D&D 5E Lair and Legendary actions for high-level humanoid "Boss" encounters.

[Prakriti]

Some more ideas:

Warlord
Legendary Actions:
* Overpower (1 action): The Warlord makes a single, powerful attack against one enemy of its choice. Make a contested Strength check. If the Warlord succeeds, then the enemy is knocked prone by the force of the blow.
* Mark (1 action): The Warlord marks one enemy, closely following their movements on the battlefield. If the Warlord attacks the marked target on its next turn, it does so with advantage, and each hit deals maximum damage plus an additional 1d12.
* Whirlwind (2 actions): The Warlord makes a wide, sweeping blow. All creatures within 10' must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 17) or take damage equal the Warlord's normal weapon attack damage.
* Charge (2 actions): The Warlord moves up to 20' in a straight line, attacking every enemy in its path (moving through enemy spaces as though they were unoccupied). In addition, any creature in the Warlord's path must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 17) or be knocked prone. This saving throw occurs after the attack takes place.


Lair Actions:
* Help Arrives: 1d2+1 knights join the fight.
* Rallying Cry: All creatures under the Warlord's command may use their reaction to make an attack against an enemy within range.
* Horn-call: The Warlord blows his hunting horn, which emits an ear-splitting blast. All enemies within 200 feet must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 17) or be stunned until the end of their next turn. On a successful save, a creature cannot be stunned by this horn-call again until 24 hours have passed.

 

[jasper]

legendary 2 actions. Free sneak attack. Free swing and if hits, apply sneak attack to target. This could be change to free class attack. What ever is the best class attack is applied. For spell casters use a spell 3rd or less. This will burn thru spells slots faster.

 

[hastur_nz]

Beef them up to be more like a PC of their hit dice, so more powers, give them their full proficiency bonus (i.e. based on HD not CR), useful magic items, and so on.

And seriously, take the time to make sure it's not just 4+ PC's vs 1 NPC, that's just doomed to failure. Make sure the NPC starts with allies that are also a credible threat not just one-hit speed-bumps, and don't be afraid to make it dynamic like additional allies arrive each round as long as condition X exists.

But I agree with others here - 'humanoid' BBEG shouldn't be stacked with powers that PC's don't - most people are OK that "monsters are different", especially a boss-monster, but for many, allowing an NPC to also have lair actions and legendary actions etc, is a step too far and breaks immersion (unless there's some strong story reason why your NPC somehow became super-powered).

Also, it's way more fun for players, to have to deal with a dymamic, multi-threat, combat, than just wail away at a single foe until it's dead.

For example, the last "human BBEG" my group fought, transformed into a kraken-beast that had a multi-step 'solo' setup ala Angry DM / 4e, and every round town guard(s) was transformed into a Sea Spawn; also, an important NPC was running away (which caused a PC to chase him). Just a simple example - most of my BBEG fights are with monsters of some kind - I tend to keep my 'humanoid' NPC's out of direct combat with the PC's (bad-guys exist, and sometimes meet the PC's, but almost always they are untouchable - Age of Worms campaign was a good example of this, where most of the NPC's were in a grey area not designed for cannon-fodder).

 

[Jester David]

Legendary actions are a bit tougher, simply because should the NPC be able to do something that breaks normal action economy, players might be annoyed that their characters can't achieve the same things. Sure, we can have a high-level wizard or cleric NPC be able to cast a second spell as a legendary action, but a someone playing a magic-using character might not be too happy at that, even if is just a cantrip (which is something liches can do, but liches are more a monster than NPCs). Something like a radiant/necrotic AoE burst for clerics/paladins (or similarly bursts of sound/thunder damage for bards) could definitely work, but my ideas are a bit thin on the ground here.

I think that complaint will mostly come from legacy 3e players who are used to NPCs playing with the same rules as PCs. But that hasn't been true in over a decade. And prior to 3e it wasn't a concern either.
Plus, PCs regularly do things that NPCs cannot, due to feats and the like. Even a high CR warrior type NPC will be hard pressed to do half the things as a PC fighter.

