Suicide fireball build

[Crucius]

Hey all!

I want to create a character that walks into a group of enemies and fireballs at his feet, what build gives me the best way to survive the blast(s)? (Any books/UA is fine, homebrew is not)

I would like it if the level would remain as low as possible.

My best bet right now is a Yuan-Ti Pureblood (saving throw advantage) Draconic Sorcerer (Gold) with the Shield Master feat being at level 6 for fire damage resistance should the Dex save fail. Problem is, there is no source for shield proficiency so this build exactly does not work without a generous DM (Inheritor background feature maybe?). Level 8 could give me Resilient (Dex) which would help immensely.

I highly doubt there is a way to make it an auto-success (without tanking the spell save DC), but that's okay, I like it to be high risk... same reward as doing it at range?

Thanks in advance for pondering with me on this very stupid idea.

Edit: The spell needn't be fireball, any high damage AoE spell will do regardless of the save, but I figure there are more ways to receive 0 damage from Dex saves than there are other saves.

[Man_Over_Game]

Hey all!

I want to create a character that walks into a group of enemies and fireballs at his feet, what build gives me the best way to survive the blast(s)?

I would like it if the level would remain as low as possible.

My best bet right now is a Yuan-Ti Pureblood (saving throw advantage) Draconic Sorcerer (Gold) with the Shield Master feat being at level 6 for fire damage resistance should the Dex save fail. Problem is, there is no source for shield proficiency so this build exactly does not work without a generous DM (Inheritor background feature maybe?). Level 8 could give me Resilient (Dex) which would help immensely.

I highly doubt there is a way to make it an auto-success (without tanking the spell save DC), but that's okay, I like it to be high risk... same reward as doing it at range?

Thanks in advance for pondering with me on this very stupid idea.

Orc Evocation Wizard with two levels of Fighter and Magic Initiate and Contingency. Fireball at his feet, Action Surge, Overchannel both. Drops himself to Dying, revives once from the Orc racial trait, then does it again. Finally, Contingency activates on the trigger of "When I have failed one or more Death saving Throws", which then casts Cure Wounds on you.

[DMThac0]

I'm not entirely sure about this but...wouldn't it be just fine to take Careful spell or go Evocation Wizard and call it a day?

[Man_Over_Game]

I'm not entirely sure about this but...wouldn't it be just fine to take Careful spell and call it a day?

Careful/Sculpt effects can only work on other creatures, you can't use them for yourself.

[DMThac0]

Careful/Sculpt effects can only work on other creatures, you can't use them for yourself.

I can see me, but I can't choose me?

edit: In the case of Careful Spell I can see that being the case, the wording does say "other creatures".

[Trampaige]

I can see me, but I can't choose me?

The language in both abilities specifically calls out other creatures, not just a creature you can see.

[DMThac0]

The language in both abilities specifically calls out other creatures, not just a creature you can see.

Consider me better educated! I just re-read it and I see the error of my ways :)

[Trampaige]

Consider me better educated! I just re-read it and I see the error of my ways :)

I was totally nose deep in my PHB in this thread because I was about to snarkily say evocation wizard as the first reply. I'd never been too interested in those abilities before, so I'd never really read them myself.

[Ganymede]

Contingency activates on the trigger of "When I have failed one or more Death saving Throws", which then casts Cure Wounds on you.

I don't think Contingency can be contingent upon game meta-information like failed death save count, number of hitpoints, etc. I think it has to be something cognizable to your PC (the rules give the example of being engulfed in liquid).

[Friv]

The spell "Investiture of Flame" gives you fire immunity, cold resistance, and a few ways to deal fire damage to your enemies. It's a Level 6 spell, but a weaker version of it seems plausible (especially one that doesn't give free uses of fire lines each turn.) Since Fire Resistance is Level 4, maybe Level 5?

[Crgaston]

Have you considered the Thunder Step spell? 3rd level, 3d10 thunder, upcastable, and has a 90' teleport built in.

It has smaller AOE and less damage than fireball, but if you're going for a surprise attack, or if you need to, say, grab someone and get them out of a group of enemies, then it works well.

