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.

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, Prismatic Wall cast as a sphere above the characters' heads, and, time permitting, Delayed Blast Fireball and ideally some other similar spell, ideally not dealing Fire damage.

Then he casts Reverse Gravity, ending the Time Stop. 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! (The room's floor is lava)

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 legendary actions used for Fireball, Lightning Bolt etc adds up to 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, 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).

A spell that causes paralysis/stun (upcast Hold Monster?) etc can be combined with any spell that targets a Dex (or Str) save, since that will autofail if you're incapacitated.

Power Word Kill and Psychic Scream (from XGE) are lethal but maybe unsatisfying/unfair choices for the second L9 slot. Meteor Storm feels redundant given the lava. I'm quickly running out of ideas here.

The example loadout would then be:

Level 9 - Time Stop, Prismatic Wall, ...?
Level 8 - ?? (Dominate Monster*? Mind Blank?)
Level 7 - Reverse Gravity, Delayed Blast Fireball, 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 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.

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

[CapnZapp]

I want help with selecting high-level spells for very high level spellcasters.

What to combine with Time Stop for maximum effect?

How to use Reverse Gravity and Prismatic Wall together?

Other neat combos, such as Hold Monster followed by attacks (that automatically crit if you hit) or Dex-targeting spells (where the save autofails)?

I'm not asking for outright cheese, like infinite simulacrums. I am not asking for advice like "bring allies". Preferably above board PHB stuff.

I'm asking for your cleverest tips and spell combos, that require the most rules expertise, finding out smart interactions, and so on.

[iTreeby]

Casting imprisonment is a nasty thing you can do to a PC.
When the fight is winding down, you can use magic jar to really rekindle things. I know, magic jar is super dangerous but here's the thing, if you house the same jem that you use for the imprisonment spell, the jem is indestructible and if this is the end of the fight, dispel Magic shouldn't be a real concern at this point (especially if you imprisoned a caster and possess another).

[Drakkoniss]

Let's see, now...

The lava environment limits things a little bit. Generally, when running a lich, you want to have a situation where you can give them as many allies as possible, both for the sake of meat shields and additional offensive power. Another useful exploitation of multiple allies is to cast the spell "Seeming" and then not use such things as Disintegrate which make an obvious line connecting the character to their target. This particularly works well if the creature is invisible or otherwise unable to be targetted, though it works less well if one of the party members has access to True Sight (even if it takes a while for them to coordinate and tell each other which creature is which).

For the 8th level slot, I would suggest you do not underestimate the power of Bigsby's Hand (which doesn't necessarily seem all that intimidating or threatening, to many players, but which will be a significant force multiplier over time, assuming it isn't dispelled [but it will take a high level slot to do so], though an alternative would be Globe of Invisibility; mind you, both of these take up Concentration, so you could potentially have to expose your wizard to detection, that way, assuming you don't have a workaround [which you don't seem to, since you're saying he casts Greater Invisibility beforehand, rather than use it via a cloak of invisibility, or something]).

Reminder: Be sure not to forget to use your reactions every turn. Both Counterspell and Shield amplify the efficacy of a lich tremendously.

Suggestion: Given this is Acerak, he should likely come loaded with significant magical items. While it is not what you are asking about, it very much has something to do with spell slot conservation, economy, et cetera, so I am going to suggest Staff of the Magi. Not only will this be a great way to extend his usefulness in battle, but it will also probably freak one or two of the PC's out if he simply absorbs a spell aimed at him (but remember, it has to be single-targeted). Additionally, this gives a very interesting "out," as it were, since he could potentially break it at the end of the battle and kill a PC while at the same time, escaping himself (since you are the GM, you can contrive that the "roll" to determine whether he takes damage is a success, whether it comes up that way or not, for the sake of the plot/suspense, or just not tell them). Of course, you may not want him to escape, since this is the final battle in a grand adventure of cunning and willpower. You don't have to. The staff definitely makes a magnificent reward for those who could claim it. ([{Secret: He could also have scrolls.}])

Oh, and Gate is always an interesting way to liven up a battle, though I don't necessarily know that someone like Acerak could make all that much use of it. It's an option you might leave on the table, just in case.

Mind you: None of this includes any particularly powerful "combo," and for that, I apologize. I felt that giving you a bit of firewood for your mental hearth would at least be a useful consolation prize.

