D&D 5E Two vs. thousands

[merwins]

What ONE or TWO characters (class builds) would you choose to go against thousands of orcs for the purpose of rescuing several dozen hostages?
Assume the expected hierarchy, tension, and hangers-on implicit in a horde that large.

I'm arbitrarily capping character level to 18 or (preferably) lower.
For the purposes of this exercise, assume NO magic items, but spellcasters may choose spells.

Yeah, there are a few other characters (i.e., PCs) involved -- they'd probably be more of a diversion or complication -- they may not take a central role in rescue unless circumstances change.

I don't expect anyone to do all my heavy lifting. Just looking for general ideas and inspiration.

 

[Bardic Dave]

A hunter ranger can one-shot up to 16 orcs every round at will from 600 feet away with volley and the sharpshooter fighting feat. Seems like a decent place to start.

 

[jaelis]

Gotta figure a high level bard with the right skills and spells could convince a bunch of orcs to give up the hostages, one way or another. Glibness + polymorph + can be quite a combination, with mass suggestion for help

 

[Bardic Dave]

A sorcerer or wizard with access to the Meteor spell could take out hundreds and hundreds of orcs with a single action.

 

[jaelis]

A sorcerer or wizard with access to the Meteor spell could take out hundreds and hundreds of orcs with a single action.

Guess you don't want to kill the hostages though?

 

[Bardic Dave]

Guess you don't want to kill the hostages though?

That's where the cleric with resurrection comes in!

 

[aco175]

I was thinking a caster may be capable of killing more basic orcs than a melee type. Not as cool as the picture in my mind like something out of 300 movie.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I'd guess slipping past the orcs, quietly dealing with any that get in the way, and spiriting away the hostages would be a good way to go. A rogue or ranger or shadow monk might pull that off if built specifically for it. Obviously could do that with magic, too, the right Sorcerer or Warlock build for instance, or a Wizard with the right spells prepped...
...with, of course, big guns as back-up should it not work perfectly.


Of course, my favorite 5e class is Druid, and being able to infiltrate the camp in an inconspicuous animal form, and bust out blasting & AE control spells if necessary, could make it pretty good, too... oh, and, if high enough level, one could Wind Walk a number of hostages to safety... yeah, I may be biased, but put the Druid down as a good candidate, too.

 

[Prakriti]

As long as R.A. Salvatore is writing the adventure, it doesn't matter. Those orcs are as good as dead.

 

[robus]

It really depends on the terrain surely. Is it an open plain with the orcs between the PCs and hostages or are the options? Without more details on the setup it seems hard to say?