The most powerful monster in D&D 5e

[@MaldraediorG]

What's your worst nightmare? Treatmonk: imagine a wizard, who turns your entire party into low level monks, but still gets to be a wizard

[@mr.cauliflower3536]

*turns off your players that aren't monks of level 6 or higher, and the ones who are level 6 or higher monks only get to punch, unless you go with rai, so your party are just ducks to be hit

[@ryanstoyan8980]

Sul Khatesh was the main antagonist of my spelljammer campaign. They encountered her tangentially when she broke out of the planet she was trapped in and used her "nuke" option when the party was level 10 (she was decimating an army on her way off planet). The party then had to spend most of the next 10 levels of the campaign going to tu'narath, overthrowing Vlaakith the queen lich of the githyanky, and gaining a spark of divine essence from the dead god the city is built into in order to use it to make themselves count as dieties so the anti magic wouldn't turn them off.

[@NeuralNotes5]

Seems like very well done high level campaign you got there love it ❤️

[@ryanstoyan8980]

@@NeuralNotes5 thank you :) I'm a huge fan of epic high level campaigns.

[@opposumness3107]

That sounds soooo good! Well done

[@ryanstoyan8980]

@@opposumness3107 thank you :)

[@sanjuancb]

Now that was well thought out

[@AvengerAtIlipa]

A Banshee at level 1, as I've learned the hard way.

[@gdtms28]

Sul Katesh is just the stat-block for "Rocks fall - you all die."

[@acetraker1988]

Artificers with Catapult Large Glass Containers of Acid = 100s of d6 Acid Damage a turn per Artificer.

[@zinogrevz7389]

catapult doesnt work

[@acetraker1988]

@@zinogrevz7389 Yes it does. Read the Artificer feature, its not magic but *Science.* They can "narrative" their spells to be whatever they want cause its super OP to do so.. Ergo my Catapult Acid. Is actually a Gatling Gun with acid rounds. *Spellcasting.* 1st-level artificer feature You've studied the workings of magic and how to cast spells, channelling the magic through objects. To observers, you don't appear to be casting spells in a conventional way; you appear to produce wonders from mundane items and outlandish inventions.

[@DrakusLuthos]

I love how one ability just recontextualises completely insignificant abilities and reshapes the entire fight. It’s a really good way to design a monster.

[@pranakhan]

This is why I am looking forward to MCDM's release of "Flee Mortals!", where they are rebuilding many of the traditional monster encounters to have more dynamic options to make combat more engaging on both sides of the DM screen.

[@DrakusLuthos]

@@pranakhan Thanks for the info! That sounds really interesting, I’ll definitely check it out.

[@AvengerAtIlipa]

At least the monk will be able to run away faster than the rest of the party within the Antimagic Field.

[@theatheistbear3117]

The Monk might actually be the most effective in this fight, ironically.

[@OffhandEntertainment]

Playing a monk gives you two choices, die first or die last.

[@coranbaker6401]

Wouldn't the monk still be able to do damage? Their damage only counts as magical for the sake of overcoming resistance. That doesn't mean it's magical.

[@AvengerAtIlipa]

@@coranbaker6401 I would rule that, but Jeremy Crawford disagrees with us. Also, a 20th level monk would not be able to solo Sul Khatesh.

[@Emile_Armand]

antimagic field also says artifacts are unaffected. So everyone just has to have an artifact and attack with it every round. Even then though I think it’s rough. Another strategy would be to her activate her antimagic field by a first encounter or some bait, and then kill her without it. Unfortunately I think she has too many ways to escape battle. So maybe just get on her good side and conquer the world together :)

[@justthecraft]

My players first though was to grapple her and drag her out of the field. She then shape changed into an Ancient Gold Dragon and broke the grapple.

[@danielturner1891]

Artifacts are how I’m going to get my party members able to succeed.

[@Nick-tj9cr]

I gave my players a mighty servant of Leuk’o but nerfed it by tying it to the island they’re on. Would be an epic battle if she visited

[@tonywilson7155]

@@justthecraft That's a great idea and an even greater DM response

[@RisinTyson]

Run you fools is my first thought

[@jiminkpen9750]

Don't forget foresight, advantage on her rolls and disadvantage to attack her, love that spell.

[@derekishmael4034]

Yeah, right there with you, facing the TPK. The DM and the players realizing it at about the same time.

[@williamwooley2693]

The dm new before...

[@Kaldimaar]

The magic of deities and artifacts can still function inside an antimagic field. Assuming the PCs aren't deities, it could be a cool quest/adventure to retrieve an artifact weapon (or weapons) as the only way to possibly win. I think it's fine to have these demigod-level enemies that even a party of level 20s can't face without having acquired the right (legendary) tools first. If you're fighting Sul Katesh, it should be as the culmination of an entire campaign that the characters have time to prepare for. It's not like you open a random door in a dungeon and Sul Katesh happens to be in there just chillin'. You kill something like this with the Sword of Kas, not your Longsword +3.

[@jlaw131985]

In the world where Sul Khatesh is from, there aren’t really deities (except arguably those like her) so it’s probably just Artifacts that will be able to do anything.

[@agentchaos9332]

Aren't the Creator dragons in ebberon kind-of their version of deities? I haven't got the source book, but I know Ebberon is treated as separate from the rest of the multiverse, and has its own creation myths, that are probably not myths

[@Masterfully1]

Eberron, Khyber, and Siberys. It's a well known myth, but very few creatures in the setting actually worship them. Unlike Faerun, it's possible to be an atheist in the Eberron setting. The gods don't manifest physically - the closest thing to the Gods is the Overlords themselves.

[@jlaw131985]

@@agentchaos9332 that story also seems like it might lean towards metaphorical. The most commonly worshipped “deities” are probably (or definitely) based on real dragons and fiends that fought at the end of the age of demons…and a force that was created by the sacrifice of coatls. Eberron is just great.

[@leonardhollsten8145]

Basically, in Eberron, there are no good or evil deitites that are in other DnD settings. Instead, the evil gods are filled by the Overlords. I would still rule that Divinie Intervention works though.

[@justthecraft]

I threw this monster at my players as the BBEG for the campaign. They had to go on a quest and retrieve the Demonomicon of Iggwilv in order to imprison the creature. The only artifact that lets them cast inverted magic circle at 9th level through a field of antimagic.

[@ifidio2]

I knew it was going to be Sul Khatesh. I'm glad you're giving her some attention; she's definitely not talked about enough when people think of powerful monsters in 5e (probably because she's in the Eberron book). I'm still hoping I get a chance to throw her at my party some day.

[@vadaritis]

One cool trick you can do as a dm, is give your lich antimagic field, cast it and just walk after the party while cackling. Cause they are also immune to nonmagical attacks. It makes a powerful moment as the lich just uses paralyzing touch over and over. As it dawns on the party that the lich is invincible, and have to escape. Course, if they truly piss off the lich it can always drop concentration and start spell casting like normal.

