Help me make an anti mage

[samuraijaques]

Hey guys, I'm looking to make an anti mage in an upcoming game. The idea is a sort of 40k ordo inquisitorum witch hunter "magic is bad lets get rid of it using magic" kind of guy and I have a few ideas. We're starting at 3 but I want to have a good idea of where to go from there.

Goals:
Be able to stand toe to toe in melee combat
Have access to; dispel magic, silence, detect magic and counterspell
Deal enough damage to make concentration saves difficult for enemy spellcasters

Here's my basic outline so far.
Fighter 1 then arcana cleric to at least 5 then another level of fighter somewhere down the road. Fighter gives me con saves, heavy armor, a fighting style and action surge. Arcana cleric gets me silence, dispel magic and detect magic as well as booming blade for melee damage and firebolt for ranged. Arcana cleric also gets me spellbreaker which fits extremely well thematically.

Variant human for magic initiate picking druid gets me shillelagh for melee keyed off of wis as well as a once per day absorb elements and a bonus cantrip for funsies (probably mold earth or shape water)

Azorius functionary for the spell list lets me pick up counterspell which is my last mandatory spell as well as a bunch of other thematic spells

First ASI at 5 is going to be warcaster then wisdom until its maxed then maybe polearm master for funsies if we even get that high.

I'm trying to figure out if I should go strength for the heavy armor or not. 15 is a large investment for a stat that I'm not otherwise using though it would allow me to grapple more effectively. I'm leaning towards dexterity so that I can get some more mileage out of it.

I am trying to find a good way to get advantage on saves against magic like the ability granted by imps and pseudo dragons. I will have access to planar binding which might work if I can find an imp but it would require DM cooperation.


How does it sound? it seems like it would be potent and it definitely has some great flavor potential. Is there a better way to go about it than this? also heavy armor or medium armor I can't decide. and does anyone have any idea how to effectively get advantage on saves vs magic?

looking forward to your responses

[Squeeq]

First off - cool idea.
Second off - You wanna make an anti-mage character and aren't picking the feat "Mage Slayer"? why?

Thirdly - I think some people might miss the "using magic to stop magic" bit, becuase I immediately thought of using a Monk to get close and beat them up.

However! I would suggest you grab Silence - an ENORMOUS number of spells have verbal components, and when Silence is up, they're alllll uncastable, which is real good for you if you're trying to beat people up.

[samuraijaques]

First off - cool idea.
Second off - You wanna make an anti-mage character and aren't picking the feat "Mage Slayer"? why?

Thirdly - I think some people might miss the "using magic to stop magic" bit, becuase I immediately thought of using a Monk to get close and beat them up.

However! I would suggest you grab Silence - an ENORMOUS number of spells have verbal components, and when Silence is up, they're alllll uncastable, which is real good for you if you're trying to beat people up.

Thanks! Mage slayer is thematically really cool but mechanically kind of a dud. If it applied to casters that were not directly adjacent to you I would have considered it but it is just too limited. Yeah monk's do tend to be the ultimate anti mage but it wasn't really the theme I was going for plus I fell in love with the aesthetic of staff and shield. Silence is on my list of must have spells which is actually why I chose cleric in the first place. Thanks for the advice.

[Misterwhisper]

First off - cool idea.
Second off - You wanna make an anti-mage character and aren't picking the feat "Mage Slayer"? why?

Thirdly - I think some people might miss the "using magic to stop magic" bit, becuase I immediately thought of using a Monk to get close and beat them up.

However! I would suggest you grab Silence - an ENORMOUS number of spells have verbal components, and when Silence is up, they're alllll uncastable, which is real good for you if you're trying to beat people up.

Mage slayer is just a trap feat, it is not needed.
The enemy’s spell gets to complete before you get to attack so there are TONS of was to get around it.
- all spells block sight like with darkness or with walls
- all spells that blind with either blindness, fog, or darkness
- the few spells that stop reactions like with shocking grasp
- every spell that teleports because they are not in melee anymore
- any spell that stuns, paralyzes or restrains

No dm that plays with strategy will ever have an enemy caster get hit with mage slayer unless they just plain forget about you having it or you are undetected.

