Cleric vs group tactics

[J-H]

My party (6 level 8s) will probably face off against a 15th-level death cleric in the session after next. They have a huge action economy advantage, and could potentially one-shot him if the Monk remembers to use Stunning Fist and the Zealot GWM Barbarian rolls well.

The cleric has AC 16 and a custom magic item that, when it crits, lets him maximize his next spell, or force advantage/disadvantage on his next spell as appropriate. To me, that suggests that he'll have a bias towards Hold Person since it lets him get an auto-crit. I am allowing him to attack as a bonus action once in the same turn as casting a spell.

The cleric does have a really big beatstick ally, but that ally won't be available immediately. What series of spells does the Playground think are most likely to let the cleric survive and be a threat on his own?

Here's what I have noted so far:
Pre-buffs: True Seeing, Death Ward, False Life (1d4+4 hp), Guardian of Faith, and Freedom of Movement. He will also cast Spectral Guardian in the hall that leads to his Big Mook, so that if/when he retreats, the party has to burn a Dispel Magic or eat some damage. None of these require Concentration.

• He will open with an upcast Hold Person if at least 3 targets can be hit, using up to a 5th level spell slot. He will move up to 30’ and do his bonus action attack if he can, to charge his dagger. A charged dagger will be followed up with either a maximized upcast Inflict Wounds, or Harm with disadvantage on the target’s saving throw.
• If he can’t do a Hold Person-charge combo, he will either upcast Bestow Curse to avoid having to maintain Concentration, with the curse of losing actions, or he will do Blindness upcast to multiple targets.
• Insect Plague is a good threat to keep enemies out of close range while he can bombard them with Blight, Blindness, Harm, Bestow Curse, or Toll the Dead from behind cover.
• When he retreats, he will use Blade Barrier or Insect Plague to cover his retreat.
• If the party is split with one melee enemy in Shaft’s face, consider Command “Flee”, especially if that can cause the target to move through a battlefield control spell.

[Vorpalchicken]

How about an Anti-Life Shell to keep the monk and barbarian at bay?
Could he have a couple of lesser clerics buffing or healing him? They could start hidden or up on a balcony so they don't get wiped out immediately.
Is the beat-stick a Cleric also?

[Merudo]

The Cleric could be accompanied with Skeleton Archers - if they aim at someone under the Hold Person spell, they can do quite decent damage.

[J-H]

I like Anti-Life Shell, but it goes against his ability to auto-crit (Hold Person), and his dagger is a melee weapon.
Any options besides Hold Person for achieving auto-crits?

[stoutstien]

How much prep time does the cleric have?

[J-H]

Potentially a couple of hours. Or maybe 5 minutes. It depends on what the party does.

He's got a headband of INT 19, so I am trying to optimize his tactics as much as possible.

[Vorpalchicken]

Wouldn't be able to use Hold and Antilife at the same time. (Unless his minions are doing the holding.) You could give him a Tentacle Rod in place of the dagger...

[stoutstien]

Potentially a couple of hours. Or maybe 5 minutes. It depends on what the party does.

He's got a headband of INT 19, so I am trying to optimize his tactics as much as possible.

I mean if he truly a tactical minded NPC would he get caught with his pants down?
One thing is divination spells so the NPC should have a good idea of what's coming and how to prepare.
There are tons of long term spells a cleric can use to even the odds. Lots of glyphs of warding, forbiddance, and word of recall for an oh crap button adds some meat to him.

[J-H]

Ooh, glyphs of warding and Word of Recall are both great.

Thanks!

[Vorpalchicken]

Could have a Symbol or two ready but that might be too much..

[micahaphone]

I agree with VorpalChicken - a tentacle rod or some other weapon that gives him some flexibility on range is a good call.

Lesser clerics/cultists to toss out Hold Persons or Blindness/Deafness or Bane or other lower level CC would be good too, let the minions be split into undead dps and low level casters doing some evil debuffing.

[stoutstien]

Could have a Symbol or two ready but that might be too much..

Yea i was worried that might be too much but discord could be fun.

[Guy Lombard-O]

If that one 15th level cleric is facing 48 levels of adventurers, he'd be smart to have some mooks with him. Otherwise they'll probably steamroll him regardless.

Hallow is another great preparation he could have made.

[GorogIrongut]

Not sure I've met a level 5 cleric with only AC 16 let alone a level 15 death cleric with AC 16...

[HappyDaze]

If he's alone, all that prep is likely wasted time. Far better to have a lower level cleric along with some solid backup.

[Sigreid]

Adamant armor could help with the crits.

[micahaphone]

Adamant armor could help with the crits.

Just be prepared for your players to strip the armor off him once he's dead

If you want to give him cool armor still but don't want players to loot it, put some sort of necrotic themed curse on it that a death cleric wouldn't mind. Maybe undead flock to your presence, or you can hear the voices of the dead all around you?

[Sigreid]

Just be prepared for your players to strip the armor off him once he's dead

If you want to give him cool armor still but don't want players to loot it, put some sort of necrotic themed curse on it that a death cleric wouldn't mind. Maybe undead flock to your presence, or you can hear the voices of the dead all around you?

No worries. Bad guy goes down and here come the rust monsters.

[CTurbo]

I agree that 16AC seems really low for a Cleric. Maybe give him a shield?

I also agree that needs some minions to help boost the action economy. He'll get dropped quickly if he's by himself.

If you truly want him to fight the party alone, give him Legendary Resistance and possibly even a couple of Legendary Actions.

