D&D 5E DM's: How Do You Justify NPC's Having Magic/Abilities That Don't Exist in the PHB?

[Micah Sweet]

An explanation from Whom?

From the DM (or the player), in-universe, whenever the situation comes up.

 

[dave2008]

As long as the bolded is and remains true, all is good.

Isn't it always true even if not explicitly stated?

 

[Rabulias]

The BBEG subclass offers a lot of unique spells and abilities...

 

[UngainlyTitan]

From the DM (or the player), in-universe, whenever the situation comes up.

Ok, Thanks for the clarification. I do not believe that we differ much on this issue, save that I have no problem, in principle, with things in the game worlds that the PC cannot do.

 

[Oofta]

The rules for creating a custom spell are in the DMG, so a spell that's not in any of the books is a nonissue. The rules for learning a spell are in the PHB. If you are a wizard you need a scroll or book with the spell on it, most others need to pick from a predefined list. If the NPC is a wizard and wasn't just granted a special spell by their patron/deity the PC wizard would have to find a scroll or book with the spell on it. Even then, components may be difficult or impossible to come by.

I don't see what the issue is with the PCs not having access to a spell if they do not have access to the scroll or book. On the other hand, I also have no problem with NPCs having special abilities, all sorts of monsters do spell like things that aren't in the book. If Monsters of the Multiverse is any indication, it's going to be pretty common going forward.

 

[Bill Zebub]

PC rules apply to PCs only.

 

[Lanefan]

Isn't it always true even if not explicitly stated?

It doesn't seem so, for those who say PCs and NPCs are made differently and thus that NPCs can do things PCs cannot and-or vice versa.

Edit to add: as per the post immediately above this one, which I hadn't read yet.

 

[Weiley31]

For ex., you want your BBEG to appear in hologram/projected form before the pc's and kill one of his own minions with Power Word: Kill. His projected image then sits and has a conversation with the PC's, inviting them to join his forces.

I just go the simple route and make it a Cutscene.

 

[el-remmen]

In the early days of 5e, I would create NPCs using rules for PCs from the PHB. After a while, I realized this was quite time consuming and not as fun (for me) as I had initially thought. Nor was it even as necessary as I thought. Out of a desire to achieve a bit more efficiency with my prep time (one might read this as laziness, sure), I stopped using the class paradigm for NPCs altogether and instead invested that time in creating better scenarios. I haven't looked back. Now, sometimes my NPCs have strange abilities or spells not available to the PCs. Keeps things interesting for our table anyway.

TL;DR: NPCs/monsters don't have to follow the same rules as PCs

And as I tried to explain in my earlier post, classes have "strange powers" in relation to each other, as do countless monsters, none of which have the ability to gain the others (well, I guess there is multi-classing, but 1. that is an optional rule, and 2. that is a big investment in hopes of getting a singular power, esp. one not available at 1st level). So it is not all that strange.

 

[Umbran]

I agree in principle. So if the NPC wizard casts a spell that cannot be learned by PCs, where did it come from?

That's not a thing that's answerable in a general, context-free manner. It is a question that can only be answered in a case-by-case way, and usually doesn't need to be answered at all, as the PCs aren't asking the question.