D&D 5E 20th level Sorcerer vs the world

[Benjamin Olson]

Thank you! Appreciation motivates me to keep writing them

(plus the idea that the OP rages as all the Foggy Bottom NPC are having happy, healthy lives while his sorc builds somehow brood by themselves all the time).

If only they were a little less broody they could at least be friends with each other. But I expect if they were ever in the same room they would all go brood in the shadows of different corners, an image which is funniest if you imagine that each of them has an identical Drow Matron Mother simulacrum in tow.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Back to 20th level iteration of the Bastion, this time with a DMM flying on a pegasus 660 ft high in the air, while her cronies [because, let's face it, the demigod seems to be a side-kick of the high profile DMM] stand in the Ethereal waiting to strike.

Round 1: DMM spots Alfred. Alfred, who doesn't need any roll to notice a Pegasus-riding DMM, wonders if she has any feather falling capability and casts Ravenous Void centered on them. Even if the Pegasus succeeds on saving throw, he'd need two rounds to escape the pull of the void... The DMM would see her mount killed under her, crushed to death, and would have to either planeshift to safety (good bye... as she wouldn't be able to get back by herself and her creator would have much trouble finding her again) or she'll be crushed to death, before taking 20d6 fall damage if she somehow survives. Yes it's a Concentration spell, but Butler would conscienciously move Alfred to safety (maybe it's an advance scout for Drow flying unit intent on bombing Foggy Bottom, so assessing the situation from safety would be of utmost importance) through Teleportation.

Whatever the Sorcerer and copy did at their turn would be sorely irrelevant. Can we be done with the DMM's simulacrum? Let's say she is 660 ft above ground in the Ethereal trying to make Search action to notice things on the ground and fail because she can't see more than 60 ft away in this plane?

I think we're ready for the next kind of sorerer, having trounced Bastion of Law, Lazy One and Skulking One.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Tim: "Heya Aflie, whatchadain' here? We don't see you often in detention!"
Alfred: "Hi, Tim...I got into a fight with that lousy Sorc over there!"
Tim: "He looks angry..."
Alfred: "Yeah, he was caught cheating with his build. The Head threatened him to cast Expel Student, the FBJH teachers version of Planeshift, if he did that again. But I don't feel better anway...I'd like to teach him a lesson".
Tim: "Don't worry, I'll take care of him after school...what did the Head say exactly?"
Alfred: "Somehting about the rules forbidding to cast a spell at another pupil outside of class under teacher's supervision..."
Tim: "Let's trash him without casting a spell at him?"
Alfred: "Can you do that? I'll loan you my Scrying Ball for the Summer if you do that."
Time: "Deal!"

Sometime after school...

Let's assume for simplicity that Tim and Alfred have the same stats, except that Tim is a Necromancer with Luck, Alert and War Caster

Since the Young Sorcerer had cast Extended Aid, he obviously got prep time, during with the fledgling Necromancer summonned 4 undead using a 4th level, then two more using a 3rd level slots, ordering them to advance in such a way they woudln't be closer than 60 feet from eeach other. They would be able to launch 7 attack a round at +3, hitting a shielded sorcerer on a 18 (15% of the time) and a regular sorcerer on 13+ (40% of the time) for a respective average damage of 1 and 3 damage. Not much.

Alfred, on the bench, though the Young Sorc was going to be bitten to death by zombie. He couldn't be more wrong!

On his turn, the young sorc inflicted a fire bolt and his usual empowered fireball, for an expect damage that wouldn't kill the 74 HP Tim outright (refer above for calculation) but hurt him a lot (or he could take down two advancing skeletons...)

On the next round, Tim would cast Summon Woodland Beings, conjuring 8 pixies, who would proceed to cast Polymorph on the remaining 5-7 skeletons (turning them into wulves) and transforming Tim into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. While he couldn't cast spell while Polymorphed, nothing prevented him for keeping is concentration (on the Summoned Pixies), who would all fly away to get outside the Young Sorc range (and being indistinghishable from each other, chances are attacks on them would just result in reverting a skeleton and not Tim...) The pixies would then Dash out of range.

