Has anyone read the Unearthed Arcana for bastions? Is it good?
Make this a level 15 ability for fighters and then emigrate so that the caster inquisition won‘t crucify you for doing it
Rules option for DnD 5E, specifically for legendary and mythical monsters that tend to be the ones with the most HP:
'Attacks from legendary or mythical monsters hit automatically if they require an attack roll and the effects of the attack would not give the target a condition. Legendary resistances of monsters can only be used against effects that can be assigned to the spell schools abjuration, illusion, transformation or enchantment. Otherwise, monsters can still use their Legendary Resistance to pass saving throws against any effect that would give the monster one or more conditions. In case of doubt, the DM decides. After a monster has used Legendary Resistance, its movement rate is halved until the end of its next turn. The damage caused by the monster's attacks that require attack rolls is also halved until the end of the monster's next turn after using Legendary Resistance.
(These rules can ensure that battles are both shorter and more exciting due to the higher damage dealt by both sides. The battles also become more dangerous, making PCs think twice about taking the risk. Creativity is encouraged when considering alternative strategies for conflict resolution. Both ensure that there will be fewer battles overall, which remain the most time-consuming scenes in the game. The increased risk also makes combat itself more creative when searching for ways to damage the enemy or use the environment for a tactical advantage. It also encourages the player characters to improve their supply of healing options, e.g. through the help of NPCs that can cast healing spells.)'
Scribbled together based on this post and its comments as well as some additional ideas I've had.
EDIT: Fixed something that got lost in automatic translation.
Similar development with my group. I've come to enjoy RPing a lot more than combat, which actually takes us much more time to calculate with all the higher-level abilities than improvising NPCs on the spot. But I know fighting will still be inevitable in the future, so we're blending in some rules from Worlds Without Number and home-brew to speed it up in the future.
Commands triggered by Code Red
Depends. (Dunno if your DM plans to use them in your campaign, so spoilers?)
Spoiler
If the succubus was polymorphed by someone else using the polymorph spell or did so herself (not one of her default abilities), then yes. However, as far as I‘m aware, dispel magic doesn‘t affect a succubus‘ innate shapechanging trait.
Enough of boring rules-talk; Konsi‘s a smart (wise) goblin. She‘ll know that she just has to hug Maybe-Razira hard enough. If it‘s a shapechanger, they‘ll pop back into their true form under the force of the mighty squeeze.
Excited for the next part! Really looking forward to seeing your posts everyday. 😊
The polymorphed succubus: (o_O;)
"If I had just one WISH, I'd WISH that all gold and weapons I could WISH for would ~~vanish~~ vanWISH from shops nearby and appear before my feet to fulfill my dreams and WISHES. WISH that would work."
WISHWISHWISH
My players are about to hit level 17 sometime soon, send help
Had the idea to do something similar with my group, then rejected the idea because I feared that this would become annoying for them over time. Did the chicken work out long-term at your table without causing annoyance?
My initial thoughts when posting the OP were something like "When the decision against a male antagonist is made, there's a higher probability of the baddie also having a more original motivation." However, others have rightly said that just changing the gender of male BBEGs already gives opportunity for some great ideas inspired by such thought experiments. And my general idea when writing the OP isn't too valid, either. Should have been less fixated on gender and more straightforward that what I'm looking for are unique personalities and original motivations of antagonists unlike the classics money, power, dogma.
Thanks for the feedback!