[@opposumness3107]

This is evil... And liches do be like that

[@zanamarigold6073]

You really are taking ques from Overlord, when Ainz did the same thing. Having Paralyse touch while being immune to a whole adventuring party attacking and casting spells on him, dropping them one by one.

[@vadaritis]

@@zanamarigold6073 huh, is that a tv show or book? Im unfamiliar, but it certainly sounds cool.

[@cynicalswordmage4591]

@@zanamarigold6073 I’m literally running an overlord inspired campaign with Ainz as the villain

[@cynicalswordmage4591]

@@vadaritis it’s a light novel/anime

[@ImAlexhearmemehYT]

What I'm hearing is that I should replace Vecna with this instead. Sounds great

[@jlaw131985]

If you want something unkillable, yes. Not necessarily going to wipe out the party, but as long as you play her to avoid death, she’ll be pretty much unkillable.

[@Liam_Sorcerer]

I'm literally building an Ascended Vecna stat block for a 5e adaptation of Vecna Lives and came across this video for inspiration. He is going to have mythic actions, 6 legendary resistances total, immunity to 5th level spells and lower, and older editions spells. He won't have 3 non-concentration antimagic fields that don't affect him, but maybe one like Sul Katesh's that does require concentration

[@saltybarry9647]

I think the solution here is actually for thr DM to just throw away this ability before combat starts. The ability has a HUGE range. So have the creature appear somewhere in Sharn and have it create the antimagic zones on some of the towers which begin to collapse as the magic that was suspending them is dispelled maybe even with a slight domino effect. This really highlights the terror your players should feel when encountering such a formidable creature. Then the party fights it away from these antimagic areas. If the fight is going in the player's favor, then the creature retreats to one of it's zones which are spread throughout the city. Then you can have the shock factor of it casting spells within the zone. The party is likely forced to retreat here so it will be important for the creature to have some sort of goal that it can't accomplish within its zone, or the party (and the creature) short rest until the antimagic zones duration runs out.

[@ANDELE3025]

Or to actually apply the rules as they are written. Antimagic field has no effect on class features that arent explicitly spells or magical effects, even if they are magic (and that ignores that most aren't even magic).

[@aurtosebaelheim5942]

I think as long as the players know about the ability it's not too bad. Arcane Cataclysm explicitly comes from above and "plummets to the ground". This opens up a few options: - Fight in the air - The target point is on the ground and there's no indication that they can be detonated before they land. If you're more than 40ft. off the ground then the ability won't affect you. You need a way to stop them from retreating into the area, but that's a much easier problem. - Fight underground - same deal here only it's even easier. The only issue is that it's a more obvious trap. Also, by the wording they might ignore intervening terrain and there's no mention of how high they initially appear, so they might "plummet" from 3 inches off the ground. Still, I think it's reasonable to say that fighting in a 10ft. tall cave more than 40ft. underground would be safe. - Catch the orb(s) - this is about as supported as the suggestion to fight underground, arguably a little more so, but not much. Have the party wizard spend their turn readying a Wall of Force to intercept a falling orb at least 40ft. in the air. "Nothing can physically pass through the wall", so it should block the falling orb and the wall is large enough to guarantee a safe zone, however the issue of it "plummeting" from 3 inches off the ground still applies and you may have to deal with order-of-operations (can the wall block all 3 or does the first one dispel it before the other 2 hit, etc.).

[@agilemind6241]

Honestly it is really really easy to make it balanced, simply take away her immunity to the antimagic field. Then the fight would be easily winnable and probably quite fun.

[@aurtosebaelheim5942]

@@agilemind6241 Or have the antimagic field drop either while she's casting (so counterspell/readied spells can work and readied attacks with magic weapons can harm her) or until the start of her next turn if she casts (if you want a more relaxed experience that feels less gamey).

[@cringename4391]

@@ANDELE3025 but they still couldn't damage cause anti magic makes magical weapons that are not artifacts mundane

[@maxokaan]

I think the best tactic is clearly grappling and dragging her out of the area (if able to deal with the flying speed). Yes she can teleport, but only once and so can you once you leave the area. If the barbarian can survive the period of constant assault and make all his saves, and double dash every turn it might work, but still is crazy hard. Damn, this is a difficult fight!

[@galenbruner2440]

What about winning Initiative and using your own anti magic field?

[@LesbianWitchAcademia]

@@galenbruner2440 It doesn't specifically say that her flight is magical, so she could just fly away and out of your AMF.

[@aaronhumphrey3514]

@@LesbianWitchAcademia She doesn’t have wings so it’s obviously magical.

[@richardfarrer5616]

Damn! I was just looking up the grapple (and shove) rules to see if I should make this suggestion but you beat me to it. Here's a question though. If you are grappled and cast a hold spell on the grappler, does that free you, make no difference, or even make it more difficult to escape?

[@sethcourtad8733]

So all you have to do is drag a creature with great saves and tons of cc 40 feet away twice. So 160 feet of movement, that’s gonna cost your 20th level monk at least 3 turns

[@fadeleaf845]

WotC once again showing how literally everything good a high level character can do is based on magic

[@gray007nl]

Rogues, Barbarians and Fighters can do plenty of non-magical things, she's just immune to non-magical damage, so it doesn't matter.

[@hulmhochberg8129]

isnt there some class thst has your attacks count as magical gor overcoming resistance as a classfeature? wouldnt that still count

[@gray007nl]

@@hulmhochberg8129 That is the Arcane Archer subclass for Fighter or Monks in general.

[@agilemind6241]

@@hulmhochberg8129 If those class features were allowed then a Beast Barbarian, Monk, Eldritch Knight, Warlock with Pact of the Blade (?), and Arcane Archer would be able to hurt her.

[@crazyscotsman9327]

@@agilemind6241 Honestly part of me wants them to bring back the old 1st edition rule for barbarians where they were just so strong they could hit monsters that required magical weapons with mundane ones. Don't care that you are a ghost and I have a normal axe. Here is some dmg bitch!

[@eraz0rhead]

Interestingly -- when a class feature says "you can treat your attack as magical for the purpose of overcoming damage resistance", that doesn't make the attack a magic item, and arguably might not actually be a magic effect. (Depending on the class feature, and DM interpretation) One might argue that means they're unaffected by anti-magic field.

[@showcase0525]

That's how I interpreted it myself.

[@sudpud]

Yeah, treat is wrong on this. Monk is fine to hit.

[@Shovel_Cat]

This is the type of situation where 3.5 shined with its Psionics options. I was one of the (apparently few from what I can tell) people that ran or played that Psionics and Magic were different. So anti-magic didn’t effect Psionic powers. But I also made it so most Psionic characters couldn’t reliably use most magic items either.