Certainly Young Sorcerer would be better off trying to disrupt the Tyrannosaurus, but with War Caster and a +4 CON bonus, and Luck if needed, it will prove impossible. On the next round, Young Sorceror could take all the wulves into a fireball radius, killing them and reverting them to skeleton status, while the Tyrannosaurus, still boasting 90+ HP, would maul on him inflicting an average of 40 damage a round while the sorcerer would be reduced to attacking with cantrips... (or he could forego shield, keeping a good damage dealing opportunity, but face damage from the T-Rex and zombies doing a very high average, not a winning proposition). Not mentionning the zombies, who would deal around 16 damage per round.

So ended the Young Sorcerer, without violating the strict FBJH school's regulations against bickering during recess.

Edit: it would probably be better to have pixies take turn at Polymorphing Tim to ensure the max duration on Polymorp (as long as the last Pixie is alive... as it would restore so much of the Timarosaurus's HP that Young Sorc damage would basically be irrevelant...The chance of dropping concentration is 2.7%)

 

[Hohige]

You can't benefit from the same spell in effect twice. No double Aid or Bastion.

Double Aid or Bastion?
You expend a Bastion once. Blocking 5d8 of damage.

Now, he can do it again. It isn't double.

 

[Hohige]

Let's try to keep with the several iterations... I am starting to lose count. The current one is facing the (quite good) strategy of an alpha strike based on save-or-suck instead of trying to deal damage, from post #858.

Ed: "AGAIN?!?"
Alfred: "Yes. They just found a pile of dust under his porch, like the other day..."
Lady Marian from the Book Club: "It's horrible!"
Lady Juliet from the Book Club: "Oh Mystra! They killed Binky!"
Ed: "That will be solved in a few days of prayers, don't worry!"
Alfred: "I wonder what happened..."
Ed: "Could it be the last sorcerer returning?"
Alfred: "No, I am positive he is still enduring the eternal choir of high-pitched 6 years-old voices."
Ed: "Then...if it's not him, could it be...
(the camera center on Ed, who turns toward it with a worried look, as an ominous music plays)
Ed: "HIS BROTHER?"
Alfred: "It could be. Nonetheless, I'll take no protective measure whatsoever, and just walk around idly, suspecting nothing and certainly not another attack from him!"
Ed: "Good, good..."

So, we're facing a Sorcerer who deflty entered Foggy Bottom again and sat, hidden, at a 60 ft range to cast both Polymorph and Flesh to Stone from Hiding.

With Alfred +5 to initiative compared to the Sorceror, he was likely to win the roll. Let's say nonetheless he elected to fail as he was standind idly, tending to a lovely new cultivar of catnip he would call Binky's Purr in hommage to his late friend (who would be back in a few day, when casting True Resurrection would be an option again) in the outskirts of Foggy Bottom.

Facing a Polymorph attempt, which could be debilitating, Alfred immediately asked his Simulacrum, telepathically, to expand a reaction to make him succced at the saving throw in case he missed "on his own". Facing a Flesh to Stone attempt, he did the same using his own Convergent Future. Being exhausted sucks, but it beats being turned to stone. Alfred was certain he had won the fight at this point, so he sighed in relief. If both ennemies had cast spells with a 60 ft range, stupidly forgetting to use Distant spell on them, they had broadcast their position and vulnerability to a Wished Symbol of Insaniity, whose trigger would be "whenever I go more than 100 ft from the Symbol. Then the Simulacrum would Teleport both of them in the air, 1,020 ft up from their position. They knew that no body can fall more than 500 ft per round according to the Xanathar-Newton laws, so they'd safe for some time. Their disappearance triggered the Symbol, with a 75% chance of remove their opponents from the fight. Action economy was against them: the symbol acts not only when it's triggered, but also whenever one ended his turn inside the area of effect. If none of them resisted, they'd be screwed (56% change of happening), if only one of them resisted, (38% chance of happening), they could, if acting cleverly, escape at most. If they didn't, the cuddling airborne pair would simply Teleport to Candlekeep Teleportation circle and plan their counter-attack. So the best-laid plan so far ended with more than 1 in 2 chances of being defeated outright, and no risk for Alfred. That was subpar.

