Which basically turns him into a slow-motion wizard, as far as prep goes, and leaves him without a 9th-level slot. That seems to me to be playing against the sorcerer's strengths and to the wizard's, which seems ... quixotic.
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D&D 5E 20th level Sorcerer vs the world
- Thread starter Hohige
- Start date
Catulle
Hero
Winner, winner (stone) chicken dinner!
Not sure. I'd plead for Storm Herald Barbarian 15. A desert aura inflicts 5 fire damage to each creature within 10 foot of you while you rage. Since there is no visual cue (just the hot air of the desert), and you can permanently rage beginning at level 15, just entering rage in the morning and sitting next to people until they die is enough. They never roll intiative cause you are not entering combat. If you roll enough on your stealth check in the morning (remember, average joe's passive perception is 10), you can kill town wholesale and they can't even roll. You can be a DEX 20 barbarian with Urchin background and a Skill Expert feat in Stealth for a minimum of 14 Stealth. For added fun, be a raging lightfoot halfling and go in hiding behind the guy you are slowly making burn to death.
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A raging barbarian, 80cm tall, enters the stage, hidden behind a dandelion, wearing a gaudy costume of bright red and gold.
John Bookworm, citizen of Candlekeep: "OUCH, it's hot"
DM: "you lose 5 HP as the sirocco parches your skin"
John Bookworm: "It's hot, I will go to the inn and have drink..."
DM: "no, you can't take action, you haven't rolled initiative."
Random Citizen: "Whaaa?
The raging barbarian moves in front of John, waving hands and jumping but still somehow keeping his Stealth roll.
DM: "BTW, lose another 5 HP"
John Bookworm: "can I roll initiative to Dash out?"
DM: "no, you can't, you haven't perceived any agressor, you are not in combat yet".
John Bookworm: "that's silly!"
Pantless Innkeeper: "Welcome to my life".
John Bookworm, citizen of Candlekeep: "OUCH, it's hot"
DM: "you lose 5 HP as the sirocco parches your skin"
John Bookworm: "It's hot, I will go to the inn and have drink..."
DM: "no, you can't take action, you haven't rolled initiative."
Random Citizen: "Whaaa?
The raging barbarian moves in front of John, waving hands and jumping but still somehow keeping his Stealth roll.
DM: "BTW, lose another 5 HP"
John Bookworm: "can I roll initiative to Dash out?"
DM: "no, you can't, you haven't perceived any agressor, you are not in combat yet".
John Bookworm: "that's silly!"
Pantless Innkeeper: "Welcome to my life".
Eltab
Lord of the Hidden Layer
I'm not arguing with anybody - no Persuasion or Deception or Insight check needed - I'm thinking out loud.
FrozenNorth
Hero
Then clearly, I have no choice but to immediately surrender. Truly, you are greater than the Bastion.
I had another idea. It's bloodily expensive, but it can work, using Glyph of Warding in a new, creative way.
The Glyph of Warding spells has a spell option. According to the wording of the spell description, "You decide what triggers the glyph when you cast the spell." Example of the most typical triggers are given, but it doesn't limit the trigger to the most typical. Rare, creative triggers are possible, and decided by the Wizard. Among the most typical examples, "approaching within a certain distance of the glyph" is mentionned, meaning that the trigger can happen anywhere, as the "certain distance" isn't limited. The spell stored within the glyph is limited, but "if you create a spell glyph, you can store any spell of up to the same level as the slot you use for the glyph of warding" and "the spell must target a single creature or an area". It is explained that ". If the spell has a target, it targets the creature that triggered the glyph."
What is a target? Sage Advice adopts a very broad defintion: "When the rules say "target" they really mean the English definition... The meaning that the rules are getting at is that when you choose someone or something to be subjected to some kind of effect, that's one of the common ways the word targeted is used in English... Any time a spell is telling you to pick a creature or an object or a point in space, to be affected by something, really that thing is functioning in that moment as a target of some kind."
According to this definition, Gate targets a hapless creature to summon it. Therefore, a Gate Glyph of Warding, triggered by "whenever someone casts Meteor Swarm at a Wizard on the same plane of existence", would pull any would be assassin to the Glyph of Warding. It's an abjuration, so obviously wouldn't be countered by spells that protects from divination. It could lead to false positive but 9th level spells are rare, Wizards assasssinations are even rarer.... If the killers' modus operandi was confirmed, it would be a good way to trap him.
The Teleport spell normally targets the spellcaster and up to 8 willing creatures, sending them to a location, with a possible chance of error, 0% in case the spell is cast with an object associated to the destination. A creative Wizard could take a root from a grove (let's have this battle outside of inhabited places) a create a 7th level Glyph of Warding, storing the Teleport spell to the secluded grove, using the trigger mentionned as above. Then tasks his Simulacrum to keep his action ready to Feeblemind any creatures that could appear. Some could object that in English, "must target a single creature or an area" disqualifies spells that targets a single creature and tag alongs, making Teleportation ineligible. This is debatable and the lack of DM agency would let this work.
