D&D 5E (2014) No Monsters Immune to Stun?

[S'mon]

Kobold Press give some creatures 1-3 Legendary Resistance without Legendary Actions, you might like to try that. And a good CON save helps of course!

 

[el-remmen]

I make undead, constructs, and plants immune to stunning.

 

[Flamestrike]

Sorry for thread necro, kinda fishing for ideas from people on how to resolve. My campaign has gotten pretty high level and I find myself as DM to be spending far more time trying to balance boss fights around specifically monk stunning strike than anything in the game (and much more consistently fudging rolls for dramatic moments to not get stunned than anything else).

Due to a combination of the power of stun condition and the ease with which the monk applies it (a monk at 12th level has 12 charges and can attempt to stun 12 times per short rest (which is effectively as many as she wants in a boss fight unless I do something significant to stop short resting). This makes it hard to balance big boss battles.

Basically the only RAW solution is to have whatever they are fighting have legendary resistance or a bunch of threatening minions or healers. Otherwise it's is not unlikely that you have a major fight with an archmage or beholder or lich or dragon and have the cool boss battle be monk high rolls initiative and stuns the boss for 5 turns until they die. (and the stun would probably block most legendary and lair actions too).

I find it's a terrible balance design for so much power to be in stunning as it's a giant all or nothing, but I don't want to change how the monk works (she has been playing it for 7 levels now). Just trying to find creative and cool solutions that keep the monk feeling powerful but not trivializing boss fights which should be an epic moment.

Sorry for thread necro, kinda fishing for ideas from people on how to resolve. My campaign has gotten pretty high level and I find myself as DM to be spending far more time trying to balance boss fights around specifically monk stunning strike than anything in the game (and much more consistently fudging rolls for dramatic moments to not get stunned than anything else).

Due to a combination of the power of stun condition and the ease with which the monk applies it (a monk at 12th level has 12 charges and can attempt to stun 12 times per short rest (which is effectively as many as she wants in a boss fight unless I do something significant to stop short resting). This makes it hard to balance big boss battles.

Basically the only RAW solution is to have whatever they are fighting have legendary resistance or a bunch of threatening minions or healers. Otherwise it's is not unlikely that you have a major fight with an archmage or beholder or lich or dragon and have the cool boss battle be monk high rolls initiative and stuns the boss for 5 turns until they die. (and the stun would probably block most legendary and lair actions too).

I find it's a terrible balance design for so much power to be in stunning as it's a giant all or nothing, but I don't want to change how the monk works (she has been playing it for 7 levels now). Just trying to find creative and cool solutions that keep the monk feeling powerful but not trivializing boss fights which should be an epic moment.

Limit short rests. Maximum of 2 per Long rest.

It's a very common house rule, along with shortening the duration to 5 minutes (so they're less jarring narratively).

Also, dont have Boss fights directly after the party short rests. Make your Monk PC ration those Ki points for the important fights.

For my games, I've increased the damage on Monks unarmed strike by 1 dice step (d4 becomes d6 becomes d8 becomes d10 becomes 2d6, and the capstone at 20th turns it into 2d8 - because it rhymes with earlier editions) but increased the cost of Stunning fist to 2 Ki points, and limited it to 1/turn.

Monks now deal slightly higher and more consistent damage, can still stun things, but need to be a bit more careful where and when they spam one.

The increased damage makes things like Flurry of Blows more tempting as well (gaining 2 attacks at the higher damage for 1 Ki points, as opposed to spending 2 Ki points on a Stun). It keeps the flavor and gameplay intact, while making Stuns slightly rarer, but giving Monks a boost elsewhere (upping DPR by 3-5 points) to compensate.

 

[Dausuul]

Basically the only RAW solution is to have whatever they are fighting have legendary resistance or a bunch of threatening minions or healers.

Well... yes.

At high levels, that tends to be the case with or without Stunning Strike. A non-legendary solo monster is terribly vunerable to debuffs of all kinds, and any debuff that hits the monster's action economy will turn the encounter into a curbstomp.

That's why they invented legendary monsters in the first place. The legendary rules are specifically designed to let a solo monster take on a party of PCs. Non-legendary bosses are expected to bring allies to the fight. Is there some reason you're unwilling to use these approaches?

 

[Unwise]

Does stun even really come in to play? Other than monks I just don't see it around much. If I do see it it is from a monster ability, and usually a secondary effect to reflect the enormity or nature of the attack. Mindflayers spring to mind as the only time I have seen stun used in recent memory.

So any change seem like it is really just directed at the monk's best ability. Stunning strike explicitly disrupts the flow to energy of the creature. If you stop the necromantic energies flowing through a specter, it makes sense it is disrupted or partially banished for a moment. Same with a golem, or pretty much any creature. In fact the more magical the more they depend on those energies.

 

[ECMO3]

What makes those guys so special? Would it be reasonable to say that all/most undead and constructs have immunity to stun as a house rule? Can I pretend it should be errata-ed and call it day? Surely monk's stunning fist doesn't work on nearly every monster! Am I missing something?

In terms of balance it would not be reasonable. The lack of immunity is a counterbalance to the otherwise relatively weak Monk class. What the Monk has going for him is an ability that virtually no enemy is immune to.

 

[S'mon]

In terms of balance it would not be reasonable. The lack of immunity is a counterbalance to the otherwise relatively weak Monk class. What the Monk has going for him is an ability that virtually no enemy is immune to.

Yes. I would definitely recommend Legendary Resistance, CON save proficiency, maybe even increased CON mods. Maybe constructs get advantage on save vs Stun. But don't negate it entirely; the Monk needing to hit 3 times to Stun is ok but if you negate it totally the Monk becomes an overly weak class IMO. And the Monk PC deserves to shine just as much as the Wizard PC.