Transforming Ordinary D&D Monsters into Legendary Bosses: A Step-by-Step Guide

PROPHECY & POWER | how to create legendary creatures, puzzles, two 5e adventures, and more!
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If it's March 2023 or later, get this issue of Lair Magazine on the DM Lair Store here: the-dm-lair.my...
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Are you tired of running boss battles that are underwhelming and disappointing for both you and your players? With this video, you'll learn how to turn any ordinary monster into a legendary boss that will make your D&D games more fun and memorable. By following our step-by-step guide, you'll be able to create epic and challenging boss monsters that will keep your players on the edge of their seats. You'll also learn how to use these techniques to make any monster a threatening and formidable opponent. Elevate your game mastering skills and take your boss battles to the next level with this video.
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[@theDMLair]

PROPHECY & POWER | how to create legendary creatures, puzzles, two 5e adventures, and more! In January and February 2023, get this issue of Lair Magazine by becoming a DM Lair patron here: www.patreon.com/thedmlair If it's March 2023 or later, get this issue of Lair Magazine on the DM Lair Store here: the-dm-lair.myshopify.com/collections/lair-magazine

[@KevinVideo]

This is a great idea. I hope in a future magazine you show how one can make mythic creatures with additional forms and mythic actions. 🙏

[@theadventuresguild6514]

I love the use of the pathfinder goblin on the preview lol.

[@chaedi8457]

I absolutely love the Pathfinder interpretation of Goblins lol. They are my favorite.

[@1970joedub]

Still using D&D for the clicks, though. 😂

[@jaffarebellion292]

@@1970joedub It may not get too many clicks for much longer. Pathfinder is on the rise and isn't slowing down. We just need to see if Paizo still knows how to capitalize on WotC's failures.

[@Talenel]

Well, Pathfinder does have better art than D&D, especially the goblins.

[@jaffarebellion292]

@@Talenel Definitely no argument here. I started with Pathfinder 1E, and I switched to D&D 5E later. When I got the PH, I remember being really disappointed by the art.

[@garethhamilton1252]

I needed this. I've just started a nautical campaign and have created a number of Legendary Pirate captains. Rather than just having a legendary name (with brief story behind how they got that name) I'm inspired to create legendary actions and lair actions (If the pirates are attacked on their ship)

[@EdgarClay]

The fight with Strahd is due this Saturday or the next. I plan on having two of the brides with him. Each of the brides is an improved vampire spawn

[@benharris6732]

I gave my strahd a zombie ancient silver dragon to ride on with lifestyle breath and had him possessed by vampire turning him into a naruto 9 tails mode beast with misty step bonus action My party are level 15-18 , love buying potions and recruiting everyone possible to help

[@elendiel]

Good luck to you and your PCs! Remember to make Strahd ingenious and evil. He should be a real manipulative piece of shit, that will make your party even more eager to put an end to his evil reign! =)

[@KevinVideo]

@@benharris6732 For stats, I'm guessing you're using the T-Rex zombie, but revising or reflavouring it, or are you building the dragon zombie from scratch?

[@benharris6732]

@Kayden Van I used an ancient bronze dragons stat block Then turned all his elemental damage into necrotic life drain damage

[@iselreads2908]

Something I've used lately with my players to make Legendary resistance more interesting and not just a slap aside special move mechanic is that they can do it as many times as they want, but they take a modified point of exhaustion (-1 to all rolls and AC per level of exhaustion, and a-5 movement at levels 1, 3, and 5) every time they do it. They can resist all they want, but they weaken and can quite possibly kill themselves by doing it too many times.

[@jonsaucy8440]

Great video Luke; it's quite a difficult methodology to explain and you did well. I'd also like to add that for those fights that aren't necessarily against legendary creatures, or are just meant to be slightly more difficult, I would suggest DMs simply looking at including bonus actions and reactions to some of the mobs. It doesn't always require a leap in CR, but it can make for more unique and flavorful fights.

