Everyone has every spell. Survive.

[SangoProduction]

Scenario: By some unknown means, everyone, no matter their race, creed, or ideology (Let alone mental or physical capacity) have access to, and ability to cast, every single spell from every single splat book.
No other alteration to the population happens. Good people are still Good. But still, make what you will of it.

Goal: How long can you survive? How much of the world will you be able to keep safe?

[Gruftzwerg]

I think the best analogy would be a trading card game. Having all cards doesn't make you a good player. Sure, everybody has access to the same resources, but the on who uses em "most wisely" wins.

In 3.5 "most wisely" means, those that exploit the potential of spells to their fullest. Those who are able to play a T1 to their full strength. Those that find the the best loopholes. Basically this imho.
The rest of the population are noobs and thus cannon fodder.

[SangoProduction]

I think the best analogy would be a trading card game. Having all cards doesn't make you a good player. Sure, everybody has access to the same resources, but the on who uses em "most wisely" wins.

In 3.5 "most wisely" means, those that exploit the potential of spells to their fullest. Those who are able to play a T1 to their full strength. Those that find the the best loopholes. Basically this imho.
The rest of the population are noobs and thus cannon fodder.

Never said they play to T1 strength. But everyone, from the local jester to the evil lord to that weird guy down the street, does have access to every spell.
Make of that situation what you will.

[Jervis]

The first to figure it out and say “I wish I was the only one able to cast magic” wins. Yeah I know wish normally can’t do that but this presumably includes epic magic, including a theoretical epic wish.

[Arael666]

For clarification, how often everyone can cast spells? Is it every spell at will? Every spell once? One spell a day and people can choose whatever spell? Do people get spell slots as a 20th lvl "insert casting class here" and can fill those slots with whatever spell they want? Are epic spells available?

[Arael666]

The first to figure it out and say “I wish I was the only one able to cast magic” wins. Yeah I know wish normally can’t do that but this presumably includes epic magic, including a theoretical epic wish.

Since that falls into "You may try to use a wish to produce greater effects than these, but doing so is dangerous." we should probably avoid that discussion.

[Melcar]

I just start gating in zodars for free wishes, then polymoph to become sarrukh and go to town! Within a few days, I'm Pun Pun! But then again, so is everyone else... so whos the must pun pun of all the pun puns!? Who knows right? All I know is that everyone is Pun Pun!

[Jervis]

I just start gating in zodars for free wishes, then polymoph to become sarrukh and go to town! Within a few days, I'm Pun Pun! But then again, so is everyone else... so whos the must pun pun of all the pun puns!? Who knows right? All I know is that everyone is Pun Pun!

Just alter yourself to give yourself Alter Reality and stop anyone that hasn’t figured it out yet.

[Asmotherion]

Step 1: Gather everyone you care about.
Step 2: Live a life of luxury in a "Magnificent Mansion" as per the spell, were everyone has a bunsh of servants, a 9 course meal, and anything else they might desire every day. Let the other mages fight for the prime material, wile you cast your spell day after day, not worrying about anything.
Step 3: PAO everyone into a form that does not age.

Here it is. You and the people you care about survive indefinitelly, and have a rather nice time doing so.

[Maat Mons]

Are we only talking Humanoids? Or do we need to worry about pigeons trying to reshape the world to their whims? What about denizens of the various planes?

Do people know they have spells? Do they know how spells work? Do people just start accidentally casting Wish by having thoughts that start with "I wish?"

In any case, I take a vacation to somewhere very, very out-of-the-way, and I don't return until divinations indicate that something like order has been reestablished.

[Peelee]

After a couple years or so the Material Plane will have settled into a fairly peaceful equilobrium. So obviously the ideal solution here is to Gate over to the Astral Plane. Wish up the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over.

[Batcathat]

After a couple years or so the Material Plane will have settled into a fairly peaceful equilobrium. So obviously the ideal solution here is to Gate over to the Astral Plane. Wish up the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over.

Yeah, something along these lines for me too. I feel like any attempt to compete with or curb everyone else is waaaaaay too risky. It'd be like the Cold War, except everyone has nukes and the nukes can alter reality. (So, not that much like the Cold War, I guess...)

[Eurus]

I'm not sure what happens to reality when a few hundred (thousand? million?) people simultaneously start trying to cast time stop and gate the moment you fire the starting gun, but I'm sure it's nothing good. I agree that trying to get the heck off of the plane is probably your best bet.

[Jervis]

After a couple years or so the Material Plane will have settled into a fairly peaceful equilobrium. So obviously the ideal solution here is to Gate over to the Astral Plane. Wish up the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over.

