D&D General Mike Mearls says control spells are ruining 5th Edition

[Lanefan]

Because its the fault of fumble rules: They always affect martials more because "roll dice for more attacks" has always been a martial thing. Spellcasters never have situations where they're going to roll multiple dice for a hit, they only worry about damage

Ah, but if one does what D&D has for some inexplicable reason failed to do ever since day one and make casters roll to aim their AoE spells, ray spells, and any other spells that aren't on self or by touch, then...

Per your example just posted, the martial's gone and lost a valuable item that lets them fight on a better playing field, whereas sweet FA has happened to the casters.

This time, yes. In the past I've seen casters die outright due to fumbling their spells. Perhaps the most memorable example of such was a mage trying to cast Fireball while wearing a cloak that gave immunity to fire. He fumbled, and set the spell off at his feet - inside the fireproof cloak!

There wasn't much left to scrape up.

D&D is not designed for fumble rules and they do not work with how the game is made.

Which seems odd given we've had fumble rules, virtually unchanged since their inception, for well over 40 years and they've worked just fine.

 

[Upper_Krust]

I read the first 30 pages of this thread, so not sure if the issue (fixing control spells) has been resolved in the subsequent 54 pages. It seems like people do not want control spells to ruin the Boss encounters (or to a lesser extent Player experiences - which is something largely solved by "until the end of their next turn" duration on Conditions).

My solution is fairly simple:
Step 1. Make a use of Legendary Resistance cost a Legendary Action (or Reaction - see below).
...this creates an immediate impact on the battle.
Step 2. Make a use of Legendary Resistance add a Level of Exhaustion* (an easy to implement -1 penalty to Proficiency Bonus* as per the 2024 rules).
...this creates encounter-long implications for the battle.

*Tying Exhaustion to Proficiency Bonus also gives us our Legendary Resistance count...your Challenge Rating 24 Ancient Red Dragon (with Proficiency Bonus +7) can use its Legendary Resistance 7 times (yes I know this changes the typical 6 levels of exhaustion but I think its a good fit for any Boss).

The following stat-block is my Revised Ancient Red Dragon. Rather than use Legendary Actions I use 'Combat Reactions', which are triggered after an enemies Action and applied to that same enemy.

The total number of Combat Reactions depends upon the Challenge Rating difference between the enemy and the PCs (where an Epic Level PC equates to CR 12), every +4 CR beyond the PCs grants +1 Extra Reaction (used for Legendary Resistance or Combat Reactions)...It would have been cleaner to use Proficiency Bonus but of course WotC tied PC Proficiency Bonus to Level and Monster Proficiency Bonus to Challenge Rating).