[@vincent-antoinesoucy1872]

One things I'm doing now is always for every encounter prepare one downbeat action, less effective like the ennemy mocking the player or shouting at them to intimidate or fear for when players are loosing a a fight a upbeat action for when players are winning, witch is a usually a large attack that both damage and impede characters. It's a useful tool that avoid exchange of damages until all are dead. Also, in initiative, always place one player and one ennemy in succession to tempo out fight, so it goes player or monster with the highest ini, player or monster (the other side) with the highest ini, player or monster with the second highest ini, other side second highest ini, until everyone played.

[@NegatveSpace]

Narrative and mechanical downbeat and up beat actions that's a nice touch that doesn't get mentioned a lot. It would be nice if sample up and down beat actions would start to be included in rulesets and a set of optional rules be made for these.

[@vincent-antoinesoucy1872]

@@NegatveSpace Just today I had a battle going on at a witch hutt in witch the up beat was to have rotten wines grew, break the floor and grab underwater a character, which was needed because the which was dead in 2 turns otherwise. It made the battle last another round, require just a little more ressource and let another player use another ability and have the spotlight.

[@polvotierno]

Thank you. This video is great. 5e is still my preferred system, even with its evil overlord.

[@sterlinggecko3269]

that's when the dead body reanimates, they fight him again, then the wrecked corpse releases a demon that was controlling it, and the third phase begins...

[@synthetichumangaming4634]

This is extremely helpful! Thank you very much for putting this on the Internet.

[@true_death_eater9080]

What would be interesting is legend of an ice king, once joyful to the people now frigid, keeping rule from his throne. Players go to defeat, only to find out (eventually) the king is long dead, and it's an animated suit of armor welding the sword. Having smaller suites of armor being animated during the fight would pose for good minions, as well as having them being rusted if you don't want to overwhelm your players. Would bring a new meaning to, "where do you strike?", much like the three kobalds in a trench coat.

[@thajocoth]

Here's something I've used in my games before: Legendary Concentration: The creature can concentrate on 2 spells at once. I usually do this for creatures with multiple heads. When my party fought Tiamat, I gave her Legendary Concentration (5), a separate concentration for each of her five heads.

[@remiwelch6234]

Oooooh, I think I may have to use this. Gotta be careful or it could be badly OP with the wrong spell combination, but that's a great way to beef up a spellcasting baddie!

[@thajocoth]

@@remiwelch6234 Feel free to use it! Balancing it is definitely important.

[@remiwelch6234]

@thajocoth thanks! I'm thinking that I'll restrict it to the bonus concentration can only be a self- target defensive spell

[@minimalistmindset3020]

@@remiwelch6234 True, but the DM controls which spells that the monster has/uses. Dungeon Dudes pointed out how the Archmage stat block CR is fairly tame, despite being able to cast 9th Level spells. Why? Because the spell in question was Time Stop. If they had a 9th-level damaging spell, such as Meteor Storm, it would be dramatically different. Players have their whole spell list(sometimes multiple) to experiment with, but you(the DM) can curate exactly how the monster uses it.

[@remiwelch6234]

@minimalistmindset3020 for a t3 or t4 party 100%. Even upper t2. Stronger parties are hard to challenge anyway But at lower levels, it could be the different between extra challenge and OP of used wrong.

[@danielandelin2046]

I sure wish I had heard this a year ago before finishing up the Lost Mine campaign with my group. The boss battle was...ok. But the party quickly incapacitated the lesser enemies protecting the BBEG. A few legendary actions would have come in handy.

[@willwarren8519]

I have a party of 7 to 9 players depending on who shows up that night so I gave legendary actions to lots of monsters. With that big of a party was the only way to keep the action economy close 💯

[@dillonstockwell4007]

I plan to make a talking chimera with a circlet of intelligence stuck on it. The chimera will be demanding sacrifices from a small village in return it provides protection from monsters.

[@FrostSpike]

10:57 Good vid. You might want to proofread the cover of your Lair magazine though!

[@allster0crowly]

One of my favorite combos is when things are going to easy for the party is combo of calling reinforcements at intervals of health for the boss, and a magic or physical action the boss can take to drain those minions to restore it's own health or switch places with a minion.

[@bigbbrendan]

I just turned one of the new Dragonflesh Grafters from fizbans treasury of dragons into a legendary boss enemy for a party of level 3 adventurers. Doubled the hp, gave it legendary actions, spells....... They still kicked the crap out of it. I love this game 🤘

[@Nolinquisitor]

Not a jab, but a D&D video with a Pathfinder goblin on the thumbnail makes me giggle. Good man.