[Talsin]

at level 15, You've got Planar Ally as an option... as well as conjure celestial, create undead, animate dead.

Also, for shenanigans, Cast Banishment on yourself!
EDIT: Well, banishing yourself only works if you're not native to the plane...

[Anymage]

If you truly want him to fight the party alone, give him Legendary Resistance and possibly even a couple of Legendary Actions.

I was just about to say this. Solos having an action economy problem is well known, and legendary/lair actions go a good way towards helping counteract that.

Also, more importantly, don't feel constrained into making sure that your NPCs follow all the rules for players. Sometimes ribbon effects or mid-term recovery effects are just extra overhead that the NPC won't need, other times they will need number tweaking in order to better serve their narrative role. You will occasionally want to borrow heavily from PHB classes to show what sort of creature the villain is, but don't feel obligated to use the class as presented there with nothing more or less.

[CheddarChampion]

Self target with warding bond?
Very much against RAI though.

An upcast spirit guardians will lay on the damage to the barbarian and the monk. Maybe use that as a follow-up to a crit on the previous turn?

[MaxWilson]

Self target with warding bond?
Very much against RAI though.

I just want to confirm: you're interested in the +1 to AC and saves, right? Not so much the damage-sharing with yourself.

Could have a Symbol or two ready but that might be too much..

Spoiler: Off Topic, Symbol

Show

Symbol is incredibly powerful if you can somehow prep the battlefield beforehand. I'd been playing 5E for years before I realized that Symbol triggers repeatedly for a given creature if it remains in the area. Example: Symbol of Insanity isn't just an Int save to avoid losing your action/etc. for 1 minute, with no re-saves. It's an Int save every round you remain within the huge 60' radius of the Symbol! And it doesn't even cost your concentration. Likewise, Symbol of Death is 10d10 (save for half) every round, in a sphere 120' across.

If Symbol could be cast in one action, it would be one of the best 9th level spells even if it kept its 1000 gp cost. Fortunately, it can be cast in one action via Wish (Symbol).

Another note: Symbol is on the cleric spell list, so Divine Souls can cast Careful Symbol. <<When you Cast a Spell that forces other creatures to make a saving throw, you can protect some of those creatures from the spell’s full force. To do so, you spend 1 sorcery point and choose a number of those creatures up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one creature). A chosen creature automatically succeeds on its saving throw against the spell.>> It's a little bit DM-dependent but I think it's a reasonable interpretation of the Careful Spell wording, and if it works it lets you prep an area of the dungeon that is safe for your party and deadly for your enemies, and then use cheap drive-by tactics like kiting or repeated Conjure Animals swarms to make that a lose-lose situation for the bad guys.

[CheddarChampion]

I just want to confirm: you're interested in the +1 to AC and saves, right? Not so much the damage-sharing with yourself.

Correct.

Also, sanctuary can buy the cleric a good couple of rounds if cast on self at the end of the turn. Players might end up readying actions to hit after an offensive move.
To go full cheese, do spirit guardians->sanctuary and dodge+healing word on subsequent turns.

[J-H]

He's wearing robes (for style) with Elven Chain +1 under it. AC 14 +2 from DEX unless my math is wrong. I suppose I could give him a shield also?
Aside from going heavy armor, are there any good non-(C) spells that I should look at for boosting his AC or miss chances?

[stoutstien]

He's wearing robes (for style) with Elven Chain +1 under it. AC 14 +2 from DEX unless my math is wrong. I suppose I could give him a shield also?
Aside from going heavy armor, are there any good non-(C) spells that I should look at for boosting his AC or miss chances?

He is an NPC so set the AC accordingly for the challenge.

[Throne12]

Why dont he have a couple of undead to act as his shields. Cleric as access to raise dead and animate dead.

With him being by himself and is vastly out match thanks to action economy. Give him a legendary action vampiric touch.

[Barny]

He's wearing robes (for style) with Elven Chain +1 under it. AC 14 +2 from DEX unless my math is wrong. I suppose I could give him a shield also?
Aside from going heavy armor, are there any good non-(C) spells that I should look at for boosting his AC or miss chances?

Your cleric in this level should have magic items, so just give him a shield +1 to reach 19 AC.

You can use the below combos against your PCs:

before encounter: precasting spirit guardian (SG) @8th lvl slot; and use planar ally@6th to get a strong monster, and animiated dead @5lvl to summon 5 undead pets.

1) Your SG aura is the main aoe dmg for 8d8 per turn, so you can use dodge action to tank (the PCs shoudn't konw you are taking dodge action), bonus action to command undead pets/ heal/ sanctuary on yourself.
2) A interesting combo vs melee heavy party: upcasting spell Command "drop" on multiple melee PC, so PC failed save will drop their weapons on ground in their turn; and then end their turn immediately. Your can order your undead pets to kick their weapon further away. The melee PC are within your aura (half speed debuff) won't retrieve their weapons easily. :D
3) There are many powerful and deadly planar ally options if you want to challenge your party or at least fall a few PCs. :P (assuming your cleric is death domain so all the planar ally can be undead as well: So "Bodak" is one of my top topics. ^^)

[8wGremlin]

Just saw you said he casts Spectral Guardian in the hall.

You do know it's centred on him, and moves with him, and slows movement and does damage, and can be upcast.
Yes it's concentration, but wade in with that Puppy and watch the squishes burn up.

[Vorpalchicken]

I think he's talking about Guardian of Faith (non-concentration) not Spirit Guardians.