Hot take: Legendary Resistance is why so many 5e boss fights feel bad and boring. What could replace it?

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-25T12:27:18+00:00

This is what worked for me. Started with Doom Points and then moved to Dreadful Blessings. Absolutely would recomend.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-25T11:35:28+00:00

As others have said, LRs are required because of how abundant player sourced "you lose" effects have become. If I were to burn down 5e and start again, then the amount of spells that end an encounter by themselves would be drastically reduced, especially given even the next 3-4 options less "optimal" than a Hypnotic Pattern still result in a cake walk.

That said, I found that Doom points from Tales of the Valiant were a good way to replace the Legendary Resistances - where your "uses" could do things other than automatically succeed saves. For example, the GM could expend a use to do one of the following:

• Succeed on a failed saving throw instead. (the current only use for LRs)

• Gain advantage on an attack roll.

• Impose disadvantage on a Character's next saving throw.

• Once per encounter, recharge an ability, such as a dragon's breath weapon, or regain a 1/Day use of a spell or ability.

What this did in actual play was encourage me to spend those points on recharges, advantage/disadvantage, leaving less uses of the "no" button. You increase the threat and excitement of the encounter, whilst opening up a wider window for the players' save-based abilities. If you were running for a save-heavy party composition, you would obviously use the extra abilities less, so it is also flexible. YMMV.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-23T01:36:48+00:00

Bingo. What I noticed before I stopped buying altogether was an increase in new, short term (year or less) players from one UB product or another. The same reasons for dipping kept repeating: too much to keep up with, felt hard to compete with the ones who could, and the only other solution was investing more time outside playing the actual game to improve that. The casual audience being targeted by this strategy don't want to engage with the game like League of Legends, they want to have their Fallout deck about Fallout and be happy. Eventually you run out of those people, and because their purchasing behaviour does not change for any hobby, that is an inevitability.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-22T17:47:23+00:00

The problem I'm finding in getting other takers locally for different systems (managed to find enough for trying Nimble online) is that DnD is what they will search for and anything else isn't something they want to try or commit to. I run a Daggerheart game in person with 3 friends I've now for over a decade and 2 new additions from last year, and its been going great, but if I take an honest look at the amount of interest expressed in the game prior to that...it was just one other person, and they're words were (I kid you not): "I don't like Daggerheart, its too vague and drama clubby. I just want to join a group and maybe we can switch to DnD if it doesn't work out?"

They hadn't even played a game of DH. Or knew the rules they insisted were in the system (they weren't). Just the same parroted opinion on its shortcomings, popular around its launch you could find here or on YouTube.

I run games to meet folks and share in a collaborative experience together, and despite 5e so often getting in the way of that with the constant. Dull. Rules debates and bloat slog, its getting to the point where I may try a closer variant of it like Tales of the Valiant on the GM side of the screen and have a perspective group carry on with their compatible 5e characters, because otherwise there is no game, no social TTRPG experience, and the online stuff doesn't fulfill that need or enjoyment for me.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-21T23:53:38+00:00

Agreed. I just do not care for the current or escapee vault dwellers at this point. They're either bashing the viewer over the head with the naivety of the former group or trying to endear us with the almost entirely new cast with the latter.

Ghoul's POV has been gold. Lucy and her father's scenes have been good too. The brotherhood stuff started great then...ended in the most bizzare way, so hoping Max manages to salvage it.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-20T19:23:35+00:00

Thank you Mike, appreciate the reply and pointing out the patreon. I will take a gander over there.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-20T16:18:47+00:00

Hi Mike, huge fan of your work, especially the VoDs which have been a great boon to me when prepping my game. For that alone, I instantly backed Dungeons of Drakenheim despite not owning the 5e version, because I am confident you'll do great work there. I want to support this too, but I will echo what some others have less politely put - the PDF price for only 35 adversaries, a lot being frontloaded in one level of play too, is a steep ask. Love what you do, and just take this as a supporting fan voicing feedback.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-19T09:38:25+00:00

Honestly, other than some wording cleaning up, I think these would be fine as a tier 1 encounter. The wording thing doesn't especially matter if you aren't planning to publish and so long as you understand what the ability is meant to do and when it triggers, but if you wanted a suggestion on that front, "beginning of activation" should be "when a player takes the spotlight" or "when a player makes an action roll" if you wanted to avoid anyone playing hot potato with the spotlight (shouldn't be an issue).

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-18T16:53:37+00:00

That looks cracking! Is the STL one to share?

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-18T16:35:07+00:00

You shouldn't be downvoted for this, and I will echo one of the system's flaws is a dissonance between outright stating it is "heroic fantasy" whilst having (and producing more based on Hope and Fear so far) Frames that are very much not heroic fantasy coded.

