What is Legendary Resistance? Your Ultimate 5e Guide

Legendary Resistance is a crucial mechanic in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (5e) designed to prevent powerful creatures from being easily incapacitated or removed from combat by player character abilities. It’s a specific ability that allows a creature, typically a boss monster, to automatically succeed on a saving throw they would otherwise fail. Think of it as a “get out of jail free” card for powerful baddies, ensuring they remain a credible threat throughout an encounter. The number of times a creature can use its Legendary Resistance is limited, usually indicated in its stat block (e.g., Legendary Resistance (3/Day)). Once expended, these resistances are typically gone for the day (or until a long rest, depending on the creature). This mechanic is a vital tool for DMs to manage encounter balance and ensure that climatic battles remain challenging and engaging.

Understanding the Core Mechanics

The core of Legendary Resistance is deceptively simple:

• Failure Trigger: The creature must fail a saving throw against an effect.
• Automatic Success: Instead of suffering the consequences of that failed save, the creature can choose to succeed automatically. There is no dice roll involved.
• Limited Uses: The creature has a finite number of Legendary Resistances per day.
• Strategic Choice: The DM, controlling the creature, decides when to use a Legendary Resistance, often prioritizing effects that would drastically alter the encounter (like banishment, stunning, or petrification).

The DM’s Perspective: Using Legendary Resistance Effectively

For Dungeon Masters, Legendary Resistance is a vital tool to maintain the challenge and tension of boss encounters. It prevents situations where a single lucky spell can instantly neutralize a powerful enemy, leading to an anticlimactic battle.

Here are some tips for using Legendary Resistance effectively:

• Prioritize Crippling Effects: Save Legendary Resistances for spells or abilities that would drastically impact the encounter. Banishment, polymorph, stun, paralysis, and petrification effects are prime candidates.
• Don’t Be Afraid to Use Them: Players often feel clever when using crowd control spells. Don’t hesitate to use a Legendary Resistance to maintain the encounter’s momentum.
• Telegraph Strategically: You don’t necessarily need to announce every failed save and then use a Legendary Resistance. Consider describing the monster struggling against the effect before invoking the resistance, adding to the drama.
• Consider the Narrative: Sometimes, letting a minor effect through can be more compelling narratively. Perhaps the villain is momentarily slowed or weakened, giving the players a sense of accomplishment without completely derailing the fight.
• Track Usage Carefully: It’s easy to lose track of how many Legendary Resistances a creature has used. Make a note on your DM screen or character sheet to avoid mistakes.

The Player’s Perspective: Overcoming Legendary Resistance

As a player, understanding Legendary Resistance is key to developing effective strategies against powerful foes. Here are some tactics to consider:

• Force the Use of Resistances: Use lower-level spells that require saves early in the fight. This can burn through a creature’s Legendary Resistances, making them more vulnerable to powerful effects later.
• Target Weak Saves: Identify the creature’s weakest saving throw (e.g., Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma) and focus your attacks accordingly. Even with Legendary Resistance, they will eventually fail.
• Use Non-Save Effects: Focus on abilities that don’t require saving throws, such as spells that deal damage directly or create difficult terrain.
• Coordinate with Your Party: Communicate with your teammates to coordinate your attacks and maximize your chances of forcing the creature to use its resistances at opportune moments.
• Control the Battlefield: Effects that control the battlefield, like walls and difficult terrain, can be effective even if the creature resists direct control.

Legendary Resistance vs. Other Abilities

It’s important to differentiate Legendary Resistance from similar abilities:

• Magic Resistance: Grants advantage on saving throws against spells. Unlike Legendary Resistance, it doesn’t guarantee success.
• Saving Throw Proficiency: Adds a bonus to saving throws. Again, it improves the odds but doesn’t guarantee success.
• Reactions: Reactions, like Counterspell, can prevent a spell from taking effect in the first place. Legendary Resistance only applies after a saving throw has been failed.

FAQs about Legendary Resistance

1. How many Legendary Resistances does a creature typically have?

Most legendary creatures have three Legendary Resistances. However, this can vary depending on the creature’s CR and specific design. Always check the creature’s stat block for the exact number.

