How to Keep an Enemy Mage Alive
Adjusting HP
The drow mage is incredibly weak, with only 45 HP for a CR 7. It’s probable that if this statblock had been updated for the 2024 Monster Manual, the HP would have gone up the same way it did for the CR 6 mage, but it was not updated and so we’ll never know.
(Although you can use this as permission to increase the HP yourself if you’d like. Raising a monster’s HP to the maximum allowed by its hit dice isn’t even homebrew.)
Keeping the Mage out of Sight
I have already written a post regarding keeping villains alive on Gnome Stew. For villains in general, I suggest seeing that post.
That advice is mostly focused on keeping the villain alive by keeping him out of combat. For a lesser villain like a mage—someone you want in combat but to survive until well into the fight—I have a different method to suggest.
A Tactical Retreat
Have the villain cast a powerful spell and then retreat out of sight. Sometimes the spell itself will help, such as a control spell that prevents the players from giving chase or retaliating. In the case of the drow mage, Cloudkill works especially well since it is opaque and blocks the PCs from seeing him.
If the mage is still visible after casting, narrate it as him turning haughtily and striding away, with the PCs beneath his dignity to engage further.
Try to set up the mage on a high platform, or where a wall, an obstacle, or allies will hide him from view after a few feet. This will give him the opportunity to move sideways once he’s out of view, preventing the players from throwing area-of-effect spells blindly. Even if they guess what he did, they still won’t know whether he turned left or right.
After that, there are three options for where to use him next.
Three Ways to Continue the Fight
Method 1: The Dramatic Return
Wait a round or so to reintroduce the mage. This is strategically sound and narratively satisfying, as the obvious way to end a powerful spell is to attack the caster and try to make him lose concentration.
When he returns, ideally have him appear from a new direction and a suitably dramatic vantage point. Don’t have him retreat again—the fight is probably winding down by now, and he’ll be harder to kill once the players are spread across the battlefield.
Method 2: Casting with a Spotter
Many spells don’t need sight; you just need to know where to cast them. Provide the spellcaster with a spotter who will signal where to aim. This allows him to continue casting without revealing himself. Of course, he’ll have to move right after casting, as the spell’s effects will usually reveal where he was.
Method 3: Splitting Their Attention
If there’s something urgent the players must address—such as a hostage about to die, a spell that must be disrupted, or crystals to capture—they might not be able to fully focus on the mage.
Even then, make sure the mage ends his turns out of sight. If he’s easily attacked, taking him out will always be the players’ best strategy.
A Damage-Dealing Mage
With the above, I assumed the mage was using spells lasting multiple rounds, and/or that he has some status as a “named” NPC.
If the mage is simply a damage dealer, he’s basically a high-value archer. You don’t need him to retreat. Instead, give him cover to make him harder to shoot, and place the other enemies far enough away that area spells targeting him won’t also hit them. If the players target him anyway, take satisfaction from having made them waste spells and turns.
If they send a melee fighter after him, you no longer have to worry about keeping the rest of your forces distant. Forcing friendly fire is as good as forcing them to waste a spell.
Combat Encounter 1: Cloudkill
Cloudkill is a level 5 spell that needs careful preparation. The most logical reaction is for PCs to run through the cloud and attack the caster. They’ll take a single round of damage, which is actually less than Fireball (level 3). (In fairness, Fireball is overpowered for its level.)
In a large-scale combat, the methods suggested above to keep the caster out of sight will help, especially if you position at least one melee enemy to stop the PC fighters from charging him.
Basic Idea 1: Splitting the Party (difficulty varies)
I’ve mentioned in my Druid article that putting an ongoing area-of-effect spell in the middle of the party often forces them apart. Cloudkill doubles this effect, as it also obscures vision, making it harder to regroup without taking damage.
Basic Idea 2: Enemies Inside the Cloud (difficulty varies)
A common online idea is to combine Cloudkill with enemy minions immune to poison. Many suggest undead, but constructs, elementals, and fiends are also immune, and fiends fit the drow best.
That said, Cloudkill will hide PCs who are in it, so monsters will struggle to usefully engage them unless they have senses beyond sight. Intelligent creatures can be ordered to sweep until they find a PC, but unintelligent ones will often waste their turns attacking each other. Grappling can be better than attacking, especially if they can’t see.