In case it's not possible, an even funnier spell to store within the Glyph is... Simulacrum. It explicitely targets a single creature. So, whenever the trigger is activated, poof a Simulacrum of the offender is created, loyal to the spellcaster. Obviously, the best way to set it up for minimal inconvenience for the wizard is to memorize Simulacrum and Glyph of Warding among others, cast Simulacrum expanding an 8th level spell slot, so the created Sim has both 7th level spell slots and Wish, then have the Simulacrum expand his two 7th level slots to create the Sim-generating Glyph of Warding, and stand idle waiting for the trap to function and warn the Wizard when it triggered. This is now Alfred's preferred method, if he decides the threat of the Cheating One is enough be of concern (which would need him to have a valid build as a prerequisite).
The Glyph of Warding spells has a spell option. According to the wording of the spell description, "You decide what triggers the glyph when you cast the spell." Example of the most typical triggers are given, but it doesn't limit the trigger to the most typical. Rare, creative triggers are possible, and decided by the Wizard. Among the most typical examples, "approaching within a certain distance of the glyph" is mentionned, meaning that the trigger can happen anywhere, as the "certain distance" isn't limited. The spell stored within the glyph is limited, but "if you create a spell glyph, you can store any spell of up to the same level as the slot you use for the glyph of warding" and "the spell must target a single creature or an area". It is explained that ". If the spell has a target, it targets the creature that triggered the glyph."
What is a target? Sage Advice adopts a very broad defintion: "When the rules say "target" they really mean the English definition... The meaning that the rules are getting at is that when you choose someone or something to be subjected to some kind of effect, that's one of the common ways the word targeted is used in English... Any time a spell is telling you to pick a creature or an object or a point in space, to be affected by something, really that thing is functioning in that moment as a target of some kind."
According to this definition, Gate targets a hapless creature to summon it. Therefore, a Gate Glyph of Warding, triggered by "whenever someone casts Meteor Swarm at a Wizard on the same plane of existence", would pull any would be assassin to the Glyph of Warding. It's an abjuration, so obviously wouldn't be countered by spells that protects from divination. It could lead to false positive but 9th level spells are rare, Wizards assasssinations are even rarer.... If the killers' modus operandi was confirmed, it would be a good way to trap him.
The Teleport spell normally targets the spellcaster and up to 8 willing creatures, sending them to a location, with a possible chance of error, 0% in case the spell is cast with an object associated to the destination. A creative Wizard could take a root from a grove (let's have this battle outside of inhabited places) a create a 7th level Glyph of Warding, storing the Teleport spell to the secluded grove, using the trigger mentionned as above. Then tasks his Simulacrum to keep his action ready to Feeblemind any creatures that could appear. Some could object that in English, "must target a single creature or an area" disqualifies spells that targets a single creature and tag alongs, making Teleportation ineligible. This is debatable and the lack of DM agency would let this work.
In case it's not possible, an even funnier spell to store within the Glyph is... Simulacrum. It explicitely targets a single creature. So, whenever the trigger is activated, poof a Simulacrum of the offender is created, loyal to the spellcaster. Obviously, the best way to set it up for minimal inconvenience for the wizard is to memorize Simulacrum and Glyph of Warding among others, cast Simulacrum expanding an 8th level spell slot, so the created Sim has both 7th level spell slots and Wish, then have the Simulacrum expand his two 7th level slots to create the Sim-generating Glyph of Warding, and stand idle waiting for the trap to function and warn the Wizard when it triggered. This is now Alfred's preferred method, if he decides the threat of the Cheating One is enough be of concern (which would need him to have a valid build as a prerequisite).
It's plausible the intent is for the DM not to be able to say "no" to the Bastion (or any other half-baked overcooked sorcerer) or "yes" to any wizard build the Bastion is up against. That expectation isn't exactly consistent with the rules or with the principles of fair play (to the extent the latter matter, here), but it's clear the Bastion gets exactly what it wants and any wizard ... doesn't.
The downside with using Glyph this way is that--if I'm reading the spell correctly--you need to cast it at the level of the spell you're storing in it, which means you need two slots of that level: one for the Glyph spell, one for the spell you're storing in it. That seems to mean you can't store anything cast at higher level than 7th in it.
On the other hand, a 20th level wizard who's casting Mord's Private Sanctum with any degree of granularity plausibly has a couple of years on their hands, and can plausibly have 600+ 7th-level Glyphs of Warning scattered about, ready to target people who approach with a given distance (which ... the limitation there seems to be the range of the spell in the Glyph; I don't see any limitations here in the Glyph spell). If I'm reading things correctly, the Glyph can be set for a distance such that no one would really be able to detect them, let alone disable them, before being in range for the spell on the Glyph to go off, targeting them. Obviously if one is DMing ... normally, that's distinctly dirty pool, but as you've said elsewhere, this is not a normal instance.
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