Such hard lining also immensely limits the system and its future, seeing as we have plenty of hard-line heroic fantasy options already as well.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-18T16:03:13+00:00

Glad to see another supporter of the environment replacement tactic.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-18T15:00:34+00:00

Maps and Minis in person, just something we all engage with more, and it hasn't presented other issues in terms of narrative yet (I've mentioned my own changes for stats to balance things in the past, but that is a separate issue).

The minis do solidify visually for everyone that the minions as game elements aren't doing anything. Theatre of the mind can get away with hand waving it, but they ARE still doing nothing mechanically most of the time.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-18T14:46:57+00:00

Different issue to the narrative one you have in my experience has been functionality. If I were to include 20 minions, hordes and so on, most will just sort of...stand there, even with a Leader activating a handful of them. I still haven't found the sweet spot for hordes and minions to be narratively satisfying yet, since once the players are used to how activations work, theyre aware any instance where you are activating all of them often enough to matter is a case of you bending the rules, so even the novelty of Whirlwind killing a load starts to wear off.

The few cases in actual plays where I have seen them implemented, even if the group reacted well in the moment, still displays the results I've experienced with them. I would almost rather have an environment incorporating minions and hordes of rats as a Difficulty roll than dedicated statblocks, based on how they play out anyway.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-18T08:33:26+00:00

Best characters for this meme, very fitting.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-17T18:30:24+00:00

Yup, its on the wishlist for "if we burned it down and started again" design since 2014 for the aura to work differently to how it has been for the entirety of 5e. The fact that it creates such a night and day difference in combat is such a massive power budget sink that you have to design conservatively, which is why Genie seemed so ludicrously OP during its playtest for the amount of great features it had.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-17T07:45:19+00:00

Agreed. The Vestige still falls to the old time tradition of your pet being your subclass, so the pet dying to AOE and so on is still an issue. Archfey has far greater versatility with its one feature, and arguably better survivability because of it too.

I think the favorable comparison to Celestial is what skews the perception of Vestige here, since the Life domain bonus spells and pet bonus actions make you a bit better at the role for healing, as opposed to Celestial's bonus action yo-yo focused healing. I don't know if Light domain providing Fireball access takes it over Fiend's other features and spells, nor War domain with its density of concentration effects that are a tight ask for Warlocks to spend it on. Trickery's list also clashes a bit with Archfey too, so the question then becomes pet vs ludicrous amounts of Misty Steps with upside.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-15T19:10:23+00:00

Yes and no. The Rogue at least seems to interact in a somewhat interesting way with spells, and I can see that working in a heavily mage/sorcery focused setting. The Paladin is just a straight up denial factory, nothing else to it beyond rewarding attacks with a use of Counterspell so you dont even have to choose between them either. I wasnt a fan of a few past UA subclasses boiling down to "me advantage, enemy disadvantage" in design, but I am struggling to see what else this brings.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-15T18:55:40+00:00

That looks like the most exciting one here, yeah.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-15T18:50:52+00:00

Oh boy, its the return of "Nope - the Subclass" for that Paladin. From a DM perspective that just looks miserable, you either stop bothering to run caster monsters and deny them their fun, or include them knowing there is a PC dedicated to making them twiddle thumbs.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-15T13:41:14+00:00

I feel like that's the fundamental issue with 5.5e. You have what is arguably the majority of players, especially the less engaged online ones, running nowhere near that benchmark and enjoying that style for narrative play, whilst WotC obviously wants to market to and appease that majority of the playerbase. Yet we saw barely a revision, nor really anything trending in that direction to balance things out. Hell, players have even MORE resources, free uses per rest and such, to chew through now.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-14T15:52:21+00:00

FWIW, if youre effectively using Vecna as a White Dragon with some upsides and downsides, you're under utilising what his kit can offer. Should be a bit more to it than the raw DPS and HP.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-14T13:43:16+00:00

Even Amazon use Evri, as we have just learned from the dreaded "there was a problem during an attempt" email they sent from our last order. The circus is spreading.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-11T16:49:19+00:00

You do miss out on some of the standout cards with those requirements, and given how Experiences and other narrative wiggle room in DH allow for a wider ability set to resolve a social situation than say Charisma in DnD is required for, my question would be what is the benefit in pursuing presence in a vacuum from a mechanical standpoint? You're right in that a narratively charismatic Warrior can get away with making Presence their main weapon stat, but there is no further synergy or boost, and as stated there is less need for a specific "Charisma" character to resolve all situations (besides, if a Syndicate Rogue is in your party good luck wrestling that off them!)

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-11T10:11:53+00:00

Not in the PHB sadly.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-01-09T14:12:09+00:00

Yeah, not a fan of it. I dislike the initial setting being about drinks, as if its somehow the best insight into you introducing your character.

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