Highest level spell combos

[CapnZapp]

It's time for my Tomb of Annihilation party to face Acecerak. Since the party is level 14, I need to give him the very top of the line most cunning and fiendish spell tactics. So the load-out suggested by the adventure goes out the window.

Remember the characters have already 100-150 hp before the 50 temporary hp each round.
Two of my six characters have Evasion and will likely take zero (0) damage from any Dex-save spell. Two of my characters have plate mail with fire immunity (but Acecerak doesn't know that). At least two characters drak the frothy beer and won't gain the stupid-powerful benefit of Wrath of the Trickster Gods.

But feel free to ignore the specifics of the adventure, and just suggest your best high-level spell combos. Do note that we have access to two significant features: two spell slots even of ninth level, and free casting of any level 1-3 spell. Don't worry if you're breaking one of Acecerak's limitations - better to give clever combos that I can later choose to limit or not use.

Let me give a few examples of what I've come up with so far, so to give you an idea of what I'm aiming for here.

I am aware that with only one level 9 slot, Time Stop isn't that great. But when you have two slots, I definitely want to use it. What offensive damage spells other than Delayed Blast Fireball can be set up "in advance"? Surely there must be some variety, maybe added by XGE?

I'm thinking the first round he casts Improved Invisibility and Plane Shifts in. The next round he casts Time Stop, Delayed Blast Fireball and ideally some other similar spell, ideally not dealing Fire damage. I was considering Prismatic Wall cast as a sphere above the characters' heads, but apparently it can't deal damage unless a character voluntarily tries to pass through.

Then he casts Reverse Gravity. The Delayed Blast Fireball explodes, the characters fall upward, through the Prismatic Sphere, and takes some falling damage. Then the lava rains down (up) on them!

That's 46 (12d6) fire, whatever you rule the Prismatic deals, and a further 55 (10d10) fire. I considered Crown of Stars (if the Tome Stop gives enough extra actions), but am not sure it's worth the bother.

Three Fireballs, Lightning Bolts or similar adds another 84 (24d6) damage. Maybe replace one offensive spell for a good defensive spell.

Then in round two, drop the Reverse Gravity and hope anyone's still within the area; then cast Banishment/Forcecage/Power Word Kill, since it feels hopeless to reliably deal significantly more than 50 damage (dealing only 50 damage is worthless against enemies that regain 50 temp hp each round).

Meteor Storm or Wish - I'm quickly running out of ideas here. A lone spellcaster foe desperately needs meat bag allies and/or Extra Action so he can unload multiple high-level spells per round.

It's fiendishly difficult to do this correctly, without breaking a rule or forgetting a limitation here or there, so I am asking your help getting it right.

Looking forward to your input!


Zapp

I've perused plenty of existing discussion, including the following:
* http://slyflourish.com/acereraks_spells.html
* http://dmsworkshop.com/2018/08/10/tomb-of-annihilation-improving-acererak/
* http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?549077-Time-Stop-in-Xanathar-s
* https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/8ecgpz/best_use_of_time_stop/

 

[CapnZapp]

The example loadout would then be:

Suggested choices
Level 9 - Time Stop (plus Power Word Kill or Prismatic Wall)
Level 8 - Dominate Monster* and Mind Blank
Level 7 - Reverse Gravity and Delayed Blast Fireball (plus either Forcecage* or Crown of Stars?)
Level 6 - Chain Lightning, Disintegrate
Level 5 - Cone of Cold, Telekinesis
Level 4 - Banishment*, Improved Invisibility
Level 3 - Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Fly*, Counterspell, Dispel Magic

I'm assuming he casts utility spells like Plane Shift from scrolls, unless we're allowed to memorize more than three level 7 spells.

I'm leaving out Wish simply because I don't know what to do with it. Using it to replicate any other spell is not good enough, when we can include that spell in our loadout directly. And I'm assuming he's not interested in ever risking the 33% roll.

 

[Krachek]

Pshychic scream makes a good opening.
Amazing targeting, Int save, stun effect, no concentration, and good damage.

