Lvl 20 scouting abilities in 5e?

[Pinjata]

Tell me, what kind of scouting abilities/threat detection is available to highly optimized lvl 20 5e party.

Explanation:
I see a lot of "I would use 2 20th level Battle Master Fighters with dragonslayer greatswords, 1 Wild Magic Sorcerer, and 1 Divination Wizard, all with 20 DEX, proficiency in stealth, and Boon of Undetectability vs Monster X" and I'm wondering - how would characters have known a major monster's stats? Poring over MM and all other books for weeks in order to find that perfect party combo to take down a CR 30 monster is fine OOC, but IC ... Say you are going against Demogorgon and you are level 20 party. You'we heard of him(her?), but ... there are no Monster manuals with demogorgon stats lying around.

How do you spy upon, gather info, figure out your high level opponent? It's not like there are Demogorgon fights set up in some Sigil arena every week for lvl 20 characters.

How do you scout a high level threat as a lvl 20 party in dnd 5e?

thanks

[ReaperChaos]

Characters at Level 20 are generally Epic Level adventurers. They have faced numerous challenges and came out victorious. I would assume that since they reached that height of power, they would have access to a large amount of resources, as well as having established lots of connections. With that said, they would use those two things to gain information for their foe. Even in a DnD universe, money makes the world go round. And if money doesn't open the road to your answer, your abilities would. High level casters are increadibly strong and resourceful. I would believe that they would have creative ways to use their magic to find the road to the answers. Even if it turned to an entire side quest, they would pull it through.

If you want an actual ability, the best things that come to my mind right now would be the spell Legend Lore, a high level Ranger favoured enemy, or even a Cleric's Divine Intervention. How those abilities work is of course DM dependent, but then again, most things are.

[Unoriginal]

Simply put: you don't.

There is no in-universe perfect way to know the statblock of a monster in 5e.

That being said, you can get a decent amount of information on a being's capacities by:

-Observing them

-Doing research on them (aka reading texts on the subject)

-Consulting experts on the matter

-Consulting the being's enemies who are willing to trade info

-Consulting the being's underling, if they can be persuaded or "persuaded" to share info

-Using divination magic to do one of the above options.



If you want an actual ability, the best things that come to my mind right now would be the spell Legend Lore, a high level Ranger favoured enemy, or even a Cleric's Divine Intervention. How those abilities work is of course DM dependent, but then again, most things are.

The Battlemaster's Know You Enemy ability and a few homebrews can also help.




Explanation:
I see a lot of "I would use 2 20th level Battle Master Fighters with dragonslayer greatswords, 1 Wild Magic Sorcerer, and 1 Divination Wizard, all with 20 DEX, proficiency in stealth, and Boon of Undetectability vs Monster X" and I'm wondering - how would characters have known a major monster's stats?

Ultimately it's just theoricrafting/white-room optimizing.

[solidork]

Divination magic could be quite useful, depending on how cooperative your DM is with it. At our table it is very powerful, so successive castings of Commune, or casting Divination and asking "Where can I find a source of information about how to fight X?" would work.

[Unoriginal]

Keeping in mind that someone like Demogorgon would have the means to protect vs divination.