Make creatures legendary
If you've ever seen you throw a Beef Boss monster at a player and dismantle your seemingly challenging enemy before that turn comes back, you've felt the pain of the behavioral economy. That's where the legendary action in Dungeon & Dragons 5E begins. These special abilities allow powerful creatures to act outside the turn, continue fighting, and feel legendary.
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What is the legendary action of 5e?
In D&D 5E, legendary action is an additional action that a certain powerful creature can take at the end of another creature's turn. Unlike responses, legendary behaviors do not rely on triggers. Instead, creatures can use a limited number of legendary actions per round, and the use used at the start of a turn can use a reset. This mechanic is particularly dedicated to formidable monsters. They think of the horrors of the toes, green dragons and other undead with devastating magic.
How does legendary action work in 5E?
Creatures with legendary action usually have three per round, but some monsters can be less and less. These actions can be used after another creature's turn, but only one at a time. Previous versions of the Monster Manual used legendary action, providing more mundane action than legendary creatures, providing access to additional attacks, movements, and sometimes spellcasting and teleporation.
The 2025 Monster Manual has redesigned the legendary action, allowing more special abilities to be accessed when creatures are not in order. For example, the 2014 Monster Manual creates an Adult Gold Dragon.
Detect. Dragons perform wisdom (perception) checks.
Tail attack. The dragon will attack tails.
Wing attack (cost of two actions). The dragon strikes its wings. Each creature within 15 feet of the dragon will either succeed with a DC 25 dexterity saving throw or take 17 (2d6 + 10) BL hit damage and tend to be knocked. Dragons can fly up to half their flight speed.
However, in the 2025 Monster Manual, their legendary action includes:
I'll exile. Charisma Saving Throw: DC 24, one creature that a dragon can see within 120 feet. Obstacle: 24 (7d6) force damage, and the target has an incompetent state and is transported to the harmless demiplane until the start of the next turn of the dragon. Dragon. Fail or Success: A dragon cannot perform this action again until the start of the next turn.
Guide light. The dragon uses spellcasting to cast guide bolts (level 4 version).
I'm making a fuss. The dragon moves to half its speed and makes one rend attack.
When should creatures acquire legendary actions?
We know that especially powerful creatures will get legendary actions, but when should DM use such creatures in your battle encounters?
If you want to reach for a creature in legendary action, there are a few situations.
A single combatant. When you want the party to take head-on with one creature, make sure there are legendary actions so that they are not overcome by the benefits of pure action the party has. Legendary Lairs. If your party wants to fight in an area that is soaked in local effects and surrounding magic, it is probably a legendary creature and therefore has legendary behavior. In the 2025 Monster Manual, these creatures make them even more frightening as they use more legendary behavior while they are in their hideout.
Use legendary action of creatures
But when it's time to roll an initiative, how do dungeon masters know when to use the creature's legendary actions? There is a simple answer to this, coming directly from the 2025 Monster Manual. As often as possible.
When a creature is given a legendary action, it is factored into CR calculations. Without spending the legendary action budget allocated per round, monsters perform less than CR (and players will dismantle again).
Also, using multiple creatures with legendary actions and legendary resistance in your battles can tilt the action economy far in the direction of the monster, leading to a one-sided battle with the player It is also important to note that there are possibilities.
Examples of common legendary action in 5e
If you want to add legendary action to the villain and allow them to roam the adventurer's party, here is an analysis based on the examples provided in the 2025 Monster manual.
All legendary creatures
Basic attack. Simple attacks using existing melee or ranged options for monsters, such as Aboles' eyelashes (tentacle attacks) and viewer chomps (bite attacks). Athletic ability. Actions that grant mobility without causing an attack on opportunity, such as the wild strikes and catastrophe movement of the Animal Lord.
The legendary creatures of Mid Hightia
Cast the spell. Spellcasting creatures like Liches can cast fear-like spells using legendary action. Special ability. Unique effects based on the nature of monsters are based on the nature of monsters, such as their ability to summon lightning as a legendary action. Utility/Control. Legendary actions that give conditions and impose control of the battlefield, like the dust flight of Demirich's grave, which can blind creatures.
Legendary action is used every turn
The 2025 Monster Manual has abolished the legendary action option that costs two or more actions, but there is still a system to suppress the creature's more powerful abilities.
For example, ancient gold dragons can use guide lights or raids as long as legendary action remains, but can only use vanish once per round.
Design your creature's legendary actions
Legendary behavior should no longer be routine behavior like claw or tail attacks, but rather reflect the creature's innate special talent. Kraken may generate crushing vortices and call lightning bolts. Luckily, you can usually look at the creature's stat blocks and choose the most interesting aspects that roll into legendary action with some guidelines.
Do not use charging capacity. Features that need to be recharged before using again are intended for use every few turns, so you don't need to be able to use them. “Command” ability should be limited. The effect that a player may lose a turn must be limited once per turn. This ensures that the action economy will sway so much on the side of legendary creatures. It offers several options. Instead of providing all damage-based options for creatures, make sure to provide combinations of effects such as targeted debuffs, minion commands, and mobility.
Add legendary action to creatures
If you want to liven up the battle and give legendary action to creatures that don't normally have them, you should consider the challenge ratings and expected damages per round. If you are using the 2014 ruleset, you can use monster statistics from the challenge rating table as guidelines to ensure that the sum of attacks, legendary actions, and rare effects is consistent with the intended difficulty.
To get an accurate calculation of damage/rounds for Lair action, you may need to calculate the damage output for each round in the first 3 rounds of combat and take an average.
Legendary action vs. hideaway behavior
The legendary action allows a monster to act immediately after another creature's turn, but in Initiative 20 there is always a hidden action.
The 2025 Monster Manual removed the behavior of the hideout in favor of giving legendary creatures more legendary behaviour and resistance to their hideout. Some creatures have access to cool special abilities while rationalizing stat blocks by involving proverb action.
The Androsphinx, for example, had the effect of the hideout that influenced the age of its hideout creatures.
The impact of time is changed so that all creatures in Lair must succeed in DC 15 Constitutional Saving Throw or 1D 20 or older (Sphinx's Choice) but no one is under the age of 1. Larger repair spells can successfully restore creatures' age.
And now, the Sphinx of Courage (CR equivalent of the 2025 Monster Manual) has this legendary action.
Weight weight. Constitutional Saving Throw: DC 16, one creature that the Sphinx can be seen within 120 feet. Obstacle: Target gains 1 fatigue level. The target has fatigue levels, but appears to be over 3D. Fail or Success: The Sphinx cannot take this action again until the start of the next turn.
