Beholders and Blindess

[andargor]

Blind he is, but you can argue that the AMF negates the Blindness for his central eye.

Blindness is a condition that does not mention eyes. It is the inability to see.

Blinded: The character cannot see. He takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), moves at half speed, and takes a -4 penalty on Search checks and on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Spot checks) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) to the blinded character. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.

So, per RAW, you can not selectively decide that "some eyes are not affected". Plus the fact the AMF affects the beholder, or not. Not "part of it".

This said, I understand the reasons you wish to play it the way you do.

Andargor

 

[Felix]

(for Beholders you have to use facing for the central eye)

Not exactly. You have to determine the area of effect that is generated by the central eye, but at the exact same time, there are no facing rules. Meaning that technically...

The beholder can Anti-magic to his north, and attack with his mouth (right below the central eye) to the south, and never have to move the AMF effect.

(if you rule it your way) The AMF negates the blindness effect on the central eye, and so because every character is always looking everywhere (even beholders who have a fixed AMF cone) the beholder is no longer blind, and so may shoot his (how to tell the diff twixt male and female?) other eye rays at no penalty.

Much cleaner I think to rule with Andargor, and say the AMF works, but the beholder is not actually beholding too much.

 

[andargor]

I was at work earlier, so I didn't have time for a lengthy response, but I'd like to add that even if you go by the book, the beholder still has teeth when blinded.

All opponents have total concealment from a blinded creature, so the blinded creature has a 50% miss chance in combat. A blinded creature must first pinpoint the location of an opponent in order to attack the right square; if the blinded creature launches an attack without pinpointing its foe, it attacks a random square within its reach. For ranged attacks or spells against a foe whose location is not pinpointed, roll to determine which adjacent square the blinded creature is facing; its attack is directed at the closest target that lies in that direction.
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A creature blinded by darkness can make a Listen check as a free action each round in order to locate foes (DC equal to opponents' Move Silently checks). A successful check lets a blinded character hear an unseen creature 'over there somewhere.' It's almost impossible to pinpoint the location of an unseen creature. A Listen check that beats the DC by 20 reveals the unseen creature's square (but the unseen creature still has total concealment from the blinded creature)
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A blinded creature can grope about to find unseen creatures. A character can make a touch attack with his hands or a weapon into two adjacent squares using a standard action. If an unseen target is in the designated square, there is a 50% miss chance on the touch attack. If successful, the groping character deals no damage but has pinpointed the unseen creature's current location. (If the unseen creature moves, its location is once again unknown.)
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If a blinded creature is struck by an unseen foe, the blinded character pinpoints the location of the creature that struck him (until the unseen creature moves, of course). The only exception is if the unseen creature has a reach greater than 5 feet (in which case the blinded character knows the location of the unseen opponent, but has not pinpointed him) or uses a ranged attack (in which case, the blinded character knows the general direction of the foe, but not his location)

You can use Listen checks to pinpoint the squares where the party is, and fire the rays into them. 50% miss chance, but better than nothing. If the beholder hears a spell cast, it should fire all rays where the Listen check indicates, and then turn the AMF towards it.

You can also do the other things mentioned above. In addition, if it is blinded and the ceiling is high, it should pop up to avoid melee, negating the non-archers, non-spellcasters in the group.

Andargor