And now a rant...

OK, so I know that the DnD system has it's flaws, but Beholders in this game are practically impossible! Grrrr.... I feel a little better now. But I seriously hate the natural 1s in this game against death ray. Give me a player reward item that protects against that, and I'll be set.

Good saves, and by that I mean REALLY GOOD saves, will go a long way with helping ya go toe to toe with those gas bags.

I found not so much the saves, but AC and SR. The saves versus the various eyebeams actually aren't that severe, but the sheer number of rolls being made will result in a 1.

A high touch-AC helps avoid the eyebeams though, and good SR can negate the beams that do hit. Touch AC is pretty much everything except your armor, shield and natural AC (and on a side note, there's two kinds of "natural" armor, the kind as everyone knows via amulets of natural armor, and then the "other" natural AC, which consists of all the stuff that doesn't fit into any of the other AC categories... monk wisdom AC, PM/RDD armor boosts, expertise/improved expertise AC, ect). Against beholders, PCs in heavyplate with a towershield are at a severe disadvantage compared to another PC with equal AC from dex and such.

SR wise, 24 SR is very good vs the beholder eye magics. Cloaks of greater spell resistance (20 SR) also work, although there's a greater chance of the beams penetrating.

And when it's not possible to have any of the above... there's still ways to smack those gasbags around like the piddly munchkins they are. They can't shoot eyebeams at what they can't see. Blind them, and they won't zap away. The cleric spell "Word of Faith" is excellent for taking on beholders. It will neutralize them quite effectively (can't remember if they get stunned or blinded, the effect of the spell depends on the target's HD, either way, they're not gonna be giving the evil eye). I've seen Word of Faith scrolls around, and I do believe clerics can scribe it.

Other good spells (casted or scrolled) are sunburst, mass blindnes/deafness, and darkness (provided you have the means to see through darkness).

All good suggestions, thanks. I'll have to consider these before going back in.

So, would a Cloak of Invisibility work, or do they dispel that? It's an ongoing effect as long as the cloak has charges, but I wasn't sure if it just continually cast the spell at regular intervals or what?

If you give them reason to shoot off their auto dispel, yes, it will be dispelled. Cloaks of invisibility give you the invisbility effect for as long as you wear the cloak, and take no actions that would dispel effect like with the spell. Every time you equip the cloak, it uses a charge, it doesn't burn charges round per round or anything. Quickslotting it so you can remove it/re-equip it quickly is a great way to turn the invisibility effect back on should it get dispelled by either the beholders or some action you took.

So SR does apply against the rays? Good, I wasn't sure.

One additional spell for your list is Path of Fog. This is a 1st level divine spell, and while there isn't the option to see through it as there is with Darkness / Ultravision, it gives divine casters a similar 50% miss chance for the rays. The Blind fighting feat can help with that.

Also, I'm still new to the server so I don't all the things that are here, but things that give you concealment are also useful. Not spells, since they get dispelled, but race/class/feat/items that give it can be helpful.

Havent used that one much myself, but I would assume it would be subject to the beholder dispell just like any other spell effect. If they can shoot their various eyebeams at you, they can shoot the big dispelling eye at you as well, which will strip spell effects.

As far as I know Jay's shadowchild subrace 20% concealment DOES help with battling bee's, they got to hit him with thier ranged touch attacks first for the rays to be of any effect.... .... however it is possible and sometimes (well I always find it comical) that their big old Anti-magic eye can completely strip this away too... their are a few priviliged souls in aenea that have seen the "Solid Jay"... ... ... even resting doesn't bring that subrace property back, only a re-log... ...

But in my experience it helps considerably.... the bee's have to make a ranged touch attack first, and they can't hit that which is concealed... dodging the attacks in this way will help with rolling vs 1, as they need to hit before those rolls are even made... .... ...

Jay's concealment is a subrace trait though, not dispellable, likewise the monk concealment ability is non-dispellable, as is the self-concealment feats I-V. Spells like improved invisibility and Displacement.... gone when that anti-magic eye fires off.

"Jay's subrace trait is not dispellable".... hmm... next time the bee's kick my subrace concealment from me, I'll be sure to call ye up MJ!... as yet I think , Dave, and Rayven have seen the solid Jay (off the top of my head)...

... I know it should NOT be dispellable, but believe me there are times when it gets stripped along with everything else... .... ... it's not often, but it does happen.. .. (It's nothing a re-log don't sort though, and has spent much time improving it.. it used to happen each and every use of the Lysis keys, teleport, magehound and SA.. not so much now... ... but occasionally the bee's still get him).....

You know what I mean, yaeh, it's not supposed to get stripped away but does occaisionally. The point is anti-magic doesn't (shouldn't) dispell it, but it does dispell magic effects, making them useless vs beholders

Yeah okay.. sorry.. I think I was just in the mood for nit-picking at stuff... sorry... I know what ye meant..