With all the discussion aroudn monster design, I thought it would be cool to look at the various bosses of 2024 5e. What monsters are bossing, and which monsters you should be tossing. This is a good chance to talk about monster design in actual examples.
I will work through some monsters and add more over time.
I will assume a boss monster is a CR10 or higher just to narrow it down. While most of them will be legendries, there may be a few that still fit the bill of boss monster without needing that status.
Lastly I'll give the monsters a quick and dirty rating:
A - Really great boss monster
C - Decent, has some issues but still pretty good
F - Not great, pretty lacking in boss qualities.
Aboleth - A
Animal Lord - F
Arch Hag - A
I will work through some monsters and add more over time.
I will assume a boss monster is a CR10 or higher just to narrow it down. While most of them will be legendries, there may be a few that still fit the bill of boss monster without needing that status.
Lastly I'll give the monsters a quick and dirty rating:
A - Really great boss monster
C - Decent, has some issues but still pretty good
F - Not great, pretty lacking in boss qualities.
Aboleth - A
The Aboleth is one of my favorite boss monsters. Its actually not the scariest monster, at CR10 its actually lacking some in the combat department, but it delivers so many other great qualities.
The Roleplay Factor: Psionic Projection allows the Aboleth to interact with the party without being in the same room. As every good Dm knows, the second your boss gets anywhere near a PC it always seems to come to blows before you get off that villainous monologue. The Aboleth can deal, taunt, or just laugh manically and the players have to grim and bear it, great for build up. The consume memories ability while not that strong in combat is incredibly strong for roleplay. It explains how the Aboleth can have intense esoteric knowledge. It also lets you do creepy things like kill a friend of the party, and then the Aboleth engages them....with that character's memories.
The End Combat FU: Players get quite used to dealing with damage, its just mundane by this point in their careers. But the mucus curse is very annoying, a great way to ensure the players never forget tangling with an aboleth.
The Ultimate Recurring Villain: While the combat starts of an Aboleth aren't anything to write home about, the reason it is such an amazing boss is Eldritch Restoration. Sure you can kill the Aboleth....but it doesn't matter. It always always always comes back. And so it forces the players to change their thinking, they can't just body slam this guy like any other boss. They might have to look at things like imprisonment or just how to hold off its plans rather than defeat it entirely. Most Dms know how incredibly difficult it can be for a boss to get away from the first combat with the PCs, and so being able to create a true recurring villain can be very difficult. But with the Aboleth, its baked in to the design.
The Roleplay Factor: Psionic Projection allows the Aboleth to interact with the party without being in the same room. As every good Dm knows, the second your boss gets anywhere near a PC it always seems to come to blows before you get off that villainous monologue. The Aboleth can deal, taunt, or just laugh manically and the players have to grim and bear it, great for build up. The consume memories ability while not that strong in combat is incredibly strong for roleplay. It explains how the Aboleth can have intense esoteric knowledge. It also lets you do creepy things like kill a friend of the party, and then the Aboleth engages them....with that character's memories.
The End Combat FU: Players get quite used to dealing with damage, its just mundane by this point in their careers. But the mucus curse is very annoying, a great way to ensure the players never forget tangling with an aboleth.
The Ultimate Recurring Villain: While the combat starts of an Aboleth aren't anything to write home about, the reason it is such an amazing boss is Eldritch Restoration. Sure you can kill the Aboleth....but it doesn't matter. It always always always comes back. And so it forces the players to change their thinking, they can't just body slam this guy like any other boss. They might have to look at things like imprisonment or just how to hold off its plans rather than defeat it entirely. Most Dms know how incredibly difficult it can be for a boss to get away from the first combat with the PCs, and so being able to create a true recurring villain can be very difficult. But with the Aboleth, its baked in to the design.
Animal Lord - F
As a CR20 boss monster, you are expecting this guy to bring the pain. He....does not.
The damage on the animal lord is pretty abysmal, numbers that no party attacking this guy will take seriously. One thing he does do right though is getting 3 damage instances with his main arsenals (two attacks + animal spirit). 3 instances is a sweet spot at higher levels because it lets you drop a PC to 0 on the first hit, and then burn through their death saves with the other two damage instances. Its one of the only ways to credibly threaten high level players (who others can easily revive their comrades at 0 hp and continue about their day).
The conditions the Animal lord generates are not too scary and high level party will often have defenses against them (the captivated aura is the strongest arsenal but its a short range effect and again the monster doesn't come with any tools to really take advantage of it).
And that's it, there are no cool plot or roleplaying things built it, no special defenses. His AC and HP are not special for his CR. So this guy bites it hard.
The damage on the animal lord is pretty abysmal, numbers that no party attacking this guy will take seriously. One thing he does do right though is getting 3 damage instances with his main arsenals (two attacks + animal spirit). 3 instances is a sweet spot at higher levels because it lets you drop a PC to 0 on the first hit, and then burn through their death saves with the other two damage instances. Its one of the only ways to credibly threaten high level players (who others can easily revive their comrades at 0 hp and continue about their day).
The conditions the Animal lord generates are not too scary and high level party will often have defenses against them (the captivated aura is the strongest arsenal but its a short range effect and again the monster doesn't come with any tools to really take advantage of it).