2. Can a creature regain used Legendary Resistances?

Typically, no. Once a Legendary Resistance is used, it is gone until the creature finishes a long rest. Some rare abilities might allow for regaining them, but these are exceptions.

3. Can Legendary Resistance be used against any type of effect?

Legendary Resistance only works against effects that require the creature to make a saving throw. It does not apply to effects that target AC, hit points directly, or require ability checks.

4. Does Legendary Resistance override a player’s ability to impose disadvantage on a saving throw?

Yes. Even if a player imposes disadvantage on a saving throw, the creature can use Legendary Resistance to automatically succeed, effectively negating the disadvantage.

5. If a creature has advantage on a saving throw, can it still use Legendary Resistance?

Yes. Legendary Resistance can be used regardless of whether the creature has advantage or disadvantage on the saving throw. It’s an automatic success.

6. Can a creature use Legendary Resistance if it is stunned?

The ruling is nuanced. While a stunned creature can’t take actions, there is debate on whether using Legendary Resistance is an action or a reaction. Some DMs rule that Legendary Resistance is a passive ability, allowing its use even when stunned. Others rule a stunned creature is incapable of using Legendary Resistance. The DM should make a decision and maintain it for consistency.

7. Can a creature use Legendary Resistance if it is surprised?

A surprised creature cannot use Legendary Actions until after its first turn in the combat. Since the creature does not get reactions, it cannot use Legendary Resistances either until after its first turn.

8. Can you use Legendary Resistance on Counterspell or Dispel Magic?

No. Counterspell and Dispel Magic invoke Ability checks involving the spellcasting ability. Neither is a saving throw, so Legendary Resistance is completely irrelevant to these spells in all situations.

9. Does Legendary Resistance protect against the Power Word Kill spell?

No. Power Word Kill instantly kills a creature with 100 hit points or fewer. There’s no saving throw involved, so Legendary Resistance cannot be used.

10. Can Legendary Resistance be used to avoid being banished?

Yes. Banishment requires a Charisma saving throw. A creature can use Legendary Resistance to automatically succeed on this save, avoiding being banished.

11. Can Legendary Resistance be used to avoid being paralyzed?

Yes. Paralysis often requires a Constitution saving throw. A creature can use Legendary Resistance to succeed, avoiding paralysis.

12. If a player uses Portent to force a low roll on a creature’s saving throw, can the creature still use Legendary Resistance?

Yes. Legendary Resistance means they automatically succeed the saving throw, there is no dice involved. The way it would work is the target rolls, gets a 18, the wizard changes it to a 3, the DM says “Ok it uses its Legendary Resistance to succeed anyway.”

13. How does Legendary Resistance interact with effects that remove a creature from the battlefield (e.g., Maze)?

If the effect requires a saving throw, Legendary Resistance can be used to avoid it. Maze requires an Intelligence saving throw each round to escape.

14. Does True Polymorph or Shapechange grant Legendary Resistance?

Shapechange says that if you change into a legendary creature you specifically do not keep any legendary action, resistances and lair actions, but true polymorph (creature into a creature) does not claim anything about legendary creatures.

15. What is the purpose of Legendary Resistance in game design?

Legendary Resistance serves several important purposes:

• Encounter Balancing: It prevents boss monsters from being instantly defeated by lucky rolls or specific spells.
• Strategic Depth: It forces players to think strategically about how to approach combat, prioritizing lower-level spells to burn through resistances.
• Dramatic Tension: It creates moments of suspense and excitement as players try to overcome a powerful foe’s defenses.
• Maintains Creature Threat Level: It helps ensure that creatures are a genuine threat in combat and provides a sense of scale for the players.
• Learning Tool: Game mechanics, like Legendary Resistance, can be valuable resources that can be explored from an educational standpoint. At the Games Learning Society, professionals can explore how different game mechanics such as legendary resistance can be applied to instruction. For more, visit GamesLearningSociety.org.

Conclusion

Legendary Resistance is a crucial mechanic that elevates the challenge and excitement of boss encounters in D&D 5e. By understanding its mechanics and strategic implications, both DMs and players can enhance their gameplay experience and create memorable moments at the table. Mastering the use and counter-use of Legendary Resistance is a sign of a truly skilled player and DM.