Raistlin Majere

[rferries]

https://i.imgur.com/VBjCJyg.jpg
Raistlin Majere
Medium humanoid (human), neutral evil
Armour Class 21 (black robe of the archmagi, Staff of Magius)
Hit Points 150 (20d6+80)
Speed 30 ft.


STR

DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA


10 (+0)
16 (+3)
19 (+4)

22 (+6)
16 (+3)
16 (+3)


Saving Throws Str +3, Dex +6, Con +7, Int +15, Wis +12, Cha +12 (Staff of Magius)
Skills Arcana +12, Deception +9, History +12, Insight +9, Intimidation +9, Investigation +12, Perception +9, Religion +12
Damage Resistances necrotic (Bloodstone of Fistandantilus)
Senses truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 19
Languages Abyssal, Common, Deep Speech, Draconic, Elvish, Infernal, Primordial
Challenge 20 (25,000)
Special Equipment. Raistlin wears a black robe of the archmagi and wields the Staff of Magius, as well as a +1 silvered dagger in a cunningly hidden thong on his forearm. He also bears the Bloodstone of Fistandantilus and an Orb of Dragonkind.

Magic Resistance. While wearing his black robe of the archmagi, Raistlin has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Contingency. Raistlin is warded with a contingency spell set to cast mislead whenever he is attacked.

Legendary Equipment. Raistlin may attune to up to four magic items.

Legendary Resistance (1/Day). If Raistlin fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Master of the Past and Present. Raistlin can maintain concentration on two different spells at the same time. In addition, whenever he casts foresight on himself the duration is 24 hours.

Master of the Tower. Whenever Raistlin casts counterspell or dispel magic in his lair, he adds his proficiency bonus (+6) to his Intelligence check. Whenever another creature attempts to counter or dispel one of Raistlin's spells while in his lair, the DC of their spellcasting ability check increases by 6.

Reactive. Raistlin can take one reaction on every turn in combat.

Spellcasting. Raistlin is a 20th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 25, +17 to hit with spell attacks). He may cast shield and misty step without expending a spell slot. Counterspell and dispel magic don't count against his spells prepared and he may cast each of them once per rest without expending a spell slot. Raistlin has the following wizard spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): acid splash, blade ward, chill touch, mage hand, prestidigitation

1st level (4 slots): absorb elements, detect magic, disguise self, shield

2nd level (3 slots): detect thoughts, invisibility, misty step

3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, dispel magic, fireball, fly, lightning bolt

4th level (3 slots): black tentacles, blight, confusion, fire shield*, greater invisibility

5th level (3 slots): arcane hand, cone of cold, dominate person, teleportation circle

6th level (2 slots): circle of death, mass suggestion, sunbeam

7th level (2 slots): finger of death, forcecage

8th level (1 slot): mind blank*

9th level (1 slot): foresight*

*Raistlin casts these spells on himself before combat.

Actions
Staff of Magius (Quarterstaff). Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage, or 7 (1d8+3) bludgeoning damage if used with both hands.

+1 Silvered Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) piercing damage.

Cyan Bloodbane (1/Day). Raistlin uses his Orb of Dragonkind to summon Cyan Bloodbane, an adult green dragon. Bloodbane serves him for 1 minute before vanishing.

Reactions
Recalculate Tactics. Whenever an enemy succeeds on a saving throw against one of Raistlin's spells, he may use his reaction to gain 30 temporary hit points.

Legendary Actions
Raistlin can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Raistlin regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

Attack. Raistlin makes a weapon attack.

Detect. Raistlin makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.

Quickened Cantrips. Raistlin casts two cantrips.

Cast Spell (Costs 1-3 Actions). Raistlin uses a spell slot to cast a 1st-, 2nd-, or 3rd-level spell that he has prepared. Doing so costs 1 legendary action per level of the spell.

