Magic Resistance. The archmage has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Spellcasting. The archmage is an 18th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). The archmage can cast disguise self and invisibility at will and has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, light, mage hand, prestidigitation, shocking grasp
1st level (4 slots): detect magic, identify, mage armor*, magic missile
2nd level (3 slots): detect thoughts, mirror image, misty step
3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, fly, lightning bolt
4th level (3 slots): banishment, fire shield, stoneskin*
5th level (3 slots): cone of cold, scrying, wall of force
6th level (1 slot): globe of invulnerability
7th level (1 slot): teleport
8th level (1 slot): mind blank*
9th level (1 slot): time stop
*The archmage casts these spells on itself before combat.
Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
Description
Archmages are powerful (and usually quite old) spellcasters dedicated to the study of the arcane arts. Benevolent ones counsel kings and queens, while evil ones rule as tyrants and pursue lichdom. Those who are neither good nor evil sequester themselves in remote towers to practice their magic without interruption. An archmage typically has one or more apprentice mages, and an archmage's abode has numerous magical wards and guardians to discourage interlopers.
I love the little 4 damage dagger attack
So he's essentially Dumbledore/the Magister/Dr. Strange/insert some other extremely powerful wizard from fiction.
Great tip regarding the breath weapon. My current character is a dragonborn wizard. I rarely use the breath weapon because its slightly underpowered and has a lower DC compared to my cantrips and spells.
I know, fireball is one of the most famous D&D spells.
Sadly, yes. I am guessing that this archmage got to where he/she got by study rather than personal experience, if that is possible.
So my level 6 party Conned a merchant and our fighter tried to punch him and and turns out he was a archmage. Big whoops moment.
I wish they had a beefed up version of this. CR 12 is pitiful. idk I feel like it's an Archmage, so it should be more powerful.
Tweak the spell list, and you could really beef this bad boy up. Replacing Time Stop, with Meteor Swarm, or Blade of Disaster, or Time Ravage, or Ravenous Void would dramatically increase the Archmage's killing power.
It is odd that Mage Armor and Stoneskin are factored into their stat block while Mindblank is not. All three spells are always supposed to be active at the opening of an encounter, and Mindblank is the only one that can remain active at all times with its 24 hour duration. The archmage should have Damage Immunity: Psychic and Condition Immunity: Charmed both with (Mind Blank) to parenthetically note the source. There should also be a notation in their abilities that covers their inability to be detected or percieved with divination magic due to that spell. This is extremely relevant information for newer DMs to have given the Archmage can cast Disguise Self and Invisibility at will.
Often used as the stat block for enemy spell casters, often "the end boss"...and used most frequently for combat, I find this archmage particularly ineffective. It is a pushover for any group 7th level or higher. Based on its stats, it should just flee with teleport as its first action and never look back. It's stoneskin will not be effective against any PC and they have very little offensive ability. This is my adjusted archmage if your archmage was at all prepared for a fight, which, why else have a stat block? First round the archmage would typically attempt to turn into a red or gold dragon using Shapechange, where he can still cast counterspell or shield in addition to fighting, using breath weapons, and getting Legendary Saves.
Magic Resistance. The archmage has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Concentration. Archmages have advantage on Constitution saving throws that they make to maintain their concentration on a spell when they take damage.
Spell Response. When a hostile creature’s movement provokes an opportunity attack, the Archmage can use their reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature.
Spellcasting. The archmage is an 18th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 19, +11 to hit with spell attacks). The archmage can cast shield and misty step at will and has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, light, mage hand, prestidigitation, shocking grasp
1st level (4 slots): feather fall, disguise self, mage armor*, magic missile
2nd level (3 slots): detect thoughts, mirror image
3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, fly, fireball
4th level (3 slots): greater invisibility, polymorph, dimension door
5th level (3 slots): cone of cold, scrying, wall of force
6th level (1 slot): globe of invulnerability
7th level (1 slot): teleport
8th level (1 slot): mind blank*
9th level (1 slot): shapechange
*The archmage casts these spells on itself before combat.
Quote from mdrichey >> No shield? No fireball?
Quote from Fireslayer999 >> Sadly, yes. I am guessing that this archmage got to where he/she got by study rather than personal experience, if that is possible.
Stat block came from Candlekeep. If you cause trouble 1 archmage and 4 mages show up. If they take too long to subdue you, 4 more archmages show up. Why this is relevant for no fireball, "In Candlekeep any flames larger than a candle is suppressed. Any fire spell castFlames larger than a candle are suppressed within the keep. (The fireplace in the Hearth, Candlekeep’s tavern, is an exception.) Thus, any spell that creates fire is wasted if it is cast within the keep."
i'm a green dragonborn! he cant block me, unless he succeeds on the CON save...
im a green dragonborn fighter/champion
I'm probably going to create many different versions of this stat-block, one for each school of magic. WoTC did this sort of thing with the mage in Volo's Guide to Monsters.
Bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage is not even half of all the damage types that exist in D&D. And it's resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. By the level when your party will face an archmage, they will probably have several magical weapons at their disposal, so those resistances are kind of meaningless. I would recommend replacing stoneskin with another 4th-level spell, as it's not really worth the wizard's precious concentration slot. Revision recommendations: arcane eye, dimension door, greater invisibility, phantasmal killer, polymorph.
For the purpose of calculating challenge rating, yes. The archmage has effectively 198 hit points.
is it just me or is this guy the lich on the lich statblock but less undead
Basically. A Lich starts off as an evil archmage.
I can see why this one has lightning bolt instead of fireball. Ideally, an archmage would be traveling with a cadre of bodyguards, maybe veterans or something. Somebody to lock down martials before they can rush the wizard and wipe out their measly 99 hit points, which is a tactic that can fall apart if you blow up those bodyguards rather than squeeze in lightning bolts from a safe distance.
My problem is that, with +5 Intelligence and 18 levels of wizard, they only have 22 spells prepared rather than 23. Could have something nasty in there, like disintegrate or any power word spell. A lot of this stuff is more utilitarian (spell mastery seems kinda wasted on disguise self).
Let's be honest. These guys could wipe an entire party with fireball. The fact that they can cast lightning bolt and cone of cold is scary enough.