"So, we're facing a Sorcerer who deflty entered Foggy Bottom again and sat, hidden, at a 60 ft range to cast both Polymorph and Flesh to Stone from Hiding.

With Alfred +5 to initiative compared to the Sorceror, he was likely to win the roll. Let's say nonetheless he elected to fail as he was standind idly, tending to a lovely new cultivar of catnip he would call Binky's Purr in hommage to his late friend (who would be back in a few day, when casting True Resurrection would be an option again) in the outskirts of Foggy Bottom."

Initiative? Alfred will never roll a initiative. Subtle Spell allows his to cast spells against you without go out hiding. Sorry. It's called Sneaky Sorcerer.
It's Bastion's Chicken

This is a humiliating way for Alfred to be defeated. Forever.

"Facing a Polymorph attempt, which could be debilitating, Alfred immediately asked his Simulacrum, telepathically, to expand a reaction to make him succced at the saving throw in case he missed "on his own". Facing a Flesh to Stone attempt, he did the same using his own Convergent Future. Being exhausted sucks, but it beats being turned to stone. Alfred was certain he had won the fight at this point, so he sighed in relief. If both ennemies had cast spells with a 60 ft range, stupidly forgetting to use Distant spell on them, they had broadcast their position and vulnerability to a Wished Symbol of Insaniity, whose trigger would be "whenever I go more than 100 ft from the Symbol. Then the Simulacrum would Teleport both of them in the air, 1,020 ft up from their position. They knew that no body can fall more than 500 ft per round according to the Xanathar-Newton laws, so they'd safe for some time. Their disappearance triggered the Symbol, with a 75% chance of remove their opponents from the fight. Action economy was against them: the symbol acts not only when it's triggered, but also whenever one ended his turn inside the area of effect. If none of them resisted, they'd be screwed (56% change of happening), if only one of them resisted, (38% chance of happening), they could, if acting cleverly, escape at most. If they didn't, the cuddling airborne pair would simply Teleport to Candlekeep Teleportation circle and plan their counter-attack. So the best-laid plan so far ended with more than 1 in 2 chances of being defeated outright, and no risk for Alfred. That was subpar."

First on all. You are already a Stone Chicken, you don't speak.
Simulacrum? They are already subtle dispelled.

It will never cast Wish, but Mind Blank blocks your "Insanity".

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Double Aid or Bastion?
You expend a Bastion once. Blocking 5d8 of damage.

Now, he can do it again. It isn't double.

Yes but since doing that removes any remaining Aid or Bastion, you'd need to do that once the buffer have been depleted, during the fight, not before/at the start.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Is he now claiming that being hidden prevents saving throws and the enemy from taking action?

"Hidden is the new Flying!" ?

(The subtle dispelling wasn't part of your polymorph attempt. It was part of the previous one, who got defeated because, well, taking rounds to dispell things expose you to counter-attack. More specifically, remember, it led to the DMM being turned into a useful informant...)

 

[Hohige]

Tim: "Heya Aflie, whatchadain' here? We don't see you often in detention!"
Alfred: "Hi, Tim...I got into a fight with that lousy Sorc over there!"
Tim: "He looks angry..."
Alfred: "Yeah, he was caught cheating with his build. The Head threatened him to cast Expel Student, the FBJH teachers version of Planeshift, if he did that again. But I don't feel better anway...I'd like to teach him a lesson".
Tim: "Don't worry, I'll take care of him after school...what did the Head say exactly?"
Alfred: "Somehting about the rules forbidding to cast a spell at another pupil outside of class under teacher's supervision..."
Tim: "Let's trash him without casting a spell at him?"
Alfred: "Can you do that? I'll loan you my Scrying Ball for the Summer if you do that."
Time: "Deal!"

Sometime after school...