Lair Actions
While fighting inside the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas, Raistlin may call upon the Tower's various arcane defences and mysterious treasures. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Raistlin can take a lair action to cause one of the following magical effects; he can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:


A symbol or up to two glyphs of warding (3rd-level explosive runes version only) appear at locations of Raistlin's choice anywhere within the lair. These magical traps cannot be triggered until after his next lair action.
Raistlin summons 2d4 wights or 3d4 spectres. The creatures act on their own initiative and fight to the death to protect him.
The flow of time is altered such that every creature in the lair must reroll initiative. Raistlin can choose not to reroll.
Raistlin activates or deactivates the Abyssal Portal in his laboratory. While the portal is open it allows passage to a random location on the Nine Hells and disgorges a random fiend every 1d4 rounds.

Regional Effects
The region containing Raistlin's Tower is warped by the Tower's presence, which creates all of the following effects:


The Tower radiates extreme fear within 1 mile, driving away all wildlife and most sentient creatures. Any creature within range must succeed on a DC 15 Will save every ten minutes or become frightened of the Tower for 1 hour.
The Tower is surrounded by a cursed grove, guarded by wights and spectres that attack any trespassers. Any humanoid killed within the grove rises as a new wight or spectre guard.
As an action, Raistlin can create a small silver charm granting the bearer safe passage to or from the Tower. The bearer is immune to the Tower's fear and is not attacked by its undead guardians, though the charm loses its magic and crumbles into dust whenever Raistlin wishes.

New Items
Staff of Magius
Simple weapon (quarterstaff), melee weapon, legendary (requires attunement by a wizard)
This oaken +3 quarterstaff is topped with a crystal held in a golden dragon's claw. The bearer gains a +3 bonus to Armor Class, saving throws, spell save DC, and spell attack rolls. The staff may be used to cast featherfall and light at will, and is immune to all damage except dragonfire.

Bloodstone of Fistandantilus
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement by a wizard)
This oval bloodstone gem is three inches in diameter and green in color with blood red flecks in it. The gem is set in silver and hung on a silver chain. The bearer of the pendant gains the benefits of an amulet of health and is resistant to necrotic damage.

As an action, the bearer may use the gem to drain the lifeforce of an incapacitated wizard of at least 11th level. This kills the victim instantly and fully restores the bearer's youth.

[Tvtyrant]

Looks pretty swanky, if a little underpowered for Raistlin. Like Cyan is an Ancient Green Dragon, Raistlin casts some 9ths fairly frequently at times and beats Tiamat 1v1, but for 5E this seems like a good adaptation.

[LibraryOgre]

That Constitution seems REALLY high for someone whose defining feature is "extremely frail".

[Amechra]

Yeah, if anyone has a Con of 8, it's Raistlin.

[Silly Name]

Yeah, if anyone has a Con of 8, it's Raistlin.

Probably even less than that after his Test.

[rferries]

Looks pretty swanky, if a little underpowered for Raistlin. Like Cyan is an Ancient Green Dragon, Raistlin casts some 9ths fairly frequently at times and beats Tiamat 1v1, but for 5E this seems like a good adaptation.

I'm glad to hear I may have undershot the power level, was worried I gave too many action types haha. Yeah, 5e really cramps spellcasters' style... only one 9th per day really hurts. Thanks for the feedback!


That Constitution seems REALLY high for someone whose defining feature is "extremely frail".


Yeah, if anyone has a Con of 8, it's Raistlin.


Probably even less than that after his Test.

When he was a Red Robe, definitely... However I recall that once he joined Takhisis her clerics restored his health (albeit not his appearance) - at one point Caramon of all people has to lean on Raistlin for support. Along those lines, here are some abilities I was considering giving a less-powerful Red Robe version of him:

Emaciated. The Test ravaged Raistlin's vitality. He suffers a -8 penalty to his Constitution score and disadvantage on all Constitution and Strength checks. Once per day he may suppress this trait for one hour by drinking a bitter herbal tonic the archwizard Par-Salian taught him to make. If he ever receives a greater restoration spell, he loses this trait permanently.

Golden Flesh. At a dire moment in his Test, Raistlin offered his life-force to the archwizard Fistandantilus in exchange for magical protection. After Raistlin reneged on his end, Fistandantilus transformed the protection into a visible curse. Raistlin's metallic skin grants him advantage on saving throws against spells but disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks.

Hourglass Eyes. The wizards of High Sorcery gave Raistlin golden hourglass eyes in an (ultimately futile) attempt to teach him empathy. He sees all things in a perpetual state of decay, gaining truesight 120 ft but suffering disadvantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks.