[@ANDELE3025]

Except for the vast majority of the better manifestations/powers which weren't due to saying "as _inset_spell_here"... actually almost all good ones except Synchronicity/Temporal Acceleration (aka extra action economy a bit sooner than arcane equivalents), Metamorph (aka polymorph and polymorph any, but not in form of "as polymorph any") and Psychic Reformation (aka respec).

[@TheBlackZodiacGhost]

Though the creature may of course be used by any DM for any reason at all, Overlords in Eberron aren't really meant to be fought, since they're more "plot devices" than anything else. An overlord being released from its imprisonment in Khyber would be a world-altering cataclysmic event. Keith Baker (creator of Eberron) goes into this more in his blogs, but basically think of Overlords as immortal fiendish gods that represents a malevolent aspect. I believe the statblocks are only there to give us something to get a grasp of what the beings are (and have DMs whip up a power fantasy/plot around them) instead of just being a footnote in the book. The Sul Khatesh and Rak Tulkhesh in the book are basically their "I have just woken up and is not at full power yet" statblocks (Keith is on record saying their auras alone could affect an area the size of a nation if fully released), so my take on it is that they're there to wipe the party because they failed to stop the release from happening.

[@jlaw131985]

Yep. Overlords are basically apocalyptic. In lore they’re supposed to be able to solo armies of dragons…

[@anarbor2282]

just a little error i want to mention. In eberron tiamat is an overlord aswell so we have 3 overlord monster sheets.

[@djdrjmusic]

This video is old, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned casting wish to be immune to the anti-magic fields.

[@tomgymer7719]

I can think of one way to make this fight easier. Not easy, but easier. If you can win initiative, cast anti-magic field first. Her arcane cataclysm won't stop your anti-magic field, and your anti-magic field will stop her casting spells. At that point, although she's still got powerful options and is going to be hard to damage, you are on a much more equal playing field. The really powerful part of her power is that she can cast spells while you can't, without that, you're much more likely to be able to kill her with non-magical fire or some other strategy, like grappling her out of the area. In fact, looking at some of the other suggestions people have to deal with this, I think any of them would be improved by starting off with your own anti-magic field. Although as a couple of people have mentioned, deity and artifact stuff isn't affected, something I used to make a boss Lich much more dangerous in my campaign, but something a party might be able to use depending on what's available to them.

[@hulmhochberg8129]

yes i wanted to say the same! basocaöly like the you fight beholders, you dtay in its antimagic besm and give a good bonk. just a little more complicated.

[@Sumsman0702]

Now I want to see you and a couple of other content creators make characters to form a party with the explicit purpose of fighting Sul Khatesh - and then playing a one-shot where you use those characters to fight Sul Khatesh on an appropriate map :D

[@darenvalnys7718]

Is the soulknif blade inherently magical ? if not, we've got our last able dpr, here, i think, after the antimagic blast Edit: after research, the blade is described as magical, so well played, TPK in coming, if you d'ont have a fast hand thief with a lot of acid vials.

[@theeye8276]

Astral self monk astral arms may be the only weapon that can hold up

[@Spoopball]

It depends if the DM uses the [magic/psionic transparency] optional rule, which states magic and psionic are the same thing but just a different name

[@grzegorzlewandowski3859]

@@Spoopball True I think it might hold up, but mostly because the ability is so powerful my instinct is to rule it narrow, not wide. Monks definitely should hold up, ki is life energy not magic.

[@kaemonbonet4931]

Anything that reads "count as magical for the purpose" should work. Monks, barbarians, paladins, and warlocks have options like this I think.

[@nakarasblade]

​@@kaemonbonet4931 Monks, path of the beast barbarian, and pact of the blade warlocks, and beast master rangers pets attacks are the class features that let you count an attack as magical without actually making it magical.

[@epicguy9678]

I still believe Orcus is the strongest monster in 5e. While the antimagic field is gamebreakingly strong, Orcus has something up his sleeve. Mainly his summons are just ludicrously strong. Firstly, he has time stop to setup his turns. He can also cast Animate Dead as a 9th level spell, which while it can be wiped out by something like a meteor storm, is still very powerful. If he rolls a d4 on Time stop, he can summon I believe 54 Zombies, and then use his wand. What makes him take the cake for me though is his Wand. Orcus can summon Undead whose combined hit points don't exceed 500, as an action. There is no limit to this enemy... 3 Liches, 6 Demiliches... this ability just takes the cake for me. Suddenly a fight vs a CR 26 creature becomes one vs 1 CR 26 creature and 3 more CR 21 ones.

[@adamstadick2044]

The main difference I feel like is that orcus is still beatable. Everything he does just makes things more challenging, whereas antimagic field just completely breaks the game. I feel like it’s the difference between fighting the Greek pantheon and fighting the Christian god. Sure the Greek pantheon is ludicrously strong and almost no one can win, but Christianity’s god is completely unbeatable. Also a battle master fighter with disarming strike can fairly reliably disarm orcus of his wand with orcus only having a +8 strength save against the fighters 19 save, assuming no magic items to buff the fighter’s strength or dex, and without his wand orcus becomes a lot easier. In fact with only a +2 initiative modifier all you need is a battle master that either is ranged or has the alert feat to beat orcus, you don’t even need both. Actually with only a +2 to initiative depending on your party you can deal serious damage round one and then after the time stop just finish him off and teleport out of there.

[@ANDELE3025]

@@adamstadick2044 And any bladelock, monk, a good chunk of clerics, droods and barbarians, most paladin builds, soul knife, phantom, arcane archer, etc can completely steamroll Sul (as a 20th level encounter) as a party and thats assuming they dont have any artifacts which instantly makes a single no subclass assumption surging fighter able to get her bloodied happens of in 1 turn.

[@agentchaos9332]

/\ most of the comment above ke is unintelligible. It just occurred to me...couldn't orcus Use his wand o summon Vecna too? I know the last video shits all over him as a final boss, but he'd make a pretty decent lieutenant as you try to fight orcus and a shitload of zombies. 500 hit points, you could still get a regular lich or demilich in there too. Or yeah just get 3 liches and watch how screwed the action economy gets when four creatures all have legendary actions

[@KevinVideo]

@@agentchaos9332 Orcas would be almost be better off summoning dracoliches.

[@ANDELE3025]

@Andrew By dealing between 220 and 280 damage a round to someone who doesnt have a legendary action movement/teleport and whose best DPR option is equivalent to a sorclock (or warlock with illusionist bracers) and hope one a player not in the paladins aura fails a wisdom save.

[@DDCRExposed]

I had this monster requested so very long ago and I laughed in the way you know the "party is dead walking in" laugh while reviewing the CR.

[@SystemLordNemo]

Collapsing part of roof to her head would bypass her immunity (the stone shape) and collapsing part of the building to the spheres would deny the immunity spot from her but she can polymorph to spirit troll at will and teleport...

[@indigoblacksteel1176]

Oh, no! Suddenly your high level monk is the most powerful member of your party!

