D&D 5E (2014) How do you work multiple opponents with Lair Actions?

[thalmin]

Note that the lair actions are the same for all dragons of a type, regardless of age of the dragon(s). If it's a red dragon, whether wymling or ancient, the lair actions are the same (presumably the wyrmling is living with mommy and daddy). edit: Replace "wyrmling" with "adult"
Also, I would not consider a temporary residence as a lair. It would take quite some time for the power to permeate the area.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Note that the lair actions are the same for all dragons of a type, regardless of age of the dragon(s). If it's a red dragon, whether wymling or ancient, the lair actions are the same (presumably the wyrmling is living with mommy and daddy).
Also, I would not consider a temporary residence as a lair. It would take quite some time for the power to permeate the area.

Wyrmlings are not legendary and do not get access to Lair actions.

Dragons are solitary anyway and Mommy and Daddy don't live together. Largely because of greed and unwillingness to share hoards.

 

[thalmin]

Wyrmlings are not legendary and do not get access to Lair actions.

Dragons are solitary anyway and Mommy and Daddy don't live together. Largely because of greed and unwillingness to share hoards.

Ahh. Right you are. I was just looking at the dragon entries, where nothing is mentioned about the age catagory of dragon in regards to lairs. But page 11 does describe legendary creature lairs, and does state the activation of lair actions is by legendary creatures. Also, not all legendary creatures have lairs, and to be a lair the creature must spend a substantial amount of time there.

 

[Nebulous]

Suppose the PCs are up against a pair of dragons. Both dragons have lair actions per the MM. Would you allow both dragons to use a lair action at the same time or would you limit it to one or the other but not both? How about generally?

I'd say 2 lair actions. If the deadliness is a concern, make one of them weaker without lair actions. But in general, yeah, fighting two Smaug's at once shouldn't be pretty

 

[miniaturehoarder]

Generally lair actions grant a higher CR, so if the CR is adjusted for lair actions, then the monster gets lair actions.

 

[Quartz]

I would say, it is one lair, the lair only gets one action. But the actions would continue until all who can claim the lair are killed.

Clever!

 

[AriochQ]

Do both dragons claim the space as their lair? That would be very uncommon. If so, they both get lair actions.

Re: 11 creatures with lair actions...exactly what creature, that is legendary and has lair actions, would live in groups of 11? Let's say you run across a vampire convention. Only one of them would actually live at the site, that one gets lair actions, the other 10 fight as normal (without lair actions and at the reduced CR).

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Vampirs don't even get lair actions.

 

[thalmin]

Deleted because I was wrong.

 

[jgsugden]

If I have a 12th level party and I want them to have a memorable boss battle, I'm giving them a beholder with legendary actions. If I'm having the 16th level PCs face off against two beholders, there is no way that I'm giving them their legendary actions. You're doing a disservice by giving more than one creature lair/legendary actions in an encounter. You give those abilities to make the enemy feel special. It adds that halo of danger that makes it a special event. If you overuse the device, it becomes just another element of the game. There might be an occasional rare circumstance in which you're putting two epic things with legendary/lair actions together - but I would not use that type of combination more than once in a campaign, and most likely I'd have those beings facing each other with the PCs trying to survive the fallout.