[Brutalitops]

everything i described is legal and in the core PHB, not "cheese"... but i guess thats a manner of opinion,

my point is the BBG should have lots of planar bound elementals, and yes a few simulacrums, on top of the normal baddies, choose tactics that maximize their potential, since they are throw away monsters how about a room where the PC's need to fight the elementals, but get locked in and the walls start putting the squeeze on?

as far as spells, there are plenty of tactics u can use, i personally like terrain that splits the party somehow to be incorporated, u might even use that reverse gravity to effect with spikes on the ceiling

If you really want some deadly tactics for acererak check this out.

http://slyflourish.com/acereraks_spells.html

They analysed his spells and came up with some optomal selections. The trick is he can cast his at will spells for 1 legendary action and can cast third level spells at will so have him change his third level spells away from animate dead and use lightning bolt and fireball spells.

Also blindness is nasty as it is non concentration and ends fights for casters as they cannot see and with the ability to cast it 3 times before he even acts you can bet those caster will fail their save.

[MaxWilson]

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.

But feel free to ignore the specifics of the adventure, and just suggest your best high-level spell combos....

Looking forward to your input!

Brief thoughts in passing:

I don't have Acererak's stats on hand, but on the assumption that he's got at least the equivalent of an Epic Boon of High Magic for multiple 9th level slots per day, he can Shapechange into a humanoid and cast Wish (Simulacrum) on himself to produce a duplicate Acererak.

Invulnerability is pretty nasty if you've already got good non-concentration-based offense, which I assume he does since most monsters in 5E do.

[Brutalitops]

Brief thoughts in passing:

he can Shapechange into a humanoid and cast Wish (Simulacrum) on himself to produce a duplicate Acererak.

.

Holy crap your right. Not because he can shapechange into a humaniod but because he can shape change into anything including an ancient blue dragon or anything that powerful. And whiles you do not get the creatures legendary actions you would not lose your own actions and you retain your spellcasting feature so you would become a nigh invincible creature. Also by shapeshifting into new creatures you can refresh your legendary resistances which you can then freely burn to auto succeed on concentration checks.

[MaxWilson]

Holy crap your right. Not because he can shapechange into a humaniod but because he can shape change into anything including an ancient blue dragon or anything that powerful. And whiles you do not get the creatures legendary actions you would not lose your own actions and you retain your spellcasting feature so you would become a nigh invincible creature. Also by shapeshifting into new creatures you can refresh your legendary resistances which you can then freely burn to auto succeed on concentration checks.

Good point. Acererak as a shapechanged Ancient Silver Dragon with at-will Shield/Counterspell would be brutal, especially if he had Foresight up already.

I'm not sure I buy the "refresh legendary resistance" thing but no matter, the DM will decide. Note that shifting forms costs your action though.

[TheMoxiousOne]

What to combine with Time Stop for maximum effect?

I like buffs and double Delayed Blast Fireballs out of Time Stop. Minimum a one-turn and same turn DBFB, with potential to cast buffs on yourself in the interim of any extra turns rolled.

[MaxWilson]

I like buffs and double Delayed Blast Fireballs out of Time Stop. Minimum a one-turn and same turn DBFB, with potential to cast buffs on yourself in the interim of any extra turns rolled.

That's hard to justify from an efficiency or performance PoV.

Double DBF: 25d6 ~= 88 points of damage, for a 9th level spell slot and two 7th level slots, plus your concentration.
Meteor Swarm: 40d6 ~= 140 points of damage, in a huge AoE and at enormous range, for one 9th level slot.

You're spending a lot more spell slots and losing 40% of your damage in exchange for the chance to maybe cast a few non-concentration buffs, of which Foresight is the most notable--but why wouldn't you have that pre-cast? Others like Mirror Image and Blink are fun, but aren't really worth a 9th level spell combo.

I could maybe see DBF + Power Word Stun/Kill though, especially against humanoids like PCs.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

For sheer fun I'd do it this way.

1st: grease, shield
2nd: Mirror Image, Blindness/deafness
3rd: Dispel Magic, Thunder Step, Counterspell, erupting earth
4th: Summon Greater Demon*, Greater Invisibility*
5th: Synaptic Static, Wall of force*
6th: disintegrate, Chain Lightning
7th: Crown of stars, Forcecage, Reverse Gravity*
8th: Feeblemind
9th: Meteor swarm, Prismatic Wall.

