About Beholders and custom portraits

Masterteo

Like the title sayd, 2 questions in 1 topic in order to not create too much posts.

First of all, how do you kill beholders?

I mean, i cleared BG2 a lot of times, but i always used the shield of cheese against these monsters.

How can i fight them? If i put a magical protection they will dispell it. What are my options, trying to raise my magic resistance ?

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About the second question, where could i put a request to see if there is a kind user that do custom portraits for the game?

Borek

W/o the shield or cloak of cheese you're pretty much limited to AoE spells from out of sight, ideally with a thief multi so you can hide, or with Staff of the Magi, although you have to kill a named Beholder as part of the Staff encounter.

It's also possible to use Skeleton Warrior summons, although can take a while mainly because they will dispel any buffs like Haste. A Planetar is obviously highly effective also, but worth noting that they are not immune to everything and they also don't last that long.

I did read it's possible to use various spells to negate the anti-magic ray, but never managed to work out exactly what combination did the trick myself. I can say for sure a simple Spell Immunity:Abjuration does not block it.

Even if you do manage to layer enough spells to block the anti-magic ray from working and therefore allow the use of enough potions and other spells to become immune, you're basically mimicking the Cloak of cheese, may as well just use the cloak haha.

Personally i just use the shield or cloak, i consider Beholders to be a cheat monster, mainly because you tend to encounter multiple ones at once with Gauths and i usually play solo, so expecting to wade through 5-8 monsters throwing a mix of save or die and heavy, heavy damage rays with tons of attacks that also strip all your buffs is not realistic.

ThacoBell

Protection from magic energy is incredibly helpful. I also find using a couple hasted fighters to tear them down before the magic onslaught kills me. Beholder's are deadly, but they have all the defenses of a balloon. Elder Orbs can cast stoneskin and Imprisionment, so you want to try and isolate them.

Masterteo

My idea was not pratical, because it was effective only against 1 beholder per time ( spells limit).

Time stop -> improved alacrity --> 3x lower magic resistance --> Finger of death

Kurona

In the EE the easiest way to kill Beholders without special equipment is by using a mage and Polymorph Self: Mustard Jelly.

Mustard Jellies are 100% immune to magic and piercing damage, making them impervious to everything Beholders can throw at them. This only applies to the spell and not to the Mustard Jelly form accessible via the Cloak of the Sewers. Moreover, unlike in the original, Beholders' Antimagic Ray can't dispel polymorph forms, a side effect of the fix preventing natural weapons to be removed accidentally.

Elder Orbs are still very dangerous because Mustard Jellies are vulnerable to Imprisonment - and they will cast it.

If you don't have a mage or don't feel like using Polymorph Self, there are more dangerous options. First don't bother buffing. Beholders will strip everything (including Spell Immunity) in a matter of seconds. Spell Shield can protect your buffs from one Antimagic Ray but they spam it like crazy so it will only buy you a few seconds at best. Possible strategies:

- Guide skeleton warriors with an invisible character. Beholder will cast Death Spell but they have a finite number of uses and will eventually run out.
- Pelt them with arrows while tanking them with a Berserker. Rage can't be dispelled but the Berserker will take immense damage with Cause Serious Wounds and Lightning Bolt. You will likely have casualties.
- Spam AOE spells. Like above you will lose characters but you will kill them eventually.

But seriously Beholders are absurdly cheap enemies that really shouldn't be encountered in large groups like this. Don't feel bad about using Polymorph Self.

bob_veng

Masterteo said:

About the second question, where could i put a request to see if there is a kind user that do custom portraits for the game?

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/41704/custom-pc-npc-portraits

Masterteo

Well, my party is not well balanced.

I'm playing on HARD with 4 chars :

1- Charname, a fighter/mage

2- Tashia, a mod NPC Summoner

3- Minsc with 2-handed sword

4- Aerie, cleric/mage

As you can see, it's a very dangerous party because it requires skills to use it (that's why i did it, one can always learn new things).

I lack melee fighters, because i have only Minsc.

BUT i have a fighter/mage that if used well can be as deadly as a fighter.

And i have Aerie. I plan to build her in a way to make her a pseudo-fighter (supporting role) with her cleric spells.

And if i manage to lower her THACO, i could use Harm. I bet that Beholders won't like Harm spells.


@bob_veng, thank you for your answer

semiticgoddess

Beholders have no resistances to speak of. It's usually possible to wipe them out quickly if you use Fireballs and so forth. A triple Skull Trap Spell Sequencer will usually be enough to wipe out a Beholder in one round, or at least drop their HP low enough for a couple of ranged hits to do them in.

The Shield of Balduran and Cloak of Mirroring will block all of their rays. If you're playing with SCS, they'll eventually steal the shield and the cloak from you mid-combat, but you can still block Anti-Magic Ray with Spell Shield (only once before Spell Shield goes down) and most of their other rays with Globe of Invulnerability or SI: Enchantment, SI: Necromancy, SI: Evocation, and/or Protection from Magical Energy. Depending on your install options, beholders have a chance of burning through your spell protections with every ray.

Note that magic resistance will block all of their rays except for Anti-Magic Ray and Death Ray. Death Ray offers a save vs. death at -4 and bypasses spell protections, so the only real defense against it is a strong save vs. death, since an Anti-Magic Ray will dispel your Death Ward spell. Note that the Skin of the Ghoul in the Unseeing Eye quest grants +3 to saves vs. death, as does the Amulet of Life Protection, which you get from Dawnbringer Sain in the Temple District after completing the illithium quest.

argent77

A high-level cleric can defeat beholders rather easily with the level 6 spell Blade Barrier (or HLA Globe of Blades) in combination with Invisibility. There is a bit of luck involved though, since damage can be negated by a successful save.