Well - that has a casting time of 1 minute, something the caster isn't going to ever finish. Also, depending on deployment, 300 feet sounds like an absolutely awesome area, but really it only takes care of 30 mooks if they're conveniently spaced.
If they're spaced so tsunami only takes out 30 mooks, they're spaced so most of the army cannot attack the spellcaster.
Well - that has a casting time of 1 minute, something the caster isn't going to ever finish. Also, depending on deployment, 300 feet sounds like an absolutely awesome area, but really it only takes care of 30 mooks if they're conveniently spaced.
If they're spaced so tsunami only takes out 30 mooks, they're spaced so most of the army cannot attack the spellcaster.
They are not going to be spaced 24/7 and more importantly, if there is that 'no advantages' provision it is completely unclear how they are set up.
Well - that has a casting time of 1 minute, something the caster isn't going to ever finish. Also, depending on deployment, 300 feet sounds like an absolutely awesome area, but really it only takes care of 30 mooks if they're conveniently spaced
Sigh. We've already been over this, several pages back. It's not a 300 foot area. Read the spell again. And look at a map grid while you're at it
Also, the range on tsunami is a mile, so yeah, the spell will be cast before your army is even aware there's a caster attacking them. Or for that matter, where the caster is
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
They are not going to be spaced 24/7 and more importantly, if there is that 'no advantages' provision it is completely unclear how they are set up.
Assuming there is no difficult terrain involved, everyone other than people in the initial area can run away. Thus, it hits (and kills) all mooks in a 300' x 50' area -- total 15,000 square feet. Thus, if it takes out 30 targets, the army is arrayed at an average spacing of 500 square feet per target.
Assuming longbows, which are the best case scenario, and that for some reason we're fighting on a vast featureless plain with clear line of sight out to at least 600', and limiting the army to one side (assuming that the spellcaster is already surrounded is a rather obvious advantage), a 600' radius semi-circle is 565,000 square feet, which can hold 1,130 archers. Any scenarios that might actually occur are far worse for the army. Thus, in any formation where the army can actually engage the spellcaster, tsunami will kill a minimum of 53. More reasonable engagement parameters will result in hundreds of kills.
If they're spaced so tsunami only takes out 30 mooks, they're spaced so most of the army cannot attack the spellcaster.
You're guessing, right? You haven't actually put them on a grid, and checked?
I may well be too generous, I did at one point put 2000 X's on a spreadsheet, but that was a while ago. But my point is: You put 2000 little X's on a spreadsheet, at max longbow range .... you have A LOT of room to work with. That's 1200 (!!!!) feet across.
So it's a question of what picture you have in your mind. Are the mooks shoulder to shoulder in massed formation? Well, then many spells, but Tsunami in particular is devastating. But if they're surrounding the caster at max range, 30 might even be too high.
Of course, ideally I don't want my mooks at 600 feet. I want the unit furthest from the target to start Round 1 at 180 feet - so they can run forward, and fire without disadvantage. And if so, Tsunami is more of a concern. Maybe. But it's no disaster. I mean - it still has that 1 minute casting time =)
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
You're guessing, right? You haven't actually put them on a grid, and checked?
Um... I did the math in the part of the post you snipped? I'm assuming they're optimally dispersed, which means dispersed over the entire area of the semicircle. In the ring configuration you describe, they're spread around a perimeter of 1885 ft at an average spacing of 0.943 ft, and a tsunami kills 318. Also, since we're not assuming any preparation, they're not going to be in a big semicircle, they're going to be in their normal marching configuration, whatever that is.
Um... I did the math in the part of the post you snipped? I'm assuming they're optimally dispersed, which means dispersed over the entire area of the semicircle. In the ring configuration you describe, they're spread around a perimeter of 1885 ft at an average spacing of 0.943 ft, and a tsunami kills 318. Also, since we're not assuming any preparation, they're not going to be in a big semicircle, they're going to be in their normal marching configuration, whatever that is.
Urgh - math. See, that's why I didn't read it. No, I did it manually, like a man!