Just make the NPC different. I think most players are used to video game monsters and spellcasters being able to do different things than players.

Just make sure there's a flavour. Exotic and specialised techniques and the like.

Or, alternatively, in place of Legendary Actions give the characters more reactions each turn and a larger list of reactions that can be triggered. That feels less impossible since it's closer to what PCs are capable of.

 

[EternalRain]

Legendary actions are a bit tougher, simply because should the NPC be able to do something that breaks normal action economy, players might be annoyed that their characters can't achieve the same things. Sure, we can have a high-level wizard or cleric NPC be able to cast a second spell as a legendary action, but a someone playing a magic-using character might not be too happy at that, even if is just a cantrip (which is something liches can do, but liches are more a monster than NPCs). Something like a radiant/necrotic AoE burst for clerics/paladins (or similarly bursts of sound/thunder damage for bards) could definitely work, but my ideas are a bit thin on the ground here.

i can't speak for all players, but I view all monsters as NPCs and don't have a problem with either category doing things we cannot.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I think that complaint will mostly come from legacy 3e players who are used to NPCs playing with the same rules as PCs. But that hasn't been true in over a decade. And prior to 3e it wasn't a concern either.

For legacy 3E players, it remained true up until 5E came out, because they were playing Pathfinder rather than 4E.

The idea that NPCs could have special powers that PCs could not have was a concept unique to 4E. In earlier editions, NPCs either had the same powers as PCs, or they did not have powers at all.

 

[Jester David]

For legacy 3E players, it remained true up until 5E came out, because they were playing Pathfinder rather than 4E.

The idea that NPCs could have special powers that PCs could not have was a concept unique to 4E. In earlier editions, NPCs either had the same powers as PCs, or they did not have powers at all.

Unique NPC powers weren’t uncommon in 1e and 2e. They just tended to be magical as there wasn’t a lot of martial powers or manuvers.

4e and 5e have much more wiggle room since fighters do have powers and not all fighters can do the same thing. It’s easy enough to handwave an NPC’s unique skills as a specialized feat that’s underpowered for PCs. Or a specialized subclass with a organizational or racial prerequisite. The kind of thing 3e did all the time with NPC subclasses. The difference is you don’t need to stat-up a full 10 level class just to justify the orc chief or goblin maurader or bandit lord have an extra ability. The legendary warrior NPC is just the equivalent of that NPC with all ten levels of a PrC.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Unique NPC powers weren’t uncommon in 1e and 2e. They just tended to be magical as there wasn’t a lot of martial powers or manuvers.

In my experience, most such powers came in the form of unique spells and magic items, so they were (at least nominally) available to the PCs. Of course, PCs could also create unique spells and magic items. There was never a need for an excuse that NPCs just "worked differently" than PCs.

4e and 5e have much more wiggle room since fighters do have powers and not all fighters can do the same thing. It’s easy enough to handwave an NPC’s unique skills as a specialized feat that’s underpowered for PCs. Or a specialized subclass with a organizational or racial prerequisite. The kind of thing 3e did all the time with NPC subclasses.

Fair enough, but I don't think that Legendary Actions really fall into that category.

 

[77IM]

Be wary of giving boss humanoids extra powers that other humanoids can't get -- it can seriously interfere with player decision-making. If a guy is tough because of his magic items or magic powers, sure; word gets around, and it's something visual and obvious. The players might try some stuff to counteract the magic or cope with it. For example, I consider the fact that the players could separate the boss from his minions to be a feature; that's clever game play, and a truly smart boss will travel with bodyguards at all times so it won't be easy.

On the other hand, if a mighty warrior looks just like any other might warrior and busts out crazy legendary actions, it's going to feel artificial and the players may feel "cheated." Not because they themselves can't get those abilities -- but because nothing in the game-universe allows for those abilities. It may feel too "gamey" and reduce immersion, because the only way to wrap your brain around a regular dude with legendary actions is on a meta-game level.