The bonus on saves in 5ft is the same thing, why would they throw a spell with a save at you, just cast an attack spell or leave.

The easier breaking of concentration is nice though.

Silence is very good though.

[Dork_Forge]

You may want to conisder Sorcerer, being able to subtly cast allows you to counterspell and fire off other antimage themed spells with impunity and allows you to ignore having something in both hands. Divine Soul would give you access to the full Cleric list including Silence and you get other defensive bonuses like Shield and Absorb Elements. Mix in with Fighter to grab the proficiencies you need and some extra abilities that will come in handy.

[samuraijaques]

Mage slayer is just a trap feat, it is not needed.
The enemy’s spell gets to complete before you get to attack so there are TONS of was to get around it.
- all spells block sight like with darkness or with walls
- all spells that blind with either blindness, fog, or darkness
- the few spells that stop reactions like with shocking grasp
- every spell that teleports because they are not in melee anymore
- any spell that stuns, paralyzes or restrains

No dm that plays with strategy will ever have an enemy caster get hit with mage slayer unless they just plain forget about you having it or you are undetected.

The bonus on saves in 5ft is the same thing, why would they throw a spell with a save at you, just cast an attack spell or leave.

The easier breaking of concentration is nice though.

Silence is very good though.

My thoughts exactly :)


You may want to conisder Sorcerer, being able to subtly cast allows you to counterspell and fire off other antimage themed spells with impunity and allows you to ignore having something in both hands. Divine Soul would give you access to the full Cleric list including Silence and you get other defensive bonuses like Shield and Absorb Elements. Mix in with Fighter to grab the proficiencies you need and some extra abilities that will come in handy.

I forgot about divine soul clerics. It could work. I'd have to take hexblade for medium armor and melee proficiency. My thought though is that the way that sorcerers learn spells makes making an anti mage very restrictive. It becomes my whole identity and I wouldn't really have the space in my build for other spells. The benefits of being an arcana cleric seem to outweigh the benefits of going sorcerer though. At least for me. Though it is something to consider.

[Solunaris]

So, a while back I accidentally made an antimage type character; allow me to share the build with you with a few improvements.

First, we'll start out as a Paladin but we only want it for two reasons; Heavy Armor and Divine Smite. From there was go into Sorcerer and don't look back. If we are going to play an Inquisitor then we need to be able to channel the Holy Power of the God Emperor right? And we need to wear Power Armor too. The Charisma and Wisdom saves are just icing on the cake.

Second, we need to go deep into Divine Soul Sorcerer. It gets us all the nice things Sorcerers get and all the goodies Clerics get. It's like getting chocolate in your peanut butter except it is fusing the raw power of Subtle Spell and Silence together. The goal is to wade into battle with enemy casters with Silence active while you can still cast with impunity. Or, if you need to knock heads you'll have access to Booming Blade, Thunderous Smite and Divine Smite. The Emperor Protects, and when His strength rings out everyone knows it.

Basically, you just want Sorcerer levels for spell slots to power your Divine Smites and high level Cleric Spells to lock down enemies and areas. I'd suggest Subtle Spell for the ability to cast in secret so your hypocrisy (a necessary evil for your holy mission) from getting out while you preach the Imperial Truth. Next, even though it has a stupid high cost, I suggest Twin Spell for those moments you absolutely need two targets for Haste or Enlarge/Reduce. You won't be able to buff everyone all the time, but when you do it comes with Big E's blessing. And His blessing is generous.

I'd suggest either V.Human or Half-Elf, but your spell save DC isn't the important part of this build so much as Con Saves, HP, and Strength are. I'd recommend starting with a 16 in Strength and an odd number in Con so you can take Resilient Con early. Dump Dex and Int while splitting your remaining points into Wis and Cha with the majority going into Cha.

[Kane0]

If you want a no-fuss way of doing it try a Gnomish or Yuan-ti ranger (monster slayer), or simpler still an ancients paladin.

Edit: or if you have too many martials in the party already an abjurer wizard does the job too.

