:, most beholder attacks are weighted to the strongest party member anyway. Sure they may go after the first chr they see, but if a stronger chr is found, they will try to eliminate it first. Especially if said chr is tossing offensive spells at it. I could be wrong, but I have seen this too much to believe otherwise. Since these monster types are among the most powerfull overall, I do not hesitate to use jacked up weapons/items if they are available. I have had 4 out of 5 npc's wasted by a beholder clan in less than 7 turns, with the whole party dead 4 turns later cause 2 more decided to partake in kicking my ass. The party was average 16th/ 17th level, mage & cleric heavy. I figured on playing a badass. Yeah right. A gauth & spectator showed up. My main chr, 18th lvl mage got confused straight away. She ran away. In the same attack, my 2 fighters got held & feared then dead from drain. Then 2 more of these scumbuckets warped in. The next thing I saw was the death cutscene. Yet another gauth warped in and fried my confused mage just as she was coming to. Either I had a piss poor protection setup, or I had some really bad luck with the beholders spawning in.


[This message has been edited by parrotheada1a (edited June 05, 2002).]

 

I'm not disputing that eye tyrants are a difficult fight, fairly fought....but if you put the sheild or cloak of cheese on a character, equip a ranged weapon and leave everyone else behind, that character can clear all beholders without taking a scratch on them....that is the same as killing from the console IMO and takes longer to do it. I'm not posting any more about it because everyone knows the shield and cloak are too powerful for a fair game. I don't use them and advise others to not also, but its your game and you can do whatever you like for it.