D&D Monster Manual (2025)

D&D (2024) D&D Monster Manual (2025)

Micah Sweet

Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Yeah? I love it, myself.


Precisely why I love it. You can't have both.


Other than this. I mean, if it's a spellcaster casting a spell, then it's a spell. It doesn't matter if it 100% matches a name or crunch entry of a particular spell. It's a spell. If you mean, you need to know what level it is and that sort of thing, yeah, I guess that would be a problem if you needed that information for any reason, but AFAIK, they're taking pains to get rid of that sort of thing (IE making a spell like Counterspell simply force a save on the target, as opposed to a check against the spell level).
I'd rather look it up than have caster NPCs be that different than PC casters.
 

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Other than this. I mean, if it's a spellcaster casting a spell, then it's a spell. It doesn't matter if it 100% matches a name or crunch entry of a particular spell. It's a spell. If you mean, you need to know what level it is and that sort of thing, yeah, I guess that would be a problem if you needed that information for any reason, but AFAIK, they're taking pains to get rid of that sort of thing (IE making a spell like Counterspell simply force a save on the target, as opposed to a check against the spell level).
So why not write that it's a spell? Why leave the DM to guess if it's supposed to be a spell or not, and if so what level?
 


TwoSix

Master of the One True Way
Other than this. I mean, if it's a spellcaster casting a spell, then it's a spell. It doesn't matter if it 100% matches a name or crunch entry of a particular spell. It's a spell. If you mean, you need to know what level it is and that sort of thing, yeah, I guess that would be a problem if you needed that information for any reason, but AFAIK, they're taking pains to get rid of that sort of thing (IE making a spell like Counterspell simply force a save on the target, as opposed to a check against the spell level).
That's my approach. Counterspell counters spells. Not all magic is spells. But if the NPC is a spellcaster in the fiction, then their abilities are going to be vulnerable to counterspell.
 



Clint_L

Legend
Let it be known that I'm not happy about the approach where caster NPCs have unique spell like abilities that don't actually count as spells, as seen in MoM etc.

I like having all the info I need to run a monster in the stat block so that I don't have to look up spells in the PHB, but if an "arcanist" is waving his hands and creating something that looks like a Fireball, it should be declared as a spell so that it can interact with other game features that relate to spells.
Yes, I 100% agree. Also, with more and more folks playing through DDB, having a spell list is barely an inconvenience - you just hover over the spell and there's the description.
 



Retreater

Legend
Yes, I 100% agree. Also, with more and more folks playing through DDB, having a spell list is barely an inconvenience - you just hover over the spell and there's the description.
I will disagree with you there.
Even if you know the spells or pay the premium for the DDB, you're still tracking spell slots, complex effects - all for a monster that's dead in 2-3 rounds. It's pointless, convoluted design - and I hate it.
 

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