A good middle ground, I think, is to describe the legendary actions in-universe as unique and special real traits, possibly as a form of Epic Boons. (Actually, Legendary Resistance sounds like a pretty reasonable Epic Boon, even for PCs to earn.) So, yeah, the Evil Warlord isn't just a high-level fighter who happens to have legendary actions "just because" -- he's trained with the Marilith Commandos of Orcus in the Abyss, and returned to the material plane with knowledge of how to perfectly anticipate his enemy's movements! The Arch-Archmage isn't just casting bonus cantrips because "well a lich can do it and we wanted this guy to be hard," he's unlocked the ancient forbidden art of Weave-Splicing! The Assassin Queen isn't sliding around the battlefield stabbing people when it's not her turn because "well otherwise the fight would be over before she could act," she's subconsciously channeling ki into her nervous system, a technique she developed after meditating in a pit of vipers for 10 years!

Stuff like that can bridge the gap between the game-mechanical requirements of a legendary creature and the in-game reality that people just can't do that kind of thing.

 

[Jester David]

In my experience, most such powers came in the form of unique spells and magic items, so they were (at least nominally) available to the PCs. Of course, PCs could also create unique spells and magic items. There was never a need for an excuse that NPCs just "worked differently" than PCs.

Excluding curses, magical boons, special training, unique kits, and the like. Most of my experiences with NPCs in 2e was Ravenloft's Darklords, and most of those had unique little powers.

But, really, NPCs weren't as much of a focus as opponents in 1e and 2e for that reason.

Fair enough, but I don't think that Legendary Actions really fall into that category.

Why not?

Bandit Lord Martial Archetype
Prerequisite: Must be of evil alignment and have kicked a puppy once each day for the last year

Bully: When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you are trained in Intimidate
Meanie: Starting at 7th level, you get nothing new. This is a dead level.
Legendary: When you reach level 10, you gain a Legendary Action. You gain an additional action at level 15 and 18.
Resisty: At 10th level you gain a Legendary Resistance. This increases by one at levels 15 and 18.

Seems fair and relatively balanced. But it's needlessly complicated and requires you to stat-up the monster as a full character rather than as an NPC.
And we don't need a repeat of 3e (or Pathfinder) where there are dozens of feats and prestige classes and variant classes that players could technically kinda sorta take, but really exist just so the NPC humanoids can do something unique. Goblin racial feats, orc prestige classes, etc. (There were many. Orc warlord, orc scout, orc blademaster, eye of Gruumsh, blessed of Gruumsh, battle howler of Gruumsh, etc.)

But that's needlessly complicated. NPCs don't need a dozen abilities. A CR 6 NPC fighter shouldn't have all the abilities of a level 12 fighter, because even a Champion will be unwieldy and they won't get the opportunity to make use of half. They don't need the ability to Action Surge and make a half-dozen attacks that recharge over a short rest, especially since that really isn't fun for the target who is being nova-ed upon.
Instead, they can make more off turn attacks. Or move. Or trip. Stuff that is within the realm of the fighter or Battlemaster but executed slightly differently.

Okay, the mook town guard shouldn't be able to so anything the fighter is incapable of doing. That seems reasonable, as the fighter is the best at fighting. But the watch captain of the town guard also shouldn't be a legendary creature. They're kinda the opposite.
But what about the elite Lord Commander of the Knights of Solamnia? Or the grand champion gladiator of the Great Colosseum of Tyr who has never lost a bout? That sounds like the type of unique character that would have learned unique and personal fighting moves that the PC cannot replicated without a few years of practice. Signature techniques they have taught no one, or have been passed along from master to apprentice. After all, fictional narratives are full of specialised fighting styles (sword techniques, martial arts moves, etc) that require special training to master.