Mage NPC Stat Block 5e: Spells, Counterspell Math and the 2024 Mage

This page covers the mage NPC stat block, the creature you use for a court wizard, a tower hermit or a cult's hired spell-slinger. It is not the wizard player class. The mage is a CR 6 Medium Humanoid worth 2,300 XP. The 2014 version is a 9th-level caster with 40 hit points, AC 15 only after Mage Armor, and a slot list built around Fireball, Counterspell, Greater Invisibility and one Cone of Cold. The 2024 version doubles its hit points to 81, fires three 16-damage Arcane Bursts a turn, and folds Counterspell and Shield into a reaction it can use three times a day.

Table of Contents

• •Mage Stat Block (2014)
• •The Mage in the 2024 Rules
• •How the Mage Fights
• •Running a Mage Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Mage
• •Mage Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Mage Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 mage plays like a wizard PC: prepared spells, a fixed pool of slots and a dagger it should never use.

Read the slots before you run it, because they are shared and they run out fast:

Mage Armor eats a 1st-level slot before the fight starts. Without it the mage is AC 12. With it, AC 15, and three 1st-level slots remain for Shield and Magic Missile.

Three 3rd-level slots cover three jobs. Every Fireball it throws is a Counterspell it can't cast later. Two Fireballs and one held Counterspell is the usual split.

Fly and Greater Invisibility both need Concentration. The mage can be flying or invisible, never both. Pick one before initiative.

40 hit points is the real weakness. A level 7 rogue's Sneak Attack plus a fighter's two hits can take it from full to zero in one round. Its saves are Intelligence +6 and Wisdom +4; Dexterity is +2 and Constitution +0.

The Mage in the 2024 Rules

The SRD 5.2.1 mage drops spell slots entirely. It has a Multiattack, a short list of daily spells, a bonus-action teleport and a defensive reaction.

What this does at the table:

• •It survives the first round. At 81 hit points, the alpha strike that dropped a 2014 mage leaves the 2024 one at half.
• •Its damage no longer depends on spells. Arcane Burst is an attack, not a spell. Counterspell and Silence can stop its Fireball, but not its 48-damage Multiattack.
• •Counterspell works differently. In 2024, Counterspell forces the caster to make a Constitution save instead of an ability check, and a failed spell doesn't spend its slot. The mage's Con save is +0, which makes it easy to counter. Its own Counterspell is DC 14.
• •Misty Step is free. It's a bonus action, three times a day, with no slot cost. The mage can teleport 30 feet and still attack every turn.

How the Mage Fights

The mage's job is to stay out of reach and spend its best resource at the right moment. Played well, it never ends a turn within 5 feet of a fighter.

2014 opening. Before combat: Mage Armor. Round 1: Greater Invisibility on itself, which gives its attacks Advantage and attacks against it Disadvantage for up to a minute. Round 2: Fireball the cluster. Round 3: Ice Storm (2d8 bludgeoning + 4d6 cold, average 23, in a 20-foot-radius cylinder that also leaves difficult terrain) or a second Fireball. Hold Cone of Cold (8d8, average 36, Constitution save) for when three characters line up in a 60-foot cone.

2024 default turn. Three Arcane Bursts at 120 feet, then Misty Step if anyone is closing. Against AC 16, +6 hits on a 10 or higher, 55% of the time: 3 × 16 × 0.55 = about 26 damage a round, all at range.

When Fireball beats the Bursts (2024). The level 4 Fireball deals 9d6 (31.5) in a 20-foot-radius sphere, DC 14 Dexterity. A character with Dex save +2 fails on 11 or lower, 55%. Expected damage per target is 0.55 × 31.5 + 0.45 × 15.75 = about 24. One target in the blast is worse than the Multiattack; two targets make it about 49; three make it about 73. Throw it when at least two characters are inside the radius.

Shield, worked out. Shield adds +5 AC until the mage's next turn, including against the attack that triggered it. In 2024 that takes the mage from AC 15 to 20. A +7 attacker hits AC 15 on an 8 or higher; any hit that rolled 8 to 12 becomes a miss. That's 5 of the 13 hitting rolls, so Shield cancels about 38% of hits and covers every other attack that round too. Save it for the first hit in a round with several attackers lined up behind it, not the last one.

Counterspell, worked out.

• •2014 mage countering a PC: spells of 3rd level or lower fail automatically. Against a 4th-level spell the mage rolls an Intelligence check (+3) against DC 14 and succeeds on 11 or higher, 50%. Against 5th level, 45%.
• •2024 mage countering a PC: the PC rolls a Constitution save against DC 14. A wizard with Con +2 needs a 12, so the counter works 55% of the time, and the PC's slot comes back if it does.

With only three Protective Magic uses a day, the 2024 mage should spend Counterspell on healing that would undo its work (Revivify, Mass Cure Wounds) and on spells that end the fight (Hold Person, Banishment), and let the damage spells through.

