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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6687751" data-attributes="member: 5834">How did the game designers decide the Balor's AC? You want to create a legendary creature, you should have an idea of who you want to be able to be it. That is the essence of encounter design. When you make a monster book, you're asking yourself, "What level character is this creature made for?" Then you design it accordingly. AC is not how hard you are to hit necessarily. It's how hard it is to land a hit that does damage. If you raise the Balor's AC, narratively speaking you describe hits as glancing off its ancient demonic skin. Just as if a quick creature is missed, you describe it as dodging. Or a highly skilled fighter might deflect the blow with its sword. You know how this is, Exploder. You use the tools at your disposal like AC and damage resistance/immunity to develop the challenge you think a creature should be. In 5E damage resistance/immunity is ineffective. Resistance is pretty weak. Immunity is an on/off ability that either works too well or not at all. So your main means to prevent easy hits and killing in 5E is hit points (boost them to enormous levels) or AC (stop damaging hits). My experience is DR is very weak and nearly useless. It seemed strong until we started playing. Then it became apparent it was a nearly useless ability.</blockquote>