Beholder Hideout

The Beholder Hideout is the center of power for the Cult of the Eyeless. Gauths, Beholders and several trusted Blind Priests are guarding their deity, the Unseeing Eye, and its prized possessions.
==Layout==
===Entrance===
Entrance is gained in the west from the Pit of the Faithless. Across the small circular room, opposite the entrance is a silent trigger that spawns one or more Gauths and Beholders depending upon the current experience points accrued by Gorion's Ward. They spawn at a point further inside the lair.
* < 400,000: one Gauth
* 400,000 – 999,999: three-four Gauths
*1,000,000 – 1,999,999: two Gauths and a Beholder
*> 1,999,999: two Gauths and three Beholders
===Blind Priests===
In the center of the map you will find a cluster of six Blind Priests; two worth and four worth 4,000 XP.
=== Exit===
In the southern part of the map is an exit labeled "To the Upper Reaches" on the player's map. It leads to the secret door in the Inner Chambers of The Old Tunnels. This door was previously sealed with an unconventional lock warded against simple spells, so that you could not enter it from the other side. Now it can be opened from this side, and will remain open, allowing the player to go back to the City of Athkatla if rest, healing, or additional gear is needed to clear the rest of the Beholder Hideout.
==Treasure Caches==
Altogether there are eight caches of treasure stashed away throughout the dungeon. Each of the four small circular chambers that radiate out from the center of the map have caches in their centers, with the northern chamber having two more caches near the walls. The remaining two caches are in the tunnels that connect the chambers.
*West Chamber - Aquamarine Gem, Bolts +1 and a Conjure Lesser Fire Elemental scroll
*West Tunnel - Wealthy random treasure
*South Chamber - Andar Gem, Bloodstone Gem, Secret Word scroll and 
*North Chamber:
**Center - Dragon's Bane, Arrows +1 , Iol Gem, Protection From Acid (spell) scroll, Zircon Gem
**Wall - Darts +1 and Rich random treasure
**Wall - Bullets +1 and Average random treasure
*East Chamber - second Rift Device Part and 
*East Tunnel - Wealthy random treasure, Throwing Axes and Throwing Daggers 
==The Unseeing Eye ==
As soon as the second Rift Device Part is taken into the party's inventory from where it is stashed, the two halves combine to form the completed rod, simply called the Rift Device, granting the party 26,250 XP. This will occur even if the first half is inside a Bag of Holding.
As soon as the rod has been completed, it draws the attention of the Unseeing Eye which attacks the party immediately upon arrival (assuming that the Eye has not already been killed at the top of the Pit of the Faithless; see Destroying the Cult for more details). Equip the completed Device Rift to a quickslot, and use it on the Unseeing Eye the moment you see it, and then deal some extra damage in order to kill it.
== Gameplay==
The Cloak of the Sewers and the Shield of Balduran can be of great use here. 
Another tactic is to have a melee character with hide abilities like Minsc or Valygar Corthala walk up to a beholder, preferably hasted. While beholders are immune to backstab, it is still very useful to initiate a fight without having to walk up to them. Make a ranged attack with a character that can take a few rays, and right after start the melee. The creature will focus its rays on the ranged attacker, and before it realizes it should switch targets it is dead. This tactic is less effective when multiple beholders have to be faced. 
A similar tactic combines stealth, the Boots of Speed, and ranged attacks. Against a single Beholder or Gauth (preferably), you can have someone (like Minsc for example) with the Boots of Speed move stealthed (hidden in shadows) as close to the creature as needed for a ranged attack, unleash an arrow, and then run away and hide again when out of the creature's sight. Repeat until the creaure is dead - it's possible to kill it without suffering any backlash. If you have poisoned arrows, all the better.
== Mod Content==
Installation of Sword Coast Stratagems Mod and the "Smarter Beholders" component will change beholder intelligence and some other abilities in your game. From the Mod Author:
This component upgrades the AI of the beholders, gauths, elder orbs and hive mothers in SoA and ToB. It basically tries to do it non-cheesily, but it's hard to define this exactly since beholder powers are almost all scripted. Beholders get to use their eyestalks about once per ten seconds each, but they will tend to manage to get through more of them in a round; their targeting has also been drastically improved (the new scripts are about 150 times the length of the old ones!)
In accordance with the 2nd edition rules, beholders are now immune to most (not all) of their own eyestalks, which makes them more willing to bombard their way through Spell Deflection. I have added a Telekinesis eyestalk (more for fun than for increased challenge). And I have borrowed, with thanks, the Quest Pack component which allows beholders to lose their eyestalks when damaged. Beholders are also unable to use eyestalk powers when blinded (although their allies may use anti-magic rays to remove the blindness).
Hive mothers use the same range of powers as in the original game, but use them more efficiently, and use their eyestalks in the gap while they're waiting to cast spells again. Elder orbs were tricky because of the rather inconsistent range of powers they show in the unmodded game, but I have interpreted them as casting spells just as standard mages do, and as knowing 2 spells of each level. Their choice of spell, and of Contingency, Spell Trigger et al, has been optimized more, and they too use eyestalk powers while waiting to cast again (and show a preference for short-casting-time spells, so as to allow more eyestalk use.)
It might be worth noting that, even in the unmodded game, hive mothers can see through invisibility (though elder orbs cannot. except for the Unseeing Eye).
In addition, SCS beholders use an alternative form of their antimagic ray. In pen-and-paper D&D, a beholder's eyestalk blocks all magical effects, beneficial or otherwise, on the target for as long as it's targeted. In BG2, the eye is more powerful: it removes all magical effects, blocks spellcasting for several rounds, but doesn't block enemy magic attacks (including the beholder's other eyestalks). If this component is installed, the beholder antimagic ray blocks all magical effects, including harmful ones, for one round, and also disables magical activity (spellcasting etc) by the target for one round; this is supposed to simulate the beholder bathing the target with its antimagic ray for one round.
This component is sensitive to the difficulty setting:
* BASIC: Beholders use mostly their less-lethal eyestalks (Charm, Fear, Domination, Paralysis, Cause wounds, Slow) and do not use their magic-suppressing central eye. Hive Mothers use only their weaker magic.
* IMPROVED: Beholders also use their central eye against mages and party defenses. Hive Mothers use their full range of spells.
* TACTICAL: Beholders use their Death, Petrification and Telekinesis eyestalks; they use the Telekinesis eyestalk to steal some party items (notably the Shield of Balduran, if you have it).
* HARDCORE: Beholders steal items slightly more quickly.
* INSANE: Beholders use their Disintegrate eyestalk.
See more SCS Mod Content specific to the Unseeing Eye on that creature's page.
==Mod gallery==
:Portraits from Portraits Portraits Everywhere
BHEYE.jpg|thumb|Beware the Unseeing Eye in the hideout's deepest reaches.