Most possible damage in a single round.

[Draco4472]

A thread like this has probably already been done, but I'm curious.

I present a challenge, most damage you can deal in one round as a single character without using 9th level spells (i.e. Wish, meteor swarm, etc).

9th level spell-slots are still allowed. Any official 5e sourcebook (PHB, DMG, SCAG, EE, etc) allowed in addition to Unearthed Arcana articles.

[Corran]

Do surprise rounds assuming you won initiative count, or are they out because you cant always rely on it?
If the answer is that they count, then there are many gimmicky builds that thrive in this kind of scenario.
From the top of my head, I would say that an assassin3/ battlemaster3/ paladin2/ FS sorcerer8 (with 4 levels remaining to be used to further increase that damage) would be a good base for it.

[Draco4472]

Do surprise rounds assuming you won initiative count, or are they out because you cant always rely on it?
If the answer is that they count, then there are many gimmicky builds that thrive in this kind of scenario.
From the top of my head, I would say that an assassin3/ battlemaster3/ paladin2/ FS sorcerer8 (with 4 levels remaining to be used to further increase that damage) would be a good base for it.

I would let it count, assuming you specify the conditions.

[Malifice]

I would let it count, assuming you specify the conditions.

Off the top of my head, (sneaking up on a Demon):

Half Orc (greataxe)

BM Fighter 3 (Precise strike, Tripping strike, Riposte)
Paladin 2
Favored Soul Sorcerer 9 (Quickened spell)
Assassin 3
Deep Stalker Ranger 3

CL: 11th. (4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1) Feats; GWM

Pre buffs: Haste cast on self. Recover slot with SP.

Approach Demon using Stealth (with expertise). Attack target (initiative is now rolled, and you have advantage thanks to Ranger). Assuming you win (and target unaware):

Action [2 attacks] + action surge [2 attacks] + haste [1 attack] + Deep stalker Ranger special attack on target that hasnt acted yet [1 attack] + boming blade as a bonus action, via quickened spell, [1 attack]

7 attacks. All crits thanks to Assasin triggering your half orc extra die. Damage dice doubled accordingly:

Attack 1-4 = 3d12 (axe) +15 (str + GWM) + 12d8 (smite on fiend) + 2d8 (tripping strike)
Attack 5-6 = 3d12 (axe) +15 (str + GWM) + 12d8 (smite on fiend)
Attack 7 = 3d12 (axe) + 15 + 10d8 (smite on fiend) + 6d8 (greenflame blade)

21d12 (re-roll 1's and 2's) + 105 (Str +GWM) + 96d8 (smite, sup dice, booming blade).

I'm no maths guru, but thats about 700 damage on average. Over 1,100 damage if you roll well.

If using poison, magical weapons, belts of giant strength, other buff spells from other PCs etc (or more liberal interpretations of GWS rerolling all the dice, or Deep Stalker allowing +1 attack for each attack action on turn one etc) it could be significantly higher.

[Ghost Nappa]

A thread like this has probably already been done, but I'm curious.

I present a challenge, most damage you can deal in one round as a single character without using 9th level spells (i.e. Wish, meteor swarm, etc).

9th level spell-slots are still allowed. Any official 5e sourcebook (PHB, DMG, SCAG, EE, etc) allowed in addition to Unearthed Arcana articles.

By RAW, any spell cast in a 9th level slot is a ninth level spell. It doesn't matter if it's Magic Missile or Meteor Swarm. I don't know how important this distinction is, but I thought I should mention it.

[Specter]

I imagine it involves surprise and 3 assassin levels, but I'm not sure.

[Greeniron]

Off the top of my head, (sneaking up on a Demon):


CL: 11th. (4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1) Feats; GWM

Pre buffs: Haste cast on self. Recover slot with SP.

Approach Demon using Stealth (with expertise). Attack target (initiative is now rolled, and you have advantage thanks to Ranger). Assuming you win (and target unaware):

Action [2 attacks] + action surge [2 attacks] + haste [1 attack] + Deep stalker Ranger special attack on target that hasnt acted yet [1 attack] + boming blade as a bonus action, via quickened spell, [1 attack]

7 attacks. All crits thanks to Assasin triggering your half orc extra die. Damage dice doubled accordingly:

Attack 1-4 = 3d12 (axe) +15 (str + GWM) + 12d8 (smite on fiend) + 2d8 (tripping strike)
Attack 5-6 = 3d12 (axe) +15 (str + GWM) + 12d8 (smite on fiend)
Attack 7 = 3d12 (axe) + 15 + 10d8 (smite on fiend) + 6d8 (greenflame blade)

21d12 (re-roll 1's and 2's) + 105 (Str +GWM) + 96d8 (smite, sup dice, booming blade).