[Randomthom]

Getting a real mad-eye moody vibe from your Arcana Cleric/Figter idea. Very cool :)

Interesting alternative: Bladesinger straight-up or possibly with that level in fighter first for the con save proficiency (or Draconic Sorcerer perhaps? A little MAD though).

[MrStabby]

I would be tempted to drop your fighter levels.

Instead take something like the booming blade cantrip from the arcana cleric. More damage is often better for breaking concentration than two attacks. This will keep you relevant in melee, although probably not absolute top of the pile. Level 8 giving you wisdom to damage will come sooner without the fighter levels.

If you do want to multiclass I would suggest ranger or rogue instead of fighter. So ranger to level 5 instead of fighter would give you a broader selection of spells and more spell slots, and higher slots are useful for spellbreaker, you would be more skilled, and would have a powerful subclass. If you wanted to go deep into ranger in a high level campaign then monster hunter kind of matches your wishes.

Spells like Zephyr strike let you reach the mages you want to kill (and help break concentration)


Rogue for 3+ levels can get you arcane trickster for more spells, some sneak attack damage and a mobility boost. Extra skills, some expertise - arcana might be thematic.


On mage slayer - it isnt as bad as people make out,but you are probably still better off with an ASI for most of the game. Mobility and good initiative is likely to make you able to close with a mage before they do much and that advantage on saves is pretty sweet. Disadvantage on their concentration saves with a small number of powerful attacks will quickly take down spells. The reaction attack is often just a bonus.

[Reevh]

Mage slayer is just a trap feat, it is not needed.
The enemy’s spell gets to complete before you get to attack so there are TONS of was to get around it.
- all spells block sight like with darkness or with walls
- all spells that blind with either blindness, fog, or darkness
- the few spells that stop reactions like with shocking grasp
- every spell that teleports because they are not in melee anymore
- any spell that stuns, paralyzes or restrains

No dm that plays with strategy will ever have an enemy caster get hit with mage slayer unless they just plain forget about you having it or you are undetected.

The bonus on saves in 5ft is the same thing, why would they throw a spell with a save at you, just cast an attack spell or leave.

The easier breaking of concentration is nice though.

Silence is very good though.

I feel like if you're forcing the enemy to burn a round using a spell to stop the mage slayer, you're doing your job in preventing the more serious spells from being cast. And you have advantage on saves against all those spells you mentioned.

Plus you're good at breaking their concentration, which can be extremely valuable at times.

[Aelyn]

Mage slayer is just a trap feat, it is not needed.
The enemy’s spell gets to complete before you get to attack so there are TONS of was to get around it.
- all spells block sight like with darkness or with walls
- all spells that blind with either blindness, fog, or darkness
- the few spells that stop reactions like with shocking grasp
- every spell that teleports because they are not in melee anymore
- any spell that stuns, paralyzes or restrains

No dm that plays with strategy will ever have an enemy caster get hit with mage slayer unless they just plain forget about you having it or you are undetected...
You're assuming that enemy mages know that the PC is particularly talented at fighting mages. There are some mages who scry, and they will tend to be slightly more knowledgable / prepared than most sentient foes, but there's no reason to assume that they'll play around it from the word go - most mages should take at least one instance of the reaction attack before they realise that the PC has the feat and change their strategy, if the DM is playing them realistically.

I mean, it's still a relatively weak feat, but it's not as much of a trap as you're implying if the DM is playing enemies fairly.

[Zetakya]

On a completely different take, have you considered using a Warlock? You need Eldritch Sight invocation for Detect Magic (at will, no slot use though) and either Undying or Raven Queen for Silence, but the trope of "Witch Hunter who meddles in the dark powers to fight those dark powers" is a longstanding one, especially in WH lore.

[tieren]

Mine is a forest gnome OotA paladin / fey warlock.

Gnome has racial magic resistance (adv on saving throws against magic targeting Int, Wis, or Cha).

Level 7 OotA paladin gets magic resistance aura and thats in addition to +cha to all saves aura at level 6. Plus misty step is an oath spell to help you keep in range of fleeing casters.