[@Slaughterhouse_Floor]

Um still no.

[@comfortablegrey]

I am running a level 11 one shot on Saturday, and I think this is going to be incredibly useful for keeping my story tense yet fulfilling. I was going to have a tarrasque immune to spells lower than 5th level (thank you Chris) that can throw rocks (thank you Dungeon Dudes) and needs to be wished dead. Sul Katesh may make a secret boss appearance.

[@scrotymcboogerballs6756]

Sul Katesh for a party of Lv 11 right after they fought the Tarrasque? Your players might die from the shock alone..., lol

[@comfortablegrey]

@@scrotymcboogerballs6756 Same thing with Tarrasque who needs a wish to defeat, they'll need appropriate artifacts (above level 11!) to win.

[@Trafoder]

My DM combined the stat blocks of Tiamat, The Tarrasque, and Sul Khatesh for a level 20 one-shot. It had Tiamat’s reactions, which meant it could Counterspell EVERY. ROUND. If we weren’t allowed some magic items, I’m sure we wouldn’t have won. In short: run that for your party if they love optimization and combat.

[@eleveneyeddog9791]

Is there mayhaps a link to said stat block? Also how did y'all defeat it?

[@iancampbell4394]

Key text in Antimagic Field that is often overlooked: "...except those created by ... a deity." The text of Divine Intervention is fairly open-ended, but I would be very disappointed with a high-level campaign that didn't allow some kind of interaction with Antimagic Field.

[@yourselfgaming897]

Would that mean that any magic from a cleric, paladin, or warlock would bypass anti magic cause it’s technically their deity or patron preforming the magic

[@Multistrangedude1]

Your not canceling the gods power your canceling the Cleric ability to call on it

[@Swimavidly]

@@Multistrangedude1 As a DM, I would rule that Divine Intervention would work because the Cleric's ability to call upon their deity is based on prayer, not a spell or similar magical ability. A level 20 cleric would automatically succeed, so this could be a reliable counter to Sul Khatesh...if you have a level 20 cleric.

[@Multistrangedude1]

@@Swimavidly alright what one cleric spell gets through?

[@greyslaad7437]

Just keep in mind that one week cool down and her 30 INT, im not that smart but id still avoid any level 20 clerics that have that available

[@jaceg810]

How to beat this thing in its own anti magic area: throwing acid vials, It just works

[@honahamomoru151]

You still have to beat it’s AC though, with improvise attack this gonna be tough, and you can’t use the same vial again

[@bradleyscott6304]

I thought of this too!

[@andyrobin7196]

@@honahamomoru151 a whole party of tavern brawler alchemists

[@bradleyscott6304]

@@honahamomoru151 we’re level 20 now, money is no object. Bring forth the artificer’s acid launching siege machine!

[@jaceg810]

@@honahamomoru151 It was mostly an remark to how to be able to damage it, half sarcasting because of course it wont hit realiably and deal good damage

[@mhelvens]

Might this be achievable if the party gets the relevant intel beforehand, a bunch of prep time and possibly a surprise round? Could be epic. 🙂

[@satubock]

Was just thinking that. For a one shot: give the players the entire stat block, open feild with no other creatures, and see if they could beat it. Can any artifacts get around an anti magic feild?

[@MrMelkor98]

With a surprise-round, there should be many Lvl. 20 parties that could stomp her. Surprise round means she gets no reactions, so no Shield Spell. AC 22, 475 HP. At lvl. 20 it's not that hard to deal that damage against that AC in a single round (before she gets a turn and presses the auto-win button).

[@SourceOfViews]

@@satubock Yes, all of them. Artifacts are unaffected by anti-magic field

[@rparavicini]

Foresight severely limits the ability to surprise her ...

[@faselfasel2864]

@@MrMelkor98 this is factually wrong. If Sul Katesh "wins" the initiative and has her turn finish before any of the pc's, she can use her reaction during any of the PC's turns, even in the surprise round. She just cant use her reaction in her own turn in that case. Many people get this wrong, so i dont blame you, but it's still very incorrect.

[@ukulin8525]

Wow, you have a very clear and calming voice my friend, and good job over-all on the video ❤️ Sadly a lot of people just slap tarrasque as the strongest and call it a day. So, i am happy that you looked up your stuff and that you care.

[@gale2g]

A party of five 20th level Chronurgists roll initiative vs Sul Khatesh. They all have the Alert feat and gift of alacrity and, on average, will beat Sul Khatesh by a fair bit, and may use Chronal Shift just in case they don't. Combat begins. The first three Chronurgists use their actions one after another to cast wish, with subtle spell from the metamagic adept feat, duplicating the effects of an 8th-level planar binding with the casting time of 1 action, targeting Sul Khatesh who conveniently has the fiend creature type. They then use Convergent Future to guarantee she fails her saving throw, forcing her to use a legendary resistance to succeed. The other four Chronurgists repeat until she has no legendary resistances remaining, and eventually she will be under control of one of the Chronurgists for 180 days. Plenty of time to command her to stand perfectly still, accept death, and not defend herself while they pepper her with cantrips until she drops to zero. Alternatively, just recast planar binding every now and again and have a permanent Sul Khatesh at your disposal.

[@SystemLordNemo]

All the people assume that the anti magic field is not already active when the party will arrive. With her intelligence, knowledge, resources, abilities and considering the context I'm pretty sure it is ;). Bought to you by "if I were a DM".

[@doomguidemorgan3481]

Good day to be late to the party. At least an hour sounds about right 🙄

[@valibrave]

Couldn’t a grapple party work for this? The only weakness I can see in her kit is that the antimagic meteors are once per day and then stay there. Like just have a barb grapple her and drag her out of the antimagic field, and preferably through a portal so she can’t run back into it

[@ronben-ezer8373]

Yeah, her str and dex are among her lower stats so it would most likely work

[@andyrobin7196]

she can transform into a giant and be too big to grapple

[@talukita1915]

she can fly though So unless your Barb can fly somehow despite being in antimagic field (basically you need a flying mount or race minimum because summons also don't work) it won't do. And even then that is with the assumption she fails all her str check as well as legendary resistance... And of course this is with knowing the stats block, a blind party like how it's supposed to would just get wrecked.

[@droolhd]

The barb would need a natural flying speed to reach her but in theory it should work. I agree.

[@joaogaion4567]

I could work but beyond fly speed and teleport, she can cast hold monster on your grappler with a DC 26.

[@rubenhoelz1464]

A really entertaining video! I thought the monster would be rather boring but I was very pleasently surprised to see that that's not the case.

[@AvengerAtIlipa]

12:22 "Standing here... I realize..."

[@benjaminrheault4998]

Don't forget that everything the party does will be at disadvantage and all her attacks and saves will be at advantage since she has Foresight. That Monk will never get a stunning strike off. Only option for winning this fight is getting out of the area and trying to taunt her to follow imo

[@jettlucashayes8508]

or ask the dm to let you play a party of mystics.