Lots of fun

[Lord8Ball]

Arcane mirage: (non concentration)
1. Starting off he can halve the parties movement without causing himself any harm.
2. Additionally, he can create structures to separate the party and cut them off from sources of light.
3. Turn the ground into water, acid, lava, mud, etc. What's best about this is that these illusions can interact with creatures as if it were real and do damage.
Reference: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2018/06/03...-lake-of-lava/
4. You can then use greater invisibility(or move through the terrain due to truesight) and then start flying around the area casting cone spells (prismatic spray) and retreating through hidden passages big enougph for a skull to move through with the rest of its movement. Also note that since Acerak chooses when he interacts with the illusion he can cast spells through walls.

Demiplane: (concentration)
1. Have a hoard of undead waiting in your pocket dimension as the backup.
2. Have some of the zombies ready actions to grapple someone and toss them into the demiplane before releasing concentration.
3. Spellcasters will have their concentration locked keeping themselves in their home plane. Additionally if they fail their save they are stuck in a room full of zombies again and must waste another high level spell slot to return.

Nondetection: (non concentration)
1. If you mix this with invisibility you will never be seen even by any divination spell even trueseeing(8th level).

Find familiar:(assuming he isn't broke)
1. Familiar scout and decoy.
2. Can cast spells out of a ring of spell storing if he has it.

Glyphs of warding:(also assuming he isn't broke)
1. Bombs and super non concentration buffs.
2. Summon earth elementals for hit and runs. Unseen stalker + mage armor = 17 ac w/ disadvantage to hit.
3. Have command words set up for on glyphs for spell effects(free action)

Guards and wards: (pre prepared trap)
1. A great option to overlap with arcane mirage.
2. Entire area radiates two layers of magic making it hard to target mirage.

Darkness: (concentration)
1. Since he has truesight it only penelizes his opponents.

Teleportation circle: (pre prepared trap)
1. Overlap with mirage arcane to hide it.
2. Glyph of warding to teleport heroes to deadly places like the bottom of the ocean, side of a mountain, underground stone tomb, etc.

Power word pain:(instantaneous)
1. Anti caster and cripples melee.

Mighty fortress:(instantaneous)
1.For lols.

Invulnerability:(concentration)
1. Rip damage dealers.

Mislead: (concentration)
1. Crazy shenanigans with nondetection.

Arcane gate: (concentration)
1. Cast spells at your enemies from another room in safety.

Blink: (non concentration)
Who doesn't want your enemy to be invulnerable to all damage half the time?

Wish?:
1. Casts it in form of a prophesy for something to happen and ensure it comes to pass sometime in the future.
2. Casts tsunami and floods the entire room for 6 rounds as well as mucking up vocal components.

Nystul's magic aura:
1. no cost
2. cast beforehand to hide auras of traps.

[Blood of Gaea]

Feeblemind + Maze: Not always reasonable to use, but this is a potential way to permanently end the threat of an enemy you cannot kill.
Scrying + Wish (for a Tsunami): Find anyone on the planet and hit them with a range of sight 8th level spell. Not the strongest attack, but it can be a great way to take out an opponent that isn't a powerful in direct combat from a staggering distance away.
Contingency + Resilient Sphere: This isn't the only spell that works for this, but being able to suddenly avoid death is great. Dimension Door is another good defensive option if you don't want to be losing concentration on a current spell. I like making the trigger something I can do on purpose, like forming a sign with your left hand, or the like.
Reverse Gravity + Mirage Arcane: Turn the surrounding area into a perfectly flat and smooth 100-ft tall room, they slam into the roof and take damage, while the surfaces you conveniently placed above you you plink away from a safe range before dropping them back to the ground.
Pristmatic Wall + Sickening Radiance: Do you stay inside and die, or take your chances at dying and try to escape? The clock is ticking.

[MaxWilson]

Feeblemind + Maze: Not always reasonable to use, but this is a potential way to permanently end the threat of an enemy you cannot kill.

Permanent for 10 minutes, if you don't lose concentration first.

[Blood of Gaea]

Permanent for 10 minutes, if you don't lose concentration first.

That was a complete ball drop on my part. I meant to say it gets them out of the fight.

[CapnZapp]

Keep up the good suggestions!

[TheUser]

Simulacrum, Mislead, Wall of Force and Illusory Dragon tend to be hilarious.

Edit: Globe of Invulnerability is also legit; if you have a simulacrum use fly on acerak and the simulacrum (with a level 4 slot) you can both fly up and have the globe suspended in mid-air.

