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i have tried some tactics,
But my party starts disappearing without doing any serious damage on the 5 beholders.
Any magic suggestions?
I have a fighter character (myself), Minsc (and Boo), Anonem, Jan, Jaheira and Valyagar.
Ranged weapons (arrows, bolts or bullets, all +2) do not appear to be effective.
I tried to protect Anonem with some magic. He did a good damage to a lone Beholder, out of the group, but suddenly he disappeared (not dropped dead).
What did you do to overcome the guys?
What do you think of setting traps, cloudkill, etc?

If you mean the rather large and powerful group in the panic room in Hell, it's not really necessary to fight them.
Stay on the south side of the room, pick the lock of the chest, go to the back of the room to get the Tear and head back the way you came. All the Beholders and Gauths and Elder Orbs are on the North side of the room.

There's the "Cloak of Reflection" that I hope you picked up long before reaching hell. If not then you have to fire a serious amount of area nuking spells into that area and use summons like Summon Skeleton and Morkainen's Sword to try and tough things out.

Cloak of Reflection only works against some of their spells, they can still punish you with others. I suggest getting the Shield of Balduran(If you don't have it, too bad, or cheat it on) and just stand there. They kill themselves.

Alternatively you can Timestop, go into the area where they are, Dragon Breath, (or improved alacrity if you already have it), then launch every area damaging spell you can in the meanwhile. Dont bother with emotion, fear or spells of the kind - just damage them. Keep your fighters ready behind. If you have two mages, cast the two Timestops with a slight difference from the first to the second, and the area spells will do the trick for you. You can also use your thief to plant exploding traps in the area they're not supposed to come to (in case you want to retreat).

Btw, your party members have been mazed - that's why they disappear. The hive mothers there grant that you'll not be hanging around when you wish to.

[QUOTE=Berethor]Cloak of Reflection only works against some of their spells, they can still punish you with others. I suggest getting the Shield of Balduran(If you don't have it, too bad, or cheat it on) and just stand there. They kill themselves.[/QUOTE]
The Shield of Balduran is awesome against Beholders and their cousins.

I don't own the collector's edition of the game to get it, but the Shield of Balduran seems like a slice of cheese heaven .

I usually skip the beholders btw...either take the cloak for fear protection or cast the protection from fear spell. then do what coot suggested.

If you do wanna fight em...i guess the shield of balduran and cloack of mirroring would be great items to use...but i don't usually take that road.

[QUOTE=Lord Firkraag]I don't own the collector's edition of the game to get it, but the Shield of Balduran seems like a slice of cheese heaven .[/QUOTE]

If you wanted, you could always download the bonus merchants from [url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/downloads.php"]this page.[/url]

Johnnybravo1's problem is that his party is in Hell so he can't go back to get the shield of Balduran.

true...that is a big problem...

like i said before, i would just skip the beholders...or buff your characters with every buff imaginable starting from lvl 1 priest spells lol. then summon of course haha, though i doubt there would be time enough before the buffs started runnin out. Just keep tryin different strategies and if it doesn't work, just bale and take the easy way out .

Elder Orbs

If I remember correctly, the biggest fear with the Hell beholders is that they are Elder Orbs, meaning they cast Imprisonment after a few rounds of combat.
That will also explain why your Anomen suddenly "disappeared".

Luckily there is hope!

1: Their casting is disruptable
2: You have a melee heavy party

Elder Orb defensive tactics:
- Stone Skin
- Possible mantle/improved mantle
- Possible spell turning

What I suggest you to do is the following:

a: Find out what they protect themselves with (as my memory is hazy)
ai: If stoneskin - breach or 10 hits is enough
aii: If mantle/improved mantle/protection from magical weapons - use +3 or better/+4 or better/regular weapons respectively.
aiii: If Spell Turning use ruby ray of reversal/other spell that disables spell turning (check description)

b: Find out what animation/sound/in what round the Orbs cast Imprisonment
bi: When you realize when that happens, do all in your power to disrupt the casting.

Suggested tactic with your party:

I: Keep Jan and Jaheira in the back, as they are the only ones with the best countermage spells in your party's arsenal.
II: Buff up your party with Anomen: focus on chaotic command and the like (beware note 1)
III: Employ as many area effect spells you can - preferably something lasting (like cloudkill) to keep damage to your own party minimal. The main use of this is to disrupt the Elder Orbs' casting (of imprisonment).
IV: Focus on the Elder Orbs - the gauths should only be a minor concern to your party by now. (Use healing potions when they damage you)
V: Focus on 1 Elder Orb at the time, but remember to disrupt the others when they try to cast Imprisonment.
VI: Try to have Jan cast Breach on the Beholder your targeting - removing the defensive protections will greatly aid you in killing it quickly. (mind their contingencies though)

NOTE:
/!\Beholders have a very challenging ray (spell): Anti-Magic ray - it dispels everything and further instill a 3 round 100% miscast penalty. That's why you want your offensive casters in the back, so they are less likely to be targeted.
/!\ If you have bought the Freedom spells from the duegar in the Underdark, casting that after the battle will free any character that got Imprisoned.
/!\ I can't remember the stats of the Greenstone amulet, but if you have it, I believe it helps against Beholders in particular.
/!\ Backstab (with Jan or Valygar) does not work on Beholders.


If all else fails:
I believe the Elder Orbs cast their Imprisonment as Mage spells, meaning that they cannot target invisble creatures. If you cannot disrupt them all, drinking an invisibility potion with the targeted party member before their casting is complete will make the spell "fizzle".


Disclaimer:
It's been a long while since I've played this game, so some of the above information might not be entirely up to date - especially if you have mods installed.

Chaotic Command and Protection from Petrification are a must when fightning those giant floating eye balls.