Mike Mearls

Mike Mearls
Nationality	USA
Occupation	Writer

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Wikipedia	Mike Mearls
Forgotten Realms	Mike Mearls

Mike Mearls is a game designer. He joined Wizards of the Coast in 2005 after working on third-party d20 System products for other publishers, most notably Iron Heroes for Monte Cook's Malhavoc Press. Mearls was lead designer on both Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition and Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.

Mearls often uses allegories in his work.

Life and career

Early work

Mearls' first contribution to the official D&D magazines was Mysterious Magic, Dragon #302 (Dec 2002), p.104.

Wizards of the Coast

In October 2005, Mearls joined the design team for Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition, working on redeveloping the "Orcus" draft. Mearls and Rich Baker are credited with the edition's at-will, encounter, and daily power division. Several of these design principles were backported into the D&D 3.5 sourcebook Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords (2006). In May 2006 he joined the "Flywheel" 4e development team, while also writing various "Design & Development" articles for the official D&D website. Mearls was subsequently credited on the cover of the Monster Manual (4e) (2008), and worked on numerous sourcebooks for the edition.

Mearls was subsequently one of two lead developers on Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition,. Mearls served as Group Manager for the D&D R&D team, and worked to address a perceived gulf between Wizards of the Coast and the playerbase. He began playing a campaign of the Basic Set (B/X) (1981) in order to revisit the game's traditions, and from 2012 to 2014 led the development of 5th edition, while also writing an ongoing series of "Legends & Lore" articles on the official D&D website. Following the release of D&D 5e in 2014, Mearls subsequently contributed to numerous 5th edition sourcebooks.

In December 2023, Mearls was one of a large number of Wizards of the Coast employees laid off. Mearls discussed the reasons for his departure in a 2025 podcast episode.

Bibliography

D&D 3rd edition

• Mysterious Magic, Dragon #302 (Dec 2002), p.104
• Mercenaries For Hire: The Nameless Legion, Dragon #304 (Feb 2003), p.22
• By Evil Bound, Dragon #306 (Apr 2003), p.26
• Power Plays: Move and Spell Combos, Dragon #307 (May 2003), p.108
• Arcane Weather, Dragon #308 (Jun 2003), p.68
• Stealth and Dagger, Dragon #310 (Aug 2003), p.66
• Combat Expertise: Fighter Feat Combos, Dragon #311 (Sep 2003), p.86
• Among the Dead, Dragon #312 (Oct 2003), p.28
• Eye Wares: Potent Powers of the Beholders, Dragon #313 (Nov 2003), p.54
• You Are What You Cast: Spellcaster Quirks, Dragon #314 (Dec 2003), p.96
• Return to the Lost City, Dragon #315 (Jan 2004), p.88
• Smoke and Mirrors: Divinations in D&D, Dragon #316 (Feb 2004), p.48
• Running a Non-Iconic Party, Part 1, Dragon #317 (Mar 2004), p.92
• Running a Non-Iconic Party, Part 2, Dragon #318 (Apr 2004), p.98
• Dragon Kingdoms, Dragon #320 (Jun 2004), p.52
• The Teamwork Pool, Dragon #320 (Jun 2004), p.100
• Who's Afraid of the Dark?, Dragon #322 (Aug 2004), p.22
• Command and Control, Dragon #323 (Sep 2004), p.24
• Aspects of Terror, Dragon #324 (Oct 2004), p.22
• Tools of the Trade, Dragon #325 (Nov 2004), p.88
• The Multiclassed Rogue, Dragon #325 (Nov 2004), p.92
• Gladiator Pits of the Mad Overlord, Dragon #326 (Dec 2004), p.26
• How To Write D&D Stuff For a Living, Dragon #326 (Dec 2004), p.106
• The Well-Equipped Sorcerer, Dragon #326 (Dec 2004), p.96
• Warband Building, Dragon #327 (Jan 2005), p.74
• The Multiclassed Fighter, Dragon #327 (Jan 2005), p.88
• Building a Better Archer, Dragon #327 (Jan 2005), p.91
• Nonlethal Scenarios, Dragon #328 (Feb 2005), p.74
• The Multiclassed Monk, Dragon #328 (Feb 2005), p.89
• The Multiclassed Sorcerer, Dragon #329 (Mar 2005), p.97
• The Ecology of the Chuul, Dragon #330 (Apr 2005), p.60
• Volume Veneficus, Dragon #330 (Apr 2005), p.70
• The Multiclassed Cleric, Dragon #330 (Apr 2005), p.86
• Bedrolls, Bottles, and Bells, Dragon #331 (May 2005), p.40
• Spell Strips of the Black Pyramid, Dragon #331 (May 2005), p.70
• The Multiclassed Bard, Dragon #331 (May 2005), p.85
• Songsabers of Waterdeep, Dragon #335 (Sep 2005), p.74
• Items of the Zodiac, Dragon #340 (Feb 2006), p.68
• Root of Evil, Dungeon #122 (May 2005)
• Salvage Operation, Dungeon #123 (Jun 2005)
• The Three Faces of Evil, Dungeon #125 (Aug 2005)

D&D 4th edition

• Passages into Darkness, Dungeon #115 (Oct 2004)
• Refugees, Dungeon #116 (Nov 2004)
• Bridging the Gap, Dungeon #117 (Dec 2004)
• Five-Second NPCs, Dungeon #117 (Dec 2004)
• Instant City Shopping, Dungeon #118 (Jan 2005)
• Pilgrims on the Road, Dungeon #118 (Jan 2005)
• Continuing the Challenge, Dungeon #161 (Dec 2008)
• Rule #4, Dungeon #162 (Jan 2009)
• A Real Skill Challenge, Dungeon #163 (Feb 2009)
• Social Skill Challenges, Part 1, Dungeon #164 (Mar 2009)
• Social Skill Challenges, Part 2, Dungeon #165 (Apr 2009)
• Life During Wartime, Part 1, Dungeon #166 (May 2009)
• Life During Wartime, Part 2, Dungeon #167 (Jun 2009)
• Wilderness Travel, Part 1, Dungeon #168 (Jul 2009)
• Wilderness Travel, Part 2, Dungeon #169 (Aug 2009)
• The Math Behind the DCs, Dungeon #170 (Sep 2009)
• The Mailbag, Dungeon #171 (Oct 2009)
• Stealth Challenge, Dungeon #172 (Nov 2009)
• The Colossus of Laarn, Dungeon #173 (Dec 2009)
• Stat Blocks for Roleplaying, Dungeon #174 (Jan 2010)
• Falrinth's Bargain, Dungeon #175 (Feb 2010)
• Split the Party, Dungeon #176 (Mar 2010)
• Split the Party . . . Wisely, Dungeon #177 (Apr 2010)
• Wrapping Up, Dungeon #178 (May 2010)
• Keershaz the Imp, Dungeon #95 (Nov/Dec 2002)