 

[CapnZapp]

Just read Prismatic Wall for like the sixth time. While it does say

When a creature attempts to reach into or pass through the wall, it does so one layer at a time through all the wall's layers. As it passes or reaches through each layer, the creature must make a Dexterity saving throw or be affected by that layer's properties as described below.

...that's two sentences that conceivably could be interpreted separately. That is, the notion that forced movement can't injure a character (instead preventing passage, of course, to prevent zig-zag cheese), is not the only possible!

"When a creature attempts to reach into or pass through the wall, it does so one layer at a time through all the wall's layers." - Okay so now we now to apply each layer separately. This says nothing about who is affected.

"As it passes or reaches through each layer, the creature must make a Dexterity saving throw or be affected by that layer's properties as described below." - Okay so no matter how you pass or reach through, you're affected. It's not only if you "attempt" to pass or reach, that you suffer damage.

Great, then it's 10d6 fire, 10d6 acid, 10d6 lightning, 10d6 poison, 10d6 cold plus Restrained/Petrified and Blinded/Banished. That's 175 more potential damage on top of the 101 fire plus a bit more from any legendary free 3rd level slots.

A great starter round, but after that, it's comparatively easy going.

 

[Sadras]

Just read Prismatic Wall for like the sixth time. While it does say

...that's two sentences that conceivably could be interpreted separately. That is, the notion that forced movement can't injure a character (instead preventing passage, of course, to prevent zig-zag cheese), is not the only possible!

I'm not so worried about that. I'd allow the forced movement by the Reverse Gravity spell to activate the passing through each layer. I'm more concerned about the necessary vertical placement of the wall. You mentioned want to place it directly above them but it is only 1 inch thick. Are you assuming they are all next to each other perfectly to pass through each layer of the wall?

The spherical option perhaps catches 1 or two more, depending on positioning...

 

[mortwatcher]

It would not be out of this world idea that Acerarak could have a simulacrum or two of himself. Then you have several high level spellcasters wrecking the party, just the initial round of forcecage or maze (most "optimized" characters will dump INT, so that should be a fun one) should be enough to reduce the number of enemies to about half and then you can toy with the rest doing damage to th em

 

[CapnZapp]

I'm not so worried about that. I'd allow the forced movement by the Reverse Gravity spell to activate the passing through each layer. I'm more concerned about the necessary vertical placement of the wall. You mentioned want to place it directly above them but it is only 1 inch thick. Are you assuming they are all next to each other perfectly to pass through each layer of the wall?

The spherical options perhaps catches 1 or two more, depending on positioning...

Thank you for your concern!

Yes, a sphere is better than a wall - even though 30 ft diameter means that a smart party won't all be caught. So he will have to choose the spot where he can catch the most heroes.

"Luckily" the Reverse Gravity will catch everything - 50 ft radius is huge. Even those "lucky" enough to not fall through the prismatic sphere will still have something to worry about. Lava and a Delayed Blast Fireball, for instance!

Still, with 50 temp hp each round, it feels awfully close to "damage immunity" and that he's better off with save or suck spells.

(Psychic Scream is a party-killer, of course. I hesitate to use it, however, since it will come across as a completely new spell to the party since it isn't in the PHB

The real challenge is to give the characters a real run for their money while not appearing unfair, or at least not completely unfair. Reverse Gravity, Delayed Blast and Prismatic Wall, in contrast, are "right there" in the book, and the lava has already been mentioned...)

 

[CapnZapp]

It would not be out of this world idea that Acerarak could have a simulacrum or two of himself.

I am not denying this.

However, we're nudging awfully close to the point where we might just send in a couple of mooks, and then the awesomesauce of a BBEG fighting the entire party solo is gone.

 

[mortwatcher]

As nice as that would be, you should know by now that BBEG Solo fights (especially against 6 characters) just don't work. At least then it wouldn't be random mooks but copies of himself. Anyway, using control spells like forcecage on the melee damage and maze on the non-int caster should help you with making the fight feel a bit more manageable.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*