Also, there's Synaptic Static, but that's 5th level, and if you're a Bard you can get Destructive Wave at 10th From Magical Secrets.

[clash]

I have looked into doing this exact thing and there are a few ways to pull it off.

1) Evasion class ability -> This allows you to take no damage when you suceed on your save and half when you dont. Requires heavy investment in rogue or monk. Rogue is probably better as you can take Arcane Trickster and recoup some of your spell slots

2) Shield master -> This is good but it only helps if you suceed on your save

3) Dragonborn or Tiefling offer fire resistence so you are only taking half damage all the time

4) Classes that offer fire resistance are same as above

My plan was always evasion + fire resistance. At most you take a quarter the damage.
This gets better with level 4 spells with wall of fire. Rogue gets you expertise in athletics so you can drag people inside at keep them there.

The problem is always the order of the levels. I would probably go evoker wizard 5 for fire ball then rogue 7 for evasion then continue wizard. The resistance starts early for half damage and 1/4 on success. It takes a while for the evasion to come online though which has kept me from doing this.

[CheddarChampion]

AFB, but I think the mage slayer feat applies to spells you cast yourself, so you could get advantage on the save that way.

[MaxWilson]

Hey all!

I want to create a character that walks into a group of enemies and fireballs at his feet, what build gives me the best way to survive the blast(s)? (Any books/UA is fine, homebrew is not)

I would like it if the level would remain as low as possible.

My best bet right now is a Yuan-Ti Pureblood (saving throw advantage) Draconic Sorcerer (Gold) with the Shield Master feat being at level 6 for fire damage resistance should the Dex save fail. Problem is, there is no source for shield proficiency so this build exactly does not work without a generous DM (Inheritor background feature maybe?). Level 8 could give me Resilient (Dex) which would help immensely.

I highly doubt there is a way to make it an auto-success (without tanking the spell save DC), but that's okay, I like it to be high risk... same reward as doing it at range?

Thanks in advance for pondering with me on this very stupid idea.

Edit: The spell needn't be fireball, any high damage AoE spell will do regardless of the save, but I figure there are more ways to receive 0 damage from Dex saves than there are other saves.

Elemental Monk can do this with Fireball at level 11.

I think a party of 4 mid-high-level elemental monks would be tremenously fun. 8 Fireballs per short rest, everybody has Evasion, so you can hammer large groups of enemies with AoE. Everybody has Stunning Strike so you can stun small groups of enemies and kill them with your fists. You're fast enough to run from (almost) anything you can't kill, and tough enough to kill (almost) anything you can't run from.

[stoutstien]

Deep gnome abjuration wizard.
And I believe you can trigger absorb element with a fireball cast near/on self.
Simple but effective.
Look up thunder step. It's an aoe with a bonus teleport

[Frozenstep]

I was thinking of some stupid build with contingency, fireball, and absorb elements. Have a contingency to cast invisibility or dimension door when you use absorb elements against fire damage. Walk in, explode yourself, absorb elements half the damage, and as the explosion clears, you're gone and everyone thinks you've just blown yourself up.

Then if you chose invisibility, take advantage of absorb elements by making melee attack with extra fire damage.

[Kane0]

Actually you might want to consider Wild Sorcerer for empowered spell and potentially free fireballs that are centered on you starting at level 1. Tiefling would be a good racial pick (fire resistance saving you absorb elements, Charisma racial bonus and a few extra spells including Hellish Rebuke), for feats you would want something like lucky or resilient (Dex) and probably Elemental Adept (Fire). A two level Fighter or Rogue dip might be a good idea for survivability and positioning.

[Keravath]

Honestly, when I read the thread title, the first thing that came to mind was a wild mage sorcerer .. as a character most prone to commit suicide by fireball.

Anyway, the destructive wave spell does exactly what the OP is looking for.

[Rukelnikov]

Fire Resistance will be good early on, but if fire is your thing you should eventually get Elemental Adept, which means you will be bypassing your own resistance.

I think the best way to go about this is with a straight Fiend Warlock and a variety of splashes.


