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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thommy H-H" data-source="post: 9271879" data-attributes="member: 6797019">The thing about these generic NPC statblocks is that they're, well, generic. The assumption is that, when you run them in your games, you'll flesh them out a little. In the same way that the veteran statblock isn't designed solely to represent an experienced combatant with no personality, and the knight needn't be a literal member of a landowning military elite that fights as heavy cavalry, you're expected to use the rules as a basic framework to hang an actual NPC off. So the 'apprentice wizard' doesn't have to be an actual magical scholar in the early stages of their education: it's just a low-level spellcaster which you can use for anything. The Arcane Burst attack, therefore, can represent whatever you want it to represent: it's simply generic magical zapping. It might be a wand or staff that shoots magical pyrotechnics, or objects hurled using telekinesis, or a gaggle of summoned elementals, or a giant glowing hand that slaps the PCs across the face. Whatever. It's up to you to describe the attack, in much the same way as you'd describe the knight using their Leadership action, or even a veteran swinging their sword. If you want the Arcane Burst to feel like an actual cantrip, just describe it as one, changing the damage type if you like. Maybe it's Fire Bolt, and the bonus damage is from some magical amulet they're wearing that inconveniently crumbles to dust when they die. And if verisimilitude really is an issue for you or your players, it's fine to stat up every NPC as a PC of the appropriate level.</blockquote>

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