The Cloudkill will do ongoing damage. There’s no penalty for grappling while blinded in the 2024 rules (unless you homebrew one in—which is a mistake, and does need fixing). Unintelligent monsters ordered to grapple will waste their turns and look foolish when it turns out they were hugging each other. At least they won’t have knocked each other to pieces.
Moving on to the advanced ideas.
Cloudkill and Ambush (difficulty 8)
As mentioned, the natural reaction to Cloudkill is to dash through. Set it up so they charge straight into an ambush. A couple of drow with bows drawn behind hastily erected barriers should do nicely.
If the spellcasters hang back until it’s dispelled, they’ll be in even worse trouble. Pass a note to the players running out of the cloud, and the ones staying behind will be confused and not know what to do.
Shouting across forty feet isn’t easy. If you want to use this, I suggest including instructions for what can be said without using an action. Perhaps one or two words for free, four with a bonus action, and a full sentence with a full action. They might tell you privately, and you announce what the other side hears.
That said, if they disobey, let it go. Enforcing this when they aren’t listening kills games.
If they charge all together, they’ll be stuck fighting in a small area with no retreat and no way to protect their spellcasters. If they retreat, they’ll have to take Cloudkill damage again, while the drow shoot crossbow bolts and Lightning Bolt.
Cloudkill and Basic Traps (difficulty 9)
Cloudkill conceals traps in the fog. The caster won’t have time to rig complicated ones, but you don’t need much. A ledge with missing or slanted pieces can send PCs off the side.
Have a second ledge waiting to catch them, with a monster waiting there. Nothing too deadly—the goal is to hurt, not TPK. In general, traps shouldn’t kill PCs outright. Death should result from repeated mistakes, not one unavoidable one.
Tripwires also work. Simply tripping the PCs forces them to spend half their movement standing, likely costing them a round inside the fog. A nastier option is a falling net, which traps them inside the poison.
To arrange such traps, the drow will need either dedicated (or terrified) members willing to endure two rounds of Cloudkill, or a fiend summoned to do the job. A drow priestess of Lolth can also cast Protection from Poison on one ally.
Finally, terrain itself can be used. A rope bridge can be cut, rubble pushed down, or even a boulder rolled. The players might hear it coming, but they won’t know for sure, and won’t want to waste movement sidestepping in zero visibility. Of course, lack of visibility cuts both ways—the drow might mistime it. A summoned demon inside the fog could help by listening and signaling.
Revealed Traps (difficulty varies)
You can also let the players know traps exist. Show them drow avoiding certain colored tiles. They won’t be able to run through the fog without risking serious damage, so they’ll need to maneuver carefully.
Of course, keep traps balanced—there’s no guarantee the PCs won’t charge into the fog anyway.
Retreat and Ambush (difficulty 8)
Cloudkill blocks sight. If there’s more than one passage, or better yet a secret door, the drow can escape and hope the players chase the wrong way. Even better, the drow can hide and ambush from behind. See Drow Elite Warrior, where I argued that this is the drow’s typical fighting style anyway.
Splitting Paths (difficulty 9)
Imagine paths along both sides of a ravine. The paths start equal, but one rises and the other descends. The players and the drow mage are on the rising path, and the drow casts Cloudkill. If the players jump to the other path, they’ll soon find it too high to jump back.
Meanwhile, the drow take advantage of the higher ground, firing crossbows and Lightning Bolt while having cover to make firing back hard.
The Room and the Captive (difficulty 10)
The nastiest option is when the PCs can’t leave without losing something valuable. A hostage tied up in the room forces them to stay.
Keep complications simple. A locked and latched door is plenty. The PCs may have the key, but waste time forcing it when it doesn’t open. A prisoner pinned under a metal bar could be restrained by two different fastenings—perhaps a ball that twists off on one end and a clasp on the other.
Mention these details at least once before the spell is cast. If the PCs spent time in the room earlier, mention them again. Have the prisoner or another NPC interact with the relevant objects. Give them an identifying mark, such as the villains’ signature, so you can naturally reference them later.
For more spellcaster articles, as well as articles featuring other sets of combat abilities, see Monsters sorted by Monster Tactics.
This concludes part 1 of the drow mage article. Given how many spells and potential tactics the drow mage has, I had to split him up into two articles. In the next one, we’ll look at the rest of his spells.
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