Edit: I did not notice you took into account the lower spell slot for the last attack, sorry.
I am sorry but recovering the slots with sorcery points is a bonus action, which you already used for the booming/greenflame
the smite dice would lose a total of 2d8. However, you can increase the damage further by instead hitting a shadow demon, which is vulnerable to radiant damage. Could we add in savage attacker or something similar for more damage?

Kudos overall for it, I like the overall build, I could not have come up with a better build.

[Malifice]

Edit: I did not notice you took into account the lower spell slot for the last attack, sorry.
I am sorry but recovering the slots with sorcery points is a bonus action, which you already used for the booming/greenflame
the smite dice would lose a total of 2d8. However, you can increase the damage further by instead hitting a shadow demon, which is vulnerable to radiant damage. Could we add in savage attacker or something similar for more damage?

Kudos overall for it, I like the overall build, I could not have come up with a better build.

He's got room for an extra feat.

You could buff him to the wazoo if he had a party behind him or access to poison or magic items and easily get the damage over 2,000 points.

[Asmotherion]

Off the top of my head, (sneaking up on a Demon):

Half Orc (greataxe)

BM Fighter 3 (Precise strike, Tripping strike, Riposte)
Paladin 2
Favored Soul Sorcerer 9 (Quickened spell)
Assassin 3
Deep Stalker Ranger 3

CL: 11th. (4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1) Feats; GWM

Pre buffs: Haste cast on self. Recover slot with SP.

Approach Demon using Stealth (with expertise). Attack target (initiative is now rolled, and you have advantage thanks to Ranger). Assuming you win (and target unaware):

Action [2 attacks] + action surge [2 attacks] + haste [1 attack] + Deep stalker Ranger special attack on target that hasnt acted yet [1 attack] + boming blade as a bonus action, via quickened spell, [1 attack]

7 attacks. All crits thanks to Assasin triggering your half orc extra die. Damage dice doubled accordingly:

Attack 1-4 = 3d12 (axe) +15 (str + GWM) + 12d8 (smite on fiend) + 2d8 (tripping strike)
Attack 5-6 = 3d12 (axe) +15 (str + GWM) + 12d8 (smite on fiend)
Attack 7 = 3d12 (axe) + 15 + 10d8 (smite on fiend) + 6d8 (greenflame blade)

21d12 (re-roll 1's and 2's) + 105 (Str +GWM) + 96d8 (smite, sup dice, booming blade).

I'm no maths guru, but thats about 700 damage on average. Over 1,100 damage if you roll well.

If using poison, magical weapons, belts of giant strength, other buff spells from other PCs etc (or more liberal interpretations of GWS rerolling all the dice, or Deep Stalker allowing +1 attack for each attack action on turn one etc) it could be significantly higher.

No, no... you're just a humble Lawer who is also a war veteran and a brain surgeon. (Couldn't resist)

That's average 674 damage.

With a Fire Dragon Sorcerer you'd get extra dammage on Green-flame blade. Which is better than FS. You could also add 1 level of Undying Light warlock for extra dammage on both Green-Flame blade AND Divine smite. Sub one sorcerer level for it. After all, you merelly need 4th level slots for divine smite.

[Degwerks]

No, no... you're just a humble Lawer who is also a war veteran and a brain surgeon. (Couldn't resist)

That's average 674 damage.

With a Fire Dragon Sorcerer you'd get extra dammage on Green-flame blade. Which is better than FS. You could also add 1 level of Undying Light warlock for extra dammage on both Green-Flame blade AND Divine smite. Sub one sorcerer level for it. After all, you merelly need 4th level slots for divine smite.

Undying Light Warlock bonus to radiant & fire is only on spells cast, not on divine smites just because it deals radiant damage.

[Asmotherion]

Undying Light Warlock bonus to radiant & fire is only on spells cast, not on divine smites just because it deals radiant damage.

This might have sliped my attention. Too bad. Still, you'll get to apply Cha modifier twice on green-flame blade (once with Undying Light and once with Fire Dragon Sorcerer). Green Flame Blade is a spell after all.