[@NegatveSpace]

I've heard of an interesting notion of making a solitary boss enemy be able to act after every characters acts on their turn. Admittedly this is similar to legendary actions but I think it would be cool if other people gave this a try and see if they like it.

[@timorr6008]

I've got plans to do this with our upcoming Manticore hunt adventure. Ever heard about Giffyglyphs Monster Maker? I'm basing it on the Paragon Powers thing in that PDF. And it's free!

[@NegatveSpace]

@@timorr6008 Cool thanks I'll check that out!

[@dylanlindsay6794]

This is an awesome video, useful for all GM's new and old.

[@FedericoRodriguez-sc3gv]

Thanks a lot!

[@r.downgrade5836]

Hmm, you know, with a video like this, if I had to do it, and for Tier 1 Play, I would make a Legendary Harpy. Maybe throw in a bit of ancient Greek or Roman lore, and give it Bronze Feathers that it could fling a small number of them from a distance, but also give it a vulnerability to Thunder Damage, for starters.

[@mr-bearman6338]

I've got a pirate king that I can't wait to make legendary now! Thanks man! Ray Slowman won't get one rounded now!

[@catward9417]

Gonna do some kind of crystalline spider. Small ones will soak up damage for the larger one. The large one can lay 1d4 small ones as a bonus action. Resists piercing damage.

[@Tristan_Shuler]

You should do a video about how you ran your final fight with Strahd!

[@marvinschroeder9439]

and a little thing i add to really tough bossfights: Legendary reactions. That are special reactions the monster gets in addition to its normal reaction, so it has atleast 2 reactions per round =D

[@obviouswarrior5460]

Floating Disk + Forest > tree uproot > tree fall > 10 tons (weight of an average mature tree according to google) which falls from "10 meters" high. The rule for fall damage being: 1d6 / 100 kg over 3 meters. So its done : 10.000/100 *3 = 300D6 (or just 100D6 for the 3m fall) In forest combat against forest creatures it makes all the trees terrifying. ^^ It's also a normal attack for my players in d&d. If that can give you some ideas.

[@sleepinggiant4062]

FIVE! Three sir! ...THREE! I really like this variation on legendary actions. This should have been included in 5th. I dislike how similar they made all legendary creatures. Telling new DMs that CR is a guideline and not a science because it hugely depends on player ability and character efficiency - is excellent advice.

[@snieves4]

I dont often see people apply classes and associated abilities to villains. In fact…ask the players to help you build a tricked out character for a game you’re playing in… Add magic items. Add minions also with classes…. Have fun.

[@remiwelch6234]

My Level 2 party just finished taking on a CR3 Legendry Dryad I brewed up. CR1 MM base, CR 2 outside the Lair, CR 3 since they encountered her in the Lair. Minions: Dryad starts with 3 Awakened Shrubs (CR 0) on her side, each containing a hidden Constrictor Snake (CR 1/4) that attacks with the Shrub, and gets an attack of opportunity on melee attacks against the shrub. The first melee attack against a shrub, the attack of opportunity will be a surprise attack against the PC. Non-fire or non-AOE damage is divided between Shrub (7hp) and Snake (14hp) the snake can move to a new shrub if theirs is killed. Fire damage and AOE hit both for full damage. Snake cannot made any DEX saves while in a shrub. When their shrub dies, the snake is immediately able to use 1/2 their movement and can enter any shrub in range. There are 6 other Shrubs in the clearing. Shrubs/snakes all share initiative, separate from the dryad. Lair action: On initiative 20 the Dryad can cast Awaken on 1d3 shrubs in the clearing, and a Constrictor Snake with dash from cover to enter the shrub. There is a Constrictor Snake inside the shrub that does not move or act independently, but attacks with the shrub, and gets an attack of opportunity against any attack melee made against the shrub. The Clearing contains 6 shrubs. Can be used every Initiative 20 if there are still unawakened Shrubs in the clearing. Legendary Resistance 1/day Legendary actions(1/turn): -any player within 5ft of a tree is attacked by a a constrictor snake bite. Hit +2, on hit 1d6 damage. -Dryad can use up to half her movement and Tree Stride Once defeated, she retreated to her 80ft tall ancient Elm tree and cast awakening. This Tree is also a homebrew CR5 creature, and it's awakening triggered a deadly chase scene the party barely escaped, and they know the Dryad and her Elm returned to the sacred grove where they need to get the magical water from. That was the end of our last session. Waiting to see what they do next! Oh, and this is all part of a Campaign where the Party only learned AFTER the chase that the Dryad has fallen under the influence of a Green Hag that is locally known to be the head of a Coven and some type of Patron to a guild of Ancient Old One warlocks. I am super proud of these creatures (my first homebrew legendaries) and this campaign in general (first time I've written one totally from scratch). I have gotten soooo much of my inspiration and clarified so many ideas from watching your videos, and I definitely think my Players appreciate how much I've been able to get out of them!