Warlock pick up eldritch sight invocation and devils sight (can't be countered by darkness spells anymore). At level 1 you can charm or frighten without casting a spell (can't be countered) and at level 10 you re immune to all charm spells and can even reverse them. Get the grasp of hadar invocation to pull targets towards you with eldritch blast if at range.

You can still staff and shield it, but now you are in heavy armor riding a mastiff poking with that staff like a mini-lance. Smiting to your hearts content with short rest rechargeable pact slots.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I will say coffeelock with bard warforged.


Use all your slots for dispell and counter magic.
Silence will come from the bard.

[MrStabby]

Fiend pact warlock (pact of the blade) could be good depending on the levels you want to play to.

It will be rough without multiclassing but you will get some top quality counterspells on a character with melee presence. Your two counterspells per short rest will exceed other casters and the luck feature should help them stick against higher level spells.

You probably want to start dipping other classes that add to your melee presence after this though. Fighter can add a fighting style and importantly some armour proficiency. Rogue adds mobility and a bit of extra damage. Paladin can provide this to but with a couple of extra spell slots for versatility.

[JackPhoenix]

You're assuming that enemy mages know that the PC is particularly talented at fighting mages. There are some mages who scry, and they will tend to be slightly more knowledgable / prepared than most sentient foes, but there's no reason to assume that they'll play around it from the word go - most mages should take at least one instance of the reaction attack before they realise that the PC has the feat and change their strategy, if the DM is playing them realistically.

Even if they don't know the PC is specielized at fighting mages, very few spellcasters would want to be stuck in melee with someone who looks like a warrior. All those things that stop Mage Slayer are also useful against OAs and melee attackers in general. Mage Slayer is a bit better there, actually, thanks to advantage on saves if he's in 5' of the caster. That won't help against Shocking Grasp and running away, or Misty Step.

[Trickery]

Why not make a Lore Bard and take Moderately Armored with some weapon cantrips (or one level of fighter)? You can enter melee (although melee damage isn't your strongest forte) and can do plenty of damage to a spell caster since they tend to be squishy anyway. Your spells and skills (ex: expertise stealth) can help you get into range with the caster, and you add half your proficiency bonus to ability checks made to Counterspell due to Jack of All Trades.

There's also an interesting high-level tactic a Bard can do where they cast Glibness, then use their spell slots for Counterspell. Glibness guarantees that your minimum counterspell check by that point is high enough even for a 9th level spell.

[RulesJD]

Depends on what level you're going, I'm assuming at least 10+ as mages before that aren't too dangerous.

Race:
Yuan-ti

Class:
Paladin 6/7 (Conquest if 6, Ancients if 7)
Divine Soul Sorc (the rest)

Feats:
Sentinel
Resiliency (Con)

Important Notes:
Metamagic - Subtle and Quicken
Spells - Silence from Cleric list, Counterspell, Dispel, Misty Step, Dimension Door, Find Steed

That's pretty much the best anti-mage you can make. Paladin for the breaking of concentration via Smites. Sentinel + Silence to lock the mage in place. Find Steed + Misty Step + Dimension Door to rapidly close any distances. Conquest Paladin for the +10 to-hit channel divinity for when a Sentinel really needs to hit, or Ancients for the aura. Subtle to Counterspell without being able to be counter-counterspelled. Quicken for when you can combo Grapple + Bonus Action Silence, although keep in mind using your BA to cast a spell means no counter-Counterspelling.

[Moltenbrisingr]

Here's an Idea: (edit) If your DM allows the blood Hunter

Variant Human (Shield Master for the spell saves)

Start blood hunter (2 levels) and take the blood curse as follows as well as the fighting style of your choice (great weapon fighting for maximum concentration ruining)

Blood Curse of Spell Sunder
When an enemy casts a spell within 60 feet that requires a spell attack roll and targets you, you can use your reaction to rend the spell from the air, imposing disadvantage on the spell attack roll.

Amplify. You make a Wisdom ability check. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level. On a success, the creature’s spell misses you automatically.

