How to play a Beholder?

[danzibr]

Suppose you're an Elan with an Int of 17 and get someone to cast Polymorph Any Object on you ASAP.

Then what? You get 11 racial HD. Are you level 11? Do you then gouge your eye out and become a Beholder Mage? Or if you start as a Fighter or something, could you be Fighter 1/Beholder 11/whatever else?

[Arundel]

For what purpose?

In terms of sheer power very few things are more powerful than a beholder mage.

[Khatoblepas]

Polymorph Any Object doesn't give you racial hit die, nor does it automatically give you an antimagic eye. You need to take Assume Supernatural Ability/Metamorphic Transfer in order to have an antimagic eye to gouge out, and I think you'd need to take it again for the eyestalks.

Otherwise, you just have like, a giant eye and some other eyes.

[Daftendirekt]

Polymorph Any Object doesn't give you racial hit die, nor does it automatically give you an antimagic eye. You need to take Assume Supernatural Ability/Metamorphic Transfer in order to have an antimagic eye to gouge out, and I think you'd need to take it again for the eyestalks.

Otherwise, you just have like, a giant eye and some other eyes.

Where in the rules does it say this?

For my part, my group did a "let's play as monsters" one-shot once, and one friend played as a beholder. He pretty much played it as a loser 20-something who lived in a tree-house and sat all day on his couch being lazy and complaining. He had nice curtains though. No, I'm not making this up.