Dungeons & Dragons: 5 Best Mid-Level Bosses In The Monster Manual

Looking to amp up your dungeons for level 5 D&D party members without going overboard? Try one of these baddies.

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A good boss can elevate any Dungeons & Dragons campaign, whether it’s a tough enemy at the end of a dungeon or a multi-session villain. However, creating a good boss is more than placing a higher CR creature in the last room of a dungeon. A good boss has several factors: it should feel like a good finale for a dungeon, it should fit within the context of a dungeon, and it should present a threat to players other than stronger attacks and more health. Here are five monsters from the Monster Manual that fit the bill for mid-level adventurers.

Revenant

The Revenant is the ideal campaign arc villain for mid-level adventurers. It is the corpse of a wronged person, risen to fulfill its revenge. It can even be a former boss that the players beat previously.

Mid-level adventurers will most likely easily defeat the Revenant the first time they come across it. That’s when the boss potential kicks in. Revenants rejuvenate, inhabiting another nearby corpse 24 hours after they are slain. Thus, they have the potential to come back for another round (or several, since they will continue for a year unless the adventurers can find someone who can use the wish spell).

They can also gather allies and use weapons and magic. A Revenant on its own may not be a terrible threat, but one with allies, a magic sword, and a spellbook full of tricks might be.

Mind Flayer

While groups or societies of Mind Flayers are best left to high-level adventurers, a lone one is a great challenge for mid-level players. They fit great in a dungeon in the Underdark, filled with their pet Intellect Devourers and brainwashed minions.

Mind Flayers make for a great fight, with advantage on saving throws against spells and psionic abilities. The potential for instant death via brain-eating makes them an imminent threat – the cleric won’t be able to heal that one. Additionally, the variant Mind Flayer Arcanist has a variety of spells that are sure to make for an interesting fight.

Beholder

Xenophobic and paranoid Beholders are unlikely to live among other creatures, but they can still be good dungeon bosses. A Beholder’s dungeon may be filled with traps, wards, and magical constructs rather than minions, and can prove just as much of a challenge to adventurers as a standard dungeon crawl.

They also make for an interesting encounter. If the antimagic cone projected by its central eye isn’t enough to force a party to think strategically, the eight random eye beam effects, which range from a slowing effect to a death ray, should keep them on their toes.

Gynosphinx

The Gynosphinx is perfect as the end boss for any sort of guardian dungeon – a dungeon protecting some magical treasure. They can guard a tomb, a dwarven ruin, or an ancient necropolis – they fit the themes of many dungeons.

What makes the Gynosphinx a good boss is not what it does in battle – it can fly, teleport, and has a couple combat spells, but that’s it – but how it offers to let players avoid a battle. Gynosphixes love riddles, and often will offer to let people pass if they can solve a riddle. Adding a Gynosphinx as a boss creates an interesting encounter that players can solve with their brains or brawn.

Vampire

The Vampire is the classic monster, and fits in great as a boss in any gothic or horror themed dungeon. The fact that Vampires can make thralls gives an automatic method of populating the rest of the dungeon, since it makes sense that a Vampire’s castle or cave would also be home to their minions.

In addition, the Vampire’s abilities make fighting it interesting. Not only does it have regeneration, summoning abilities, and shapeshifting to make the fight more challenging, it also has weaknesses that encourage players to think strategically. If players can expose the vampire to sunlight or running water, the fight will become a lot easier. It is a challenge that rewards players for using tactics, which makes it a great boss fight.

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