Then move on to Bard College of swords for at least 6 levels to pick up the extra attack and the slots to cast counter spell and dispel magic.

Then its up to you. after this you can continue bard or go some other direction

[Misterwhisper]

You're assuming that enemy mages know that the PC is particularly talented at fighting mages. There are some mages who scry, and they will tend to be slightly more knowledgable / prepared than most sentient foes, but there's no reason to assume that they'll play around it from the word go - most mages should take at least one instance of the reaction attack before they realise that the PC has the feat and change their strategy, if the DM is playing them realistically.

I mean, it's still a relatively weak feat, but it's not as much of a trap as you're implying if the DM is playing enemies fairly.

Who cares if the mages knows you have the specific feat?

If someone just made their way into melee range of you, you get out or disable them that is just caster 101.

Enemies who actually want to live and are sentient will not be fighting fair, they fight to live because people are trying to kill them.

[samuraijaques]

OMG. I took a long rest and came back to a thousand responses. Thanks for the replies I'll try and get to them all.


So, a while back I accidentally made an antimage type character; allow me to share the build with you with a few improvements.

First, we'll start out as a Paladin but we only want it for two reasons; Heavy Armor and Divine Smite. From there was go into Sorcerer and don't look back. If we are going to play an Inquisitor then we need to be able to channel the Holy Power of the God Emperor right? And we need to wear Power Armor too. The Charisma and Wisdom saves are just icing on the cake.

Second, we need to go deep into Divine Soul Sorcerer. It gets us all the nice things Sorcerers get and all the goodies Clerics get. It's like getting chocolate in your peanut butter except it is fusing the raw power of Subtle Spell and Silence together. The goal is to wade into battle with enemy casters with Silence active while you can still cast with impunity. Or, if you need to knock heads you'll have access to Booming Blade, Thunderous Smite and Divine Smite. The Emperor Protects, and when His strength rings out everyone knows it.

Basically, you just want Sorcerer levels for spell slots to power your Divine Smites and high level Cleric Spells to lock down enemies and areas. I'd suggest Subtle Spell for the ability to cast in secret so your hypocrisy (a necessary evil for your holy mission) from getting out while you preach the Imperial Truth. Next, even though it has a stupid high cost, I suggest Twin Spell for those moments you absolutely need two targets for Haste or Enlarge/Reduce. You won't be able to buff everyone all the time, but when you do it comes with Big E's blessing. And His blessing is generous.

I'd suggest either V.Human or Half-Elf, but your spell save DC isn't the important part of this build so much as Con Saves, HP, and Strength are. I'd recommend starting with a 16 in Strength and an odd number in Con so you can take Resilient Con early. Dump Dex and Int while splitting your remaining points into Wis and Cha with the majority going into Cha.
Lol, sweet write up. Also solid build advice. The thing with going sorcerer though (especially multiclassed sorcerer) is that my access to spells is sooooooo limited. Sure I can get everything that I need for the character but I'm really not going to be able to get anything else. The subtle spell silence combo is fantastic and sorcadins are actually my favorite characters to play but I don't think it's right for this character.


If you want a no-fuss way of doing it try a Gnomish or Yuan-ti ranger (monster slayer), or simpler still an ancients paladin.

Edit: or if you have too many martials in the party already an abjurer wizard does the job too.
There are 4 spells that I consider mandatory for this build and they are dispel magic, counterspell, detect magic and silence. Unfortunately neither ranger nor paladin nor wizard gets all 4 of them.


Getting a real mad-eye moody vibe from your Arcana Cleric/Figter idea. Very cool :)

Interesting alternative: Bladesinger straight-up or possibly with that level in fighter first for the con save proficiency (or Draconic Sorcerer perhaps? A little MAD though).
Thank you! Bladesinger can't get silence :(. I do love bladesingers though.


I would be tempted to drop your fighter levels.

Instead take something like the booming blade cantrip from the arcana cleric. More damage is often better for breaking concentration than two attacks. This will keep you relevant in melee, although probably not absolute top of the pile. Level 8 giving you wisdom to damage will come sooner without the fighter levels.