And that's it, there are no cool plot or roleplaying things built it, no special defenses. His AC and HP are not special for his CR. So this guy bites it hard.
Arch Hag - A
The Arch Hag is another example of a monster that isn't too threatening for their CR but comes with enough fun abilities that can shake up the normal combat model and make for a very entertaining fight (or series of fights).
Recurring Villain: The highlight of the Arch Hag is the anathema, which serves three functions. First, it allows a DM to throw in the Arch Hag as a mid game boss that is quite challenging but still beatable by a good group....but the Arch Hag doesn't die. So this lets it be a good recurring villain later.
Second, it gives the players a fun fact finding aspect to defeating the hag. This could be social, utilizing divinations, or quests to find ancient libraries with such knowledge. It can be the cornerstone of a campaign if you want it to be.
Third, it greatly changes the dynamics of the final boss fight. Presuming the Hag knows the Pcs have the anathema (which is a bit on Dm discretion....but I think the Hag would absolutely know as it would recoil at the sensation of it), the Hags job is not to kill the PCs per say but to get rid of anathema. This could turn into a zany game of keep away. But more than that, the limited range of the anathema means the players have to coordinate. They can't just blast the hag at range, but time it to ensure the anathema is in range. It also gives the hag options.... for example a Hag near death could simply run away and kill themself! Which saves them from the effect.
How much screw is too much?: The Hag really really hates spellcasters. Between 4 Legendary resistances, counterspell....and a counterspell that actually prevents most spellcasting for the 2nd round (which in dnd combat terms is practically forever), spellcasters are going to have a really rough time. Some might argue its a bit too much focus on screwing the spellcasters, for a boss fight (especially a possible final boss fight) you want all players to participate, and this is one fight where it might just be the fighters versus the hag. Of course with hypnotic pattern, she might screw the fighters as well.
A bevy of curses: All of the hag's curses are cool and its great how some of them just auto work. The fact that reactions are turned off for a number of PCs for a lot of the fight can shake up a lot of normal play. Also having multiple curses ensures you can't just wish some immunity to all of the curses, you would have to pick. The tongue twister one is both very powerful but can also be fun if your players do like to talk during a fight.
A good escape option: Dimension Door as a legendary action is a wonderful escape card. At high levels especially mobility is very important, and there are so many ways to lock down a monster and just beat it to hell. D Door on tap provides an escape option the second the combat starts going against the hag (or possibly as a response to the anathema, providing another thing the Pcs have to keep in mind to actually beat the hag). But further, it lets the DM be very creative with the lair design. No need for doors when your an arch hag! You can make a lair of rooms with no doors, giving the Hag places to retreat and heal or use potions or release nasty beats or whatever your creative heart desires.
Recurring Villain: The highlight of the Arch Hag is the anathema, which serves three functions. First, it allows a DM to throw in the Arch Hag as a mid game boss that is quite challenging but still beatable by a good group....but the Arch Hag doesn't die. So this lets it be a good recurring villain later.
Second, it gives the players a fun fact finding aspect to defeating the hag. This could be social, utilizing divinations, or quests to find ancient libraries with such knowledge. It can be the cornerstone of a campaign if you want it to be.
Third, it greatly changes the dynamics of the final boss fight. Presuming the Hag knows the Pcs have the anathema (which is a bit on Dm discretion....but I think the Hag would absolutely know as it would recoil at the sensation of it), the Hags job is not to kill the PCs per say but to get rid of anathema. This could turn into a zany game of keep away. But more than that, the limited range of the anathema means the players have to coordinate. They can't just blast the hag at range, but time it to ensure the anathema is in range. It also gives the hag options.... for example a Hag near death could simply run away and kill themself! Which saves them from the effect.
How much screw is too much?: The Hag really really hates spellcasters. Between 4 Legendary resistances, counterspell....and a counterspell that actually prevents most spellcasting for the 2nd round (which in dnd combat terms is practically forever), spellcasters are going to have a really rough time. Some might argue its a bit too much focus on screwing the spellcasters, for a boss fight (especially a possible final boss fight) you want all players to participate, and this is one fight where it might just be the fighters versus the hag. Of course with hypnotic pattern, she might screw the fighters as well.
A bevy of curses: All of the hag's curses are cool and its great how some of them just auto work. The fact that reactions are turned off for a number of PCs for a lot of the fight can shake up a lot of normal play. Also having multiple curses ensures you can't just wish some immunity to all of the curses, you would have to pick. The tongue twister one is both very powerful but can also be fun if your players do like to talk during a fight.
A good escape option: Dimension Door as a legendary action is a wonderful escape card. At high levels especially mobility is very important, and there are so many ways to lock down a monster and just beat it to hell. D Door on tap provides an escape option the second the combat starts going against the hag (or possibly as a response to the anathema, providing another thing the Pcs have to keep in mind to actually beat the hag). But further, it lets the DM be very creative with the lair design. No need for doors when your an arch hag! You can make a lair of rooms with no doors, giving the Hag places to retreat and heal or use potions or release nasty beats or whatever your creative heart desires.
