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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Erich the Fuzzy" data-source="post: 8274874" data-attributes="member: 7015978">Given that we now play in a 5e environment that does in fact include those later official books, why would we be constrained to an earlier interpretation of the MM that ignores what has come out later? When the authors of the original books put out more material that demonstrates their thinking, why should we not pay attention to it? And since when are updates to 5e rules NOT backwards-reaching? New rules & rulings affect how older/existing materials are officially interpreted, unless you are setting an arbitrary "end date" for rules for your personal table. So in 2015 it would have been fair to interpret MM as only linking lair/regional with legendary creatures, but now we know better and can interpret the MM in that new light."The only context in which Lair Actions are addressed is under the section on Legendary Monsters" except that's not true. Lair actions are also fully addressed and described under each specific dragon, to the level of detail that the description on page 11 is really unnecessary and redundant."every monster with Lair Actions or Regional Effects in that book is a Legendary Monster" - well, that's circular logic. If one interprets dragon's lair actions as they are written in the dragon descriptions, they are not attributed only to legendary monsters. Unless you assume the conclusion in the premise. Where, on page 11, does it say that only legendary creatures can have lair actions? The fact that all legendary creatures in MM have lair actions does not mean that all creatures in the MM with lair actions must be legendary - as I argue is the case with young dragons. Under the principle of specific beats general, page 11 states the general rule of lair/regional for legendary creatures but the description of any specific monster could give either of these to a non-legendary monster. If that's the case with hags, with merrenoloths, and with morkoths (lair actions AND regional effects, but no legendary actions) then why would that not equally be the case with dragons (not just legendary dragons) right in the MM? Each of the 10 individual MM descriptions says dragons have lair actions, not legendary dragons have lair actions. In contrast, notice that the regional effects, also described with each dragon's description, are specified as applying only to legendary dragons. Why is that word used for the regional effects but not lair actions, 10 times out of 10? (If lair actions followed regional effects, one might assume the earlier use of legendary was continued, but in every case, lair actions come before the regional effects specific to legendary dragons.)Especially when Candlekeep contains a young dragon with "lair actions as described in the Monster Manual." Whoever wrote this seems to believe that the Monster Manual describes lair actions for young dragons. Who edited that particular adventure? Chris Perkins. But what would he know? He was only the lead on MM.</blockquote>

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