[@Yutah1981]

or just wait for an hour, she can only do it once per day

[@Maximum7077]

Shouldnt Artifact items still work in antimagic field ? Or did i missremember

[@calli4810]

I liked this kind of video; you should cover more high CR creatures like the Warforged Colossus :)

[@lostsoulman]

Thanks for the great video. Couple of ways to change it. You have a 50% chance each round to be effected by anti magic. Or the party has one item that grants temporary immunity. Or there's a few spots on the map that grants immunity.

[@hyko8355]

Great Video! Funny thing is: Since she has Gate as innate spellcasting she can just summon Rak Tulkhesh or any of her minions, which might be very strong!

[@dragonboyjgh]

Thief with Tavern Brawler and a mundane sack of alchemist fire, acid, and holy water to sneak attack with: MY TIME HAS COME AGAIN

[@maltava4534]

She needs to be able to see in order to drop the anti-magic zones and Fog Cloud will block all of her vision. It is heavy concealment that is physical. True sight doesn't allow you to see through objects. If you fill the fighting area with fog right away she won't be able to drop the anti-magic fields. It also says that when she summons those orbs they plummet to the ground which could mean that they cannot be used underground or indoors. Even if they can you can potentially limit the affect to a single room. Then you escape and wait an hour out of sight. Tough for sure but a well prepared party can definitely take her. This is a big bad so preparation for the final fight should be extensive. The bigger problem is preventing her from fleeing. She has Gate and Teleport.

[@fenec250]

The point about the orbs plummeting to the ground is interesting. Would it mean that if you are flying more than 40 feet above the ground they can't affect you?

[@BizarreCoyote]

@@fenec250 That's what I would assume. 40ft radius in all directions, including up, means at 41ft up and beyond you can cast and have all your magic stuff back. While she may be able to stack them into that nightmare of a field shown in the video, it still only goes 40ft high (and 40ft underground). If you're flying above that range, you also avoid damage entirely.

[@SteelChorus]

These videos are always interesting. Power can be measured, but there is one type of video that I haven't seen yet. I would like to pitch: the most complecated monster statblock Ever. Given the lifespan of the game I wonder how many pages it would be.

[@shanytopper2422]

Why have I never noticed this? I'm in love...

[@IncaSteppa420]

Just by the video title, I knew we were going to discuss good old Sul Katesh ;)

[@MagicScientist]

You're best bet against this would probably be to do some time/space travel adventuring wherever the Mighty Servant of Leuk-o is from.

[@marblemaster1]

Absolutely. My first thought reading the statblock when Rising from the Last War came out was "How on Earth did anyone think this is fair?" And yet I'm still planning on using her as the final boss of my campaign. I'll nerf the antimagic fields somehow - probably making them only nullify low-level spells.

[@ZeroKitsune]

If there's a whole campaign of build-up you could consider making the party obtain some kind of artifact-level item that lessens the effect so it's winnable or something. Or maybe they can get a fragment of a deity's power so some or all of their abilities/spells can ignore it.

[@ANDELE3025]

Just run her pure RAW (or give party access to something like a BGDiA Acidic Bile Sprayer, a antimatter or laster rifle... or plain enough peasants, torches and oil as 6 damage reduced to 3 is still 3 damage to a creature without any way to recover hp without resting so getting some 7-8k soldiers to sacrifice themselves to kill the equivalent of a demon lord isnt that big of a cost... in fact its only around 16 000gp). Jokes about going full on 1e on her ass aside, AMF has no effect on class features not stated to be magical effects or spells. A Ranger with a kitty can have the cat scratches kill her slowly 1 hit point at a time if her own casting gets disabled, smacked a few times by a shadow and then grabbed. Just establish early on how you count border cases where out-of-feature text states something is magical and it creates a effect, but the effect itself doesnt state to be magical (like divine smite, dragon breaths, druids beast form itself rather than the act of transforming which is explicitly magical, tho that can bring into question if its a magical effect what does Moon Druid 6 do at all, etc).

[@marblemaster1]

It's Dungeon of the Mad Mage, heavily modified such that she (well, Jhesiyra Kestellharp with Sul's statblock) has been pulling the strings and manipulating Halaster.

[@user-be2nt8bi9j]

One rune knight with the grappler feat beats this

[@ericmoore9952]

The way to nerf her is give her a time limit to accomplish some goal. I.e. the priests of the temple of Good are conducting a ritual that will banish her, and she needs to disrupt it within 8 hours. Then she can only use the antimagic field once. If say, she needs to attack 2 of the temples, she can fire off that effect at the first, and if the PCs escape, they can confront her at the second (with depleted resources if you did it right) without having to fight her in the AM field the second time.

[@coreyburton8]

Tpk time! Awesome review. Thanks for your insight and passion !

[@davidtripp2118]

I'm interested in the statement that "even class and subclass features that have you treat attacks as magical" are suppressed. I don't think this is the case unless the feature is called out specifically as a magical ability. The monk (ki-empowered strikes) and the beast-barbarian (bestial soul) are not called out as magical abilities. These two features just say that the attacks "count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage." (Contrast the language of these with the arcane archer-fighter, which calls out that the arrows are "being enchanted" and talks about the arrows actually being magic, which would be suppressed; these two features talk about the attacks as being treated as if they were magical for a specific purpose. That seems like an intentional difference to me.) Similarly, the paladin's aura for bonuses to saving throws (and maybe some other features) is not a magical ability. That provides some nice defensive utility to the party. Even without the above interpretation for ki-empowered strikes, there are three monk subclasses that can still pretty easily deal damage to Sul Katesh: the way of the ascendant dragon, the way of the astral self, and the way of the sun soul. The way of the ascendant dragon can change their unarmed strike damage to acid, the astral self monk's astral arms deal force damage, and the way of the sun soul monk's radiant sun bolt deals radiant damage. None of these are specifically called "magical" abilities. There might even be a non-artifact-non-deity way around the whole antimagic field problem found in the ultimate prep class. The wizard casts Simulacrum and directs the simulacrum to use this feature of the Wish spell: "You grant up to ten creatures you can see immunity to a single spell or other magical effect for 8 hours." The immunity, of course, would be to the arcane cataclysm or (if more specificity is required) the antimagic part of the cataclysm. That would be up to some level of DM interpretation, but I might be inclined to allow it. Of course, I am happy to hear other input and discussion indicating I am mistaken.

[@artificerprime4154]

Finally, Sul Khatesh gets some recognition. Going from the Vecna stat block to her is like going from one extreme to the next lol.

[@steven9red]

In Tasha's there are "play as a side-kick" rules. If you pick the sidekick warrior class you can pick any creature of 1/2 cr or lower which can level up to 20. I pick sidekick warrior shadow. At level 20 it can attack with strength drain (its racial weapon) 3 times. If you get 2 or 3 shadow sidekicks, they could easily do a lot of damage to sul katesh quickly.

