The Great Escape!

As I work on monsters, I'm coming around to the idea that the DM needs an action economy that is distinct from what the players use. Counters have worked well in play. Since 5e doesn't give monsters levels in character classes, there's no real reason to stick to the action/bonus action/move/reaction architecture aside from keeping things simple for DMs.

What's really nice about creating new actions is that we can then have them interact with conditions on our terms, rather than dealing with the system as it is. Looking at D&D 2024, we see that the game now runs the ability to shut down actions through the incapacitated condition. Since that rule specifically calls out actions, bonus actions, and reactions, our new "actions" are unaffected by conditions.

(Aside: If I have a worry about D&D '24, it rests on its specificity. A good system is elastic. '24 seems to veer toward trying to cover every case, and in doing so could create a lot of weird corner cases. Elastic TTRPG systems are built to account for the wide range of possibilities in play by leaning into the DM as adjudicator. Elasticity is, in my opinion, one of the key design differentiators between TTRPGs and everything else.)

So, here's a new action designed to let creatures throw off shut down effects:

Escape

An escape allows a creature to end conditions, effects, and spells of its choice that affect it. A specific escape tells you when you can use it. An escape usually can be used at a cost, such as restricting what a creature can do for a period of time.

Design Intent

Escapes allow shut down effects to hamper a monster without shutting it down. They are, by design, built to have a variety of options for use so you can build them to suit a specific monster. Here are a few examples.

Here's one for a gnoll that uses ranged attacks. In this case, shutting it down forces it into close combat.

Impetuous Fury (1/day). At the start of its turn, the gnoll can end all spells, conditions, and effects on it but for the next 10 minutes it cannot use ranged attacks and must use its move to move closer to its enemies.

Here's another one for an evil wizard type:

Spell Scourge (1/day). At the end of any turn, the evil wizard can end all spells, conditions, and effects on it but it cannot cast spells other than cantrips on its next turn.

Here's another one for a solo dragon:

Draconic Defiance (3/day). At the end of any turn, the dragon can end all spells, conditions, and effects on it but it must take one of the following drawbacks. It cannot choose a drawback that still applies to it:

• The dragon cannot use its breath weapon for one hour.

• The dragon cannot cast spells for one hour.

• The dragon cannot fly for one hour.

In each case, we still reward the players for using a shut down effect but we contain that reward to something that keeps the game interesting and fun for everyone, not just the players.