Fiendish Vigor Invocation, you start every encounter with 8 temp HP.
Dark One's Blessing, gain Lock lvl + Cha temp HP when you drop an enemy.
Dark One's Own Luck, add 1d10 to a Saving Throw, 1/sr
Tomb of Levistus, when you take damage, as a reaction, gain 10*Lock lvl temp HP, 1/sr


Basically, you'll have 2 Fireballs every short rest, from which your Fiendish Vigor will block the first 8 points of damage, and if you drop an enemy you will get more temp HP back. DOOL will help make at least 1 save, and Tomb of Levistus will help tank the other.

Tiefling(Levistus, the irony) Lvl 6:

8
14
16(15+1)
8
10
18(15+2+1)

ASI: Flames of Phlegethos (+1 Cha, reroll 1s on fire damage spells)

HP: 51

Precast Fiendish Vigor for +8 temp HP

Round 1: Fireball, ~31 avg damage, resistance cuts it to 15, if you make the save, your temp HP blocks all of it, otherwise you take 6 damage, if you droped an enemy you get 10 temp HP.

Not the best build for this, but it works from lvl 5.

[Crucius]

Thanks for the great replies, lots of awesome stuff here!


I was totally nose deep in my PHB in this thread because I was about to snarkily say evocation wizard as the first reply. I'd never been too interested in those abilities before, so I'd never really read them myself.
Yes, the evocation wizard and careful spell were intentionally omitted since the big caveat is that they specify OTHER creatures. So close.


Thunder step/Destructive wave
I envision the character for a one-shot and being something akin to Crazy Ivan (Red Alert 2), Tiny Tina (Borderlands 2) or Junkrat (Overwatch 1). So totally crazy with complete disregard to laboratory safety, therefore the visual flair of tossing a fireball (or erupting earth, or vitriolic sphere, you name it) at ones feet is paramount to the flavor. A spell that could just as easily have been cast from a safe distance is key for the madness that is this character. I would like it if there was some risk involved, but a majority of the time NO damage is taken, but it feels like that is not really viable at levels 5-8 or something.


1) Evasion class ability
I looked at evasion classes, but I feel this pushes the level of the build up way too high, to a point where a level 3 fireball won't be as powerful.


And I believe you can trigger absorb element with a fireball cast near/on self.
Absorb elements won't work since that would be casting two spells in one turn. Right? If I'm wrong that would be a nice safeguard to have. EDIT: HAH! A thread that is active right now on counterspelling counterspell after casting a spell answered this already! You CAN do it! Learned something new today! Sweet!

I like the temporary hitpoints as a buffer to prevent... accidental death. Who am I kidding, it won't be accidental. Rukelnikov's Warlock build is... intriguing to say the least!

[Kane0]

Thunder Step = Chrono Ivan.

Edit: Also don't forget Explosive Runes, and you could do something like Misty Step + Sword Burst. If you didn't want to use too many slots you could grab the mobile feat.

[Man_Over_Game]

Tiefling Lore Bard.

Contingency stacked with Revivify to activate upon your untimely death! Spam Fireballs until you can't any longer! When someone casts a healing spell and brings you back from Dying, cast another Fireball! Continue until your Contingency kicks in.

Not only is this fairly optimized with no wasted levels or attribute bonuses, but it's exactly the kind of plan I'd expect a crazy demolition expert would consider "foolproof".

[Rukelnikov]

I like the temporary hitpoints as a buffer to prevent... accidental death. Who am I kidding, it won't be accidental. Rukelnikov's Warlock build is... intriguing to say the least!

I forgot to add the possible splashes!

Necromancer 2: If you drop an enemy heals yourself 2 HP*lvl of the spell, combo's very well with Dark One's Blessing.

Barbarian 2: Advantage on all you STs against your own fireballs. If you can't apply resistance to your own fireballs, either because you don't have it, or because Elemental Adept, this could help a lot. Go Bladelock if you are gonna splash Barbarian.

Taking more than 11 or 12 lock lvls may not be the best bang for your buck.

[StoicLeaf]

tiefling sorc.

quicken a fireball, fire it at your feet.
use your action for dodge.