Yeaaaaah log onto 2b2t some time to see what that equilibrium looks like. Chances are every square mile is going to alternate between epic castles made solid gold to smoldering hellscapes. Probably changing on a weekly basis while everyone has a hidden clone spell or phylactery or astral projection hole or something that means they can’t actually die

[Peelee]

Yeaaaaah log onto 2b2t some time to see what that equilibrium looks like. Chances are every square mile is going to alternate between epic castles made solid gold to smoldering hellscapes. Probably changing on a weekly basis while everyone has a hidden clone spell or phylactery or astral projection hole or something that means they can’t actually die

Had to google that. So a game where nobody gets booted, banned, or otherwise prevented from playing anymore somehow has relevance to a world where the spellcasters will die and be removed from participation?

You should come to the Astral Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all this to blow over.

[AvatarVecna]

Never said they play to T1 strength. But everyone, from the local jester to the evil lord to that weird guy down the street, does have access to every spell.
Make of that situation what you will.

That's not the point they were making. Some people are gonna be smart and play spellcaster really well, and some won't. Among the ones that play it really well, some will play phenomenally, and some won't. Among the ones that play it phenomenally, some will be knowledgeable enough to play it close to perfect, and some won't. It's a very very small percentage of the total population with this kind of access, but the number of people with this kind of access is NI, so the infinitesimal fraction of them that ends up playing at T1/T0 capabilities will also end up being rather large. And as long as the number of them playing at that level of charop is higher than 1, there's gonna be high-op caster wars.

It might not even necessarily be on purpose initially. We just gave everybody every spell. How many of them are going to cast Teleport Through Time just to see what happens? How many time travelers does it take to turn the spacetime continuum on its head?

[Smoutwortel]

Situational analysis:
You still need components, so richness and health is suddenly comparable to character level.
many spells are affected by ability scores and caster level, so staying away from aggressive smart people is smart.
I assume this is the real world, because otherwise I wouldn't know the stats of myself and the world around me.

My actions if survival was my primary goal:
Cast anti-magic field on my phone.
Grab dice and use it to decide which plane of existence to flee to with plane shift.
Start figuring out how to deal with the sudden change.
Cast mind blank on myself
Go back and cast hallow on my house with detect magic as internal spell effect.
Cast forbiddance on my house
Turn on the news.
Cast greater wall of force around my house
Contact friends and family and ask how they are doing and decide upon their reactions whether and how to help.
Buy spell components for true seeing and contingency.
Start a movement for creating such as protected zones for those to slow to adapt.
Trust the government to minimize the overall damage.

[Peelee]

Situational analysis:
You still need components

Grab dice and use it to decide which plane of existence to flee to with plane shift.

While everybody is searching for tunings forks of the correct size and metal for the plane they want to travel to, I'm just sitting in my astral bar wondering about the lack of people Gating. Verbal and somatic only and you go exactly where you want. Easy peasy.

[Telok]

You know its going to be a rough day when Limbo is more laid back, orderly, and rational than the prime.

Time stop, miracle/wish/other fast & high level info finder spell (know a nice safe place to ride this out), gate-n-go.

Alternate: shapeshift into something sufficently durable (lich?), teleport half way to Andromeda, take your time working out how & where to go next.

[Jack_Simth]

Survival? Yeah, run. Time Stop, Gate elsewhere, Magnificent Mansion. It's got a nice little security clause: "Only those you designate may enter the mansion".

Then just... ride it out. Sooner or later someone will come out "on top" and get things under control enough for me to be sociable.

Until then? Chill out.

[Jervis]

Had to google that. So a game where nobody gets booted, banned, or otherwise prevented from playing anymore somehow has relevance to a world where the spellcasters will die and be removed from participation?

You should come to the Astral Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all this to blow over.

Fair enough though you have to admit any competent caster can make themselves unkillable, or at least very very very difficult to kill, fairly quickly with at will wish effectively. Astral Projection alone means you just need to hide your real body somewhere to be functionally immortal, a contingent Revivify means even if a astral juggernaut finds you then you’ll just wake up a few hundred GP poorer.

Also i’m calling it, within a month someone would make a “lag machine” with spell clocks that spam Mages Disjunction, Slow, and Solid Fog on the entire planet minus itself every 6 seconds

[Peelee]

Fair enough though you have to admit any competent caster can make themselves unkillable, or at least very very very difficult to kill, fairly quickly with at will wish effectively. Astral Projection alone means you just need to hide your real body somewhere to be functionally immortal, a contingent Revivify means even if a astral juggernaut finds you then you’ll just wake up a few hundred GP poorer.