[@SystemLordNemo]

Smart fighting Sul Khatesh could prepare for fight for example with laying strong adamantine cages around. She can walk through those as a spirit troll and use her spells as herself from inside while party would have hard time to get her from the cage while the area is under anti magic field. Also points of origins of the anti magic fields might be at top of pillars making her even more hard to get. And many panic rooms inside the walls and floors.

[@jeffdietz630]

It seems to me that the key is to win initiative and immediately apply some form of total obscurement such as an upcast massive fog cloud imposing the blinded condition to confound and negate the 3 points she can see. Ergo the arcane cataclysm would be uncastable in those fully obscured areas or for that matter by Sul Khatash whilst blinded within the obscurement to areas outside the obscurement.

[@tqbrowne]

Such a great video. Thank you for sharing your insights!

[@markcronan]

You grapple her and carry her out of the field? I do think a grapple based character has better odds here. The one you built recently for instance. Maybe the Tabaxi version for extra non-magical movement? A single Ki to Step of the Wind, that's an action to grapple, and then 120 feet of movement, not including any monk bonus to speed (which would add up to another 60 movement to this). Meaning even with your movement halved due to carrying her, you're still well outside the field. She has no proficiency in athletics or acrobatics, legendary resistance doesn't help with skill checks, so she's stuck with basically no way to beat your grapple check for a grapple-themed character aside from teleporting back. In which case, it doesn't take long to just do it again (she can only teleport once a day). IF she can even do that, since you could have grappled your wizard on the way out as well, and the Wizard could then counterspell her attempt to teleport back, once you've carried them out of the field. Or, since I recall your grappler had Action Surge, the grappler could just stun her outside of the field with the action surge. Yes, seems like the unbeatable creature is most easily beaten with...a monk. Which I find ironic.

[@jonassanoj3045]

she can fly though. That makes it pretty hard to get her in a grapple unless you happen to play a flying race (which are banned at many tables).

[@JD-wu5pf]

@@jonassanoj3045 That was my first question lol. "How high can your monk jump?"

[@demrandom]

still has a +4 strength mod whilst not great against a dedicated grappler's 4+prof+expertise, means it really isn't an option for anyone not specialized in it. Also, she can just teleport out, hold monster the grappler, or if they don't seem too healthy power word kill them. Grapples also do fuckall to stop her from doing anything, so assuming the monk takes no damage to the spheres due to evasion she can still burst down the solitary monk with normal damage, since he has no magic to increase his AC, hp, or resistances/immunities. Or she just casts mass suggestion to put her down or cower.

[@nicholassteele1367]

Eagle totem tabaxi barbarian with mobile? Would the totem features count as magical?

[@jacksonletts3724]

Beast barbarian monk for expertise in grappling and a super non magical jump!

[@clenzen9930]

Maybe Monks?! "Ki-Empowered Strikes - Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage." Of get a ray-gun that does radiant damage. Or use torches to try to do burning damage.

[@Adurnis]

But even this monster trembles before… the mighty Vecna! 💀

[@geoffreyperrin4347]

I was tempted to run this boss as a campaign ender of an Eberron campaign. Kinda glad now that campaign fizzled out because I didn't connect all these dots

[@joshuawalsh3255]

I've been planning to use this stat block for my BBEG for quite a while.

[@Cynndora]

Step 1, bring a lvl 20 cleric that has created a Sanctuary via Word of Recall on another plane of existence. Step 2, wait for her to use Arcane Cataclysm. Step 3, divine Intervention a word of recall, deity magic works in antimagic fields. Step 4, the cleric casts gate naming her, afaik she is not a deity or a planar ruler, (even then just save the plan for when she's not in her domain and trying to invade something). Step 5, beat her up. Best plan i got.

[@YotamGalli]

1. her spells mostly depend on line of sight and line of effect so it seems like all you need is a corner to hide behind and wait out the antimagic effect 2. optimized parties are usually all ranged, making it harder to cluster the spheres like that and thus easier to escape not saying she's not powerful, but it's not that different from the Tarrasque puzzle: just like the T can be "solved" by flight+ranged, SK can be solved by cover and by not clustering the party

[@20100langlois]

Yup, came to sameish conclusion, but it is still DM dependent, since it's mostly terrain that beats her.

[@YotamGalli]

@@20100langlois I agree, though if you get past the hurdle of getting out of the anti-magic fields there are spells and magic items that can create cover (wall of stone, folding boat...) independent of DM fiat

[@Greg-gg2zj]

The best counter I can come up with is a grappler with enough ways to boost movement as to be able to grapple and drag her out of the field in one turn. So like, a tabaxi with cunning action or another way to dash as a bonus action, and probably fighter for action surge for a second dash, and then maybe monk for increasing base movement speed, and feats such as mobile. Even without the aid of magic items, it wouidn't be too hard for a grappling oriented character to beat her athletics or acrobatics, and legendary resistance does not apply. Of course, she can fly, so said grappler needs to be able to get to her. This really depends on the circumstances, but generally there would be -some- way to do it. A 20 strength rune knight with giant's might up (probably only large size, due to all the multiclassing needed for the movement speed) could probably have a running high jump reach of 26 feet (giant's might doubles size, if you started 6 ft tall that's 12 feet. Your reach when jumping is your jump height (8) plus 1.5 times your height (18)). Beyond that, the DM may allow an athletics jump to go higher as per the PHB. She could, of course, be at the top of her 40 foot radius antimagic bubble with a DM that would not allow you to make a check for additional height, but in most circumstances I think you could manage. Maybe with the multiclassing you'd have access to non-magical flight in some fashion as well? She has a lot of ways to escape a grapple. Teleport will always work for one of them, and she has multiple ways to incapacitate the grappler. If you aren't using something like Rune Knight for having large/huge size, she can shapechange into something huge (I'm not sure there are gargantuan options that are valid, it is only beast, humanoid, and giant) as well, though she'd lose her damage immunities while shapechanged, so she'd at least be opening herself up to attack a bit that way. So minimum you have to drag her out twice, and even if you managed to catch her on the ground the first time, she is definitely going to be teleporting to the most awkward place possible for the second go. Ideally, if someone that can cast antimagic field also gets out of her antimagic field, the grappler can drag her into an anti-magic field that would affect her. It'd disable her spellcasting for sure, although it will depend on the DM to determine what beyond that is affected. Personally I'd rule most of her stuff is affected. Arcane blast is a spell attack, and consume magic and maddening secrets directly interact with spells and spell slots, so I'd be hard pressed to argue that those effects are not magical in nature. Even her really bad melee attack does force damage, so I'd perhaps downgrade that to quarterstaff level bludgening damage. Shapechange is also explicitly magical. But how do you damage her there? Non-magical "elemental" damage. So like, real, non-magical fire. Acid flasks. Burn her to death, very very slowly, with the whole party just poking her with torches or dumping acid on her. Holy water would probably be the most effective due to her fiend status. So that's the best I have. First you need a high level spellcaster to escape the field, then drag her with a specialized grappler into a friendly antimagic field, then dump lots of holy water on her. So all that to say, that she is basically impossible to beat if you don't already know her stat block and have made a hyper specialized party explicitly for defeating her.