[Kish]

Setting aside the story issues I have with your descriptions of events...I really do not think the tea ever brought Raistlin to the health of a fighter, and 16 is over the highest default stat of a starting character. Nor do I think that the Dragonlance story could survive "actually, Elistan could have removed Raistlin's cough and left him in incredible health with a single spell." If his starting stat was 8 and it had a -5 penalty most of the time (making it 3), that would...honestly still be too high for the starting stat. My advice is to snap out of optimization, 10-is-really-low-right? mode and give the character whose writing clearly indicates a massive Constitution penalty an actual massive Constitution penalty.

(He does lose his cough when he takes on the Black Robes, but he's never presented as unusually healthy; 10 is what makes sense for his Constitution then.)

[JNAProductions]

Setting aside the story issues I have with your descriptions of events...I really do not think the tea ever brought Raistlin to the health of a fighter, and 16 is over the highest default stat of a starting character. Nor do I think that the Dragonlance story could survive "actually, Elistan could have removed Raistlin's cough and left him in incredible health with a single spell." If his starting stat was 8 and it had a -5 penalty most of the time (making it 3), that would...honestly still be too high for the starting stat. My advice is to snap out of optimization, 10-is-really-low-right? mode and give the character whose writing clearly indicates a massive Constitution penalty an actual massive Constitution penalty.

(He does lose his cough when he takes on the Black Robes, but he's never presented as unusually healthy; 10 is what makes sense for his Constitution then.)

If the HP ends up too low for the CR, just give him more hit dice. It's fine.

[Tvtyrant]

I would probably give him something like "whenever an enemy makes a save, Raistlin gains 30 temporary hp until his next turn." It stretches combat out if he doesn't do much, and shortens it if he is doing a lot.

[JNAProductions]

I would probably give him something like "whenever an enemy makes a save, Raistlin gains 30 temporary hp until his next turn." It stretches combat out if he doesn't do much, and shortens it if he is doing a lot.

That's an interesting idea... I should use that in my monsters.

[rferries]

Setting aside the story issues I have with your descriptions of events...I really do not think the tea ever brought Raistlin to the health of a fighter, and 16 is over the highest default stat of a starting character. Nor do I think that the Dragonlance story could survive "actually, Elistan could have removed Raistlin's cough and left him in incredible health with a single spell." If his starting stat was 8 and it had a -5 penalty most of the time (making it 3), that would...honestly still be too high for the starting stat. My advice is to snap out of optimization, 10-is-really-low-right? mode and give the character whose writing clearly indicates a massive Constitution penalty an actual massive Constitution penalty.

(He does lose his cough when he takes on the Black Robes, but he's never presented as unusually healthy; 10 is what makes sense for his Constitution then.)

To clarify, my Red Robes version of Raistlin would have been much lower level with a correspondingly lower Constitution. I'll also add that clerical magic was quite limited during the original trilogy (for the good guys at least), e.g. they never use raise dead to get Sturm back, so greater restoration wouldn't have been an option for him until his defection.

All that said, I've bumped his Constitution down to 12.


If the HP ends up too low for the CR, just give him more hit dice. It's fine.

I sense people would take issue with this too - Constitution and Hit Dice are both just ways of getting hit points after all haha. :D


I would probably give him something like "whenever an enemy makes a save, Raistlin gains 30 temporary hp until his next turn." It stretches combat out if he doesn't do much, and shortens it if he is doing a lot.

This is a very elegant mechanic! I've replaced his reaction with it, merci.

[Kish]

To clarify, my Red Robes version of Raistlin would have been much lower level with a correspondingly lower Constitution. I'll also add that clerical magic was quite limited during the original trilogy (for the good guys at least), e.g. they never use raise dead to get Sturm back, so greater restoration wouldn't have been an option for him until his defection.

All that said, I've bumped his Constitution down to 12.



I sense people would take issue with this too - Constitution and Hit Dice are both just ways of getting hit points after all haha. :D

I think you mean "assume," not "sense," because I find the followup statement might as well be "I'm not sufficiently interested in what Constitution means to care here haha. :D"

12 is still above-average, above-average is still almost as bad as making Sturm nonlawful. But oh well, I'll bow out here.

