You know how it's a bad idea to ever fight a dragon? Well now it's an even worse idea if you fight a dragon in its lair. In the Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Monster Manual, Adult and Ancient Dragons gain Legendary Actions. Legendary Actions are terrible things a dragon can do in between everybody else's turn in combat.
So instead of taking one turn every round, a creature with Legendary Actions gets to make extra little moves and attacks every round, after other creatures' turns—and they refresh the ability to do so every round.
That's nothing new. What's new is: Dragons get an extra Legendary Action when in their lair. Instead of three, they get four.
Legendary Action Uses: 3 (4 in Lair). Immediately after another creature's turn, the dragon can expend a use to take one of the following actions. The dragon regains all expended uses at the start of each of its turn.
We posted about the Legendary Action that replaced (most of) the dragons' Frightful Presence. But here are the other Legendary Actions each dragon will be slotting in between you and the rest of the party's turns:
| DRAGON | LEGENDARY ACTION 1 | LEGENDARY ACTION 2 | LEGENDARY ACTION 3 |
| Black Dragon | Cloud of Insects | Frightful Presence | Pounce |
| Blue Dragon | Cloaked Flight | Sonic Boom | Tail Swipe |
| Green Dragon | Mind Invasion | Noxious Miasma | Pounce |
| Red Dragon | Commanding Presence | Fiery Rays | Pounce |
| White Dragon | Freezing Burst | Frightful Presence | Pounce |
| Brass Dragon | Blazing Light | Pounce | Scorching Sands |
| Bronze Dragon | Guiding Light | Pounce | Thunderclap |
| Copper Dragon | Giggling Magic | Mind Jolt | Pounce |
| Gold Dragon | Banish | Guiding Light | Pounce |
| Silver Dragon | Chill | Cold Gale | Pounce |
If that Pounce sounds boring, you're right, it's a little boring. But sometimes you just need to be able to move up to half your dragon Speed and make one Rend attack. Just to keep your players' despair levels topped off.
If you can trick a dragon into fighting anywhere else other than its lair, you'll be better off. But if you can't, and you're just poor little Bilbo Baggins in the thick of it, trading riddles with Smaug while sliding down piles of gold and jewels, then you're in a worse spot than before with the increased number of Legendary Actions. Even if it's only one more Legendary Action per turn, it's bad news for you.
