You're a mastermind. What spellcasting services do you buy to prepare for your heist

[Armored Walrus]

Assume you are a mastermind criminal that thinks of everything. Up to third level spells are available for purchase if you have the right connections (you do). The spellcaster will not be coming along with you on this heist. The item you are stealing is worth probably into the 10s of thousands of GP. What buffs are you going to buy on yourself if you expect the job to take about an hour from the time you go the spell cast on you?

[Armored Walrus]

An added factor, if you want to give different answers for the two possible scenarios. You have the option of either approaching the target from subterranean tunnels, approaching an unguarded door in a sketchy neighborhood in broad daylight, or slipping through a window that is well off the street in the night.

[TheYell]

From a purely mechanical standpoint, you can move a nearly unlimited amount of cargo through a tunnel whereas a door or window limits you.

Not sure how conjuring elementals would work if the spellcaster is not present with you, but an earth elemental does double damage to structures as well as providing some muscle in case something goes bad.

Give the whole party Darkvision and they won't need light sources. You'll want to Detect Magic and have Knock handy, of course.

Major Illusion so when you get inside the room, you make the wall opposite the door look 3 feet closer to the door. That gives you a "crawlspace" of 3 feet to stand in "behind the wall" should anybody enter through the door.

Tenser's Floating Disk to use as a dumbwaiter.

[JellyPooga]

Two potions of Gaseous Form. One to get in, one to get out. That is all.

[Armored Walrus]

Not sure how conjuring elementals would work if the spellcaster is not present with you, but an earth elemental does double damage to structures as well as providing some muscle in case something goes bad.

I'll have to read the spell. It seems to me the caster must control the ele


Give the whole party Darkvision and they won't need light sources.

This is a good one. I'm pretty sure right now my Mastermind is human, so this will be useful, doesn't require Concentration or a caster to be present.


You'll want to Detect Magic and have Knock handy, of course. Major Illusion so when you get inside the room, you make the wall opposite the door look 3 feet closer to the door. That gives you a "crawlspace" of 3 feet to stand in "behind the wall" should anybody enter through the door.

These would all require a caster to be present. Oddly enough, though, you've answered a question I didn't ask. I will have an arcane caster on the crew, and these are good spells for him to have available. I'll elaborate on the crew below.


Tenser's Floating Disk to use as a dumbwaiter.

Again I think this requires the caster to be there.


Two potions of Gaseous Form. One to get in, one to get out. That is all.

That would get the job done. You're thinking like a master mind.

So here's some elaboration:

You are literally a Mastermind - a 3rd level Rogue Mastermind to be precise. You are heisting a packet of a mildly magical reagent that an ingredient in the recipe of a hallucinogenic drug, from the safehouse of a rival gang. You can easily get the loot out in your backpack.

Your crew is:
A human who is your specialist house/safecracker. (expertise in thieves' tools(no idea if that's RAW, don't derail my thread to tell me it's not, because I don't care)) He wields two shortswords or two hand crossbows, and has some arcane spellcasting abilities. You don't necessarily trust him, he's a hire from a different gang in a different part of town.

A half elf warlock of some sort.

A big dumb lizardman fighter-type, who sole job is to take the hits from whatever sort of guard-beast is watching over the loot, and to take the fall if anything goes wrong.

A Kenku preist who worships some joker god.

A couple other notes. Magical items are off the table, but the spellcasting (up to third level spells) is available for hire. (ok, just one other note)

[JellyPooga]

On an infiltration job that involves a small, portable target (like this package), you don't want a) anyone you can't trust and b) anyone that's less than subtle. Assuming the others you mentioned are the other players, you're probably stuck with being forced to take them along...this is less than ideal. The Safecracker you straight up don't trust, the Warlock probably has some hidden agenda, the Lizardfolk is about as subtle as a brick through a window and the Kenku is liable to turn the whole thing into a farce, just for kicks. Whatever else, you need to convince these people to stay the hell out of your way while you get the job done.

Fortunately, you can use this to your advantage;

- The Lizardfolk is great for creating a distraction; he's big and dumb enough to draw attention to himself, which takes attention away from you. Send the Kenku with him to make sure it gets done right. Make it loud and make it public, but above all else, make sure your target knows about it.

- The Safecracker and the Warlock make a perfect team to run a "white noise" mission. Do some research and find another target; something valuable but relatively insignificant. If they get found out, that's resources taken away from discovering you. If they don't and they succeed, you get whatever the other thing is. Win-win and it gets the two of them out of your hair.

- Your job sounds like a simple infiltration;
Non-Detection, Pass Without Trace and Gaseous Form (as already mentioned) are probabpy the best spells available to you at this level. The former two are long duration and don't require concentration; the latter does require concentration, but also has a good long duration, allowing to to infiltrate, explore and figure out an escape plan before grabbing the goods and making your getaway.

That's assuming you either haven't done your research or the information you need is unavailable. Under ideal circumstances, you want building layout, guard rosters and patrol schedules, location of goods and any defences, including traps and locks. You'll also want to research any alternative targets in the locale; opportunism is a profitable venture and if things go south, even a quick smash and grab can turn a profitless exercise into at least getting a consolation prize.

[Aaron Underhand]

Pass without trace is clearly the big win.

Enhance ability and Aid (both upcast) are good if you can find a bard and a cleric EA is concentration though.

Invisibility upcast gives two people invisibility for an hour - again concentration.

Oh, and start from inside Leomunds Tiny Hut, and retreat back there. This is because you have to expect searches with locate object - LTH is 100% scry shield for the first 8 hours

[BlackbirdXX]

Assuming you can trust the caster? Hire his familiar? Nothing like a detailed map before you start. Or knowing where the first layer of traps are. But 'probing' the defenses that way may put them on heightened alert. But also ties in great to the idea above with a distraction or 'secondary' heist.

[Armored Walrus]

This is all good stuff, guys! I'm running it tomorrow night, so I've got some time to add any further suggestions to this.

[Throne12]

So find a divination wizard and get your Fortune told. Meaning you get the divination wizards potent dices to use.

[Armored Walrus]

So find a divination wizard and get your Fortune told. Meaning you get the divination wizards potent dices to use.

That is very creative! I might like this better than any of the actual spell effects.

[Caelic]

If you can, recruit Doppelgangers. Otherwise, Disguise Self. If they have some way to see you, make sure you don't look like you.