Another point is "what level did you face a beholder in pre 3e".
Both 3e and 4e give explicit levels to when a beholder is appropriate (the CR of a beholder simply means that at that level, in a 4 person party, the monster shouldn't be a threat since it only consumes 20-25% of a party's resources- which is very similar to how the level of a monster in 4e plays out).
So what would be the level of a beholder in pre 3e be then?
Both 3e and 4e give explicit levels to when a beholder is appropriate (the CR of a beholder simply means that at that level, in a 4 person party, the monster shouldn't be a threat since it only consumes 20-25% of a party's resources- which is very similar to how the level of a monster in 4e plays out).
So what would be the level of a beholder in pre 3e be then?