man, almost forgot about this guy completely!
ok, we're sticking with subspecies, similar to gauth<beholder. another example would be gnoll<flind.
we still need another feat. i adjusted the skills thusly:
Skills: Hide +2*, Listen +9, Move Silently +8, Spot +9
feeling that we need "just one more thing" to make it more than just an advanced beholder, maybe DR is the way to go. 5/--- is too much though. maybe 5/slashing? if not that then how about a weak tremorsense or blindsense or low-light vision?