[@tadious9415]

Damn I definitely breezed past this one when it came out and didn't catch that little detail!! But also having foresight makes that even harder. A 27 AC is great normally, but when you have to hit it with disadvantage that's almost impossible. Same thing with any saving throw, now it's got advantage. And there's a decent chance she would have that up before the battle starts I would assume.

[@Skin1in]

It's awesome, I will steal her for that time when we will play 20 lvl. Thank you.

[@halfmask3]

I ran a high level game where the villains were a lich and an immortal swordsman. At one point the heroes were horridly unsneaky while spying on them from a room down the hall of a hotel. Since they were so bad, I had the duo counter-ambush them. The combo was anti-magic field and letting the swordsman go to town. Most of the PCs survived by running out of the hotel as fast as they could.

[@Ranked_Journey]

So, there seems to be three possible solutions, using artifacts to fight her since they're unaffected by anti-magic field, use divine intervention (or have a deity as a pal) since spells performed by a deity also works in an anti-magic field. Or lastly, use wish to make yourself (and your party) immune to Sul Katesh's Arcane Cataclysm ability (if that works. I'd like to her other people's take on that).

[@deathtoexistance]

My initial thought was some enemy spellcasters piloting the mighty servant of leuko. Thing has a tonne of hp, a load or resistances, spellcasters could mend it to heal it up from total cover inside. It has 120ft of ranged attacks and can jump real good. On top of all that it can explode for an obscene amount of damage. Unfortunately I don't think it competes with the near invincible god who might only be vulnerable to a pack of pcs with torches chanting burn the witch.

[@sorlockholmes2311]

Having read through Sul Khatesh's stat block, the only moderately effective strategy I was able to come up with was this: win initiative, and limit her vision with obscurement (Fog Cloud, Sleet Storm). She does need to be able to *see* to use Arcane Cataclysm, so if you can deny her truesight, you can prevent her from using it. Now, she does have Teleport and Dispel Magic, and can still escape from any obscurement you place her in, but those do use her action - meaning she didn't use Arcane Cataclysm that turn. Depending on where she ends up positioned, you may be able to try again. She also has at-will Counterspell, which will itself need to be Counterspelled by someone. If she Changes Shape into something with Blindsight, and Blindsight fulfills the "can see" requirement of Arcane Cataclysm, and if she can cast Arcane Cataclysm while Change Shape'd (I'm not entirely sure if she can), then she can poke a hole in this plan. It does, however, buy the party a turn, and a party of 20th level characters can potentially deal 475 damage in 2 turns.

[@stancal9249]

Potential new content idea: creature features that punch above their weight. Talk about individual monsters with features that make them deadlier than their CR (Shadow's strength Drain, Black Pudding's Corrosive Form, Rakshasa's Limited Magic Immunity, etc) and discuss ways that these features can be incorporated into fights to make them more interesting or challenging. Basically a "how-to" guide for making combats more fun than the DMG suggests, whether using stat blocks as-is or kitbashing some of your favorite monsters. Hell, I would especially watch the crap out of a video of "change this one thing, and these creatures you probably never touch become way more fun".

[@Mantorok12]

I was thinking maybe silvered weapons would be a loophole that would bypass damage immunity but still not be affected by antimagic field, but looks like silvered weapons bypassing immunity only applies when explicitly stated, like for werewolves.

[@user-be2nt8bi9j]

A rune knight or giant Barbarian can just grab her and force her out of the field, grapples baby

[@jaredprice4415]

By this level, you should have at least 1 artifact. It would be an entire campaign trying to get enough artifacts to make this fight manageable. Additionally, it can be noted that clerics at level 20 get to auto-succeed on a divine intervention, which is also usable in an antimagic field(since gods are immune to it). With some clever verbage, the cleric can lawyer their way to an even playing field at the very least.

[@andrecosta8680]

Thats not raw

[@FelixTheLad]

@@andrecosta8680 why not?

[@satubock]

It would be an arguement weather they could intervene with magic, but they might be able to get rid of the antimagic feilds

[@mrbean3470]

Arcana cleric to the rescue!

[@valibrave]

(Even if) Gods are immune to antimagic field but clerics aren’t so they wouldn’t be able to cast divine intervention

[@dumbwaki5877]

There are so very few ways to deal damage with mundane items, but among the few that exist: - Torches, 1 fire - Alchemist's Fire, 1d4 fire, and Alchemist's Doom from Strixhaven, 2d6 fire (alchemical fire is in fact non-magical) - Oil. Doesn't deal damage but it does boost the damage of fire, making the above tools more effective. - Caltrops, 1 piercing. (The piercing damage immunity is only to attacks, and setting caltrops is not an attack but a dex save) - Hunting Traps, same with Caltrops but 1d4 piercing and it stops movement. - Explosive Seeds from Wildmount, 1d8 bludgeoning with a dex save, half damage with a success. and, honestly your only chance of winning unless you are able to position her below a flying castle and drop it on her for improvised bludgeoning - Catapult Munition. "The munition can be thrown up to 30 feet and explodes on impact. Any creature within a 15-foot-radius sphere centered on the point of impact must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 35 (10d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. In addition, each object in that area that isn't being worn or carried takes 35 (10d6) fire damage." If you are able to convince the strongest kingdom in your campaign to load these up, you might be able to deal enough damage to...get out of range of the antimagic field and plane shift to a different universe. oh, wait, the arcane cataclysms have a mile range. You're better off with the flying castle. Maybe 10. Hundred.

[@Fernando_Cabanillas]

I think if we want to do this fight we need to consider the nonmagical options here... A minotaur with crusher can maybe push it 15ft (maybe), maybe it can be grappled and dragged? Definetly the hardest fight, but i think a good strategy and preparation may make it doable

[@joshkramer3668]

basically the only way I can think of other than surprise-novaing her in one round is somehow baiting arcane cataclysmic, retreating, and coming back later to finish the job once its expired. How a party pulls that off idk because you have to make her believe that this is the real fight and its worth using the ability, bearing in mind she has a 30 intelligence. The party would need some means of reliable escape in between the casting of arcane cataclysmic and Sul's next turn where she can use spells to trap them, which only a very select few race/class combo's have. Definitely tougher than a tarrasque lol

[@drz0b]

This is also why Beholders, played correctly, are so dangerous. The central eye creates an antimagic field in a 150-foot cone identical to the spell. Sure, the eye beams don't work in that area but that's a wide beam and anything that get's behind or around it can now be targeted with the eye beams. Also they are smart so would make sure to have melee focussed allies that can fight within the beam and use their hover in their lair to put themselves into positions they can't be attacked. For example, fly above the party and target the antimagic field down onto them, perhaps angling it to keep spellcasters inside the beam whilst leaving melee characters out but vulnerable to the eye beams. They should also have traps set up they can activate with their telekinesis beam.