[rferries]

I think you mean "assume," not "sense," because I find the followup statement might as well be "I'm not sufficiently interested in what Constitution means to care here haha. :D"

12 is still above-average, above-average is still almost as bad as making Sturm nonlawful. But oh well, I'll bow out here.

Sorry, I think my comment may have come across as a bit more snarky than I intended, mea culpa! Thank you for your feedback.

[Twelvetrees]

This is an awesome take on an iconic character. Let's see how the stats shake out.

Defensive Challenge Rating: 13

Contingent mislead is hard to evaluate. It might bump this by one more.
I can't see stoneskin doing anything at this level.
I would suggest adding fire shield to the list of spells he pre-casts before combat.

His hit points are hilariously low. Any character dedicated to dealing damage can take him out in one turn or come perilously close to doing so.

Offensive Challenge Rating: 23?

This is really hard to estimate, especially once you take into account abilities like creating a symbol of insanity, summoning an adult green dragon, or forcecage.


Overall Challenge Rating: 18


Other comments:

Counterspell, shield, and Recalculate Tactics all fight for the use of his reaction. I suspect counterspell will win most of the time.

Raistlin needs minions or something that can take hits for him. If he is the only creature the party is fighting, he's going to end up going down really quickly because of his low hit points even with foresight. A shield guardian would help, as would anyone with warding bond.

Despite everything I've written above about how his low health is a weak point, I would agree with everyone else that his Constitution score should be low. Somewhere in the 5-8 range would make sense. I'd suggest giving him buckets of hit dice to compensate. 5e monsters don't really follow any pattern for numbers of hit dice, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you need reassurance, here's a quote directly from the DMG.

A monster can have as many hit dice as you want

[rferries]

This is an awesome take on an iconic character. Let's see how the stats shake out.

Defensive Challenge Rating: 13

Contingent mislead is hard to evaluate. It might bump this by one more.
I can't see stoneskin doing anything at this level.
I would suggest adding fire shield to the list of spells he pre-casts before combat.

His hit points are hilariously low. Any character dedicated to dealing damage can take him out in one turn or come perilously close to doing so.

Offensive Challenge Rating: 23?

This is really hard to estimate, especially once you take into account abilities like creating a symbol of insanity, summoning an adult green dragon, or forcecage.


Overall Challenge Rating: 18


Other comments:

Counterspell, shield, and Recalculate Tactics all fight for the use of his reaction. I suspect counterspell will win most of the time.

Raistlin needs minions or something that can take hits for him. If he is the only creature the party is fighting, he's going to end up going down really quickly because of his low hit points even with foresight. A shield guardian would help, as would anyone with warding bond.

Despite everything I've written above about how his low health is a weak point, I would agree with everyone else that his Constitution score should be low. Somewhere in the 5-8 range would make sense. I'd suggest giving him buckets of hit dice to compensate. 5e monsters don't really follow any pattern for numbers of hit dice, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you need reassurance, here's a quote directly from the DMG.

Thanks (again!) for your feedback. I've made some edits - although his hit points are low, between Quickened Cantrips (blade ward) and Reactive (Recalculate Tactics, absorb elements) I hope he should be able to weather damage better. I also bumped up the number of undead he can summon with his lair action.

I'm going to remain firm on the Constitution though - Raistlin the Red was of course totally shattered health-wise, but Raistlin the Black was generally described as having overcome that, especially on Krynn where arcane spellcasting was physically draining.

[rferries]

Not that is matters at this point but I just realised a good Constitution compromise is making the Bloodstone an amulet of health as well. Now his true Constitution can be as low or moderate as one wishes, it's simply overwritten by magical means.

[Calthropstu]

Raistlin was a 2e mage. Every spell he casts in the books is verbatim in the 2e rulebooks. 5e doesn't come close to the power wielded by 2e mages.

However, he has one problem currently (aside from the fact he is fully dead) and that is he is no longer able to cast magic. As a result of challenging the gods, his power over magic was stripped away. You could, of course, claim it's from a time before the war of the twins. But anything after and you're facing a mage with no spells.