[RulesJD]

A thread like this has probably already been done, but I'm curious.

I present a challenge, most damage you can deal in one round as a single character without using 9th level spells (i.e. Wish, meteor swarm, etc).

9th level spell-slots are still allowed. Any official 5e sourcebook (PHB, DMG, SCAG, EE, etc) allowed in addition to Unearthed Arcana articles.

1. Reverse Gravity spell on a horde of orcs walking across the desert (so nothing to hold on to) with a hard rock ceiling directly overhead.

It has a 50ft radius, which if you aren't using diagonal rules means a block of 100ft x 100ft, enough to cover 400 Orcs.

Once you cast the spell, they fall upwards and take 10d6 damage (average 35).

35 * 400 orcs = 14,000 damage.

Immediately stop concentrating so they fall back down, they take another 10d6 damage.

35 * 400 orcs = another 14,000 damage.

28,000 damage total in one round.

2. Earthquake spell on a field of 5ft cube pillars of stone.

The spell would cover 40x40 cube pillars = 1,600 pillars

Each pillar would take 50 bludgeoning damage.

1,600 x 50 = 80,000 damage.


Next time, you probably want to specify that you're looking for single target damage. Otherwise spells will always win by a loooooong shot.

[Asmotherion]

1. Reverse Gravity spell on a horde of orcs walking across the desert (so nothing to hold on to) with a hard rock ceiling directly overhead.

It has a 50ft radius, which if you aren't using diagonal rules means a block of 100ft x 100ft, enough to cover 400 Orcs.

Once you cast the spell, they fall upwards and take 10d6 damage (average 35).

35 * 400 orcs = 14,000 damage.

Immediately stop concentrating so they fall back down, they take another 10d6 damage.

35 * 400 orcs = another 14,000 damage.

28,000 damage total in one round.

2. Earthquake spell on a field of 5ft cube pillars of stone.

The spell would cover 40x40 cube pillars = 1,600 pillars

Each pillar would take 50 bludgeoning damage.

1,600 x 50 = 80,000 damage.


Next time, you probably want to specify that you're looking for single target damage. Otherwise spells will always win by a loooooong shot.

spells always win, even in single target dammage.

You also have to be specific about the amount of preparation one has, and funds.

Let's imagine a Wizard 20. He does the simulacrum combo (for the rare people that have not heard of it, you just create a simulacrum, long rest, then have your simulacrum cast similacrum to make a new copy of you, with access to the similacrum spell...) and you do the same for, let's say 99 days. You also order any creator simulacrum to order complete obediance to you, to avoid "breaking the line".

Then, on day 100 he has a big battle. The Simulacri act on your turn. That means that, practically, each simulacrum will act on it's creator's turn, aka all simulacri on your turn. let's imagine (for simplicity's sake) each one of them uses his 9th level spell slot to cast dissintergrade. That's (19d6*100)+4000. Average dammage in one turn is 10400 (which can scale more and more depending on how many days of preparation you have, and possibly funds... or you can do it for free via the Wish spell, your simulacrums just won't have a 9th spell slot. \

[Pichu]

New Revised Ranger 6/Assassin 3, 20 Dex, Sharpshooter Feat, a buttload of ammo, Crossbow Expert Feat, Heavy Crossbow

Choose Undead as your Favored Enemy and Greater Favored Enemy. Get 26,115* Crawling Claws into a pen that is circular and has a radius of 10. Become all hidey-hidey and then get a surprise round. Roll initiative. Win. Use Volley and Sharpshooter to get -5, +10. Hit everything with one bolt each for 2d10+30 (auto-crit). That is 52230d10+753450 piercing damage! Average damage: 1040715, Maximum damage: 1563015

*44mm per Hand, Math=26115 in an area with a 10 ft radius

[CursedRhubarb]

Taking advantage of an interpretation of the WA for rangers for being allowed to move between attacks on this and applying similar logic to Volley where you can see any "point" in range so all range becomes targetable with it so don't hate me as this is just silly munchkinism using super loose interpretations to get higher numbers.