[@cpewts]

Such a helpful video - keep it up Luke, basically just convinced me to become a patron

[@cameronmcguire5025]

When Calculating the CR for creatures with legendary actions I often start by looking at 1) what would their CR be without any legendary actions then 2) what would their CR be if they used their Legendary actions for the optimal damage output (or optimized defenses depending on if you prioritized defense over offense). Then the "true" CR will be somewhere between those 2 numbers. I'm a math nerd though so I enjoy the calculations.

[@dwarvesanddragons6948]

Feeding the algorithm, as always very good advice, I'm gonna put good use of this for the stocking of my dungeon23 megadungeon

[@last2nkow]

I'm modding a Priest into a legendary infernalist. I'm changing uo her spell list to be all spells from the infernal warlock patron +a couple of wizard spells because they are a necromancer. They are mid ritual when the players will arrive and thus to begin my plan is to have her protected by some zombies and a protective magic circle the players will have to work out a puzzle to turn off while the zombies Swarm them. So my infernalist necromancer will only use legendary actions, lair actions of clouds of smoke and fire effects and the zombies until the magic circle is broken or the sacrifice is completed. After the magic circle is down the lair actions are going to change to lowering the floor into a magical darkness room, the zombies will stop regenerating and the boss will join the fight properly since he will be unaffected by the necro-darkness.

[@the_nerd_showtv5562]

I Just finisched a Little One shot where the final boss was basically a wealer versione of the lich, with 100 hp, a lot of resistence and some good spells. At the final round, i basically stopped to count hp and Just described in the collest way possibile the last shot from everybody. It was Amazing.

[@Drag00n1990]

A lesson I had lerned on the action economy was not to use debilitating spells against the party. I had an enchantress take control of a castle with the local paladin order charmed by her. The party fought her in the throne room and the paladins started combat by banishing the two front line lighters, with the enchantress Feebleminding the spellcaster. This turned the fight against the part badly and found it being no fun at all, especially for the fighters. Until this fight, the party was curb stomping my fights so I thought to try and make the combat more challenging, but realised I went way to far with that one. Have since learned to never do that again, it is never fun to remove a players action or agency.

[@minimalistmindset3020]

Or perhaps be more deliberate with them. Removing half the party cuts their strength down to about 30 percent.(Not a mathematician, just an avid XCOM player.) Removing(or heavily debuffing) the most crucial one(s) makes the caster an obstacle(because concentration). That is fine. It makes the players think more about their next moves, and ponder the risk/reward involved with prioritizing targets.

[@rainey82]

This is a succinct and clarifying explanation for further customizing capstone combat encounters.

[@dr.katagi3136]

I already turned a Banshee into a legendary creature once, she was the boss in a ever frozen forest and I figured since a banshee is already a strong enemy she would be a great boss monster

[@sterrre1]

