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

[Calm_EyE]

As many others wrote in this and other Posts, put minions.

If you do not for plot / style reasons: Use insane amounts of hitpoints, legendary saves (so no oneshotting / disabling), high AC (full plate +1, ring of protection, buff spells, stoneskin potions/ displacement /invisibility whatever), or get the Party into disadvantage somehow. Everything is possible it is not that hard if you put a bit of thinking into the specific Situation.

I had a AC21 fighter with 20 Str and 150 HP with + 9 to hit vs. the 4 man Level 5 Party lately and it occupied them well, especially since they could not go all out in the Situation at Hand.

I second this post and just want to add that adding minions really adds to the fight for more characters as well. Martial characters tend to be very good at single-target damage while casters can really do big swathing hits on several minions. As well as having a lot of battlefield control and disabling abilities.

So, in short I find that it will be more fun and engaging for more parts of the party.

 

[Wiseblood]

Lair actions should, I think, give the players something to deal with. It should not be just damage. The pit trap with the Master Thief was excellent as was the arrival of thugs posted by Prakriti. Since the BBEG doesn't seem to be doing much to initiate it and the action economy is intact.

 

[VikingLegion]

As many others wrote in this and other Posts, put minions.

If you do not for plot / style reasons: Use insane amounts of hitpoints, legendary saves (so no oneshotting / disabling), high AC (full plate +1, ring of protection, buff spells, stoneskin potions/ displacement /invisibility whatever), or get the Party into disadvantage somehow. Everything is possible it is not that hard if you put a bit of thinking into the specific Situation.

I had a AC21 fighter with 20 Str and 150 HP with + 9 to hit vs. the 4 man Level 5 Party lately and it occupied them well, especially since they could not go all out in the Situation at Hand.

The problem with loading down your NPC with a fabulous set of magical armor - +1 full plate, ring(s) of protection, maybe even a magical tower shield with some kind of elemental resistance - is that, yes, you made a foe with impressive AC. But what happens when he's defeated? Now the PC fighter in your group is a juggernaut and you will have to deal with that in subsequent encounters.

You did mention buff spells and potions, which I favor, but now you need to justify the big bad drinking a bunch of brews and casting spells *just* before the PCs enter his chamber. That's fine if they have to tussle with some bodyguards in the next room first and the noise alerts him. But what if they get the drop on him? Not only will he be really underpowered for the fight, but now many of those potions, much like the armor, make their way into the player's inventories. I'm not saying they shouldn't get some loot for a hard-earned win, but not so much that they ramp way up in power. All that leads to is you making your next boss mob even more ridiculous in an ever-escalating arms race.

I sometimes make use of little one-shot trinkets, like maybe a pocket mirror that when dropped on the ground (and shattered), instantly causes 5 mirror image duplicates of the owner to spring up around him. I realize it's not a whole lot different from a potion, but I rule that something like the mirror can be used as a free action, as it doesn't require unstoppering a flask and letting your guard down to quaff a drink.

 

[Coroc]

[MENTION=6794627]VikingLegion[/MENTION] #43 Everything Comes with a downside, if you go a more realistic way for equiment (As i do) with bulk encumbrance and one size does not fit all especially when it comes to full suits of armor you can easily avoid a few. The only char who could have used the full gothic plate of the warrior in my example (AC19 in my game) was lacking STR18 and 1 1/2 feet of Body length to wear it. And he would have had difficulties to transport a second suit of armor (in case he decided to adapt it to him for later use) , since the group was in the wild.

A ring of protection is very powerful, so if i would hand out one i would ensure that the cloth wearing mage would get it and no one else (Yes i can be quite ridiculous in such things, like e.g. : the dying owner of the ring gifts this to Magus (it won't work for anyone else ) ).

These are typical situations where i heavily recommend to enforce rule Zero and be old School (No, the rogue cannot have the ring of protection+3 to get to AC24, he would also complain if the mage took the +3 Magic dagger of backstabbing, which of course should go to him).

 

[VikingLegion]

@VikingLegion #43 Everything Comes with a downside, if you go a more realistic way for equiment (As i do) with bulk encumbrance and one size does not fit all especially when it comes to full suits of armor you can easily avoid a few. The only char who could have used the full gothic plate of the warrior in my example (AC19 in my game) was lacking STR18 and 1 1/2 feet of Body length to wear it. And he would have had difficulties to transport a second suit of armor (in case he decided to adapt it to him for later use) , since the group was in the wild.

A ring of protection is very powerful, so if i would hand out one i would ensure that the cloth wearing mage would get it and no one else (Yes i can be quite ridiculous in such things, like e.g. : the dying owner of the ring gifts this to Magus (it won't work for anyone else ) ).

These are typical situations where i heavily recommend to enforce rule Zero and be old School (No, the rogue cannot have the ring of protection+3 to get to AC24, he would also complain if the mage took the +3 Magic dagger of backstabbing, which of course should go to him).

Mounts, Bags of Holding, Tenser discs, etc. - so many ways for creative players to circumvent encumbrance rules.

A magical ring will shrink/expand to fit the wearer, I always assumed armor would as well. As long as it's not a ridiculous mismatch, like the party slays an iron-clad ogre and then the PC Halfling fighter decides he wants it. But if it's roughly human sized, I'd never thought to deny the players. Now, you could have the boss immolate upon death and have all his gear destroyed, but do that too many times and you might have some grumbling players that feel you will just keep using this gimmick over and over to make sure they never get anything.

Lastly, I'm not trying to start a fight here, but I vehemently disagree with you mandating which items go to which players. My players, and I think most others, are smart enough to dole out magical rewards where they are most needed to help the overall team. I can thankfully say I never had a table where players fought over a ring of protection. They might debate on whether it's more important to give it to the lowest defense character (the mage) to shore him up, or give it to the frontline fighter because he is ideally taking the most heat. But in the end, they will work it out amongst themselves to the satisfaction of all. Am I in the minority in that line of thinking?