Mass Suggestion is so busted it hurts.

You can just cast that and command 8 people to leave this floor and go rest. It lasts 8 hours concentration freeeeeeeee

Make sure you have Counter Spell, Dispel Magic, Misty Step and Dimension Door available too!
(Misty Step is really good for baiting out counter spells; since you never got to complete the casting of the bonus action spell you can still cast with your main action!)

Edit 2: I forgot Force Cage and Magic Jar

[DrowPiratRobrts]

he can Shapechange into a humanoid and cast Wish (Simulacrum) on himself to produce a duplicate Acererak.

Invulnerability is pretty nasty if you've already got good non-concentration-based offense, which I assume he does since most monsters in 5E do.

I agree that Simulacrum should be in there if you're gonna try to ramp up the challenge on your players. Maybe don't go overboard with a Simulacrum chain of 50 Acereraks, but 2 or maybe 3 Acereraks tops (including original) could be quite challenging and fun depending on how hard you go on the party.

[CapnZapp]

Mind you: None of this includes any particularly powerful "combo," and for that, I apologize. I felt that giving you a bit of firewood for your mental hearth would at least be a useful consolation prize.

Thank you.

He comes with two magic items per the book: the Staff of the Forgotten One, and a Sphere of Annihilation (and its control talisman).

[Slayn82]

Acererak isn't just a spellcaster, but also a master at using the environment to his advantage. If he lures you to a certain place and drops a meteor shower, expect to deal with a cave in or fall in Lava.

If he drops a fireball into a room, it also melts the ceiling and molten lead falls over the PC's and causes the effect of Heat Metal a n everyone.

He is immune to poison, so he will happily enter natural toxic clouds. When PC's go after him inside, have fun dealing with several undead who were hidden within the mist.

When he creates a wall of stone to block attacks, he anchor it to a block on the ceiling that moves with the added weight, just enough so several other blocks fall near all the good sources of cover in the room. Also, half of those sources are actually permanent illusions, leaving those hidden by it totally exposed to his attacks.

[Malifice]

Have him cast invulnerability before teleporting in.

Sit back and watch the hillarity unfold.

To really troll your players have a Programmed Illusion triggered to go off when he takes 'damage' the first time (the Illusion is set to create wounds that appear on Acerak, displaying his 'wounds' from the attack. Each time he gets hit again by a PC , the illusion makes him appear more wounded. Write down the 'damage' Acerak is 'taking' as you go to maintain the ruse).

If you play it right, he should have several rounds to wipe the party out before they figure it out.

If he's really kerb stomping the PCs, allow drop a hint that something doesnt seem right (they can make an intelligence investigation check to notice the wounds arent lining up with the attacks, and are likely illusions).

As for his other 9th level spell, I love Psychic Scream. Take advantage of the fact most PCs have rubbish Int saves and hammer them.

He should have misty step to protect him from forcecage/ wall of force shennanigans.

Finally, hit them straight after they've dealt with the other encounters in the final chamber and are low on resources. Dont let them rest under any circumstances.

[Malifice]

Thank you.

He comes with two magic items per the book: the Staff of the Forgotten One, and a Sphere of Annihilation (and its control talisman).

He's been around for a while. Give him whatever items you want.

[Lord8Ball]

Programmed illusion:
1. Ex. Beneath your feet, a pentagram slowly phases in and starts to glow a blood red. The ground shakes. The smell of sulfur and electricity permeates the air as the very air in front of you spits and cracks. Gusts of unhospitable air flows in quickly causing you to reel and your eyes to water. When you recover and look ahead you find a horrible sight of a dead world filled with valleys of lava looking eerily similar to your religeon's depiction of hell.
2. Be the biggest ass and hide a sphere of annihilation inside the illusory aecerak skull and when your fighter goes to hit it tears will be had.

Sphere of annihilation:
1. With mirage arcane, you can make illusory bridges over hazards. You can use the sphere to destroy the rope bridge and send your opponents falling into lave or an illusory spike trap. Or trigger any trap for that matter.
2. If you can control a sphere with a legendary action it is possible you could use it to absorb your enemies weapons, targeted spells, and other projectiles with enougph percision.

Arcane mouth:
1. Program them so that whenever acerak casts a spell or speaks the grains of sand echo his words and trigger off one another to add distractions while he is unseen.
2. Trigger multiple glyphs with different passcodes realistically in one round.
Referance: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...es-Technique-)

[Frandopolis]

Am I the only one who feels like this is a bit much for a party of level 14s?

