Mike Shea

And it has misty steps so it can zip around as a bonus. It does a lot of stuff, but all that stuff is locked up in the spell listings. The problem with this design, a lot of people had trouble with this, was that that meant you had to know what the spells did in order to run the mage at an effective challenge rating. And that meant looking up the books.

And it has misty steps so it can zip around as a bonus. It does a lot of stuff, but all that stuff is locked up in the spell listings. The problem with this design, a lot of people had trouble with this, was that that meant you had to know what the spells did in order to run the mage at an effective challenge rating. And that meant looking up the books.

And it has misty steps so it can zip around as a bonus. It does a lot of stuff, but all that stuff is locked up in the spell listings. The problem with this design, a lot of people had trouble with this, was that that meant you had to know what the spells did in order to run the mage at an effective challenge rating. And that meant looking up the books.

That means like you have your monster manual, you have your monster manual, you open it up to the mage, you're like, oh, I'm going to cast Ice Storm. I don't know what Ice Storm does. I don't remember, right? Now I've got to go get the player's handbook and open up the player's handbook and read Ice Storm.

That means like you have your monster manual, you have your monster manual, you open it up to the mage, you're like, oh, I'm going to cast Ice Storm. I don't know what Ice Storm does. I don't remember, right? Now I've got to go get the player's handbook and open up the player's handbook and read Ice Storm.

That means like you have your monster manual, you have your monster manual, you open it up to the mage, you're like, oh, I'm going to cast Ice Storm. I don't know what Ice Storm does. I don't remember, right? Now I've got to go get the player's handbook and open up the player's handbook and read Ice Storm.

So they recognized that difficulty, which meant in, if you look at Mordenkainen's, if you look at Monsters of the Multiverse, So if you look at Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, it's not a mage. This one's beefed up. You have the Evoker Wizard, right? And the Evoker Wizard still has spells like Ice Storm and Lightning Bolt and Mage Armor and stuff.

So they recognized that difficulty, which meant in, if you look at Mordenkainen's, if you look at Monsters of the Multiverse, So if you look at Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, it's not a mage. This one's beefed up. You have the Evoker Wizard, right? And the Evoker Wizard still has spells like Ice Storm and Lightning Bolt and Mage Armor and stuff.

So they recognized that difficulty, which meant in, if you look at Mordenkainen's, if you look at Monsters of the Multiverse, So if you look at Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, it's not a mage. This one's beefed up. You have the Evoker Wizard, right? And the Evoker Wizard still has spells like Ice Storm and Lightning Bolt and Mage Armor and stuff.

But it also has this Arcane Burst attack. Makes three Arcane Burst attacks, plus seven to hit, 25 force damage. So it does 75 damage just by bursting. Then it has Sculpted Explosion. It unleashes a magical explosion of a particular damage type, gets to pick the one, It erupts in a 20-foot radius. It's essentially like a fireball, DC 15.

But it also has this Arcane Burst attack. Makes three Arcane Burst attacks, plus seven to hit, 25 force damage. So it does 75 damage just by bursting. Then it has Sculpted Explosion. It unleashes a magical explosion of a particular damage type, gets to pick the one, It erupts in a 20-foot radius. It's essentially like a fireball, DC 15.

But it also has this Arcane Burst attack. Makes three Arcane Burst attacks, plus seven to hit, 25 force damage. So it does 75 damage just by bursting. Then it has Sculpted Explosion. It unleashes a magical explosion of a particular damage type, gets to pick the one, It erupts in a 20-foot radius. It's essentially like a fireball, DC 15.

A failed save, it does 40 damage of a type or half on a failure, right? Which is very effective. That means that for it to act as a CR 9 with 121 hit points, it is able to effectively act at that challenge rating. It's still a little weak. Using arcane bursts and sculpted explosions alone. That means you don't even need to know what the spells that it has are.

A failed save, it does 40 damage of a type or half on a failure, right? Which is very effective. That means that for it to act as a CR 9 with 121 hit points, it is able to effectively act at that challenge rating. It's still a little weak. Using arcane bursts and sculpted explosions alone. That means you don't even need to know what the spells that it has are.

A failed save, it does 40 damage of a type or half on a failure, right? Which is very effective. That means that for it to act as a CR 9 with 121 hit points, it is able to effectively act at that challenge rating. It's still a little weak. Using arcane bursts and sculpted explosions alone. That means you don't even need to know what the spells that it has are.

I'm a little worried that they're going to revert back to having the spells in just listed and that we, you have to look them up in the player's handbook again, and that they might not act at their challenge rating without using spells. So how a big question, a bit outstanding question I have is how do spell casting monsters work in the 2024 monster manual?

I'm a little worried that they're going to revert back to having the spells in just listed and that we, you have to look them up in the player's handbook again, and that they might not act at their challenge rating without using spells. So how a big question, a bit outstanding question I have is how do spell casting monsters work in the 2024 monster manual?

I'm a little worried that they're going to revert back to having the spells in just listed and that we, you have to look them up in the player's handbook again, and that they might not act at their challenge rating without using spells. So how a big question, a bit outstanding question I have is how do spell casting monsters work in the 2024 monster manual?

The good news is it kind of doesn't matter because I now have monsters from multiple books, including level up advanced 5e. Let's take a look at theirs. So Level Up Advanced 5e has a CR6 mage as well. And what they did, what Paul Hughes did in his design, first of all, more hit points, right?

The good news is it kind of doesn't matter because I now have monsters from multiple books, including level up advanced 5e. Let's take a look at theirs. So Level Up Advanced 5e has a CR6 mage as well. And what they did, what Paul Hughes did in his design, first of all, more hit points, right?