ive solved the riddle n crossed the bridge but what the hell are thoe 3 things on the other side by the time ive got to them im dead pls help !!!!

They're called Beholders, or Eye-Tyrants.

I think what u r talking about r "Beholders", those creatures with lots of eyes and r really big in size.... Hehe, those can be a pain to kill... Anywayz, here r some tactics... Fire Fireballs, Holy Smites... AOE spells OUT OF THEIR SIGHT RANGE then haste ur party, buff them and rush in~ If u have a 15+ Skald, its gonna be a real big help due to its Bard songs. Hehe, I just killed lotsa Mind layers easily because they cant hit my party due to hits bard songs~!! :D

A wand of cloudkill fired off out of their range of vision does wonders

"a 15+ Skald"

Wha??!! That's quite a high Clvl, do you simply do that quest really late or something?

On a different note, is there a shield or some such thing that deflects magical attacks back to the sender? I'd think that would be useful against beholder kin...

There's a cloak that without TOB installed relects magical attacks back to the caster including beholder rays. With TOB installed it just absorbs the atacks. Also one of the bonus merchants sells a shield that reflects beholder rays.

Actually AFAIK Ribald from the Adventurer`s Mart is not a bonus merchant. :D

The shield of Balduran is sold by Deidre the bonus merchant in the Adventurers Mart not Ribald IIRC.

as the shield of Balduran and the Cloak of Mirroring are considered rather cheesy you could try some basic defense spells yourself. It's also a great help to jump them with backstabbing and invisibility potions.

Well, u see a Skald can get up to level 24 in SOA IIRC. A L15 Skald has the same amount of XP as a L12 Pally, so I didnt do the quest that late, but Skalds have one very big draw back :( , their Pickpockets r worthless if u ask me, but the songs r godly.

Beholders have a weird way of floating in mid-air, you'd think those eyes would weigh them down a bit. I think they're all unleashing some form of gas, shooting it directly at the floor, therefore keeping them afloat. Of course, it could all be a trick using magnets, but that's a bit more confusing.
(Spoilers)
Don't try to actually fight the Unseeing Eye, like I did. Instead, go to the top right corner of his little lair and get the second part of the rift device (assuming you've got the first from the avatar of the unknown god downstairs). I don't think magic has much effect on the Unseeing Eye, though it has been quite a long time since I did that quest.