How can I get resistance to all damage as a wizard?

[ChaseC311]

Basically im in a 20th level campaign where were allowed 10 magic items (3 of which can be either legendary/artifact), my character idea is a beefy "wizard" who basically has resistance to any and all damage coming his way. He already has the tough feat for the extra health, The Lucky Feat because Im finna break this character as much as possible and Kyrzins Ooze for resistance to Poison and Acid Damage (so I have 9 magic items left to pick). If I have any magic items left, ill probably put them into items that give boosts to AC/Saves just to further add salt to the wound

Any and all advice would be appreciated ^-^

[Willie the Duck]

For starters:

Armor of Resistance (Rare, Attunement). Resistance to one of the 10 damage types (excluding physical), determined randomly or by the DM.
Armor of Vulnerability (Rare, Attunement, Cursed). Resistance to one of the 3 physical damage types, vulnerability to the other two.
Dragon Scale Mail (Very Rare, Attunement). Resistance to the associated damage type of the scale color, among other benefits.
Potion of Resistance (Uncommon, Consumable). Resistance for one hour to one of the 10 damage types (excluding physical), determined randomly or by the DM.
Ring of Resistance (Rare, Attunement). Same as armor, except as a ring.
Ring of Warmth (Uncommon, Attunement). Resistance to cold damage, and reduces penalties while in cold environments.
Potion of Invulnerability (Rare, Expendable). Resistance to all damage.


Selecting Abjurer or Diviner (or Warmage or Bladesinger, depending on splat) will add to overall resilience.

Regarding 'Im finna break this character as much as possible' overall, maximizing one's numeric defensive mechanics (resistances, saves, AC, HP) isn't going to break the character. Finding ways not to be targeted in the first place is probably a more advantageous route overall, if significantly harder to break down into a simple 'build.'

[stoutstien]

Basically im in a 20th level campaign where were allowed 10 magic items (3 of which can be either legendary/artifact), my character idea is a beefy "wizard" who basically has resistance to any and all damage coming his way. He already has the tough feat for the extra health, The Lucky Feat because Im finna break this character as much as possible and Kyrzins Ooze for resistance to Poison and Acid Damage (so I have 9 magic items left to pick). If I have any magic items left, ill probably put them into items that give boosts to AC/Saves just to further add salt to the wound

Any and all advice would be appreciated ^-^

Attunement is going to be the biggest limited factor here. Saying that if I was playing a lv 20 character that was both tough as possible and a caster i would look at artificer.
-6 attunement slots. Capstone allows breaking attunement to stay alive.
- tied for highest possible AC without outside help
- saves are all super high and can be pushed higher with flash of genius. We talking +13 across the board before proficiency or stat modifiers.
- floating resistance pick on armor everyday which included the rarer types.
- effective health is higher than a lv 20 barbarian with permeant rage.
- SaD. Lots of room for feats. Shield master is a solid pick with your high saves. Avoidance trumps reduction.
-ask your DM how they would rule Tiny servant and SSI. Combined they have the potential to make you practically immortal with little conflict on action economy.
- you can ignore all class and race restrictions on magic items and with your saving throws i would look into the very powerful but risky artifacts. Book of vile darkness/ deeds, hand of vecna, wand of Orcus, orb of dragons,and all the fun class restricted items are fair game. Staff of magic/staff of wood land are silly.

I've been looking through the DMG and with good item selection I don't think you could die with your free picks of items.

[Sigreid]

1. Get or make a shield guardian.
2. Spend a lot of gold creating simulacrum of yourself one at a time and making it wish for each resistance. Who cares if it burns out its wish, it cant get the spell slot back again anyway.

[Tharkun]

You are a wizard so the answer is simple.
Wish abuse, possibly glyph abuse too.

[kazaryu]

Basically im in a 20th level campaign where were allowed 10 magic items (3 of which can be either legendary/artifact), my character idea is a beefy "wizard" who basically has resistance to any and all damage coming his way. He already has the tough feat for the extra health, The Lucky Feat because Im finna break this character as much as possible and Kyrzins Ooze for resistance to Poison and Acid Damage (so I have 9 magic items left to pick). If I have any magic items left, ill probably put them into items that give boosts to AC/Saves just to further add salt to the wound

Any and all advice would be appreciated ^-^

If you're going for a tanky wizard then you want abjurer, max con/int. Obviously master absorb elements. (Ask your dm, he may even let you master both shield and absorb elements)

For items a staff of the magi+robes ofnthe archmagi are gonna be pretty crazy. (Hooray 21 spell save dc!l)

Drop a couple levels in cleric (tempest could be fun for a max damage chain lightning 1/sr, knowledgr means expertise on 2 knowledges paired with yiur already maxed int, light gives you a but more defensiveness..eh, the subclass is relatively irrelevant, in fact it doesnt need to be cleric, artificer can get shield prof and would reduce MAD,) what youre looking for here is shield proficiency so you can get a +2 shield for a persistant ac of 19+dex.

