Drow Strategist (Basic Lore)

Drow Strategist (Leader; CR 14)
Lawful Evil - Medium - Fey
This creature possesses the Leader role, and therefore counts as 2 monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure. This monster frequently has the Leader role, but may be set to other roles if desired. Only rarely are outsiders ever graced with the honor of meeting a Drow Strategist. These smiling and delicate creatures are the driving will behind the utterly murderous Drow style of warfare. Meeting a Drow Strategist is a rare thing, and she will inevitably be escorted by a powerful personal guard, usually composed of Drow males, Driders, or powerful undead she has made herself. Instead, Drow Strategists will be shadowy figures, never seen directly, only hinted at in coded messages and vicious orders written in a firm but beautiful script. Drow Strategists are in charge of huge amounts of martial power, and spend the large majority of their time in councils of war, plotting and planning attacks, feints, advances, strategic withdrawals, and all manners of maneuver. It is rare for a Drow Strategist to be on the actual field of battle. She will usually have a Consort assigned to her to serve as her 'eyes in the field' and direct affairs in her name. To say that a Strategist is ruthless is understating things. She will consider all assets she can control as expendable, and will seek only to use them up in a way that best advances the goals of herself and her House. Some smaller Houses may even be headed by a Strategist, although such things are rare, and such weak Drow Houses are usually soon absorbed by or allied with a Matriarch, as they should be. In the rare instances when a Strategist is forced into combat, they are terrible foes in their own right, but the real threat is her escort, who will be driven to insanely suicidal heights of effort to destroy her attackers and get her to safety. Bearding a Drow Strategist in her lair is a very, very dangerous task, but if you can end her ruthless leadership, it is a tremendous victory for the entire world.