Retreat. A mage at a quarter of its hit points with Misty Step left teleports out of reach (Misty Step needs a spot it can see) and runs. With 2024's Invisibility 2/day it can vanish outright and come back later with allies. Mages survive by not being where the party expects.

Running a Mage Encounter

A mage is worth 2,300 XP. A mage with no front line folds, so pair it with melee allies who keep the party busy. Using the 2024 SRD budget for four characters:

A mage alone at level 5 is a Moderate encounter (2,300 of the 3,000 Moderate budget), but a solo mage is worse than the number says: it has one turn per round against four, and a grapple ends its plan. The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator) rate one mage against four level 5 characters as Medium (2,300 XP against a 2,000 Medium and 3,000 Hard threshold). Two mages with the ×1.5 multiplier count as 6,900 XP, Deadly at level 5.

Good levels for a mage fight: 5 to 9. At level 11 and above, swap in the archmage and keep mages as its apprentices.

How Players Beat a Mage

• •Close the distance. Against the 2014 mage this is decisive: its melee option is a +5 dagger for 4, and its spell attacks take Disadvantage with an enemy within 5 feet. The 2024 mage's Arcane Burst works at 5-foot reach with no penalty, but a character next to it still takes Fireball off the table, since the 20-foot sphere would catch the mage too.
• •Bait the reaction. Shield and Counterspell share a single reaction per round. Have the weakest attacker swing first. If the mage Shields, every spell cast before its next turn is safe from Counterspell, including the cleric's Hold Person.
• •Counter its spells (2024). Its Constitution save is +0. Against a DC 15 caster it saves only on a 15 or higher, so Counterspell works 70% of the time. In 2014, its 3rd-level spells fail automatically to your Counterspell.
• •Target Strength, Constitution or Charisma. Strength is −1, Constitution and Charisma +0: its weakest saves. Wisdom (+4) and Intelligence (+6) are its strongest.
• •Hold Person works, since it's a Humanoid in both editions, but against Wis +4 and a DC 15 spell it fails only half the time. Pair it with something that forces the save twice.
• •Kill the 2014 mage fast, wear down the 2024 one. Forty hit points means focus fire on round one. Against 81, take away its tools first: break line of sight so Arcane Burst has no target, and make it spend Misty Steps.
• •Dispel Magic on Mage Armor or Fly (2014) drops it to AC 12 or out of the sky. The 2024 mage's Mage Armor is folded into its AC.

Mage Encounter Ideas

The appraiser. A mage runs an auction house's vault and casts Detect Magic on every lot for a fee. When the party sells something stolen, the mage recognizes it and offers to keep quiet in exchange for one favor. The fight only happens if the party refuses, in a gallery full of fragile, valuable glass that nobody wants hit by a Fireball.

Two mages, one tower. The party is hired by one mage to evict another from a shared tower after a falling-out. Both mages are hostile to intruders, and each will tell the party the other is the dangerous one. Run it as three-sided: if the party fights one, the other uses Counterspell on whichever side is winning.

The ferry crossing. A mage with Fly and a grudge waits on the far bank of a wide river and attacks the ferry halfway across. The party is in the open on a raft 200 feet from either bank. The mage stays at 120 feet and uses Arcane Burst or Fireball. Players who think to cut the ferry rope or dive under the water change the fight.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is the mage in 5e?

The mage is CR 6 and worth 2,300 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. The 2014 mage has 40 hit points and AC 12 (15 with Mage Armor); the 2024 mage has 81 hit points and AC 15.

What spells does the mage NPC have?

The 2014 mage is a 9th-level caster with Fire Bolt, Light, Mage Hand and Prestidigitation as cantrips and slots for Detect Magic, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield, Misty Step, Suggestion, Counterspell, Fireball, Fly, Greater Invisibility, Ice Storm and Cone of Cold. The 2024 mage casts Fireball (level 4 version) and Invisibility twice a day, Cone of Cold and Fly once a day, Misty Step three times a day, and Counterspell or Shield three times a day total.

How many times can the 2024 mage cast Counterspell?

Up to three times a day, but that pool is shared with Shield. Its Protective Magic reaction casts either spell and has three uses in total.

Is the mage the same as the wizard class?

No. The mage is an NPC stat block for the DM to run. It uses wizard spells, and the 2024 version is tagged Humanoid (Wizard), but it has no class features, subclass or spell slots in 2024. For a named court wizard with a personality and motives, start with our NPC generator; for custom numbers, use the stat block generator.

What's the difference between a mage and an archmage?

The archmage is CR 12 against the mage's CR 6. It has Magic Resistance, a DC 17 spell save DC instead of 14, 170 hit points in 2024 (99 in 2014) and much stronger spells: Teleport and Mind Blank in both editions, Time Stop and Globe of Invulnerability in 2014, and a level 7 Lightning Bolt in 2024.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.