D&D 5E To Be or Not to Be: Legendary

[Stalker0]

Sorry: "hitbox" meaning "mythical trait" / "final boss" / once you kill it, it gets back up with a new set of HP and loses all conditions and recharges its stuff. I don't know if we have a standard word for that idea yet. I think I like "mythical trait" best so far.

Or the "hitbox" idea that Reynard had where each area of the monster has its own HP/condition/etc., and taking down each part makes it weaker.

If we are discussing that latest thread about hitboxes, one key difference between the idea and this mythic concept is the idea that a hitbox is "binary" in round terms. A hitbox can either be checked because enough damage was done, or remain unchecked (meaning the damage dealt does nothing). Further, a single hitbox can only be checked once per round, so if a monster has 3 hitboxes it cannot be killed faster than 3 rounds.

Mythic does provide a fresh set of hitpoints after a nova attack (so can allow for nova damage to be wasted) and removes conditions, so its midway there, but its not quite a protecting as that full hitbox concept. You could argue that the hitbox idea is the more ideal in terms of truly ensuring a high level monster sticks around long enough to deliver threat...but its also a lot more gamist of a concept.

 

[Reynard]

You could argue that the hitbox idea is the more ideal in terms of truly ensuring a high level monster sticks around long enough to deliver threat...but its also a lot more gamist of a concept.

Yup. the whole goal was to make those fights fun. Purely gamist.

 

[dave2008]

You could argue that the hitbox idea is the more ideal in terms of truly ensuring a high level monster sticks around long enough to deliver threat...but its also a lot more gamist of a concept.

Yup. the whole goal was to make those fights fun. Purely gamist.

Yep, to gamist for my designer / DM taste, fine if I was a player though.

 

[Stalker0]

Yep, to gamist for my designer / DM taste, fine if I was a player though.

I think the idea works with a certain design of monster where you can flavor it into the monster design so its not so gamist. I will give a quick example.

The 3 Eyed terror of Gormash

The Eye Evil: At the start of its turn, Gormash closes its currently open eye, and then opens a different eye. Each eye has a different effect (see effects).

An eye has X hp.

Invulnerable Body: Gormashs body and its eyes when they are close are immune from all damage. Gormash loses this invulnerability if all 3 eyes are destroyed.

Regeneration: At the start of its turn, any eye that is closed and not destroyed is healed to its full hp.


So there is one quick model. The eyes in this case are the hitboxes, and we use a form of super regeneration to mimic the concept that a hitbox is binary....its not that the player's damage is "ignored", its just healed up unless the eye is actually destroyed.