[Lord8Ball]

Nothing is enough with a ninth tier wizard who has too much time on his hands.

Ps. OP would you mind telling us how things played out after the fight. I am curious as to what will have happened.

[MaxWilson]

Am I the only one who feels like this is a bit much for a party of level 14s?

Blame whoever at WotC thought it was a good idea to write an adventure pitting a party of level 14s in direct combat against someone who's been hoarding magic and secrets for thousands of years. That cannot possibly end well--either the lich is underplayed and the players feel disappointed, or the lich is played correctly and the players get dead and feel disappointed.

Using liches effectively requires more buildup and more foresight than I think WotC knows how to write for. Even their version of Tiamat wasn't so much "do XYZ things to learn her weaknesses and gain allies so you can tackle her effectively," it was "do XYZ things so that when Tiamat finally appears she'll be weaker than the full-statted version, but players will have no idea that her full form is stronger or that their actions have had any effect, so if they did everything right they feel both powerless and underwhelmed with the reality of Tiamat."

A better version could involve them getting to know Acererak intimately by working as his (perhaps-unwilling) pawns for a period of time, gradually learning his weaknesses and secretly preparing to exploit them in a sudden, treacherous strike/bid for freedom. Basically, run it like a prison break scenario, with Acererak as the warden. (In a prison break adventure, a failed prison break attempt usually doesn't result in death, rather it results in a gloating warden who rubs their powerlessness in their faces and gloats about how "you're mine now, you're never getting out" before giving them some unpleasant duty to fulfill. I.e. the players take a dramatic/emotional loss instead of a procedural loss.)

[TheUser]

I think that there should be some consideration for the way that you can manipulate the players beforehand or the spells you can set up. When you're sitting on a high intelligence stat like Acerak he revels in the idea of not just torture but of shattering a hero's spirits and coaxing them to turn on each other.

Mirage Arcane can do damage with it's illusory lava and falling debris. So the final area should be an area you think will favor you best; smooth feature floors for reverse gravity, adamantine encasing the entirety of the soul monger, fall away floors revealing a 200ft drop into lava etc. It lasts 10 days so you can roll a d10 to figure out whether it's used a slot for the day or just keep the slot.

Programmed Illusion is probably the king **** of "I have prep time" as you can do so much insanity that a person's head spins.

Arcane Gate, Dream, Geas and Modify memory are all incredible. My own party has been sleeping care free in a leomund's tiny hut in the tomb and will have a rude awakening very soon (Pun intended).

[Damon_Tor]

What offensive damage spells other than Delayed Blast Fireball can be set up "in advance"?

Check out Otiluke's Freezing Sphere. With a 6th level slot it deals 10d6 cold damage in a 60 radius sphere, but when you cast it you can instead "store" it inside a tiny little frozen ball, which you (or anyone else) can throw up to a minute later for the same effect. Acerak could always keep three skeletons beside him, hands forever outstretched and cupped to receive the tiny cyro-grenades even while time stopped. They could forever be ordered to ready an action: "throw whatever object is in my hand at whoever my master tells me too," triggered "when my master gives the command". That way as soon as time stop ends he could simply order the skeletons to throw and they would do so immediately, for 30d6 damage in a 60 foot radius sphere.

[Lord8Ball]

To add to that the spheres could probably be broken all at once with a simple shatter spell. Along with that a watery sphere, tsunami, and turning the ground to water with mirage arcane can synergise with it nicely.

[MaxWilson]

Check out Otiluke's Freezing Sphere. With a 6th level slot it deals 10d6 cold damage in a 60 radius sphere, but when you cast it you can instead "store" it inside a tiny little frozen ball, which you (or anyone else) can throw up to a minute later for the same effect. Acerak could always keep three skeletons beside him, hands forever outstretched and cupped to receive the tiny cyro-grenades even while time stopped. They could forever be ordered to ready an action: "throw whatever object is in my hand at whoever my master tells me too," triggered "when my master gives the command". That way as soon as time stop ends he could simply order the skeletons to throw and they would do so immediately, for 30d6 damage in a 60 foot radius sphere.

Seems like a lot of constant bother for him to keep those skeletons constantly with him, compared to just casting Meteor Swarm over Time Stop, for 40d6 damage in a similar AoE. Not that Meteor Swarm is all that greater either, but still, it's less hassle than this.