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Legend
[MENTION=6866720]Bootlebat[/MENTION] If you're interested in the inspiration for legendary monsters in 5e D&D, you might check out Planescape origins of legendary monsters where I tracked down what I believe is the first AD&D reference to "Monsters of Legend" (long before 4e's solo monsters). Imagine the Nemean Lion of Hercules myth and its impenetrable hide, and you've got the right idea.
Borrowing the boss (video gaming) definition from Wikipedia. Emphasis mine.
Right away one possible point of difference between D&D 5e's legendary monsters and video game bosses is that D&D legendary monsters don't necessarily require special preparation and/or knowledge; a DM can introduce that into the battle, but it's not really part of the Monster Manual.
The closest thing D&D seems to have to this is whether the legendary monster is encountered in its lair or not, which can make a huge difference in how the confrontation plays out. It was for this reason that AD&D monsters stats had an entry for "Frequency encountered" which listed "% chance in lair", because lairs meant limited flight for dragons & presence of treasure hoard. What's cool in 5e is that they've balanced this by making lairs more of an environmental challenge/hazard.
Expanding on the idea of special preparation and/or knowledge... consider this trait of some video game bosses...
Again, this is not part of any D&D legendary monster I've read or run. A good DM can include such elements, but that's on the DM. Interestingly, this really feeds back into the Planescape origins of legendary monsters, wherein "monsters of legend" had one very strong mythical defense against which players had to puzzle a workaround (e.g. lifting that cyclops immune to damage while in contact with the earth off his feet).
Furthermore...
Definitely not part of D&D legendary monsters. Certainly there hints of this during 4e with blooded condition triggers, and there were fans during 4e who incorporated phases and defense changes, but that was all fan effort, nothing official.
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I've only run a handful of legendary monsters so far, but I've slowly been incorporating these ideas such that when I do run my next legendary monster, I'll make a handful of tweaks:
Borrowing the boss (video gaming) definition from Wikipedia. Emphasis mine.
In video gaming, a boss is a significant computer-controlled enemy. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Boss battles are generally seen at a climax of a particular section of the game, usually at the end of a stage or level, or guarding a specific objective, and the boss enemy is generally far stronger than the opponents the player has faced up to that point. For example, in a combat game all regular enemies might use pistols while the boss uses a machine gun. A boss enemy is quite often larger in size than other enemies and the player character. At times, bosses are very hard, even impossible to defeat without being adequately prepared and/or knowing the correct fighting approach. Bosses take strategy and special knowledge to defeat, such as how to attack weak points or avoiding specific attacks. A final boss is often the main antagonist of a game's story.
Right away one possible point of difference between D&D 5e's legendary monsters and video game bosses is that D&D legendary monsters don't necessarily require special preparation and/or knowledge; a DM can introduce that into the battle, but it's not really part of the Monster Manual.
The closest thing D&D seems to have to this is whether the legendary monster is encountered in its lair or not, which can make a huge difference in how the confrontation plays out. It was for this reason that AD&D monsters stats had an entry for "Frequency encountered" which listed "% chance in lair", because lairs meant limited flight for dragons & presence of treasure hoard. What's cool in 5e is that they've balanced this by making lairs more of an environmental challenge/hazard.
Expanding on the idea of special preparation and/or knowledge... consider this trait of some video game bosses...
Some bosses require the player to defeat them in a certain way that may be unusual compared to normal attacks, such as using a certain weapon, hitting the boss in a certain area, or creative use of the environment (e.g. dropping a hanging chandelier on the boss, or pushing the boss off of a high ledge). Story-centered boss fights may include objectives other than simply defeating the boss, such as protecting a computer-controlled partner during the battle or sequence.
Again, this is not part of any D&D legendary monster I've read or run. A good DM can include such elements, but that's on the DM. Interestingly, this really feeds back into the Planescape origins of legendary monsters, wherein "monsters of legend" had one very strong mythical defense against which players had to puzzle a workaround (e.g. lifting that cyclops immune to damage while in contact with the earth off his feet).
Furthermore...
A number of bosses can also become harder to defeat after taking damage, whether by becoming invulnerable to a certain attack, able to use different or stronger attacks, capable of moving faster, and so on in order to prevent players from using a static strategy. Battles against such bosses are typically described as being divided into multiple "phases", with each phase after the first being triggered after the boss' health drops below a certain threshold.
Definitely not part of D&D legendary monsters. Certainly there hints of this during 4e with blooded condition triggers, and there were fans during 4e who incorporated phases and defense changes, but that was all fan effort, nothing official.
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I've only run a handful of legendary monsters so far, but I've slowly been incorporating these ideas such that when I do run my next legendary monster, I'll make a handful of tweaks:
- Legends. IMHO, there could be more of a narrative focus for legendary monsters – what sort of legends are told about these legendary monsters? or what hooks/inspiration can we offer DMs to craft their own legends? I'll be introducing legends and rumors the PCs can learn in advance.
- Mythic defense. I'll be looking for a way to incorporate a more mythic defense into the legendary monster that is tied to its story, rather than something generic like "Legendary Resistances." I really like the idea of conditions being reduced in effectiveness rather than being totally shutdown by "Legendary Resistances" (e.g. paralyzation preventing reactions/bonus actions/legendary actions rather than total paralyzation), but implementing that will depend on each monster's story.
- Weakness. A special weakness of some kind that the PCs can use to bypass the monster's mythic defense, and possibly some kind of personality/behavioral flaw they can exploit. Possibly coming up with a called shot ruling when appropriate. This rewards advance preparation and/or clever thinking.
- In-Lair vs. Out-of-Lair. If there's a chance the legendary monster will be encountered out of its lair, I'll think about how its strategies will differ, and in both cases will think up how the environment can be used both by PCs and by the monster.
- Something Changes. At some point, the encounter should change at least once, requiring the players to think on their feet and adapt to a new situation, objective, environmental hazard, introduction of minions, or changed stat block (e.g. triggered when reduced to half hit points) of the legendary monster. This is useful because legendary monsters tend to have lots of hit points, meaning longer fights, so keeping it fresh is important. This also can be used to drive home a monster's theme (e.g. a blue dragon causing the floor of a ruined temple to slope precipitously, spilling debris and PCs along the flagstone toward a yawning chasm of hissing sands, with ancient ruins of the city the blue dragon destroyed below).