Ortho: Beholder Racial Class

Someone mentioned that we ought to do this for the Orthoite beholders.

So, I decided to crack open Savage Species and give it a go.

LA:
+2 natural armor
+2 good flight
+1 at will spell like abilities
+1 good ability scores

With HD, this gives a base beholder an ECL of 17. So, for the acid test, give it a Wizard level, and throw it up against a level 18 wizard. If the boholder doesn't use its antimagic feild, whoever goes first will kill the other. If it does, it will go to whoever gets luckier with their mundane weapons: The beholder's bite, or the mage with his crossbow. They both do about the same damage, they hit each other about half the time (+2 to hit vs AC 12 vs +11 to hit vs AC 20), they both have about the same HP.

So, the ECL is probably fine as it is.

So, the first thing to do to make the class is to figure out what spell levels the beholder's abilities are, so as to sort them for the progression.

All Around Vision: Skill bonuses, plus a minor ability. Give them the skill bonuses from level 1, the immunity to flanking at mid level. Rogues get improved uncanny dodge at level 8, which does the same thing.

Antimagic Cone: This is a level 6 wizard spell with a duration of 10 minutes/level. Give them a usage of 2 hours/day first, then 6/hours day, then at will. This mirrors the ability to cast the spell 1/day, then 3/day, with the ability to stop and start as is traditional of beholders.

Eye Rays:
It's important to note that beholders effectively have the Quicken Spell-like Ability feat applied to their eye rays for free, twice. Limit the number of eye rays a beholder can use at once until high levels. Base said limitation around how powerful the eye ray being used is.
Disintigrate: 6th level spell. Grant 1/day at about level 12, increase to 3/day at some mid point (level 14?), At will towards the end.
Finger of Death: Level 7 spell, but not all that much better than Disintigrate. Grant at same time, or a level later.
Turn to Stone: Level 6 spell. Similar effect as Disintigrate, grant at same level.
Telekinesis: Level 5 spell. Grant at about level 9-10 as 1/day, progressing to 3/day, then at will. However, it will be a good idea to give the class a Mage Hand ray at will from level 1, to compensate for the lack of hands.
Charm Person: Level 1 spell. Grant 1/day from level 1, increase to 3/day, then at will.
Charm Monster: Level 4 spell. Grant 1/day at about the same time as the Telekinesis.
Sleep: Level 1 spell. Grant 1/day at level 1, increasing as levels are gained at the same times as the Charm Person ray.
Fear: Level 4 spell. Grant at same time as Charm Monster, advance at same rate.
Slow: Level 3 spell. Grant 1/day at about level 5 or 6, advancing to 3/day then at will.
Inflict Moderate Wounds: Grant 1/day at level 3 or 4, advance to 3/day then at will shortly afterwards. This is the beholder's only way to deal real damage for some time.

Flight: Grant full flight at about level 6, and permanent Feather Fall at level 2. Until then, grant the following:
Float (Ex): The beholder is naturally bouyant. This natural bouyancy allows it to float up to 5 feet off the ground without falling. Additional feet may be acquired by making a jump check, as normal.

Size: Given the lack of reach, and poor natural weapons, I would start these guys off at Large, though they wouldn't get their full natural armor bonus until high levels. This is actually a disadvantage- they have to pay more for armor and equipment (beyond the difference for odd shape), as well as the size penalties to attack and AC. The only advantage is more a slightly more damaging bite, which is the equivalent of a longsword.

I'm going to leave it to you folks to do it up and distribute the hit dice and make it look all pretty with tables and what not. With the stuff I just laid out, you should be able to get something pretty much every level, and get the fun of using eye rays from first level, without being unbalancing.