[CheddarChampion]

Closest thing I can think of:
Aasimar
Absorb Elements
Stoneskin
Periapt of Proof Against Poison
Amulet of Shielding
Armor of Resistance: Psychic (if possible)

This uses all 3 attunement slots, your concentration, your race pick, and your reactions. You won't be as great a wizard as you could be.
I don't think it's possible to truly get resistance to everything.
Furthermore: Elemental Adept is a thing.

May I recommend Staff of the Magi, Robes of the Archmagi, Abjuration Wizard, and counterspell instead of all this?

[da newt]

MC lvl 3 BarBEARian + anything that gives Psychic resistance.

[CIDE]

Free Items. Can include Legendary/artifacts. Many of which are one of a kind. No limits?

Mask of the Dragon Queen ticks off a lot of boxes.

[Theaitetos]

Powerful items with resistance (and immunity):
Armor of Invulnerability (attune): all non-magical damage
Brooch of Shielding (attune): Force
Efreeti Chain (attune): Fire
Living Armor (attune): Poison, Necrotic, Psychic
Mask of the Dragon Queen (attune): Fire, Cold, Acid, Poison, Lightning
Periapt of Proof against Poison (no attunement!): Poison
Ring of Winter (attune): Cold


Races with resistance (and immunity):
Aasimar: Radiant, Necrotic
Dragonborn: Fire (Red, Gold, Brass); Cold (White, Silver); Acid (Black, Copper); Poison (Green); Lightning (Blue, Bronze)
Elf: Necrotic (Shadar-Kai)
Genasi: Fire (Fire); Acid (Water)
Half-Elf: Lightning (Mark of the Storm)
Kalashtar: Psychic
Tiefling: Fire; Cold & Poison (via feat Infernal Constitution)
Triton: Cold
Warforged: Poison
Yuan-Ti: Poison, Spell Resistance

[~Corvus~]

Some feats from the Expanded Racial Feats from Xanathar's Guide to Everything:

Djinn Heritage (air genasi) includes resistance to lightning and thunder damage.

Marid Heritage (water genasi) includes resistance to cold damage.

Although it's unlikely to go with an Or Wizard, Tanarukk Blood includes resistance to fire and poison damage.

Although it's not quite Resistance, the Angelic Protection (Aasimar) feat grants Advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects

[MaxWilson]

The real answer is "abuse Wish" but I'll add my funny answer anyway:

Buy a Kalashtar Barbearian slave. Whenever a fight happen, get your pet Barb to Rage for resistance to all damage, then Magic Jar and take over their body until the fight ends. (You can stay in the Magic Jar between fights if you want.)

This should work because Magic Jar does not AFAIK end ongoing effects like Rage--but ask your DM. And really, don't do it this way.

[Sigreid]

The real answer is "abuse Wish" ...[/SIZE]

I don't really consider it an abuse for a level 20 campaign, personally. Characters at that level should seem godlike to pretty much everyone else.

[col_impact]

Warding Bond can do it.

[ProsecutorGodot]

I don't really consider it an abuse for a level 20 campaign, personally. Characters at that level should seem godlike to pretty much everyone else.

The abuse is finding a method that ensures you can use the "gain resistance to a damage type" effect for each type of damage without the 33% chance of never being able to cast wish again triggers.

There are 13 types of damage that you need to resist, meaning that you need to cast wish 13 times with a 33% chance each time of not being able to cast it again. The odds are not good unless you stack them in your favor. That's where the abuse part comes in. I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but Wish and Simulacrum are rather infamous for breaking the game so wide open that even at epic levels people might not want to see those kinds of shenanigans.

My suggestion is to try it with even worse odds. Use your 3 legendary magic item slots to get 3 copies of a deck of many things. Draw until you have 13 wishes and hope your soul isn't ripped into several pieces and trapped on another plane, good luck. The best part is that even if you succeed in getting those 13 wishes from the deck of many things you still have to succeed in the first problem of beating the 33% odds, wish doesn't care how you cast the spell when it checks on whether you can ever cast it again.