I have a party of 7 level 6 players. They're about to go into a battle against a legendary warlock and minions and they're at mostly full strength with lots of magic items. I'm hoping that I don't TPK them and that it isn't too easy. They'll be fighting against a warlock who will mostly use scorching rays, hellish rebuke and can cast high level eldritch blast and fire bolt as two legendary action with a single legendary resistance. She is accompanied by 2 minotaurs, 2 berserkers, a cult fanatic and 2 flying snakes for a total of ~22,000 xp. One of the minotaurs is enchanted and can turn against the warlock if my players pick up on it and cast dispell magic. And the warlock can use power word kill to kill one player on the second round depending on how the battle is going. My players are all full health full spell slots, I have a fighter with a helm of brilliance that has 4 fireballs, A necromancer, a wizard with a wand of scorching rays that has 4 charges, a bard with a cello that can cast a nerfed weird spell (1D10 damage), a rogue with spider boots, a barbarian with a greataxe that gives him +1 con and a tempest cleric. Balancing around their magic items is tough, I'm not sure how much I should bump up the difficulty. I took over the game from my dad and didn't hand out most of the magic items.

[@codyhoney9101]

I'm going to be be changing up one of my homebrew creatures. A Blood Oath Paladin to make him a Commander.

[@jettolo]

i had a player once upon who was a big fan of wow and asked me if boss could be treated in D&D like in the mmo with a special gimmick, i tried once i called them "Lair Mechanics" and work better then i thought, i have a more narrative style but was a good deviation from expected d&d gameplay

[@princesskanuta3870]

Awesome Video!

[@underthedice1231]

I'm going to use a Legendary Commoner one day who is just a comoner who's legend grew out of pure misunderstanding of situations. A diety of luck of some sort found it funny and made sure the legend would only grow. Basically King from One Punch Man. Just a Comonner with all those Legendary Abilities and maybe more.

[@wagnerkm89]

Thank God, finally a channel talking about something other than the OGL

[@jonathanschmitt5762]

10:38 I think that's the wrong table.

[@fake-king3837]

You forgot about calling for allies

[@alanthomasgramont]

Always max the monster's HP if its a solo monster. A fighter with action surge can get 4 or even 6 attacks in one round, doing a massive amount of damage. Some spells just dish out major damage. All that work to give the monster all those actions, they roll an initiative or 7, and don't even get a turn.

[@awaytoanywhere699]

just let the Final Boss live for 4-5 rounds and ignore its hp. then you can do all the cool stuff you as a GM has planned. Players don’t have to know…

[@coolio104]

In that situation, I would have said "is he the final boss" and made it like that was a phony stand in for the boss. I would have made up a perception check on the spot and if anyone passed it, they'd get some kind of clue that this wasn't the real guy. Essentially, I would've went the red skull route Until I got a baddy worthy of my players.

[@sebbonxxsebbon6824]

Ben did his job as a player, the DM failed them. It is math, a Boss needs minion support and one must be a healer or an item that heals him. Don't feel bad, I think critical role does the same thing. I had the same problem as a player, the DM gave giants magic weapons like +3 hand axes (battle axe to us) to just hit our high level melees high armor classes. We ended up with a TON of magic weapons, that is a worse answer to the problem. Those weapons went to our minions who ramped up the power more. I told him to pick a different monster and fill dungeons with them.

[@mesdecent8051]

Another advice for your DM could be that he could still do the modifications (Giving the giants a +3 to hit) but not making the axes magical. From a player's perspective there is not really a diference if the giants you are fighting are wielding magically forged weapons or you are confronting particullarly well trained giant axeman.

[@gustaafargoan]

I like to give certain monsters polearm master and sentinel.

[@Raoul9753]

Honestly, I never give my bosses health. I just let them do their stuff, and when I feel they had fun and all did something cool, I let the Boss drop dead. I mostly just give a minimum they have to do, but even that can be changed. You are the DM.

[@roar104]

Bad advice tbh. If your players ever figure out it'll ruin the game for them as they'll second guess everything you do. Are you just arbitrarily deciding shit, or does what they do actually matter? Why even bother rolling with the way you do it?

[@wagnerkm89]

You are robbing your players of any agency when you do this.

[@Raoul9753]

@@wagnerkm89 I dont care about their agency in Boss Battles. I care that they have fun. They have enough chances to influence the story and world, so they have all the freedom they need. In Boss Battles, my job is to give them an epic encounter. And judging by the fact that they still talk about one boss Battle from 2 years ago, about how our Paladin pulled that clutch crit smite when all but 2 of them were down, means more to me than some random comment on youtube^^

[@Raoul9753]

@@roar104 They wont find out, because I am the only one who knows. And since I run every other encounter by the book, they have no reason to suspect anything.

