Quartz
Hero
It's not a comprehensive list.
-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
D&D 5E Experience with Legendary Resistance: How is it working for you?
- Thread starter Celtavian
- Start date
It's not a comprehensive list.
the Jester
Legend
Man, I can't wait to run a legendary monster!
Hurry up and adventure harder, pcs!
Hurry up and adventure harder, pcs!
I wouldn't worry too much. I've looked extensively. The list is very small. You mentioned two of the most powerful.
Rhenny
Adventurer
I ran 2 Legendary monsters in the playtest. Both worked well. The first was a reskinned version of the Black Dragon that Mearls and Co. released to us early (vs. a level 9 party) The 2nd was a Bugbear God Avatar that I made up (vs. a level 8 party). Both combats were solo, but the group was already depleted of resources. Vs. the Dragon, they had already fought through 3 or 4 Hill Giant and Frost Giant encounters. Vs. the Bugbear God Avatar, they were leaving a collapsing cave after defeating a tribe of Hobgoblins (one Shaman and a number of warriors) and Bugbears (including some Bugbear Warriors, a Bugbear cleric/fighter).
I think most of the times, DMs will want to use Legendary Monsters after the party has been softened up already (or with minions to help harry the party).
As for Legendary Resistance, it works to an extent. It would be totally anti-climactic if the creature fell to a save or suck or save or die spell. Running an Ice Devil in the playtest, we were all surprised when the caster used polymorph and turned it into a goat. If it had Legendary Resistance, no goat (at least not for a few more spells). (Since then, the spell has been changed so that damage done in polymorph does not affect original hit points until overflow is achieved...so the spell won't be as abused now).
The best part about the Legendary creatures is the way they make Legendary actions (3 points worth per round). It surprises the players and makes the creature more deadly, especially if they have a high damage attack or an area of effect attack. In a way, I'm bummed that they took the recharge for breath weapon (for dragons) out of the 5e monster manual. It was really scary when Dragons could use Legendary action to recharge and then hit the group with another breath weapon the next round.
Btw, as long as the party cut down the creature in your example so that sleep had a chance to work, I think the way your party dealt with the foe seemed exciting.
Like someone else said, if the DM wants the creature to be more dangerous, give it more hit points. (I think the examples I ran in the playtest had around 200 hp each) - and both of them lasted between 7-10 rounds. The dragon lasted much longer than it would have because I used the Lair Actions that used to regenerate the dragon's hit points. In the playtest, I think they could gain back 30 or so hit points each round when in lair. I forgot.
I haven't run a Legendary from the 5e rules yet though.
I think most of the times, DMs will want to use Legendary Monsters after the party has been softened up already (or with minions to help harry the party).
As for Legendary Resistance, it works to an extent. It would be totally anti-climactic if the creature fell to a save or suck or save or die spell. Running an Ice Devil in the playtest, we were all surprised when the caster used polymorph and turned it into a goat. If it had Legendary Resistance, no goat (at least not for a few more spells). (Since then, the spell has been changed so that damage done in polymorph does not affect original hit points until overflow is achieved...so the spell won't be as abused now).
The best part about the Legendary creatures is the way they make Legendary actions (3 points worth per round). It surprises the players and makes the creature more deadly, especially if they have a high damage attack or an area of effect attack. In a way, I'm bummed that they took the recharge for breath weapon (for dragons) out of the 5e monster manual. It was really scary when Dragons could use Legendary action to recharge and then hit the group with another breath weapon the next round.
Btw, as long as the party cut down the creature in your example so that sleep had a chance to work, I think the way your party dealt with the foe seemed exciting.
Like someone else said, if the DM wants the creature to be more dangerous, give it more hit points. (I think the examples I ran in the playtest had around 200 hp each) - and both of them lasted between 7-10 rounds. The dragon lasted much longer than it would have because I used the Lair Actions that used to regenerate the dragon's hit points. In the playtest, I think they could gain back 30 or so hit points each round when in lair. I forgot.
I haven't run a Legendary from the 5e rules yet though.
Last edited:
Similar Threads