[col_impact]

You can get your odds down to 11% failure if you have somebody on deck ready to cast Wish to get you a re-roll on your Wish roll if you fail. Of course that person then has to face their own roll.

[Dork_Forge]

The abuse is finding a method that ensures you can use the "gain resistance to a damage type" effect for each type of damage without the 33% chance of never being able to cast wish again triggers.

There are 13 types of damage that you need to resist, meaning that you need to cast wish 13 times with a 33% chance each time of not being able to cast it again. The odds are not good unless you stack them in your favor. That's where the abuse part comes in. I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but Wish and Simulacrum are rather infamous for breaking the game so wide open that even at epic levels people might not want to see those kinds of shenanigans.

My suggestion is to try it with even worse odds. Use your 3 legendary magic item slots to get 3 copies of a deck of many things. Draw until you have 13 wishes and hope your soul isn't ripped into several pieces and trapped on another plane, good luck. The best part is that even if you succeed in getting those 13 wishes from the deck of many things you still have to succeed in the first problem of beating the 33% odds, wish doesn't care how you cast the spell when it checks on whether you can ever cast it again.

Is there a rule reason why you wouldn't just wish for resistance to all damage straight out the gate instead of taking it one type at a time?

[ATHATH]

The Invulnerability spell from Xanathar's Guide to Everything is a 9th level spell that has a description that simply reads: "You are immune to all damage until the spell ends.". It's technically not "resistance" to all damage, and there are some caveats that make it kind of impractical to use in actual gameplay (it's a concentration spell, can last only up to 10 minutes (unless you apply metamagic or something to it), and CONSUMES 500 gp (or more) of adamantine every time you cast it), but I feel like it should be at least mentioned.

[MaxWilson]

Is there a rule reason why you wouldn't just wish for resistance to all damage straight out the gate instead of taking it one type at a time?

Because you don't want to get Petrified by a fiendish DM?

Condition: Petrified
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). Its weight increases by a factor of ten, and it ceases aging.
The creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can’t move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws.
The creature has Resistance to all damage.
The creature is immune to poison and disease, although a poison or disease already in its system is suspended, not neutralized.

[Dork_Forge]

Because you don't want to get Petrified by a fiendish DM?

Condition: Petrified
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). Its weight increases by a factor of ten, and it ceases aging.
The creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can’t move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws.
The creature has Resistance to all damage.
The creature is immune to poison and disease, although a poison or disease already in its system is suspended, not neutralized.

"I wish to have permanent resistance to all damage types, without the inhibition or limiting of any of my movement, capabilties/abilties, mental faculties or any alteration to my appearance, personality..." and so on, if you're using Wish for anything but replicating a spell then lawyering up is the standard to avoid getting messed with.

[ProsecutorGodot]

"I wish to have permanent resistance to all damage types, without the inhibition or limiting of any of my movement, capabilties/abilties, mental faculties or any alteration to my appearance, personality..." and so on, if you're using Wish for anything but replicating a spell then lawyering up is the standard to avoid getting messed with.

It works flawlessly, nothing about your capabilities is inhibited and you appear to be resistant to all damage.

However, you realize quickly that it still hasn't worked as you intended. After controlled experimentation after the sudden death of an ally you realize that an Aura was created around you that picks a nearby creature at random, dealing the same damage that you would have taken had you not resisted it except that it can't be reduced in anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, the more you try to squeeze out of bending reality to your whim, the more right it has to bend back.

Edit: Remember that the DM is also given explicit rights to just cause the spell to fail our succeed partially. A kind DM would likely just tell you "Bending reality at this level is clearly beyond your mortal means. You feel the immense strain of effort you expected and only a fraction of what you asked for. You realize this will not be so simple but fate had not yet robbed you of this power."

