D&D 5E What Level 20 Class Would Win?

[Teemu]

How can any non-spellcaster beat a wizard trapping them in a 1h non-concentration barred forcecage? An archer can’t do much either without magic items since the wizard can save themselves from lost initiative by having a resilient sphere as their contingency spell, followed by a defensive buff.

 

[Phazonfish]

How can any non-spellcaster beat a wizard trapping them in a 1h non-concentration barred forcecage? An archer can’t do much either without magic items since the wizard can save themselves from lost initiative by having a resilient sphere as their contingency spell, followed by a defensive buff.

By waiting out the Resilient Sphere? The Wizard can't do a whole lot from within it, and a properly built archer can still shoot a Wizard dead in a single good turn when it drops. The Wizard has tons of good options for controlling opponents, but fewer good ones for depleting a large amount of hp on a single target.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I'm thinking that it would be fun (for somebody else) to organize a tournament, played via roll20. To compete, you generate a level 20 character (using DDAL rules), and throw your name in the hat. Organizers match you with another player and a DM, and the three of you coordinate the time. Report the results back to the organizers, and wait for next match.

A few thousand matches...or maybe tens of thousands of matches...and we might start to get some interesting data.

 

[Teemu]

By waiting out the Resilient Sphere? The Wizard can't do a whole lot from within it, and a properly built archer can still shoot a Wizard dead in a single good turn when it drops. The Wizard has tons of good options for controlling opponents, but fewer good ones for depleting a large amount of hp on a single target.

But the wizard could cast a defensive buff inside the sphere. Invulnerability could be an overkill, but it’s a 10 min immunity to damage. The archer can’t deal any damage for a 100 rounds. Or the wizard polymorphs into a target that’s immune to non-magical damage, so the archer can’t do anything.

 

[Eltab]

Or the wizard polymorphs into a target that’s immune to non-magical damage, so the archer can’t do anything.

If both sides have knowledge to use to prepare, whoever knows "I'm facing a Polymorphing Wizard" is going to bring magical damage. Maybe an Arrow of Wizard-Slaying or two.
If they do not know, then yeah the Wiz polymorphs into a high-level Demon or some such, and any mundane-damage-only archer is stuck.

 

[Teemu]

If both sides have knowledge to use to prepare, whoever knows "I'm facing a Polymorphing Wizard" is going to bring magical damage. Maybe an Arrow of Wizard-Slaying or two.
If they do not know, then yeah the Wiz polymorphs into a high-level Demon or some such, and any mundane-damage-only archer is stuck.

Right, but the premise assumed no magic items. Hence the impossible odds for the non-spellcasters.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

The Wizard is by far my favorite class, but y'all are drastically overestimating how good they are at a 1v1 slugfest. Unless non-lethal removal like Plane Shift counts as a win, and even then it's still pretty debatable.

The "you find out the opponent in advance and can prepare, but it could be anyone" premise gives the most versatile and preparation oriented class the edge, even if they aren't really the optimal choice that much of the time. Most classes just don't have a solution for a Moon Druid (including another Moon Druid). If it was a "build the best character to defeat any one other class or subclass" Wizard probably would be pretty far down the list vs. a lot of them.

 

[Asisreo]

I have to say monk. People forget that a level 20 monk has proficiency in all saves and get to reroll them in the off-chance they fail the first time. The invisibility keeps spellcasters from targeting you while also resisting most damage options if they end up landing. They also get evasion, which makes them even better against spellcasters.

As for melee combatants, if they don't get greedy, they can kite them by bonus action disengaging. Their movement is larger than most and if they're fighting a rogue, the rogue is going to have a hard time following up on their naturally good perception. Meaning it's a toss-up whether the rogue gets to even use it's sneak attack consistently.

Ranged combatants must deal with the monk's Deflect Missile which is basically a guarantee by level 20 unless something's strange is going on for a minimum of 26 damage from one attack. Once the Monk gets in their face, which is possible because of their BA dash and heightened movement, the Ranged combatant is at a serious disadvantage.

As for Druids, they aren't naturally proficient in CON saves and most animals they can wildshape into aren't either. Even with True Polymorph or Shapechange, they don't get Legendary resistance like most high Con creatures and 4 forced saves are hard to beat.

As for if they do become successfully banished or plane shifted, they can use Astral Projection to return to the fight.

 

[Gradine]

Sure. If they get to put off the fight until the day they feel up to it they're a shoe in. But then I think their opponent might not be feeling it on the days the Divination Wizard is enthusiastic about fighting.

I want to know what Level 20 Wizard is fighting anyone on anything other than on their own terms.

 

[Phazonfish]

The "you find out the opponent in advance and can prepare, but it could be anyone" premise gives the most versatile and preparation oriented class the edge, even if they aren't really the optimal choice that much of the time. Most classes just don't have a solution for a Moon Druid (including another Moon Druid). If it was a "build the best character to defeat any one other class or subclass" Wizard probably would be pretty far down the list vs. a lot of them.

The Druid doesn't have to face a Moon Druid, because the challenge is to beat every other class, and access to subclass features was stated in the original post, so I don't know what you are trying to say.