If you do want to multiclass I would suggest ranger or rogue instead of fighter. So ranger to level 5 instead of fighter would give you a broader selection of spells and more spell slots, and higher slots are useful for spellbreaker, you would be more skilled, and would have a powerful subclass. If you wanted to go deep into ranger in a high level campaign then monster hunter kind of matches your wishes.

Spells like Zephyr strike let you reach the mages you want to kill (and help break concentration)


Rogue for 3+ levels can get you arcane trickster for more spells, some sneak attack damage and a mobility boost. Extra skills, some expertise - arcana might be thematic.


On mage slayer - it isnt as bad as people make out,but you are probably still better off with an ASI for most of the game. Mobility and good initiative is likely to make you able to close with a mage before they do much and that advantage on saves is pretty sweet. Disadvantage on their concentration saves with a small number of powerful attacks will quickly take down spells. The reaction attack is often just a bonus.
I was only going to take 2 levels of fighter. 1 at 1st level for con save proficiency, weapons and armor, and a fighting style and 1 after I get to level 8 cleric to pick up action surge for late game shenanigans. My intention was already to pick up booming blade as well as shillelagh for their interactions with potent cantrips for big damage. I definitely want to stay away from more than 1 or 2 level dips.


You're assuming that enemy mages know that the PC is particularly talented at fighting mages. There are some mages who scry, and they will tend to be slightly more knowledgable / prepared than most sentient foes, but there's no reason to assume that they'll play around it from the word go - most mages should take at least one instance of the reaction attack before they realise that the PC has the feat and change their strategy, if the DM is playing them realistically.

I mean, it's still a relatively weak feat, but it's not as much of a trap as you're implying if the DM is playing enemies fairly.
I still think an ASI is going to be better in 90 percent of cases.


On a completely different take, have you considered using a Warlock? You need Eldritch Sight invocation for Detect Magic (at will, no slot use though) and either Undying or Raven Queen for Silence, but the trope of "Witch Hunter who meddles in the dark powers to fight those dark powers" is a longstanding one, especially in WH lore.
Yeah that does work thematically but warlocks don;t really have the spell slots to be wasting them cancelling out other casters spells. I'd get at max 2 counterspells before I was done. Plus they don't get any particularly anti mage class abilities.


Mine is a forest gnome OotA paladin / fey warlock.

Gnome has racial magic resistance (adv on saving throws against magic targeting Int, Wis, or Cha).

Level 7 OotA paladin gets magic resistance aura and thats in addition to +cha to all saves aura at level 6. Plus misty step is an oath spell to help you keep in range of fleeing casters.

Warlock pick up eldritch sight invocation and devils sight (can't be countered by darkness spells anymore). At level 1 you can charm or frighten without casting a spell (can't be countered) and at level 10 you re immune to all charm spells and can even reverse them. Get the grasp of hadar invocation to pull targets towards you with eldritch blast if at range.

You can still staff and shield it, but now you are in heavy armor riding a mastiff poking with that staff like a mini-lance. Smiting to your hearts content with short rest rechargeable pact slots.
Hahahaha. That sounds hilarious. Not exactly the flavor I'm going for though.

[KorvinStarmast]

Hey guys, I'm looking to make an anti mage in an upcoming game. I will suggest Monk, Way of the Shadows, Wood Elf for a bit more foot speed. The ability to cast Silence with Ki is very handy. Locking down the mage with stunning strike turns into a flurry of blows that are all crits on a stunned target. (See incapacitated condition)

[samuraijaques]

I will say coffeelock with bard warforged.


Use all your slots for dispell and counter magic.
Silence will come from the bard.
My dm is definitely not going to let me go coffeelock.


Fiend pact warlock (pact of the blade) could be good depending on the levels you want to play to.

It will be rough without multiclassing but you will get some top quality counterspells on a character with melee presence. Your two counterspells per short rest will exceed other casters and the luck feature should help them stick against higher level spells.

