Thanks very much.
Out of curiosity, do you have an opinion on the design goal of creating "Dragonbane style" boss monsters?
Reynard's Repository 2025
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Out of curiosity, do you have an opinion on the design goal of creating "Dragonbane style" boss monsters?
dave2008
Legend
I am not familiar with Dragonsbane boss monsters, so I don't know exactly what you are trying to emulate. However, your version of the Haunting Revenant seems very 5e to me. I don't see a lot of things that make it stand out from a typical Legendary Monster. You have traded legendary actions for two turns of actions (that is just a preference thing IMO). Halving damage, is already common in a lot of 5e monsters. IDK, it still feels very 5e to me, for better or worse I guess. I am not sure what you are trying to solve with the Dragonbane Style, so it is hard to give my thoughts.
Maybe I need to go read the OP which I haven't done yet.
I am currently looking at moving my monsters to a unified action economy, so that all actions work a bit like legendary actions. Something like:
ACTIONS
The dragon can take 3 actions, choosing from the options below, on its turn or as a reaction, but not more than 3 total actions in a round. The dragon regains spent actions at the start of its turn.
So every monster would get to move and spend 3 actions. However, if you spend all three on your turn, you have nothing left to use for reactions. Also, you can spend an action to move half your speed.
So a boss monster under this format could simply get more actions or, what I think is my preference:
DRACONIC ACTIONS
On its initiative count +10 (could be a static number like Lair Actions), the dragon can take one (or more) action (or have specific actions it can take).
dave2008
Legend
Ok, I looked at your description of dragonsbane boss monsters. My first thought is why not eliminate to hit rolls and have the PCs always roll a saving throw? Then you can have:
To complete the monster give it the number of turns or actions it needs and then you're there I would think.
- Fail: full damage and effects
- Pass: half damage and no or reduced effects
- Spend a reaction: same as pass (maybe)
- Pass + spend a reaction: no damage or effects.
To complete the monster give it the number of turns or actions it needs and then you're there I would think.
After some thought, I decided to run the following game for Rising Phoenix Game Convention this April:
When the Dome of Heaven shattered, gods and fiends rained down on the world. Diminished but not destroyed, they became immortal kings in their temple palaces and bloodthirsty monsters in their dark lairs -- all to the detriment of mortals. As God Hunters, it is up to you to find them and cast them back into the Beyond. High Level Fantasy Action using the 2024 D&D 5E rules! Note: Each session is a different adventure. Play them all!
I am going to sharpen up my new monster rules and aim for 15th or 17th level for the PCs.
When the Dome of Heaven shattered, gods and fiends rained down on the world. Diminished but not destroyed, they became immortal kings in their temple palaces and bloodthirsty monsters in their dark lairs -- all to the detriment of mortals. As God Hunters, it is up to you to find them and cast them back into the Beyond. High Level Fantasy Action using the 2024 D&D 5E rules! Note: Each session is a different adventure. Play them all!
I am going to sharpen up my new monster rules and aim for 15th or 17th level for the PCs.
I am running a series of high level (17th) D&D 2024 games in April, focused on hunting down malevolent gods that came to the Prime when the Dome of Heaven broke. here is the list of the targets for the PCs in the 4 game sessions:
Hateweaver
Formerly [NAME], Lord of Tireless Enmity, Hateweaver was cast out of the Heavens as a massive spider form. Hateweaver has no designs on rulership, but feeds on the worst impulses of mortals. Hateweaver creates a lair within a few miles of a city and causes bitterness, xenophobia and selfishness to foment until the people of that place descend into an orgy of violence and hate.
Defeating Hateweaver will not dispel the hatred in mortals' own hearts, but it will allow people to confront their biases in a sane manner.
Hateweaver can manipulate the emotions of its opponents. Like all fallen gods, Hateweaver is a powerful combatant with many magical attacks and defenses, but its most powerful attacks are aimed at the minds and hearts of its enemies.
The Warforge
Once a god of fire and forge, specifically related to the forging of weapons of war, upon the Fall this deity was trapped in the form of a massive, walking furnace. Evil dwarves, among others, flocked to the being in order to use the living, walking forge as a tool to create weapons of great power and malice.
But the Warforge is driven by an insatiable hunger for fuel, and that fuel is only the wood of the purest forests of the Elf Lands. It is a walking juggernaut of fire and doom that cannot be stopped by anything but the greatest power.
