A big complaint among game masters is powerful heroes taking out their top villains too quickly. There are a few things you can do.

Of courses, at least some of the time, you should plan on your villain being unable to put up much of a fight. Make sure the minions and henchmen have done their job of bringing the heroes down, but once they get at the boss, let them do their worst while he or she panics and/or flees in terror. This is, after all, how real-life despots typically meet their end….

But for most bosses, give them a fighting chance.

1. Surround Them with Guards

Make sure the boss doesn’t fight the heroes alone. There should be guards, minions, and/or henchmen to put some pressure on the heroes so they can’t focus all their efforts on the boss alone. A minion should sometimes be able to intervene and take a hit (physical or magical) that would have taken out or greatly weakened the boss; when it does, it takes maximum damage or gets no saving throw.

If you find you’re in danger of overwhelming the heroes, have some of the minions flee a particularly effective spell or attack. You can always have them come back at the urging of the boss when the heroes make more progress.

2. Put a Barrier Between Them

As in my post on letting heroes meet villains, you can put a barrier between them that you plan to remove. A chasm, a Wall of Force, a heavy gate, or some other physical or magical barrier should give the villain a little time to act or talk before the heroes get around or thru it or before the villain takes it down deliberately so he or she can get at the heroes.

You could make it so the heroes have to figure out the source of the magical barrier and destroy that first, like crystals mounted on two statues on either side of the room, emanating the barrier between them. Meanwhile, the villain’s minions are assaulting the party and trying to protect the crystal.

3. Give them Consumable Magic Resistance

Another way of giving the boss a way to avoid debilitating effects is with a consumable magic item that lets them break free of controlling magic, like charm, hold, control, etc. This could be a one-shot potion chugged at the start of the encounter or a necklace of magic gems that crumble as they’re used. The latter can still have a couple of uses left when the heroes dispatch the hapless villain, so they gain from the thing that caused them trouble.

4. Give them Legendary Resistance

My method of legendary resistance, “ferocious resistance”, helps a lot. The gist is that the boss gets to fight off some magical effects at the cost of hit points or gets to avoid some hit point loss at some other cost.

5. Double ‘Em up

You did your best, but it wasn’t enough. But maybe there’s another boss right around the corner….

• The creature’s skull splits open, and an intellect devourer scurries out, and now the heroes have to deal with it.
• The boss was being controlled by one of the various monsters that can control minds or was possessed by a demon or ghost.
• There’s a partner or bigger boss who enters, attracted by the noise.

6. Escape Clause

Perhaps the boss has an escape tunnel, ring of teleportation, or similar way to escape a fight going badly.

Bonus: Self-Destruction

Bad guy got killed too quickly anyway? At least send them out with a bang. When reduced to zero hit points, some self-destruct mechanism causes the creature to:

• Explode with the effects of a Cone of Cold or Fireball cast at the creature’s level.
• Die emitting a noxious gas as Stinking Cloud, Incendiary Cloud, or Poisonous Cloud.
• Transform into a wraith or specter, per some magic item or deal with a demon.