Let's assume for simplicity that Tim and Alfred have the same stats, except that Tim is a Necromancer with Luck, Alert and War Caster

Since the Young Sorcerer had cast Extended Aid, he obviously got prep time, during with the fledgling Necromancer summonned 4 undead using a 4th level, then two more using a 3rd level slots, ordering them to advance in such a way they woudln't be closer than 60 feet from eeach other. They would be able to launch 7 attack a round at +3, hitting a shielded sorcerer on a 18 (15% of the time) and a regular sorcerer on 13+ (40% of the time) for a respective average damage of 1 and 3 damage. Not much.

Alfred, on the bench, though the Young Sorc was going to be bitten to death by zombie. He couldn't be more wrong!

On his turn, the young sorc inflicted a fire bolt and his usual empowered fireball, for an expect damage that wouldn't kill the 74 HP Tim outright (refer above for calculation) but hurt him a lot (or he could take down two advancing skeletons...)

On the next round, Tim would cast Summon Woodland Beings, conjuring 8 pixies, who would proceed to cast Polymorph on the remaining 5-7 skeletons (turning them into wulves) and transforming Tim into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. While he couldn't cast spell while Polymorphed, nothing prevented him for keeping is concentration (on the Summoned Pixies), who would all fly away to get outside the Young Sorc range (and being indistinghishable from each other, chances are attacks on them would just result in reverting a skeleton and not Tim...) The pixies would then Dash out of range.

Certainly Young Sorcerer would be better off trying to disrupt the Tyrannosaurus, but with War Caster and a +4 CON bonus, and Luck if needed, it will prove impossible. On the next round, Young Sorceror could take all the wulves into a fireball radius, killing them and reverting them to skeleton status, while the Tyrannosaurus, still boasting 90+ HP, would maul on him inflicting an average of 40 damage a round while the sorcerer would be reduced to attacking with cantrips... (or he could forego shield, keeping a good damage dealing opportunity, but face damage from the T-Rex and zombies doing a very high average, not a winning proposition). Not mentionning the zombies, who would deal around 16 damage per round.

So ended the Young Sorcerer, without violating the strict FBJH school's regulations against bickering during recess.

Edit: it would probably be better to have pixies take turn at Polymorphing Tim to ensure the max duration on Polymorp (as long as the last Pixie is alive... as it would restore so much of the Timarosaurus's HP that Young Sorc damage would basically be irrevelant...The chance of dropping concentration is 2.7%)

1) Summon Woodland Beings Isn't a Wizard spell
2) You can't choose the creature. Your DM chooses. It's DM fiat spell. Pixies will be a DM fiat.
3) When you are polymorphed, your Statistic is replaced for creature's statistic. So, not +4 CON, No lucky, no Warcaster. The Wizard concentration is gone. I'm sorry.

Another Wizard dead.

 

[Hohige]

Is he now claiming that being hidden prevents saving throws and the enemy from taking action?

"Hidden is the new Flying!" ?

(The subtle dispelling wasn't part of your polymorph attempt. It was part of the previous one, who got defeated because, well, taking rounds to dispell things expose you to counter-attack. More specifically, remember, it led to the DMM being turned into a useful informant...)

I already mentioned that the Bastion dispel Subtle Dispel Simulacrums.

Saving Throw.
Ok, lets supose you win. A subtle spell polymorph that failed doesn't have visual effect.
Do it again.

Your enemy is hidden casting with non visual effects (Until you failed). Turning you into a Broken Chicken.
Simulacrum? It's dispelled.

 

[Hohige]

OK. You're down to 7 sorcerery points.



Using your action to regain Bastion of Law, the 23 old buffer from the former bastion disappear as specified in the Bastion of Law ability that it lasts until you use the ability again, so you get down to 72 HP, 18 buffer and 20 from Aid. Your Empowered Distant Earth Eruption does 32 damage average on a failed save, half as much on successful save, for an average of 24. You're down to 1 SP.

On his turn, Alfred moves toward you (120 ft) and casts a first Vitriolic Sphere for 28 damage. Sorc down to 72+10 vs 74+19.



