How much preparing should monsters do

[Mark Hoover 330]

Here was the situation:

The party is 4 members, APL 5. They enter a main cavern; the walls and floor are rough-hewn stone with crags and outcrops, stalactites, columns, etc. In said chamber they encounter several mites which I'd advanced from CR 1/4 to CR 1. Because a couple of the PCs have optimized around Perception the "ambush" from behind low obstacles and cover I'd planned was essentially just turned into a straight-up fight with no Surprise round.

Not surprisingly the PCs destroyed the mites; that's not where I need the advice.

Approximately 80' up a narrow cavern tunnel sits another mite, this one with levels in Adept added onto his HD. Now mites have 120' Darkvision, plus one of the PCs has only Low Light vision so the main chamber fight is happening under a handy Light spell. Bottom line, the mite adept could see everything that was happening for about a minute before the party noticed him and got after him.

In a minute's time a single spellcaster could cast 10 spells. Instead I had the adept cast Bless on himself and some Giant Centipedes he had waiting with him. Also there was a Darkness spell in place where he was.

Should I have done more? Would it be appropriate for him to have 1. cast more buff spells (he also had Protection from Good and Guidance he could've layered himself with); 2. gone to the next room an gotten reinforcements; 3. poured oil all over the floor below the column he was clinging to so he could light it with his Burning Hands spell as the party approached?

On the one hand I don't want to be a diabolical antagonist to my players, but on the other hand when the PCs noticed him they charged up the tunnel and beat the mite adept and his vermin minions in one round.

I guess what I'm looking for is ways to optimize my villains through tactics, buff spells and just general knowledge in order to make fights that I THINK are going to be interesting last more than 1 round. Thanks!

[Zauberin]

I like the oil and burning hands personally. Depending on the reinforcements, I still think I like the oil + burning hands. Could you reduce person the mite and shrink the cavern tunnel to accommodate this adjustment while treating medium creatures as squeezing?

[AaronUnicorn]

I think it is fair for an intelligent creature to buff themselves as much as they think they may need to if they are aware of adventurers coming to kill them.

Now, how much overkill is overkill? Well, that partially depends on how intelligent the creature is, and how much they fear the adventuring party.

Your BBEG who hears a commotion coming down the hall may not use every buff spell they have if they don't think they'll need all of them. Or they might - it all depends on how paranoid and aware they are.

In your case, the mite adept saw the heroes destroy the other mites, so they had time to evaluate the party's abilities. Would they think that the Bless and Darkness were enough? Or would they think they were in serious peril, and used the other buffs you laid out? That's a question only you can answer. And it partially depends on how much important a fight you want to make it.