[ThePiGuy]

Alright, for maximum protection you're going to need to go transmuter. This will allow you to be resistant to acid, cold, fire, lightning, and thunder damage, by using simulacrums to craft you more than one stone. Technically, all you need is a transmuter buddy, but for ease of use, lets assume you are a transmuter.
5 resistances so far.
Next lets look at magic items for those other 8. You list the ooze, which is attunement for 1 extra, but we can do better. Lets start with the Mask of the Dragon Queen, which will give us resistance to poison, but also immunity to fire, acid, cold and lightning thanks to us already having resistance in those four. If we get poison resistance later, it will be another immunity. Minor beneficial properties of artifacts include an option that gives you resistance to a damage type, so we'll be looking to maximize that, especially with an item that already gives resistances. Enter the Sword of Zariel, from Balders Gate. Automatically gives you necrotic & radiant resistances, and two of any kind you want from the minor beneficial properties (psychic & force). The 90 feet fly speed is nice too.
10 resistances so far, 4 immunties.
Now lets make sure we get bitten by a were-beast of our alignment. This will give us resistance in piercing, bludgeoning, and slashing from non-silvered weapons, and if they are the same alignment as us we don't just become an npc.
13 (all!) resistances, 4 immunities.
Lets go further now, and see just how many immunties we can gather in one individual.
Periapt of Proof against Poison gets us poison immunity (in conjunction with the mask), with no attunement slot needed, while Mind Blank gives us immunity to psychic damage for 8 hours every 24. At this point it becomes quite hard to get extra immunities without outright snagging them all, so let me go over a few ways to become immune to all damage real quick.
1. Cast invulnerability/drink a potion of invulnerability/use armour of invulnerability. (simple, but its always worth mentioning)
2. Wear Maddgoth's Helm inside his castle. (DOTMM exclusive, and turns to dust if brought elsewhere, but if you choose the battlefield, this is free immunity)
3. Have a 17+ level UA Mercy Monk use Hand of Mercy, then their Healing Technique on you. (Gives you immunity to all damage for monk level days, and you look dead all the while. Whats balancing amirite?)

At this point, sans maybe an item I've missed, there is no longer any item that will permanently give you immunity to a damage type. So let's use creatures instead. While you can technically True Polymorph a BBEG into a humanoid shape, then Magic Jar your way into their new body and dispel the True Polymorph, if you really want to be impossible to kill, just take over the body of a Skulk. They are immune to radiant damage, permanently invisible, and the only way of bypassing their invisibility without specifically having anti-invisibility spells are nigh impossible to achieve accidentally in combat. (Reflections, light from a candle made from the fat of an unknown corpse, being a child under the age of 10) This renders you practically immune to non AOE spells, and immune to 7 types of damage, with resistance to the other 6. I feel that's better than 10 immunties, (3 being the physical damage types if not dealt by magic weapons) but the other benefits of any BBEG may swing it to the other side.
10 immunties if you take over Orcus/other BBEGs.
7 if you get the Skulk.
2 hours spent trawling creatures & magic items :smalltongue:

[Escribblings]

MC lvl 3 BarBEARian + anything that gives Psychic resistance.

Except...

Only gives resistance while raging...

Can't cast or concentrate on spells while raging

[Rara1212]

The Legendary item Armor of Invulnerability is great, as I learned in a oneshot meatgrinder.

Resistance to all Non-Magical damage, and as an action once per day 10minutes of Immunity to nonmagical damage.


Remember, any special damage like poison from monsters weapons, or a dragons breath attack are not magical effects. (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/03/11/can-armor-of-invulnerability-have-resistance-against-a-red-dragon-fire-breath/) Unless it specifies that it's magical, or it is from a spell.


If you also want even more resistance being a Abjuration wizard gives you resistance to all damage from spells.

[Sigreid]

The abuse is finding a method that ensures you can use the "gain resistance to a damage type" effect for each type of damage without the 33% chance of never being able to cast wish again triggers.

There are 13 types of damage that you need to resist, meaning that you need to cast wish 13 times with a 33% chance each time of not being able to cast it again. The odds are not good unless you stack them in your favor. That's where the abuse part comes in. I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but Wish and Simulacrum are rather infamous for breaking the game so wide open that even at epic levels people might not want to see those kinds of shenanigans.

My suggestion is to try it with even worse odds. Use your 3 legendary magic item slots to get 3 copies of a deck of many things. Draw until you have 13 wishes and hope your soul isn't ripped into several pieces and trapped on another plane, good luck. The best part is that even if you succeed in getting those 13 wishes from the deck of many things you still have to succeed in the first problem of beating the 33% odds, wish doesn't care how you cast the spell when it checks on whether you can ever cast it again.

People's tolerances vary I guess. But then, At that level I'm getting my party to chip in and not only am I going to be resistant to all damage types, but so are the rest of them. As a DM, I wouldn't really care because really you're just talking about more hitpoints and I can deal with that.