On your turn, you cast a regular Empowered Eldritch Blast (no need for distant, Alfred is within range and besides, you only have one SP. But as you didn't have a level of Warlock or a Magic Initiate (Warlock) feat, you can't cast the Warlock-specific iconic cantrip, which fizzles.
Alfred moves at 120 ft and cast his second vitriolic sphere. Sorc down to 54 vs 74+19. Alfred starts thinking its a suicide, not a duel.



You don't have any SP left to empower anything. You're just casting regular scorching rays at level 3. A good spell, which Alfred will counter with Shield to improve his effective AC to 21. An attack at +6 vs AC 21 succeeds 30% of the time, you're doing 4 rays three rounds long that's 4 rays hitting for a grand total of 28 damage, during which the repeated Shield warded Alfred for 6 points. On his three turns, having cast a spell he can only move and casts cantrip, electing to do three Chill Touch for 2d8 (average 9) damage in case of a hit. Hitting 55% of the time against AC 16, Alfred reduced the Sorc to 40 HP vs 71. The Sorc would be reduced to casting 2nd and 1st level spells, while Alfred had expanded 3 1st level slots and his 4th level slots. Moving closer to the Sorcerer on the 3 round, if necesssary Dashing instead of casting one of his cantrip, Alfred finished him over the course of two rounds with lighning bolts on average (for a total of 42 damage), while the remaining Sorc Scorching rays, enventually empowered if he converted as a bonus action 1st level spell slots to get a SP, couldn't take him down (2 scorching rays would be 6 attacks, of which 55% would succeed without a Shield, for a (4,66*6+3.5*6)*.55 = 27 damage. I didn't run the number but I guess casting Protection from Energy early in the fight would have resulted in another sound thrashing.

Hint: doing nothing for two rounds doesn't help your strategy.

Second detention for Young Alfred in a row. As Foggy Bottom Junior High as a policy of three strikes and you're out, Young Alfred would be careful not to pick any more fight until the end of the year. Being expelled would ruin his chances to be admitted to Candlekeep so he took care of always spend recess within eyesight of a teacher (who carried AMF wands, because in those time you actually could find magic items in Foggy Bottom if you were a grownup).




Which does'nt really matter since these fights are usually decided over a few rounds, allowing few casting opportunity. What's useful for the Wizard is their ability to adapt specific spells to the challenge they expect to encounter on the day. You had to change Young Sorcerer build radically while I didn't change Young Alfred at all. The point is not to demonstrate that a Wiz build can beat anything, it's to demonstrate that a Sorc build can beat anything. With a resounding success so far of repeatedly killing a 3rd level noncombattant at level 20.



Yes, Armor of Agathys, that other warlock staple. Are you suddenly abandonning Sorcerers?

"Using your action to regain Bastion of Law, the 23 old buffer from the former bastion disappear as specified in the Bastion of Law ability that it lasts until you use the ability again, so you get down to 72 HP, 18 buffer and 20 from Aid. Your Empowered Distant Earth Eruption does 32 damage average on a failed save, half as much on successful save, for an average of 24. You're down to 1 SP."

The first Bastion of Law is active, sorry. It is expended when he takes damage. After expended Bastion of Law, as action It regain the ability. Because He can cast with Quicken Spell and as action regain Bastion of Law.

10 Sorcery Points -5, Extended Aid -1. It's 4 Sorcery Points.
Empower spell is only used WHEN you roll bad dice. And you decide if will use or not.
Converting low level spells slots, you have 10 SP again.


On his turn, Alfred moves toward you (120 ft) and casts a first Vitriolic Sphere for 28 damage. Sorc down to 72+10 vs 74+19.

You have only 60ft dashing per turn and wasting your turn.
Because you can't dash and cast a spell. You lose your theorical turn, because It initiative dependent.
The Sorcerer casts Extended Fly for 20 minute flying.

He Sorcerer just blast you until the Alfred is dead.



Alfred is dead again.



"Yes, Armor of Agathys, that other warlock staple. Are you suddenly abandonning Sorcerers?"

I beg to disagree.
Amor of Agathys is avaiable for Clockwork Sorcerer. It's a Now Sorcerer spell.