[@Kanta82]

Trying to figure out how to apply any of this to AD&D 2e...

[@jamesedmison2768]

I love technical

[@StanleyNunn]

Do you have a Degree in this stuff? They really need to make one. This is complex.

[@thibni_]

Ooooohhhhh boy, this was complicated 😭 I got the gyst of it but my goodness.

[@benharris6732]

Is it worth starting a a channel under the new OGL ? was thinking about it as am a year in DM (50 sessions , 1campaign completed) whos new enough to know the pains but experienced enough to know how to hold a group of 5 together through a years worth of scheduling issues xD

[@minimalistmindset3020]

No. Start one under the old OGL. This is only a succinct answer, and you should still do your research. Luke put out some recent videos talking about it, too. The situation is changing rapidly, but don't sign any new OGLs, especially with how legally suspect they are.

[@benharris6732]

@@minimalistmindset3020 can i even sign the previous OGL still ?

[@jamesaolsen1196]

this is a nice break from the ogl wotc shenanigans.

[@Apeiron242]

Drink when he says legendary.

[@ryannelson7719]

I'm turning the aboleth into a better aboleth lol

[@Spartacus547]

the CR system he says lol the most broken things in d&d is CR and money So 2gp a night for "modest accommodations"

[@dane3038]

All man, are we already running back to the abusive girlfriend?

[@Crazmuss]

Does not look like any of this could help that poor githyanki. May be just go with "githyanki explodes with fountain of flesh and blood wich formes thin bloody portal in the air, and from this portal pit fiend emerges". After all campain without pit fiend is a wasted campain.

[@schemage2210]

Great, a lot of maths, and little to no pay off when you consider that challenge rating is BROKEN. You could create a twice deadly CR legendary creature that still doesn't stand toe to toe with the PCs. How do I know, well if a group of PCs can kill an adult dragon (which is a legendary creature) in a round, then how is anything you turn into a legendary creature meant to fair any better!!!

[@hannahdigioia692]

take the zelda/metroid approach, make it a bit of a puzzle

[@mammonclarke]

We all know the CR system is broken. I think this video is very helpful for new DMs in order to give them confidence when creating or modifying a boss monster. Oh, and Hello algorithms!

[@Leniathan]

❤❤❤💛

[@mistergoats4380]

The failure of the MM to provide challenging monsters for their CR isn't on the DM. It's on the writers of the supplement. Smite isn't a new splat book ability that took the designers by surprise. It's a core ability and monster stats should reflect that. Stop blaming DMs for toothless monster stats. Paizo has no problem with their monster books. Why does wotc?

[@dinbabwa452]

Don't be "anti-climatic!"

[@mikelane4005]

I should probably know this, but what does Initiative count 20 mean?

[@tabletopgamingwithwolfphototec]

📝 You will love the Encounter building rules for Pathfinder 2nd edition. Note , if your players are new to pathfinder 2nd edition. Simply reduce the XP level by one or two. Or you can use the weak template or Elite template to adjust the difficulty level to fit the party & players skill level. The weak & Elite templates can be found in the front of each Bestiary book

[@trioofone8911]

What do these Giths have against yankees?

[@LordDuddy77]

Just in time...I needed this for today's session cause I really need a boss idea. So thank you Luke :) much obliged

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

My boss monsters always have exactly as many hit points as their stat block says they have... Are the munchkins gone? My boss monsters also always have as many magic shields, iuon stones, and secondary hp bars as they need for the fight to last long enough for every member of the party to fire off at least one cool ability or land at least one big hit. As for legendary actions, my favorite comes from an old 3.5 Dragon magazine I read years ago. There was an article in it on spells made for and by dragons. One of the spells turned the dragon's breath weapon into an elemental that persisted for several rounds. . All my bosses with breath weapons have a trait that summons elementals made of their breath weapon element when they use their breath weapons.

[@johnl340]

So if WOTC does not back down are you going stop covering releases of new content from them?

