Beholders in UnderDark

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Is it worth going through that massive Underground network of Carverns full of Beholders, cause it looks quite Hard? I killed the first lot when u enter and got a bit of the Great Equalizer, but do i have to go through all those Beholders?

 

No, not if you don't want to. The Elder Orb in the first room has the items you'll need, the rest is just bonus.


Minor spoiler...

There's a cape/cloak in the fish-village that makes this cave (and beholders in general) really easy to beat (except for Elder Orbs and their Imprisonment spell).

 

It is not necessary as far as the story line goes; once you have the eye stalk you can leave. You would, however, miss out on a number of goodies.

 

Cheers Guys!

 

Not to mention a ton of experience and the satisfaction of walking back through the tunnels surveying the beholder mincin' carnage you've just wreaked

 

Like they said, it's not necessary, but the exp is worth it, and it’s fun, they already gave you the spoiler, just equip your best fighter with the cloak of reflection and have your mages and clerics cast some protection spells on him, then from far away shoots a delayed fireball (or 2 cloud kills) and walk in with your fighter. I was playing a Monk, just walked in there and killed everything without breaking a sweat (after having half of my party wiped out the first time I walked in there of course

 

I just through on the Cape of Mirrors onto my lvl 18 monk and busted them up one on one.

Elder Orbs are trickey... stupid imprisonment spells...

 

either cast spell immunity: abjuration on your character, or use a scroll that protects from magic to avoid all those nasty imprisonments

 

IIRC, there is only one elder orb in the whole place, the one you run into in the first "room." I don't know what your party composition is, but I just had everyone wail on him immediately and he was toast in about three seconds. Easy as pie.

 

Well, there is in fact another Elder Orb (who even likes to cast Imprisonment) in a dead end on the east side. He's one mean Beholder. The funny thing about the Beholder Lair is my first game I missed getting the cloak in the Underwater City, so I cleared out the whole place without it. It can be done, but boy is it hard. So if you want a good challenge, loose the cloak .

 

Apropos challenge: I ply an elven archer and took the cloak and intended to clean out the beholder dungeon solo (bracers of lightning strike or so -> 7 missile attacks per round). I am very happy that the cloak of reflection is not *that* overpowered - it only reflects damage-attacks back to the attacker but *not* spells like hold and stun This can be a disadvantage too My archer is an elf .... so (due to his poor saving throws) he spent more tome as a pretty statue than fighting

So I sent in my glorious mc fighter-mage to save his ass. She got first stunned and then petrified She's an elf too ....

Finally I found dear Mazzy taking the challenge and cleaning the dungeon alone with tansheron's bow, 4 attacks per round and her shortsword +2 (the one that gives free movement) .... so actually: It is possible without shield of balduran and the cloak Halflings rock

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited October 22, 2001).]

 

the shield of balduran will negate all beholder ray effects like stun/hold, but the cloak will deflect non-beholder rays too

i tried not using either once, and it involved a lot of draw them out and run

 

I did it without the cloak or the shield. Difficult, but doable. The big experience makes it worthwile. Plus, I can't stand leaving something unexplored.

 

Xuncle's Strategy on Slaying Beholders (and Mind Flayers):

Undead and Invisible Stalkers are immune to everything (except being bitten) that beholder's can throw at them. So conjure them up and send them in (with a stealthed attendant so you can see what they are doing and direct them).