You probably want to start dipping other classes that add to your melee presence after this though. Fighter can add a fighting style and importantly some armour proficiency. Rogue adds mobility and a bit of extra damage. Paladin can provide this to but with a couple of extra spell slots for versatility.
Yeah but I think warlock runs into the versatility problem that I was worried about with sorcerer.


Why not make a Lore Bard and take Moderately Armored with some weapon cantrips (or one level of fighter)? You can enter melee (although melee damage isn't your strongest forte) and can do plenty of damage to a spell caster since they tend to be squishy anyway. Your spells and skills (ex: expertise stealth) can help you get into range with the caster, and you add half your proficiency bonus to ability checks made to Counterspell due to Jack of All Trades.

There's also an interesting high-level tactic a Bard can do where they cast Glibness, then use their spell slots for Counterspell. Glibness guarantees that your minimum counterspell check by that point is high enough even for a 9th level spell.
Oh wow, I had no idea that that worked that way. How cool! Going hexblade 1 or 2 then the rest in lore bard could be a really potent combo. And lore bard would get me a few extra magic secrets to play with too


Depends on what level you're going, I'm assuming at least 10+ as mages before that aren't too dangerous.

Race:
Yuan-ti

Class:
Paladin 6/7 (Conquest if 6, Ancients if 7)
Divine Soul Sorc (the rest)

Feats:
Sentinel
Resiliency (Con)

Important Notes:
Metamagic - Subtle and Quicken
Spells - Silence from Cleric list, Counterspell, Dispel, Misty Step, Dimension Door, Find Steed

That's pretty much the best anti-mage you can make. Paladin for the breaking of concentration via Smites. Sentinel + Silence to lock the mage in place. Find Steed + Misty Step + Dimension Door to rapidly close any distances. Conquest Paladin for the +10 to-hit channel divinity for when a Sentinel really needs to hit, or Ancients for the aura. Subtle to Counterspell without being able to be counter-counterspelled. Quicken for when you can combo Grapple + Bonus Action Silence, although keep in mind using your BA to cast a spell means no counter-Counterspelling.
yeah the ancients divine soul sorcadin combo does seem really strong and definitely checks all my boxes.


Here's an Idea:

Variant Human (Shield Master for the spell saves)

Start blood hunter (2 levels) and take the blood curse as follows as well as the fighting style of your choice (great weapon fighting for maximum concentration ruining)

Blood Curse of Spell Sunder
When an enemy casts a spell within 60 feet that requires a spell attack roll and targets you, you can use your reaction to rend the spell from the air, imposing disadvantage on the spell attack roll.

Amplify. You make a Wisdom ability check. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level. On a success, the creature’s spell misses you automatically.

Then move on to Bard College of swords for at least 6 levels to pick up the extra attack and the slots to cast counter spell and dispel magic.

Then its up to you. after this you can continue bard or go some other direction
Isn't blood hunter homebrew?

Thanks for all the replies guys! it's really helpful info. Here's the best sounding options so far. I've discluded the build suggestions that don't meet my requirements.

Variant human fighter/arcana cleric:
pros: versatile, more spells known, better party synergy, competitive consistent damage with shillelagh and booming blade, con saves, action surge
cons: not as much nova potential, lower damage overall, no yuan ti magic resistance

Yuan ti lore bard/hexblade:
pros: versatile, good party synergy, bonus to counterspelling, magical secrets, eldritch blast, invocations, magic resistance
cons: fewer spells known, lower overall survivability, less melee damage ability

Yuan ti ancients divine soul sorcadin:
pros: huge damage potential, magic resistance, silence/subtle spell combo
cons: fewest spells known, one trick pony, lower survivability, takes longer to come online

Right now I'm leaning towards either the arcana cleric or the lore bard/hexblade. The sorcadin is just too narrow for this build and i've made like a thousand of them anyway so I think i'd rather try something new. Arcana cleric has the versatility but requires variant human for shillelagh to not be MAD. Bard gets a lot of fun toys to play with and gets to be a yuan ti for the sweet sweet magic resistance. I'm having a tough time deciding between the two. Honestly they'd be very very different characters to play as well. The theme of the arcana cleric definitely fits my character story better.

