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Dreadful Blessings – A Mechanic to Protect 5e Boss Monsters

by Mike on 16 December 2024

Bosses need help. Bosses often face the full wrath of the characters, just for being a boss. This focus often leads to anticlimactic fights in which the boss is ineffective at fulfilling the role it had in the game and the story.

Legendary resistance covers a lot – but not all – of the problems bosses face when we want them to hold up their end of the fiction. As new versions of 5e emerge, we can't be sure what abilities and effects characters bring to the table that might completely circumvent a boss monster's capabilities. Customizing individual bosses is too much work.

Enter Dreadful Blessings – inspired by doom points from the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault.

Here's the idea:

Certain boss monsters, determined by you the GM, are given one or more "dreadful blessings". These dreadful blessings replace Legendary Resistance. They can be used at any time, even when the boss is unconscious or on another plane. You might default to giving a boss two or three such blessings but you can change that number depending on what you need. It's important, however, to clarify to your players how many dreadful blessings the monster has and don't switch it up during the battle. The number of blessings is their only real limitation.

Dreadful blessings can be used for lots of things. Some examples include

succeeding on a failed saving throw.
ignoring a non-save-based detrimental effect.
piercing through character resistances or immunities.
forcing disadvantage on saving throws for a particular ability.
ending an ongoing effect or suppressing it until the end of their next turn.
moving or teleporting without provoking opportunity attacks.
ripping through a force cage or shattering a wall of force.
recharging and using a powerful limited action.
transferring incoming damage or effects to minions or allies for a round.
gaining advantage on all attacks until the end of their next turn.
ending an effect at the beginning of a turn instead of the end.

Talk With Your Players First

Don't surprise players with dreadful blessings. It's no fun if the characters throw a force cage on your dreadfully blessed death knight only for the death knight to rip through it without the players knowing why.

Instead, before you start combat (or even during your session zero), describe dreadful blessings to your players. Ensure you describe that

dreadful blessings only work on particular boss monsters – not all monsters.
bosses only get a specific amount of blessings (usually two or three).
dreadful blessings are intended to ensure boss monsters fulfill their role in the fiction of the game.
you'll warn players when a blessed monster shows up so they know what to expect.
you won't force "gotchas" by making players burn abilities without realizing they could be subverted with a dreadful blessing.

Use When Needed and When They're Fun

It's a careful balance to know when a mechanic like this is warranted and doesn't steal the agency and fun from players wanting to use their abilities.

My general rule of thumb is to use a dreadful blessing when it helps a boss monster fulfill its role in the fiction of the game and its challenge level in combat. A CR 19 creature locked in a forcecage isn't a CR 19 creature anymore. It can't do anything. It's not fulfilling its role. An ancient green dragon who breathes a 77 point poison breath isn't fulfilling its role if all of that damage is reduced to zero for all characters because they happened to munch on a hero's feast before the battle.

"I Hate This"

If you hate this mechanic, you're not alone. I've talked to many who don't like the idea. That's fine. I'm not saying they need to be in place in all 5e games. Dreadful blessings are a potential tool for groups who feel like boss monsters need something more to keep them in play in a sea of options that can often completely remove their threat both in the game and in the fiction.

Think about it. Talk to your group. Maybe try it. And see how it works for you.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Last week I posted a YouTube video on Ruins of Blood and Sand – Dragon Empire Prep Session 5.

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Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

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RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Characters are the only sources of secrets you can guarantee.
Let players know when boss monsters have legendary resistance or other ability breaking effects so they can make informed choices.
Replace legendary resistances with “dreadful blessings” that let powerful boss monsters break effects that ruin their place in the fiction.
Discovering traps is the fun part, not triggering them.
Get to decisions and actions quickly. Avoid long narratives.
Have players make choices for their next path before the end of your current session.
Avoid one-shotting characters to zero HP. Spread dangerous damage around.

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