The Warforge is a powerful physical opponents that is never without hordes of zealot minions. It commands a fire to rival the breath of the most ancient dragons and is itself forged of impenetrable adamantium.
The Ruin That Walks
Once a god of secrets, security, locks and traps, The Ruin That Walks became something far more twisted and worse when the Dome of Heaven shattered. Unable to work itself into a “mortal” avatar form, the Ruin That Walks became a place. Specifically, it became a dungeon tomb full of traps and treasures. The Ruin that Walks is the grandfather of all Mimics, a living dungeon full of malice, spite and hatred for any that would delve its depths.
The Ruin That Walks can become anything it desires, but its intellect is not comprehensible by mortals. So what it becomes is a dangerous dungeon that changes constantly to vex and murder those who enter. But it has a heart, and to kill the heart kills the Ruin That Walks.
Lilith, Queen of Monsters
When the Dome of Heaven broke, Lilith could have sat upon her throne in her Celestial Palace like the other Great Gods of the universe. Only the lesser gods were dragged to the mortal realm, of course, and Lilith was Second Among All, Queen Mother of All That Hissed and Growled. But for eons Lilith had desired to punish the mortal realm for failing to worship her as she saw fit. Mortals’ fear of her drove her mad with rage and envy of other gods, and when she had the chance, she descended to the world and took on a form of terror and blight so that she might punish all mortal things for their transgression.
While Lilith chose a lesser form than her Celestial one, she is still immensely powerful and dangerous. She has taken the form of an immense chimera of all the worst horrors that haunt the world and kill heroes.
To defeat Lilith is to kill a true god and to free the world from her unending depredations and her malevolent spawn.
Hateweaver
Formerly [NAME], Lord of Tireless Enmity, Hateweaver was cast out of the Heavens as a massive spider form. Hateweaver has no designs on rulership, but feeds on the worst impulses of mortals. Hateweaver creates a lair within a few miles of a city and causes bitterness, xenophobia and selfishness to foment until the people of that place descend into an orgy of violence and hate.
Defeating Hateweaver will not dispel the hatred in mortals' own hearts, but it will allow people to confront their biases in a sane manner.
Hateweaver can manipulate the emotions of its opponents. Like all fallen gods, Hateweaver is a powerful combatant with many magical attacks and defenses, but its most powerful attacks are aimed at the minds and hearts of its enemies.
The Warforge
Once a god of fire and forge, specifically related to the forging of weapons of war, upon the Fall this deity was trapped in the form of a massive, walking furnace. Evil dwarves, among others, flocked to the being in order to use the living, walking forge as a tool to create weapons of great power and malice.
But the Warforge is driven by an insatiable hunger for fuel, and that fuel is only the wood of the purest forests of the Elf Lands. It is a walking juggernaut of fire and doom that cannot be stopped by anything but the greatest power.
The Warforge is a powerful physical opponents that is never without hordes of zealot minions. It commands a fire to rival the breath of the most ancient dragons and is itself forged of impenetrable adamantium.
The Ruin That Walks
Once a god of secrets, security, locks and traps, The Ruin That Walks became something far more twisted and worse when the Dome of Heaven shattered. Unable to work itself into a “mortal” avatar form, the Ruin That Walks became a place. Specifically, it became a dungeon tomb full of traps and treasures. The Ruin that Walks is the grandfather of all Mimics, a living dungeon full of malice, spite and hatred for any that would delve its depths.
The Ruin That Walks can become anything it desires, but its intellect is not comprehensible by mortals. So what it becomes is a dangerous dungeon that changes constantly to vex and murder those who enter. But it has a heart, and to kill the heart kills the Ruin That Walks.
Lilith, Queen of Monsters
When the Dome of Heaven broke, Lilith could have sat upon her throne in her Celestial Palace like the other Great Gods of the universe. Only the lesser gods were dragged to the mortal realm, of course, and Lilith was Second Among All, Queen Mother of All That Hissed and Growled. But for eons Lilith had desired to punish the mortal realm for failing to worship her as she saw fit. Mortals’ fear of her drove her mad with rage and envy of other gods, and when she had the chance, she descended to the world and took on a form of terror and blight so that she might punish all mortal things for their transgression.
While Lilith chose a lesser form than her Celestial one, she is still immensely powerful and dangerous. She has taken the form of an immense chimera of all the worst horrors that haunt the world and kill heroes.
To defeat Lilith is to kill a true god and to free the world from her unending depredations and her malevolent spawn.
Similar Threads
