Completely new to 5th ed need spell duel help....pvp

[Legendairy]

So it starts...A member of our group thinks a 5th level wizard can kill a 5th level Cleric in a duel every time. I said no and it comes down to initiative, so the gauntlet was thrown problem is I do not know enough about the new system to build a cleric that will hurt him and told him so and he thinks that no matter who builds said cleric it cant touch his 5th level gnome wizard.

So my request to the playgrounders is that I need a full 5th level cleric build that can destroy a wizard.

The stipulation to the duel is this 10's on all but primary casting stat which will be 20 and you start with no buffs 10ft away from one another.

Thank you all in advance.

[Daishain]

Truly matching him spell for spell is likely to be... difficult, he does have some reason to be confidant. Focus on shutting him down.

What is his specialization, do you know?

One possibility, though it is not so much of a spell duel as a beat down...

variant human Tempest Cleric, mage slayer and war caster feats. make sure to pick up athletics skill from somewhere. Carry a one handed weapon of your choice. don't bother with a shield

Round 1, close the distance and grapple him.
Round 2, cast silence on your current location.
Round 3+, beat him to death with your weapon.

Breaking the grapple is going to be very difficult for him, he won't be able to cast verbal spells (nearly all of his repertoire gone, just like that), you have advantage on all saves vs his spells, and any time he does succeed in damaging you, you get a free 2d8 lightning or thunder damage in response.

Or, the simple solution. Call Lightning. Use Destructive Wrath feature to maximize it. Unless he makes the save (quite unlikely), he's dead in one hit (30 damage vs 26 HP). If he does make the save, the spell is still active, and will smack him down the rest of the way next turn.

[themaque]

Your opening rules already partially gimps the Cleric as you seriously hinder their physical abilities and negate most of their saves.

[Easy_Lee]

I'd use mage slayer, a purchased warhorse, and a maul.

Edit: guess that won't work with only 10 strength, oh well

[Eslin]

So it starts...A member of our group thinks a 5th level wizard can kill a 5th level Cleric in a duel every time. I said no and it comes down to initiative, so the gauntlet was thrown problem is I do not know enough about the new system to build a cleric that will hurt him and told him so and he thinks that no matter who builds said cleric it cant touch his 5th level gnome wizard.

So my request to the playgrounders is that I need a full 5th level cleric build that can destroy a wizard.

The stipulation to the duel is this 10's on all but primary casting stat which will be 20 and you start with no buffs 10ft away from one another.

Thank you all in advance.

Variant human cleric, grab mage slayer and magical training, use training to take the shillelagh cantrip, bonk him in the face.

Alternately grab the light domain and nuke him, scorching ray in a third level spell slot can one hit him.

[hymer]

Alternately grab the light domain and nuke him, scorching ray in a third level spell slot can one hit him.

I agree with this. The large number of attack rolls gimps his Portent (which he will likely use to win Initiative anyway, which sucks for you). Your main problem will be going first.

[AgentPaper]

It's probably safe to assume that he'll have Counterspell prepared, so if you can, try to cast a lower level spell first as a bonus action, then cast your main spell. He can only react once per turn, so he can't counter the second. Or if he doesn't counter the first, then just use your action to cast another low-level decoy spell.

Really though, a 1v1 duel doesn't really prove all that much, win or lose. This is a co-op game, after all, so not all classes need to be (or really even should be) good at mono a mono duels, since those should be the exception, not the rule.

Edit: Also, if you really want to rustle his jimmies, tell him that a monk could beat him every time.

[VeliciaL]

Really though, a 1v1 duel doesn't really prove all that much, win or lose. This is a co-op game, after all, so not all classes need to be (or really even should be) good at mono a mono duels, since those should be the exception, not the rule.

This, essentially. Clerics especially are supposed to be party support.

Not to mention the terms largely remove the main way a cleric would deal with this, which is to close into melee and give him a thorough whipping for suggesting such a stupid idea.

[Chaosvii7]

Tell him to play fair: Standard array, with the 15 going into your primary casting stat. That way he still gets his high INT and you have the chance to actually beat him up.

But really, the real way to deal with him is to not indulge him. This is a negative player behavior in the making. Even if he's been a peach up until this point something's gotta give, and feeding this mentality isn't going to make it better. The best thing to do is to have him fight every enemy up to CR 5 1-on-1 and then maybe he can have the right, because in reality, as they've said, this game isn't about player vs. player.