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I'd like to send a small group of Gazers (presented in "Volo's Guide to Monsters" and expanded in "Monsters of the Multiverse") against the group of PC, so I am trying to find a few unusual combat moves suitable for these smart monsters.

One of the Gazer's eye rays is Telekinetic Ray and in its description I can read this passage (emphasis mine):

...if the target is a creature that is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be moved up to 30 feet directly away from the Gazer

So I am wondering: if a Gazer moves under a medium size creature (regardless of the Opportunity Attack) and fires its Telekinetic Ray directly up in a vertical direction, and if the creature fails the saving throw, can the Telekinetic Ray force the creature 30 feet up in the air (causing him 3d6 of falling damage and the prone position when they fall back down)?

If so, would the Gazer be able to move away before the creature falls on it?

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It can try to, against medium sized opponents

To push a character directly up, the Gazer needs to be underneath the character, as it can only push them directly away from itself. So it would need to enter the characters space to move underneath the character. According to p. 191, PHB, Moving Around Other Creatures

You can move through a nonhostile creature’s space. In contrast, you can move through a hostile creature's space only if the creature is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you. [...] Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can’t willingly end your move in its space

A gazer is Tiny. Player characters are Small or Medium. So it cannot enter the space of a Small character, but it can enter the space of a Medium character, because it is at least two sizes smaller than that character. The rules allow the gazer to break up its movement (p. 190 PHB)

You can break up your movement on your turn, using some of your speed before and after your action

The rule does not say you cannot attack or use abilities while moving through another creature's space, just that you cannot end your move there. So, the gazer could move underneath a Medium sized character, and use its ray to push it up 30 feet. Note however that the gazer has no choice of picking the telekinetic ray. It has to roll a d4 to determine the kind of ray it will shoot.

If it manages to throw the character up, the character will then immediately fall down 30 feet again, for 3d6 of damage. There are no rules about how to handle falling onto another creature in the core rules. There is an optional one in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Falling onto a Creature (p. 170), but it does not apply if one of the two creatures is Tiny, like the gazer is, so the gazer would not run the risk to take half of that damage.

P.S. The gazer would not necessarily suffer an opportunity attack (p. 195, PHB)

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach [...] You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement

When the gazer enters the character's space, that does not trigger an opportunity attack. And when you leave the gazer's space (and it yours) while you are being thrown up, the gazer does not use its own movement to move out of your reach, so there's no opportunity attack either. If the gazer can move to a space next to you after pulling off this stunt, it will not leave your reach either, so no opportunity attack there.

P.P.S. Gazers have an Intelligence score of 3 (-4 modifier). I wouldn't exactly call them "smart".

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    \$\begingroup\$ Yes, I feel like "throw them in the air from beneath, then move out of the way" is well beyond a gazer's tactical consideration (it's about as intelligent as an average dog), unless it were considered an evolved instinct, but since gazers are not evolved creatures and typically attack things smaller than them for food, I don't think this idea would occur to one at all, let alone that one would have the battlefield awareness to use it sensibly (e.g. not against strong melee fighters). \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday
  • \$\begingroup\$ And by the way, it seems as if familiars in D&D 5e are exactly as intelligent as a normal creature of their type, unlikely D&D 3.5, where, if I recall correctly, a normal animal familiar could be a genius by human standards by the time the wizard reached level 20. \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Obie2.0 Yes, my wizard has a special albino gazer fam that seems to be a bit smarter (it can talk) but still is preeety stupid. Maybe the op has some warlock or such that trained them to use this tactic? \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday
  • \$\begingroup\$ While sharing a space with a creature, a 90 degree angle seems less likely than say 80 or 75 degrees, mostly upward but not landing directly on the gazer, instead maybe in an adjacent space. Vertically upwards would require getting right between the creature's legs, vs. just very close to them. Which is certainly doable, but maybe not the most natural move if you don't have to. \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday
  • \$\begingroup\$ @PeterCordes Time to break out the pocket calculators! If its not 90 degrees, the it won’t be the full 30 feet up, and only 2d6 in damage. Depending on the angle they also would land in another square, if its only 85 degrees adjacent, at 75, 10 feet away (assuming they were in the center) etc. If the gazer’s goal is to deal damage, it would be worth the hassle to get between the legs. (I’m simplifying of course, we have to consider the effect of gravity on their flight height or trajectory. Just kidding, I know it's not a physics sim). \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday
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As usual, Nobody has an excellent answer to the question as asked, but I would offer a frame challenge.

A highly vertical battle map with narrow platforms (something like the stairs from the Mines of Moria) would create similar tactical challenges, as the gazers can float over empty space, and use their 30 feet of telekinesis to simply push adventurers onto lower platforms.

This enhances the lethality of the telekinesis beam, while also adding 2 more tactical considerations that pushing straight up doesn't:

  • Pushing a specific party member to a lower platform, if they can't immediately return to the same position, makes party positioning much more critical.
  • Different parts of the map can have different levels of tactical risk: does the party hunker down on a narrow section which risks a 20-foot drop, or try to cross a section with 40-foot drops to reach a more defensible position?
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    \$\begingroup\$ I also thought there might be cases where the geometry of the 3d Battlemap might allow the gazers to get underneath the characters without entering their space, like when they cross a chasm on a one foot wide beam. They’d only get 25 feet for 2d6 then but could do it to a Medium character too. But in all such situations where there is a long way down, they would be better off pushing the characters at least somewhat sideways, so they fall all the way down, for an additional d6 of damage per 10 feet. \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday

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