Elven ranger
Str or Dex to 20
Mobility feat
Haste from an ally or item
Dueling/Archery style
Greater favored enemy
Longsword or longbow
(Wagon full of ammo)
(No crits or magic weapon calculated)

Max attacks: 88
WA
88d8+176(dueling)+352(favored)+440(str)
Min: 1056 damage
Max: 1672 damage
Average: 1364 damage

Volley standing still (forgot to add math for extra 2 attacks from haste)
Max attacks: 14,883
14,883d8+29,766(archery)+59,532(favored)+74,415(De x)
Min: 178,596 damage
Max: 282,777 damage
Average: 230,686 damage

Volley moving between attacks
Max attacks: 17,811
17,811d8+35,622(archery)+71,244(favored)+89,055(De x)
Min: 213,732 damage
Max: 338,409 damage
Average: 276,070 damage

Complete shenanigans and would never allow it, but within munchkinism loose interpretations XD

[Corran]

With a Fire Dragon Sorcerer you'd get extra dammage on Green-flame blade. Which is better than FS. You could also add 1 level of Undying Light warlock for extra dammage on both Green-Flame blade AND Divine smite. Sub one sorcerer level for it. After all, you merelly need 4th level slots for divine smite.
FS gives you the extra attack, so you cannot really drop it.
The warlock idea is a good one, but I dont think we can find room for it, thus it is inpractical in this scenario. The best case scenario would be to take out a level of sorcerer in order to take that one warlock level, and in this case we are losing a 5th level smite and we are substituting it with a 2nd level smite, with the diffrence in damage resulting in 4d8 (avg of 18). And we gain +cha mod, so probably a mere +3.


No, no... you're just a humble Lawer who is also a war veteran and a brain surgeon. (Couldn't resist)
This is uncalled for. If things heat up in another thread, you shouldn't carry this over elsewhere in this forum, it is not constructive to do so and it can only result in derailing threads and in creating a hostile environment. Please consider editing out that part of your post.

[Draco4472]

By RAW, any spell cast in a 9th level slot is a ninth level spell. It doesn't matter if it's Magic Missile or Meteor Swarm. I don't know how important this distinction is, but I thought I should mention it.

Let me rephrase. No spell that requires a 9th level slot to be casted at its lowest level. By 9th level spell, I was referring to spells such as Wish, but set the rule in place to avoid meteor swarm in particular with its 80d6 of damage.

[King539]

First off, the amount of cheese and ridiculousness in this thread so far is impressive. Here's my two cents:

Wizard 20, has ridiculous amounts of money. Casts Symbol (of Death). It can cover any amount of space less than 10 square feet, so make it 1/8 of a square inch wide. Repeat until there is a bunch of these in a circle, all aligned so that one 5-foot square in the middle is affected by all the spells. The trigger is when someone within 400 feet of the glyphs says "Potato" in Draconic. Get the poor sap that you're testing this on in the 5-foot square in the exact middle, then say the word. Not only will they take ridiculous damage, they'll take it every round for 10 minutes.

:smalleek:

[Sniccups]

Taking advantage of an interpretation of the WA for rangers for being allowed to move between attacks on this and applying similar logic to Volley where you can see any "point" in range so all range becomes targetable with it so don't hate me as this is just silly munchkinism using super loose interpretations to get higher numbers.

Elven ranger
Str or Dex to 20
Mobility feat
Haste from an ally or item
Dueling/Archery style
Greater favored enemy
Longsword or longbow
(Wagon full of ammo)
(No crits or magic weapon calculated)

Max attacks: 88
WA
88d8+176(dueling)+352(favored)+440(str)
Min: 1056 damage
Max: 1672 damage
Average: 1364 damage

Volley standing still (forgot to add math for extra 2 attacks from haste)
Max attacks: 14,883
14,883d8+29,766(archery)+59,532(favored)+74,415(De x)
Min: 178,596 damage
Max: 282,777 damage
Average: 230,686 damage

Volley moving between attacks
Max attacks: 17,811
17,811d8+35,622(archery)+71,244(favored)+89,055(De x)
Min: 213,732 damage
Max: 338,409 damage
Average: 276,070 damage

Complete shenanigans and would never allow it, but within munchkinism loose interpretations XD

You know, they revised the ranger so that this could not happen. Look on the WoTC website and you will probably find it.

[Mikey P]

Complete shenanigans and would never allow it, but within munchkinism loose interpretations XD

This is beyond munchkinism, this is blatant and deliberate misinterpretation of RAW.

