Mike Shea

And they made a big deal about this in the videos. Oh, look, our dragons now can cast spells. Well, no, the dragon actually kind of needs to cast those spells in order to hit it as challenge rating given circumstances. And you didn't spell them out. So I got to go learn what they do.

And what's even worse is in many cases, they're upcast, which means I got to not only know what the spell does, I have to remember what the upcast does. That's a pain, right? That to me is a real pain. And it was something that even Wizards of the Coast didn't. talked about in their design blogs for Monsters of the Multiverse.

And what's even worse is in many cases, they're upcast, which means I got to not only know what the spell does, I have to remember what the upcast does. That's a pain, right? That to me is a real pain. And it was something that even Wizards of the Coast didn't. talked about in their design blogs for Monsters of the Multiverse.

And what's even worse is in many cases, they're upcast, which means I got to not only know what the spell does, I have to remember what the upcast does. That's a pain, right? That to me is a real pain. And it was something that even Wizards of the Coast didn't. talked about in their design blogs for Monsters of the Multiverse.

So when they were designing Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, I don't think I have that on my shelf. I can't pull it off. But when they were designing monsters from Monsters of the Multiverse, they said things like, we know that some of the abilities of this are buried in spells and we're going to move them out of the spell block and into the main core block so you can see them.

So when they were designing Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, I don't think I have that on my shelf. I can't pull it off. But when they were designing monsters from Monsters of the Multiverse, they said things like, we know that some of the abilities of this are buried in spells and we're going to move them out of the spell block and into the main core block so you can see them.

So when they were designing Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, I don't think I have that on my shelf. I can't pull it off. But when they were designing monsters from Monsters of the Multiverse, they said things like, we know that some of the abilities of this are buried in spells and we're going to move them out of the spell block and into the main core block so you can see them.

I don't remember the exact quote, but I know that, and I've talked about with some other designers, like, yeah, they pretty much said that. They pretty much said that there was a reason why they did things. And if you look at the wizards, there's a bunch of different wizard stat blocks in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse.

I don't remember the exact quote, but I know that, and I've talked about with some other designers, like, yeah, they pretty much said that. They pretty much said that there was a reason why they did things. And if you look at the wizards, there's a bunch of different wizard stat blocks in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse.

I don't remember the exact quote, but I know that, and I've talked about with some other designers, like, yeah, they pretty much said that. They pretty much said that there was a reason why they did things. And if you look at the wizards, there's a bunch of different wizard stat blocks in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse.

And the evoker wizard, for example, has a fireball-like ability that is fully spelled out and actually operates differently than a fireball. It does more damage and you can sculpt it around people because it makes sense because it's an evoker wizard. But that means when I run that wizard, it feels like a wizard and I don't have to look anything up.

And the evoker wizard, for example, has a fireball-like ability that is fully spelled out and actually operates differently than a fireball. It does more damage and you can sculpt it around people because it makes sense because it's an evoker wizard. But that means when I run that wizard, it feels like a wizard and I don't have to look anything up.

And the evoker wizard, for example, has a fireball-like ability that is fully spelled out and actually operates differently than a fireball. It does more damage and you can sculpt it around people because it makes sense because it's an evoker wizard. But that means when I run that wizard, it feels like a wizard and I don't have to look anything up.

many monsters in the 2025 monster manual don't have that ability. And you have to go look up a spell in order to do it. And I think that that is, it makes the book less usable by, to me, a significant amount. Like that was something, the disappointing thing for me is in 10 years, we knew that was a problem. We knew it was a problem right away.

many monsters in the 2025 monster manual don't have that ability. And you have to go look up a spell in order to do it. And I think that that is, it makes the book less usable by, to me, a significant amount. Like that was something, the disappointing thing for me is in 10 years, we knew that was a problem. We knew it was a problem right away.

many monsters in the 2025 monster manual don't have that ability. And you have to go look up a spell in order to do it. And I think that that is, it makes the book less usable by, to me, a significant amount. Like that was something, the disappointing thing for me is in 10 years, we knew that was a problem. We knew it was a problem right away.

I had people that told me right away, I don't find this book usable at all. And it's way worse than the fourth edition books because the fourth edition books had everything in there. And now I got to go look stuff up. And that was a complaint in 2014. And now it's 10 years later and we're going to have the same complaint. So that to me is the real, the biggest sin.

I had people that told me right away, I don't find this book usable at all. And it's way worse than the fourth edition books because the fourth edition books had everything in there. And now I got to go look stuff up. And that was a complaint in 2014. And now it's 10 years later and we're going to have the same complaint. So that to me is the real, the biggest sin.

I had people that told me right away, I don't find this book usable at all. And it's way worse than the fourth edition books because the fourth edition books had everything in there. And now I got to go look stuff up. And that was a complaint in 2014. And now it's 10 years later and we're going to have the same complaint. So that to me is the real, the biggest sin.

There's one other sin, which I'm going to talk about more next time, which is the omission of drow and orcs and duergar.