Using a Beholder for the first time.

[Oryan77]

So how do I play this guy so I come across as knowing what I'm doing?

What are some good tactics to use? The encounter takes place outside on a large trail with bolders and hills on each side.

All the Beholder knows is that he's 60ft in the air infront of a caster Half-elf, a full plated Half-Orc with religious symbols on his armor, a Human warrior in light armor, & a Half-Elf with a bow & a wolf behind her.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

The beholder will want to keep his big eye pointed at the half-orc and the half-elf spellcaster as much as possible.

Hit the bow wielder with damag-ey stuff, and the human warrior with brain gaffling stuff.

Stay up in the air, so as to be out of range of bashing types, and try to get the human warrior to do your job for you...

As long as you keep your big eye pointed at the casters, they can't do much to you. You can then use telekinesis to throw things at them.

The bow user is going to be your biggest threat. Wok him with the largest number of rays possible each round (generally 3) until either he flees, dies, or gets distracted by his warrior buddy trying to keep you from harm.

Remember that the beholder's charm eyes will probably not make the warrior guy try to kill his companions, but he may well be convinced that he should grapple them so that they will stop trying to kill you.

Later
silver

 

[Dross]

Although bad for the group, one tactic is to desintigrate rocks to cause a landslide and bury the party.

 

[Arkhandus]

Just what I was gonna suggest. Disintegrate a chunk of the hillside to send boulders tumbling down at the group when the ground beneath those boulders no longer exists. Also, disintegrate a chunk of ground at the PCs' feet, so they fall into a pit. Then disintegrate part of the hill to send boulders at them while they're trying to get out of the pit. Then, uh, make like Michael said. Just, uh, avoid using the Disintegrate eye ray on the caster, else he's liable to die right-off being a sissy with no Fortitude. Though a beholder may try it anyway, it could potentially be justifiable for the beholder to think he must try disintegrating the archer or the half-orc just to make sure they don't have a chance to pummel it savagely with arrows/spells. Less likely to succeed against them, but unless you're hoping for a TPK, you may want to be a little less ruthless.

 

[frankthedm]

Read the beholder MM entry a few times. Note how the firing arcs operate. Decide how you will interpret the text. PCs will live or die based on your reading of that text. Make your decisions before the PCs are being killed by the Happy Fun [Eye]Ball. Using the rays is a free action for the beholder so zapping while running should work fine. And think very hard on how you will rule grappling and the eye rays will interact. Example; Is the beholder prevented from using it's eye beams or is the character in the dead center of all 6 firing arcs.

May I suggest using a Dungeonbred beholder ? Far closer to the OD&D, 1E and 2E sizes. Large size helps the beholder in no way. I really don't know why wotc undermined the beholder by making it large, such a mistake. Thanks to Dungeonscape, that mistake is now rectified! Mwah-haha!

And here is how I picture how a medium beholder's firing arcs work on the grid system.


Large beholder's firing arcs

3-D firing arcs. Yes, the places where 3 arcs touch is a really bad place for a party to be, and the beholder knows that very well..

 

[Quartz]

Why is the beholder there in the first place?

 

[Quartz]

Hmm... that's a little terse. What I mean is to ask if the beholder is there for a reason. Then you should consider how that reason will affect its interaction with the characters. Equally, there's its personality: is it angry, greedy, cowardly?

Suppose the beholder is on some sort of secret mission. It might simply decide to obliterate the witnesses or scare them off or simply ignore them unless they attack it.

Or it might be insane and simply want to play chess.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

I'd have the beholder flee. This thing is extremely intelligent (smarter than an ancient black dragon or a white wyrm). It knows that without any melee-brute allies it is extremely vulnerable. Now, you ally the beholder with a hill giant or two and suddenly it's MUCH more dangerous. It keeps the giants (and those who would fight the giants) within its antimagic cone and focuses its death rays on anybody who strays from the cone. Try fighting a hill giant with no magic items and no spells.

If the PCs stay bunched up (which PCs often do, even if they're not metagaming and using player knowledge of this creature) and it has no allies, it has just one real option. Fire all 3 death rays at the archer and either flee (if the archer survives) or open the central eye (if the archer is dead). Next round, if the archer is dead, close the central eye and fire all 3 death rays at the caster. This thing is really an evil genius. Don't play it dumb.

If you choose to allow the rockslide trick, be very clear on what conditions allow Disintegrating a 10' cube to cause not merely a local collapse but an expansive rockslide. Because the PCs will start using this trick and expect that the same rules will apply when they try it.

 

[Nail]

Remember the eye-stalk rays don't work in the anti-magic cone. ...I know, that's a "duh!" sort of thing, but it can really limit your options in the middle of combat. Think this through carefully.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to run a mock combat of this beholder versus 4 generic PCs, just to see how things go. That's what I do, and it helps immensely.

 

[MarkB]

One nasty tactic for a beholder confronted by a party including only a couple of ranged-attack specialists is to use its Disintegrate eye-rays to sunder their ranged weapons. This is generally faster than trying to disintegrate the character, assuming they have a good Fortitude save, since their weapon will have fewer hit points.

Really, though, Brother MacLaren is right - if the Beholder is dropped into the encounter with as little information as you describe, its first impulse is going to be to flee until it has better information.