Also i’m calling it, within a month someone would make a “lag machine” with spell clocks that spam Mages Disjunction, Slow, and Solid Fog on the entire planet minus itself every 6 seconds

The world is a big place, though. Lots of people, most of them out for themselves or their very small group of family and maybe friends (maybe because those friends also have family and friends, who also have family and friends, and so on). Meanwhile governments and militaries are remarkably large groups (militaries especially, being fairly homogenous with a rigidly defined structure). Even with opposing parties, they will want to stay in power and grouping together will help that.

There will be wars all along the scale, from global to single-person-against-single-person. But things will eventually settle down into order, because people actually like order and will eventually come to terms with everything that's happened. It's the chaotic interim that's the dangerous part. Which is why my plan would be to block off a few years to go down to the Astral Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all this to blow over.

[SimonMoon6]

What caster level does everyone have? If everyone is caster level 0 since nobody in the real world has any levels in a spellcasting class, then it's a moot point since you can't cast spells with a 0 caster level. If everyone has infinite caster level, then things can get crazy quickly.

...so should we assume that everyone has something like 17th or 18th caster level as the minimum needed (normally) to cast 9th level spells?

Or is epic spellcasting allowed? Only the ones specifically listed in the ELH or any possible epic spell? Even with just the prefabricated epic spells, you can cast Pestilence (1000 ft. radius which affects people, crops, animals, etc.) Sure people can cast cure disease I suppose, but you'd have to cast it on every single carrot and apricot (etc) and I just don't see people running around doing that, especially since while they're doing that, I can just cast Pestilence again (10 minute casting time). I could teleport around the globe, casting Pestilence over and over again in every part of every major city. This is not about killing people directly, but destroying the food chain completely. And presumably, I wouldn't be the only person doing this.

Rain of Fire is another good spell. Sure, you can protect yourself from the fire damage, but can you protect *everything*? It's got a 2 mile radius, which will destroy all vegetation. Again, this probably won't kill people directly, but there goes the food chain.

How many hit points will ordinary people have? If everyone's a 1st level commoner, then even the slightest confrontation could wipe out tons of people.

I mean, suppose we get mad at some guy and we cast Verdigris Tsunami. Ten minute casting time (and requiring fifteen casters) but 1000 foot radius, dealing 40d6 damage to people and things in the area....Reflex save for half... but that's still a *minimum* of 20 damage to everyone, which will certainly kill all of those 1st level commoners. And 1st level commoners aren't likely to make this Reflex save, and the average damage would be 140 hp... which is a lot of overkill to kill a 1st level commoner.

[SangoProduction]

Everyone gets to cast every spell.
Make whatever other assumptions you please.

[Saintheart]

Right. I make assumptions, cast Plane Shift, make my way to the Astral Winchester, sit down next to Peelee, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all this to blow over.

[Crake]

All these people casting magnificent mansion when genesis is on the board?!

[bekeleven]

I think the very first move is Time Stop (Celerity, if it gets you there faster). Then either you take more actions (Summon Component -> Teleport through time, etc) or you armor up (Mind Blank, PAO/Shapechange).

If 7 billion people gained access to every spell at once, at least one person would be uninformed or suicidal enough to start making greater wishes, and who knows if the entire planet lasts more than a minute. Outer planes may not exist attached to our prime material plane, so I'd do whatever I could to eliminate my need for atmosphere or heat (PAO into a construct?), get my ass to mars, and from there start a more comprehensive set of defenses.

Also, do my best to avoid durational defenses until I've reverse-engineered my caster level. I'd hate to get booted out of a magnificent mansion while casting Genesis or something.

[Eldan]

Without going into politics, I expect this to end on scales that make global thermonuclear war look cute by comparison. Within hours, probably. There are extremist groups with thousands of members who would immediately start declaring war on each other and on various countries, only now everyone has angelic armies, weather control and landscape-devastating AoE effects.

So, order of operations is casting Genesis, planeshifting to it, then casting every defensive and buff spell I know. We're talking Astral Projection into a Magnficient Mansion inside a Genesis demiplane, with contingent resurrections. I can probably afford losing a few levels to make some of them permanent, too, or build them into the landscape. By that point, about an hour has likely passed and I can consider which of my friends and family are safe to maybe try to contact.

[Eldan]

All these people casting magnificent mansion when genesis is on the board?!

It's up to debate how secure demiplanes are against just planeshifting in, and the don't come with furniture and food, like MM does.

I'd just stack both.

[AvatarVecna]

Silver Key PrC can enter magnificent mansions without permission as part of its capstone. Granted, this hypothetical only grants spells, not levels in anything in particular, but I don't doubt there's a way to grant yourself class features of your choice using some dumb spell combo.