[Crucius]

Thunder Step = Chrono Ivan.
Hahaha touché! My word did I love those bastards


Contingency stacked with Revivify to activate upon your untimely death!
I did not know about the contingency spell until this very thread and I must say, lots of cool things can be done with this (also as the basis for a campaign story)! I like your ideas, but perhaps not in the way you intended; in the case of my untimely death, have ANOTHER FIREBALL GO OFF MUHAHAHAHA


tiefling sorc.

quicken a fireball, fire it at your feet.
use your action for dodge.
My man! How could I forget the humble dodge action, you are on to something here!

[Man_Over_Game]

A bit off-topic, but my favorite go-to use for Contingency is to cast Fire Shield when being struck by something in melee combat or if I'm about to be hurt by Fire or Cold damage.

Fire Shield lasts 10 minutes, is level 4 (within the Contingency level restriction) and has no Concentration. It's an expensive spell to prepare and use appropriately, which is why Contingency (lasts 10 days) is perfect to use it with.

They're both Evocation spells, so bonus to Evokers.

[Snowbluff]

Destructive Wave doesn't target you when you cast it. Basically a harder to resist, point blank, 5th level fireball. Admittedly, being 5th levels means a lot less uses per day.

7 levels of rouge gives evasion, basically making you immune. Transmuter wizard 6 can give fire resist with the alchemist stone thing.

[Kane0]

I like your ideas, but perhaps not in the way you intended; in the case of my untimely death, have ANOTHER FIREBALL GO OFF MUHAHAHAHA


You, I like you. I'd invite you to my table but i'm way down in Aus.

[Malifice]

Edit: The spell needn't be fireball, any high damage AoE spell will do regardless of the save, but I figure there are more ways to receive 0 damage from Dex saves than there are other saves.

Spirit guardians does all you want and more.

[Malifice]

You, I like you. I'd invite you to my table but i'm way down in Aus.

Not in WA by any chance?

[Citan]

Hey all!

I want to create a character that walks into a group of enemies and fireballs at his feet, what build gives me the best way to survive the blast(s)? (Any books/UA is fine, homebrew is not)

I would like it if the level would remain as low as possible.

My best bet right now is a Yuan-Ti Pureblood (saving throw advantage) Draconic Sorcerer (Gold) with the Shield Master feat being at level 6 for fire damage resistance should the Dex save fail. Problem is, there is no source for shield proficiency so this build exactly does not work without a generous DM (Inheritor background feature maybe?). Level 8 could give me Resilient (Dex) which would help immensely.

I highly doubt there is a way to make it an auto-success (without tanking the spell save DC), but that's okay, I like it to be high risk... same reward as doing it at range?

Thanks in advance for pondering with me on this very stupid idea.

Edit: The spell needn't be fireball, any high damage AoE spell will do regardless of the save, but I figure there are more ways to receive 0 damage from Dex saves than there are other saves.
Hi!

If you REALLY want to actually be the center, then a mix of Fighter and Wizard can do the trick: Absorb Elements will be enough.
Same with a Light Cleric with a dip into Druid for Absorb Elements.
You could also do it on a short-rest basis as a Fiend Warlock (with dip to get Absorb Elements, or a Fire Shield).

Now if all you want is the impression you are a suicidal guy...
Just pick Trickery Cleric with whatever class you like to target AOE.
- Bard for Destructive Wave as Magic Secrets.
- Evoker Wizard for avoiding friendly fire.
- Draconic Sorcerer for extreme damage (bonus damage + Empowered).

[Fiskco]

Im going to go another route and suggest a way to deal MORE damage as a suicide fireball build, rather than prevent it.

First, choose tiefling as a race. Besides the fire resistance, we want to get their racial trait “flames of plegethos” ASAP.

This feat allows you to do a number of things:
1. Increase cha/int (for sorcerer or wizard) by 1
2. You reroll 1’s for fire damage
3. Whenever you cast a fire spell, Until the end of your next turn, you are ON FIRE! Enemies within 5ft that attack you take 1d4 fire damage.

If your still looking for a class to play as, check out the UA for the phoenix sorcerer, they’re all about running into battle and exploding themselves with fire.