[@arronlock82]

This was just a ridiculously helpful video for my current campaign. Thank you

[@jasonmewhinney7852]

I'm using a oni that grows in power along with the characters. first growth is the old ogre-titan transformation and if the characters get to the point where they can handle it the second growth will be half-fiend.

[@mke3053]

Have you player Way of the Wicked... there is an ally just like that... Grumblejack!

[@jasonmewhinney7852]

@@mke3053 no i haven't heard of this before but i just started playing 5e in the last year and haven't played in a while last played 3.5 about 7-8 years ago

[@olivierdesjardins4911]

Why do I feel like you can freestyle almost everything? Who ACTUALLY cares about CR? Just give them cool abilities, pace the combat well and give them enough hp or resistances so that your group's average damage will give your baddy time to use each of them at least once, and be enough to down a PC.

[@ShellySummers]

I decided on the spot last night to give my lt legendary actions but no resistances. Needless to say, they seemed to enjoy the surprise of some real Anarchy but the bady was still beatable since it was 2 clerics and a paladin

[@cermence3931]

2:09 What IS a Legendary Creature? 4:20 Flying Sword -> Rime's Embrace 5:28 Challenge Rating 7:38 Legendary Resistances 9:55 Challenge Rating Considerations 11:50 Legendary Actions, 13:10 Examples, 16:00 Action Economy 1v5 18:10 Challenge Rating Considerations 19:50 Lair Actions 24:20 Challenge Rating Considerations

[@robsherwood5934]

"What could I have done to make this a better boss fight?" Nothing. Boss fight suck. All of them. Always. Why do DMs always get frustrated when their players use their skills and abilities effectively? The proper title for this video: "How to make your boss fights sucks as much as video games"

[@andrewhalmo656]

This is great way to make your boss monster more fun!

[@couver73]

One other way I would make Legendary Resistance at least more interesting and not unsatisfying for players to deal with is to have it give the effect of Legendary Resistance, but it's at the cost of something the monster benefits from, such as losing the benefits of a certain trait or even lose all temporary hit points if an ability it has would let it do so somewhat frequently. So, yeah, they succeed on the save, but then become exposed in other ways that your players can take advantage of and adapt to put the monster in the ground. Just a thought.

[@tysondennis1016]

I decided to do a bit of homebrew, and make a green hag who can take two actions per turn, as well as an expanded spell list. Thing is, if an singular enemy is gonna get curbstomped by the party, I give it buffs until it can give them a run for their money.

[@AudaciousAce1989]

Thats why I almost NEVER pre make my bosses. I usually improvise to fit the story. I have a rough idea of its HP, damage and special abilities but its better to tweak and modify on the fly so the battle can be more epic

[@CooperAATE]

Decent video, thanks for sharing

[@dabluflcn]

Tomb of annihilation’s atropal cry ability was devastating during the climactic final battle in a campaign I played in.

[@rorybeckstrom9602]

I have a coven of 3 hags that have legendary resistance and legendary actions, and beefed up hp (150) and spell casting options

[@andrewhalmo656]

I wouldn’t have been to surprise if you used a flying frying pan instead, that had a lair action of recruiting sizzling pieces of bacon to attract on initiative 20

[@maxwellshields6277]

Great idea, I like adding modest abilities that don’t immediately crank the CR to ridiculous levels.

[@carlflaherty2215]

I'm surprised that you're still making D&D 5E content.

[@supersaiyanjesus-sg]

This kind of language is not helpful. What do you mean you failed? 5E failed you.

[@user-25352]

10:40 wrong table - it's for legendary actions, not resistances and such

[@theincrediblefella7984]

will i be able to purchase Lairs and Legends and Loot and Lore hardcover later on or was the kickstarter all there was?

[@TheFireMouseYT]

The image at 0:08 is not the githyanki leader. That is the githzerai leader

[@andrewprovencher3400]

alternative advice, don't play d&d and use a game system more suited to cinematic combat

[@tabletopgamingwithwolfphototec]

Pathfinder goblins are so much fun.

[@gregcolley4596]

I think I’m going to make a Bacon loving Goblin

[@mke3053]

Pathfinder drawings are so better than dnd.

[@jonathonrobinson44]

Gonna use this to beef up a couple of hag sisters

[@JohnKay79]

Swarm of bats as a legendary boss..?