Thoughts?

[RulesJD]

I will suggest Monk, Way of the Shadows, Wood Elf for a bit more foot speed. The ability to cast Silence with Ki is very handy. Locking down the mage with stunning strike turns into a flurry of blows that are all crits on a stunned target. (See incapacitated condition)

I love me my Shadow Monk, but just FYI, neither the Stunned condition nor the Incapacitated condition provide automatic critical hits. Advantage yes, but not criticals.

You're probably thinking of Paralyzed, which specifically does.

[Moltenbrisingr]

Isn't blood hunter homebrew?



Yes but Wizards put it up on the class page along with all the other official classes so its sort of in a grey area. ill throw a *if your DM allows the blood hunter on my post.

[Misterwhisper]

Yes but Wizards put it up on the class page along with all the other official classes so its sort of in a grey area. ill throw a *if your DM allows the blood hunter on my post.

They did that because Critical Role brings in a ton of money, they did not even look at it.

The class is just a rip off from Witcher.

[Snowbluff]

If you want a no-fuss way of doing it try a Gnomish or Yuan-ti ranger (monster slayer), or simpler still an ancients paladin.

Edit: or if you have too many martials in the party already an abjurer wizard does the job too.

Yuan Ti ancients Paladin is might vote. Magic (or at least spell) resistance and aura of protection greatly reduce the effectiveness of many spells. It's almost laughable how ineffectual enemy archmages have been against my spell resistance paladin builds. Furthermore, some spells without a save can be obviated using the Misty Step spell found on their list, which is great for escaping, say, a Forcecage or Force Wall. On top of that, paladins can do pretty great burst damage. You will also get to use scroll of the Greater Steed spell to get a flying mount.

In order to finish the build, I would suggest:

Bard, Lore. This will give you some cha synergy, as well as the ability to take counterspell. FURTHERMORE, you also get Jack of All Trades, which will add half your proficiency to your counterspell rolls. You can also use Bardic Inspiration to help your allies avoid saves even more, or use cutting words to keep a spell with an attack roll from hitting. Furthermore, if you take it to 7, you can get Greater Invisibility, which means some spells will just not work at all on you unless they put up a See Invisibility or Truesight.

Of course, I fully support using Subtle Spell from sorcerer if your DM will allow it to avoid other Counterspells (thought being invisible might count as well). Taking Shadow Sorcerer to 3 also lets you spend 2 Spell points on a Darkness you can see through, but your enemy cannot. So many spells require targets or points you can see. On a similiar note, Warlocks can get Devil Sight as well to do something similiar.

War Wizard. Just 2 levels will give you a reaction ability that lets you add +4 to a save. Isn't that just entirely horrifying?

[Arcangel4774]

Subtle counterspell sorcerer and bards are the best counterspellers in the game. Monks or monster slayer rangers make some of the best antimage martial classes.

[Snowbluff]

Subtle counterspell sorcerer and bards are the best counterspellers in the game. Monks or monster slayer rangers make some of the best antimage martial classes.

For the record Abjurers, add their full prof to counterspell at level 10.

[Skylivedk]

My vote goes for the OotA Paladin/Lore Bard.

You get all the spells you need. The fluff fits (seeking ancient knowledge + being part of a sworn Brother/-sisterhood) and you become close to the best counterspeller possible. Of course dipping hexblade for the sadness later is possible. Invocations are also pretty nice.

[CornfedCommando]

I’m going to chip in and agree with the Arcana Cleric, Fighter optional. Unless you’re really going for the literal WH40k vibe, in which case I’d say Fighter mandatory. Heavy armor, big ol’ hammer. Very thematic. Cleric too; you are an agent of the Emperor’s divine will and his power fuels you, not sorcery.

If you’re not all that dead set on the whole WH40k flavor and just threw that out there as food for thought, I’d still vote for Arcana Cleric as the whole “responsible use of magic” is part of its theme. While no one class posses all the counters to wizards, the Arcana Cleric has a fair number, to include at least one totally unique way of ending spells. It’s a good choice for an Inquisitor type who hunts mages.