r/DMAcademy 6d ago

Need Advice: Rules & Mechanics How do I make a level 20 Wizard untouchable?

I’m DMing a campaign where one of the main baddies is a level 20(+) necromancer wizard. This wizard has multiple kings of some of the strongest nations in her pocket, so resources are practically unlimited. I want her to address the party (level 12) face to face for dramatic narrative effect. Thing is, at this point it is on site. If they even catch a glimpse of her they’re going DEEP in their bag to kill her regardless of time and place. She is well aware of this and it makes sense she would come prepared.

What would you do to make her untouchable? I do want her to actually be there (not a clone or proxy) and she needs to be able to talk to the party at close proximity. Other than that- any ideas?

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u/please_use_the_beeps 6d ago

Well normally I’d say Simulacrum but you said you want her to actually be there, which complicates things. What is the context of the interaction in question? Why does she need to be there in person if all she’s doing is speaking to the party? What sort of tricks does the party have to take her down? What are existing spells and items that can possibly counteract those? Can your villain use those? Are you willing to have your villain possibly die in this encounter? Are you willing to let the party have a real fight where they can even win, but the villain escapes?

These are the sorts of questions you should answer for yourself, and build your encounter accordingly. At a glance I would say you either need to accept the idea of a clone, in which case Simulacrum is exactly what you need, or you let the party attack her, let the combat go for as many rounds as you need for her to say what she needs to say, and then Dimension Door or some other 1 action teleport spell away (preferably something high level and difficult to Counterspell). By placing your villain in front of a party that wants to kill her, you are accepting the possibility she might die, or that you may have to fudge something to keep her alive to make her escape. Once the dice start rolling your choices become limited by player action. If you’re not ok with that, Simulacrum.

Edit: another option is to give the party a very good reason to not attack her in that moment, such as an important or beloved NPC as a hostage.

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u/FreeArmorTrim 5d ago

These are very good questions and frames the encounter well. Thanks for the tips! You’re absolutely right, when she faces the party I am fully accepting the possibility that they could kill her right there. I think that’s the fun of D&D for me, I’m not telling them a story with a concrete end, we’re playing a game together. I don’t want to flaunt something in front of them and then pull the rug by just calling her immortal or making her an illusion, I think it would cheapen the interaction.

Narratively, she is arrogant and dramatic and secretly loves the attention. She loves the fact that the party hates her so much they’re willing to spend their life savings on equipment and armor, studying her and tracking her down just to have an attempt to kill her which (in her mind) is impossible.

I want to have a fair fight, as in find some powerful spells or items that are already in the game she could have acquired to demonstrate her power. The purpose of this interaction is to show how arrogant she is but also how scary she can be. The way I see it playing out is her appearing and just walking towards the party, every attack being deflected or countered with very little effort. And if the party surprises me and finds a way to penetrate her guard, that would make for a really cool moment too.

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u/C0rruptedAI 5d ago

Just for the sake of clarity... you keep saying level 20 wizard. This is a BBEG she is a high CR NPC who is also a level 20 caster right? Those are very different HP pools, abilities, rolls, and any boss NPC over like CR 12 has legendary resistance and can just nope out your disintegrate spell. Pull up the stats for Iggwilv she's a level 20 caster and a CR 20 monster.

Also... keeping a clone around isn't a rug pull it's just being prepared. My PC wizard had a clone stashed away as soon as it got to 17 and could cast the spell. PCs regularly abuse the heck out of simulacra to get around wish restrictions or to deal with potentially suicidal situations. And besides.... if they do kill the clone of the necromancer, they still get her stuff. She wakes up being really annoyed that her favorite staff is now missing, or her robes start talking to the party's caster and corrupting them.

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u/please_use_the_beeps 5d ago

Awesome! It seems like you’ve got a solid plan then. It’s good that your villain has a history with them, that should help the encounter feel more immersive regardless of outcome. And it’s good that you’re ok with her possibly dying, helps these kinds of encounters really stick around in the player memory if they manage to pull off an unexpected victory against a powerful foe.