D&D 5E Bosses should have half as many actions as there are PCs

[d24454_modern]

I believe the best way to solve the problem of bosses not having good action economy would be to give bosses extra turns per PC. Half seems like a good number.

Let's say the boss is fighting a party of four. The boss would get two turns per round. Everybody rolls for Initiative. The DM would roll for Initiative twice for the boss. The turn order would be something like: PC #1, Boss, PC #2, PC #3, Boss, PC #4.

Some extra rules:

• The boss' buffs and debuffs last per Round rather than per turn.
• When a boss casts a spell that takes more than one round, each individual turn counts as "1 round" or 6 sec.

Any other rules you think I should add? Any flaws that you want to point out? Let me know.

 

[tommybahama]

The Ravenloft Mist Hunters adventure I was in gave stars for role play and avoiding certain actions in the adventure. The more stars, the more legendary actions the BBEG had at the end. Some were movement, some were spell effects. It worked out well imho. This was a level 3 adventure.

The BBEG also had minions. They were about equally important to the combat as the legendary actions. I guess each minion is a legendary action of sorts.

 

[KahlessNestor]

This is basically what Lair Actions and Legendary Actions do. No need for a new rule. Also don't do solo fights.

 

[aco175]

I play them like a beholder and have actions, mostly 1 attack, between PC attack. Basically legendary actions.

 

[d24454_modern]

This is basically what Lair Actions and Legendary Actions do. No need for a new rule. Also don't do solo fights.

Yeah, I was mostly thinking of 3.5 and Pathfinder when I made this rule.

I also like solo fights since I only need to keep track of one set of HP when I fight.

 

[ECMO3]

I believe the best way to solve the problem of bosses not having good action economy would be to give bosses extra turns per PC. Half seems like a good number.

Let's say the boss is fighting a party of four. The boss would get two turns per round. Everybody rolls for Initiative. The DM would roll for Initiative twice for the boss. The turn order would be something like: PC #1, Boss, PC #2, PC #3, Boss, PC #4.

Some extra rules:

• The boss' buffs and debuffs last per Round rather than per turn.
• When a boss casts a spell that takes more than one round, each individual turn counts as "1 round" or 6 sec.

Any other rules you think I should add? Any flaws that you want to point out? Let me know.

I think you should pick (or build) a boss with legendary actions to acomplish this. I do not think most monsters should have the ability to take more than 1 normal action per round.

 

[tommybahama]

I also like solo fights since I only need to keep track of one set of HP when I fight.

Check out Sly Flourish's (the Lazy DM) rules for running hordes.

Running Hordes: The Lazy Way to Run Lots of D&D Monsters

Rules Summary

• Tally damage done to any member of the horde in a single tally. Any time that tally is higher than the hit points of a single monster, remove a monster. Round monster hit points to the nearest 5 or 10 to make the math easier.
• Whenever the monsters attack or must make a saving throw, assume one quarter succeeds and round up or down depending on the sitation. Increase this to half if the monsters have advantage or one in ten if they have disadvantage.
• Adjudicate areas of effect by assuming lots of members of the horde are caught in the area. Small areas hit four, medium areas like thunder wave or burning hands hit eight, large areas like fireball or turn undead hit sixteen. Huge areas like circle of death hit thirty two. If the damage done by an area of effect is close to a single monster's hit points, remove the monsters if they fail the saving throw.

 

[Shardstone]

When I have a solo monster, it takes a second turn on initiative 20. If I have a solo monster at a high level, it can take an another turn on initiative 10 or sometimes even initiative 0 too.

It really does make a big, big difference.

 

[d24454_modern]

How do people handle boss fights in 3.5/PF?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This is basically what Lair Actions and Legendary Actions do. No need for a new rule. Also don't do solo fights.

"Don't do solo fights" is less helpful advice than "Make new rules to accomplish the gameplay goal you're trying to accomplish".