The Death Kiss Never Lands
The Death Kiss (D&D 5e, Volo’s Guide to Monsters) is a beholderkin, and parties tend to fight it the way they fight everything else: swing at it until the number reaches zero. Its 161 hit points and AC 16 invite that plan. The plan is wrong. What matters is the 40-foot fly speed with hover, which lets it drift above the melee line and pick who bleeds.
Its Blood Drain tentacles have 30-foot reach, so it does not need to close in. It parks at altitude, latches onto a target, and drags them off their feet while the fighters swing at open air. Ground-bound melee builds spend rounds repositioning under it and accomplish nothing. The creature isolates soft targets by geometry, then keeps the pressure on turn after turn because nothing can reach back.
The counter is movement, not damage. Anything that grounds it or pins it in place turns a mobile artillery piece into a stationary sack of hit points. Until then, its position, not its attacks, is doing the work.
At the table: Open with a spell that restricts movement or forces it down (grease under a target it wants, or a slow effect on the kiss itself), then commit the ranged attackers while it is stuck.
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