[Tauguy628]

RAW, there is nothing preventing a wizard from casting thousands of glyphs of warding on a pinecone, tossing it at an enemy and shouting a command phrase. Even just 100 casts would give you 500d8 damage (2250 average damage) and it only costs 20,000 gp, less than your average warship (at 25,000 gp). While this is on all failed saves, on all success, you would still hit for 1125 damage. This can be farther increased by putting fireballs in the glyphs, giving you 800d8 damage on failed saves. If we had 1000 of these fireball glyphs, we would be dealing 8000d8 on failed saves or 36,000. This can also beat the ranger exploit mentioned above (we can deal 360,000 avg damage with 10,000 glyphs).

[RulesJD]

By RAW, any spell cast in a 9th level slot is a ninth level spell. It doesn't matter if it's Magic Missile or Meteor Swarm. I don't know how important this distinction is, but I thought I should mention it.

That's not technically accurate.

For example, see the Globe of Invulnerability spell or features granted to enemies like Tiamat.

Even if you upcast Magic Missile from a 9th level slot, it won't do anything to a target inside of a GoI.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

RAW, there is nothing preventing a wizard from casting thousands of glyphs of warding on a pinecone, tossing it at an enemy and shouting a command phrase. Even just 100 casts would give you 500d8 damage (2250 average damage) and it only costs 20,000 gp, less than your average warship (at 25,000 gp). While this is on all failed saves, on all success, you would still hit for 1125 damage. This can be farther increased by putting fireballs in the glyphs, giving you 800d8 damage on failed saves. If we had 1000 of these fireball glyphs, we would be dealing 8000d8 on failed saves or 36,000. This can also beat the ranger exploit mentioned above (we can deal 360,000 avg damage with 10,000 glyphs).
Well.... technically. It's worth noting that if an object bearing a Glyph of Warding moves 10 feet or more it loses all its glyphs with no effect. So, hope that guy you're throwing it at is nice enough to walk up to the spot where you've been making the glyphs, since you'll have to leave the pinecone in one place the whole time and can't take it with you adventuring. Also, since you can't throw it a whole ten feet, you'll be in the radius of the fireballs, too.

[CursedRhubarb]

A Sorcerer could do a nice chunk of damage with lucky wild magic rolls.

On one turn you could have:

Delayed Blast Fireball lvl 9 explodes after time limit, cast Fireball lvl 8, quicken Fireball lvl 7, and Wild Magic roll of 83-84.

With an enemy in every space inside each AoE to get max effect that can be damage up to:

DBF - 11,664
FB8 - 6,318
QFB7 - 5,832
WM - 1,680

Total - 25,494

May be better to try this with a single target or having a set number of targets because AoE just breaks it, and you should never be able to hit a max number of mobs with such spells so getting even close to that should never happen.

A single target caught in each could take up to:

DBF9 - 144
FB8 - 78
QFB7 - 72
WM - 10
Total - 304

[Tauguy628]

Also, since you can't throw it a whole ten feet, you'll be in the radius of the fireballs, too.
Most parties have that one annoying noble who thinks they are better than everyone. Make them do it. :smallbiggrin:
In response to your first point, teleportation spells are very useful.

[Isidorios]

A thread like this has probably already been done, but I'm curious.
I present a challenge, most damage you can deal in one round as a single character without using 9th level spells (i.e. Wish, meteor swarm, etc).


Max out your strength stat.
Buy as many Alchemist's Fire as your encumbrance limit will allow you to carry.
Jump down out of a tree/off a wall/cliffside at Monster X.

You're welcome.

[Cl0001]

Well, theoretically lightning bolt cast at 9th level with a DC over 20 and the enemies having a low Dex you could do massive damage. Throw them in heavy armor, put em in water and grab elemental adept and you're doing 14d6 damage x4 with chances of a successful saving throw being about 0.

So now comes the math. The average of a d6 is technically 3.5 but because of the feat, the possible rolls are 2,2,3,4,5,6. Thus the average is slightly higher at 3.66666. Multiplied by 14 and you get 51.33333 damage. We'll say 51. Multiplied by 4 because they are in water and wearing heavy armor to get 204. That's hitting 100 enemies, which all have a 1/400 shot of making the saving throw. So again I'll say they all fail, as would many dms I imagine. So, 204*100=20,400 damage in one attack.

If you were a wild magic sorcerer and had just gotten the max damage effect then it's even higher. Dealing 84 damage normally and 336 with all the effects. Again assuming they all fail, that's 33600 damage in one spell.

I can't think of any other really strong spells right now, and I think casting symbol a million times may be breaking the rules because it says one round. And casting those spells all are in direct correlation to damage. So this is my answer. If there's a better single spell use, then wild magic is probably the answer still