Illumination. The flameskull sheds either dim light in a 15-foot radius, or bright light in a 15-foot radius and dim light for an additional 15 feet. It can switch between the options as an action.
Magic Resistance. The flameskull has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Rejuvenation. If the flameskull is destroyed, it regains all its hit points in 1 hour unless holy water is sprinkled on its remains or a dispel magic or remove curse spell is cast on them.
Spellcasting. The flameskull is a 5th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). It requires no somatic or material components to cast its spells. The flameskull has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrip (at will): mage hand
1st level (3 slots): magic missile, shield
2nd level (2 slots): blur, flaming sphere
3rd level (1 slot): fireball
Multiattack. The flameskull uses Fire Ray twice.
Fire Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (3d6) fire damage.
Description
Blazing green flames and mad, echoing laughter surround an undead flameskull. This disembodied skull blasts foes with fiery rays from its eyes and dreadful spells called up from the dark recesses of its memory.
A bit late but I don't think you were being "too kind", even though I would recommend going easy on new players in a lot of areas
Flameskulls follow their commands to the letter, the entry specifically says that their creator has to be very careful with how they phrase a Flameskull's instructions to keep it from acting stupid.
It is not in the least unreasonable to assume that if the Flameskull was told to guard something, it would completely ignore anyone who isn't important to it, and go back to guarding its thing
Why does it have 1 3rd level spell slot as a 5th level caster? Shouldn't it have 2?
Even once it BURNS through that 3rd-level spell slot, it still might have an extra turn to cast flaming sphere and shoot two fire rays. The party would likely be gravely injured by the fireball, so the fire rays and flaming sphere might be able to finish off a few PCs (obviously depends on rng). Magic missile can be a brutal way to finish off a downed character.
Does Blur gives disadvantage vs spells/spell attack?
we have to fight this, I'm afraid. (even though we've killed a dragon, manticore, and a demon)
Been dropped on it's head once too many times.
Because, iit is just a head.
Whatever you do, don't have your party run into one of these down in the Underdark where natural gas pockets can be a really bad place to store all those barrels of oil... Good luck finding Aloe vera in the Underdark too!
That does sound pretty toxic. Which reminds me, I ran a campaign once and the guy took no damage by a reaction. The damage would have overshot him, but he then one hit the boss. He laughed so hard at his big brain play, so I got angry and just burned him in a pool of acid. :) Don't mess with the DM.
combine this with a demilich and you've got a hellfire skull out to eat your soul
about to have my group fight against him!
Best CR 4 creature in the game, change my mind. It's basically the best little guardian to have for your evil necromancer lair and even 1 of these bad boys is enough to challenge your players. If they're a higher level, just add more of these guys, they can cast fireball. It's wicked honestly love this little undead sentry.
I'm making a campaign for the first time and the players will need to go through a cursed labyrinth type of thing and this would be great for saying weird riddles to confuse and help the players at the entrance of the labyrinth. Imagine the entrance being surrounded by skeletons and one's head comes to life shrouded in flames, seems pretty cool to me
Nyehehehe
rattle me bones