ToB for NPCs

[J-H]

Has anyone played around with giving NPC enemies or bosses a few of the maneuvers from Tome of Battle? It seems like a good/inspiring source for "something new" to give some foes.

[Catullus64]

I once gave a boss character a trait which was inspired by the Pearl of Black Doubt stance from the Diamond Mind school, where he got a +2 bonus to AC every time a character missed him with an attack, resetting either at the start of his turn or when someone hits him. It made it really difficult for the PCs to focus him down, and forced them to deal with the other minions he spawned first.

I also designed a magic sword called Emerald Razor, which had charges which could be expended to make attacks against a 5th-Edition version of Touch AC, as a reference to that maneuver. (Touch AC, for reference, just means Armor Class calculated without any bonus from armor or shields.)

On the whole, though, drawing direct inspiration from my favorite 3.5 sourcebook seldom proves necessary, as ToB existed in large part to address balance issues which 5e, by and large, doesn't have. So many of the maneuvers are built around the much more restricted combat rules of 3.5, especially the simple fact of not being able to use multiple attacks as a standard action.

[Particle_Man]

Be careful. A large number of mooks each with white raven maneuvers could seriously punch above their weight.

[J-H]

Oh, absolutely.

I'm thinking more about things like:
Flesh ripper: Make a CON save or have disadvantage next round from the pain of the attack.
Acrobatic Strike: The vampire leaps over your head. Make a dexterity save or take bonus damage equal to his Acrobatics check.
Soaring Raptor: Make an Athletics check; if it beats the target's AC, you gain advantage on one attack.
Knockdown attack: Make a STR save (vs attacker's STR DC) or be knocked prone
Hamstring: Make a CON save or be Slowed for 1 round

Quite a few of the TOB maneuvers are in fact replicated or replaced by existing class features, like Battlemaster maneuvers, Reckless Attack, which replaces a lot of the Tiger Claw school, etc.

[JackPhoenix]

I think you have the wrong part of the forum. This is 5e section. You should report your own thread to get a mod to move it where it belongs, you'll get more responses there.

[J-H]

This is for 5e NPCs as an additional source of inspiration for NPC abilities.