[@daniellins4114]

Would a dispel magic cast as a 9th level and from outside the field work?

[@ifidio2]

No. "Dispel Magic: Spells and magical Effects such as Dispel Magic have no Effect on the Sphere. Likewise, the spheres created by different antimagic field Spells don't nullify each other." It's also technically not the spell Antimagic Field, just an effect that replicates it, so RAW Dispel Magic couldn't even target it.

[@Cassapphic]

This attack absolutely feels like its meant as a narrative tool, not something used in an actual fight, but the party encountering a town or city street decimated by the arcane cataclysm.

[@SlamUnited]

I once used Sul Khatesh. But since it was some timetravel stuff I silently ruled that she already used it with the same party an hour ago and they escaped to the astral plane via a portal Sul used to attack the players. I gave them a grace period of 4 turns in which Sul wouldn't be able to use Arcane Cataclysm. Within those 4 turns they learned how the portal worked, so when she used Cataclysm, they escaped to the astral plane with no way back. The party monk refused to use the portal and died, the rest survived, stranded in the astral plane.

[@Tzimisce]

I'd be interested to see how some of the previous editions high-CR unique monsters (like the CR 40 and 50 dragons) stack up with the CR of 5th edition monsters, once appropriate conversions are made.

[@FuelDropforthewin]

The players.

[@SigurdBraathen]

So... run away, heal up, wait an hour and then go say hello to her again? Or wiser still: Just keep on running.

[@YourGMJay]

the monk could be spending up to 3 ki for an additional +6 giving them even odds to hit. So a full party of monks could be the secret here. But even so, wow.

[@BeaglzRok1]

This really embodies the fear of magic though. A massive magical backlash that ruins magic for everyone while the big bad still gets to not only do whatever she wants, she effectively has the ability to concentrate on multiple spells (let's be honest, did Mass Suggestion really need to not need concentration?) and massive saves to everything that's not Fireball (still a +5, and good luck getting the Fireball to work inside the field). The lighter version is to do this with a Lich. It has the same immunities to nonmagical weapon damage (and poison because duh), it's certainly a high enough caster to have that option, and more fairly it will still use Concentration (although, good luck when you can't hurt it with weapons or magic and Sleet Storm won't work in the area) and it can't use its Paralyzing Touch as it's a Spell Attack. But a Lich is smart with a ton of time on their hands, so between the Lair Actions and Legendary Actions, the battlefield could be LITTERED with traps both magical and mundane that it spends its time activating. "Oh no, everyone in this 10ft-wide line needs to DEX save against poisoned bolts. I sure hope you guys have immunity to these damage types like I do!"

[@derekburrows8122]

Definitely a super powerful monster, and nearly impossible to beat outside of ideal conditions! I think it is theoretically possible for a normal sized party (let's say 4 PC's) of optimized level 20's to take her if the battle starts without much distance between her and the party, they were built for the fight, and they have access to 20th level gear (let's say +3 magical weapons). For example, 4 of the same PC. Fighter 12 (Battlemaster)/Ranger 3 (Gloomstalker)/Wizard 5 (Divination). 20 Dex, 13 Int, 13 Wis, Alert, Sharpshooter, and Crossbow Expert (var human, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 12th level in fighter are enough to get those stats). With 8 portents they can order the initiative (if anyone has a 6 or lower in that pool of portent dice she automatically goes last, since she has +5 initiative and they have +10). Her legendary actions won't disrupt any of their plans, since they have spell slots to lose instead of getting stunned. Once they win initiative they run up, push her over (with portent selecting the two remaining dice farthest apart in rolls to almost ensure she gets knocked over) and let loose an inordinate amount of crossbow bolts while around her. The party will get 4 action surge turns with crossbow sharpshooter attacks, plus the gloomstalker extra attacks. That's 35 advantage attacks (would be 36 but someone had to push her over using an extra attack with the help of portent) before she gets to go, each with +9 to hit (+14 but -5 from sharpshooter) and 5 precision attacks adding +1d10 to the attack roll. She will not get a chance to shield, because every member of the party can counterspell her. Each attack that hits does 1d6+18 so about 21.5 damage, and with 475 max HP roughly 22 attacks need to hit to kill her. They need a 13 on the attack roll to hit her AC of 22 but they have advantage from prone, meaning about 22 (64% of 35) attacks hit on average without precision attack, so easily more than 22 attacks would hit considering everyone has 5 chances with precision attack. I think this would be enough to take her out, but it is only under ideal conditions (she is alone with no allies and the party start close enough to engage with her in the first round of combat). No actual party I've ever played in would stand a chance against her.

[@cubicengineering4715]

I can think of a couple ways to deal damage still, but they're so weak you're never going to win with them. It's still possible to deal non-magical fire damage to her through the use of Alchemist's Fire and Oil. There's also lit torches which deal 1 fire damage, but unless I'm mistaken and you're allowed to add your strength modifier to that her resistance drops 1 to 0 damage.

[@20100langlois]

Sleet Storm or upcasted Fog Cloud are pretty strong against her, though will probably need to be recast many times.

[@McCrappy]

Might be the moment for Open Hand Monk's Quivering Palm

[@TheDarthnazrael]

The funny thing is how perfectly so much of her stat block fits Vecna thematically, especially considering Antimagic Field is a great way to force the PCs to NEED an Artifact to win.

[@JaisielSantanaAlmeida]

A Divination wizard casting prismatic wall (unaffected by anti magic field) maybe can save the day with some portent rolls if the legendary resistances were used.

[@davidwilfand916]

One possibility is to use clone+Magic jar tricking to turn the entire party into dragons, then try to beat her that way. She will probably still escape though.

[@snakerattleroll6678]

10:20 Explosives and 13:43 LOAD! BEARING! WALLS!

[@zionich]

The DM, The DM is the most powerful monster in D&D.

[@cadin5965]

You need barbarian to graple him and drag out of the spheres.

[@Identity469]

Aarakocra barbarian Lol?

[@zacharybrown3010]

You know, a full team of Monks using that silly "20th level non-magical musket sharpen the blade" build you reviewed a while back is looking pretty good here. Step of the Wind + Unarmored Movement gets you out of the Antimagic Field immediately, reactivatng whatever magic items you have helping you survive and letting you go back to magical pewpewpew. And Proficiency in all saving throws looks pretty good against her wicked spell list, too.

[@lucapaini4748]

The only way that comes to my mind to deal with her is to have someone grapple her and drag her out of the antimagic field, though she has teleport so as soon as she is dragged out she can just teleport right back in