I thought maybe the thing I fought in that quest was one. It said it was a guardian and when you described a beholder, it sounded like the thing I fought in that quest. Well, I am off to go get Keldorn. Thanks you two for helping me make a decision.

Wait, you're right, there is a beholder there. A director, I think. It uses weak spells like magic missile, burning hands, and slow... the good spells it's supposed to have weren't implemented into BG2, I guess.

for a little more help and if you are truly desperate... here are some tips i have used in the game... and a little spoiler ahead...

1) you can use skeleton warriors and cast minor turning upon your mage and try to beat the hell out of those pesky beholders... your mage has to be lvl 15 before being able to cast those cool creatures to aid you in your battle.. they are quite immune to magic so beholder rays make no exception (i think)... and while they try to kill the skeletons... you try to kill the beholders... (summon other creatures might help like elementals but they are not really kinda effective...

2) get the cool items that instantly reflects beholder ray (shield of balduran... can be found in the expansion pack cd) or the cloak of reflection (which can be found only in the Sahugen City) that reflects all beholder rays or magical thingies... and i mean any magical spells...

thats all i know

Skeletal warriors work well. Unfortunately, beholders have no trouble whatsoever with killing/petrifying/disintegrating an entire party in one fell swoop. By the time your skeletons are done with the beholder, there's a fair chance you won't be alive to celebrate. A good way I've found is to use holy smite on the beholders from offscreen. It does a high amount of damage to them and they don't seem to notice and come looking for you, unlike when you shoot a fireball or cloudkill.

Draconia,

Personally, I'd suggest that you need a strong mage (either Edwin or Nalia). I don't think that either of the 2 multiclass mages (Aerie and Jan Jansen) will ever be powerful enough to be a party's primary mage late in the game. However, either is a perfectly capable secondary mage. I personally like having 1.5 mages in my party. (I'm defining a multiclass mage/ as a half-mage for accounting purposes.)

Also, since your PC is already thief, I suggest that you replace Yoshimo with another tank. 2 theives in a party is 1 too many.

Tank options are fairly wide. Keldorn is useful because Inquisitor paladins are AWESOME for their powerful Dispel Magic innate ability. This is a very useful ability in BG2.

Mazzy (Lawful Good) and Korgan (Chaotic Evil) are kinda of 2 sides of the same coin. Both are pure fighters. Korgan has 5 points in Axe. Mazzy has 5 points in short bow & 3 points in short sword. Both can be awesome tanks. But that is "all" that they will be ... tanks. I'm not putting down pure tanks. They definitely have thier uses. It's just a matter of knowing exactly what you want/need versus what roles/skills do you want.

I also happen to like Valygar as well. Stalkers can be very useful. Also, since Valygar has 2 points in Katana, he can make good use of the Celestial Fury katana when you eventually get it.

I agree with Magness. Multiclass mages are a dime a dozen. True class (Imoen, Nalia and Edwin) are the ones who can cast the high level spells you will need later on. Work on getting Edwin before doing the beholders, I think. Get rid of any redundancy in the party as well. You may need one more tank and you definitely need another mage (probably keep Aerie so you have two).

Dump Yoshi. Jan can be as good as Yoshi, but not as good a mage as Edwin... even Aerie. And Nalia?! ARGH!!!!!

Get Korgan. I'm sure. they're gonna be dead. my equipment on Korgan is this:
Plate and helmet of Balduran
Fortress Shield +3 (Throwing)
Hangard's axe and Axe of Hrothgar (Melee)
um... plus more stuff.

He will be the best fighter in the game. Enrage him so Liches will be useless... well I mean to kangaxx...

She's already got a thief--herself! Drop Yoshi for Edwin or Nalia. Just suck it up and take Nalia knowing Imoen can replace her. Then get another tank to back up Minsc.

I myself play kensai/thief for the backstabbing and laying traps, so I have no slots left for find traps and open locks (and the totally useless 'detect illussions'). If you want Yoshimo to find traps and open locks, I suggest you take Jan. Jan can pickpocket everyone, detects illussion AND is better than Yoshimo in find traps and open locks, besides he is a "0.5 mage". He is not worth much in combat though, but his little magic helps some (not much, but some).

Anyway, my point is that, 2 thieves are not (necessary) 2 too many.

If you get Keldorn the bracers of dexterity, and the Holy avenger, he will be a really good tank. Valygar is also good with his stealth, backstab and Celestial fury. As usual it all depends on how you play the game.

I too believe that you have to have a good mage, Edwin, Nalia (or Imoen). Kick Aerie out of the party. Hmmm, then you need a cleric (who can turn undead). I think Keldorn can do that.

What you should do if you follow MY advice:
replace Aerie with Keldorn (good dispel magic spells [and some immunities I think] )
replace Yoshimo with Jan (pickpocketing really makes the game easier)
replace Valygar with Edwin (can cast 9th level spells) or Nalia (can only cast 8th level spell at most, but can use short bow and thieves armor)

I don't think Keldorn's a better fighter or tank than Korgan or Mazzy. His stats are absolutely terrible. If you want him to even compete with the other NPCs available, you have to give him half the useful equipment in the game. From what I can tell, all he's got going for him is his innate dispel magic and the fact that he can use the holy avenger, but the avenger's overrated in my opinion, and dispel magic doesn't make up for his woeful stats. If you're going to drop Aerie for Edwin, definitely replace Yoshimo with Korgan.