Anyways, I'm not going to disagree with your calculation, I'll just say - if a semi-circle results in 53 kills (at the lowest), a full circle with twice the area should logically result in half as many kills. So under 30. I dunno, I'm just visualising. And I think you're not calculating movement. So it's not 1200 feet, it's 1260.
It doesn't matter. With hundreds dead the caster still dies instantly, and Tsunami still has a 1 minute casting time. I'm not unwilling to concede there's some combo out there that wins - maybe - I just haven't seen it yet. But I'm far more concerned about Storm of Vengeance than I am about Tsunami. Cause ... 1 minute casting time. It's over way, way sooner than that. Basically, it boils down to this: Caster wins initiative, and wins the fight in 6 seconds - or dies.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
It doesn't matter. With hundreds dead the caster still dies instantly, and Tsunami still has a 1 minute casting time. I'm not unwilling to concede there's some combo out there that wins - maybe - I just haven't seen it yet. But I'm far more concerned about Storm of Vengeance than I am about Tsunami. Cause ... 1 minute casting time. It's over way, way sooner than that. Basically, it boils down to this: Caster wins initiative, and wins the fight in 6 seconds - or dies.
Nope. Caster just needs to survive one round and leave the area, at which point we're back to our scenarios of "the army dies without ever being able to get an attack off".
Nope. Caster just needs to survive one round and leave the area, at which point we're back to our scenarios of "the army dies without ever being able to get an attack off".
And I reiterate: The caster get's either zero or one action, and that has to be enough to kill off more than half the troops. I still maintain that ... presumably, I can even wait. Let the caster pour out every spellslot available. Then kill him. Or her.
A 20th level wizard has 18 spellslots. Let's just say he gets off one big bang (Meteor Swarm or whatever), killing 150 mooks. And then it's fireballs for the rest of the way home. I'm going to say you get 5 or 6 mooks per fireball. Wizard gets 252 mooks. Then mooks shoot back. Combat ends. Wizard never stood a chance. We can ramp that up. Wizard gets 200 mooks with the Big Bang, and 10 per fireball - for a grand total of 370. Then mooks shoot back. Combat ends. Wizard never stood a chance.
The wizard can cast all the fly, teleport, invisibility and whatever spells. We wait out the durations. Mooks shoot back. Combat ends.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
And I reiterate: The caster get's either zero or one action, and that has to be enough to kill off more than half the troops. I still maintain that ... presumably, I can even wait. Let the caster pour out every spellslot available. Then kill him. Or her.
How? The spellcaster has no need to ever be within weapon range again. Sure, it might take multiple long rests to actually kill the army, but there's simply nothing the army can do about the spellcaster; high level casters just have way too high mobility, so they can just hole up somewhere unreachable or unfindable to take a long rest.
How? The spellcaster has no need to ever be within weapon range again. Sure, it might take multiple long rests to actually kill the army, but there's simply nothing the army can do about the spellcaster; high level casters just have way too high mobility, so they can just hole up somewhere unreachable or unfindable to take a long rest.
Oh, my head. Look, anyone can make up random conditions that ensure a win for their side. You seem to imagine that ...... the army would just loiter around, waiting for the wizard to teleport back - for days on end - until he finally killed them all.
If you cannot see how that's not a reasonable assumption, there's literally no reason to go on. Tell you what: We both win. You keep your conviction that the wizard is invincible, and I keep mine that he doesn't last a round.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Oh, my head. Look, anyone can make up random conditions that ensure a win for their side. You seem to imagine that ...... the army would just loiter around, waiting for the wizard to teleport back - for days on end - until he finally killed them all.
Spells like scrying exist, and while countermeasures such as private sanctum exist, they don't exist within the resources the army is presented as having. An army of mooks is definitely an annoying problem that will cause damage, but without higher level magical support they will get gradually torn to pieces.
Spells like scrying exist, and while countermeasures such as private sanctum exist, they don't exist within the resources the army is presented as having. An army of mooks is definitely an annoying problem that will cause damage, but without higher level magical support they will get gradually torn to pieces.
If you cast Private Sanctum, you die instantly when it ends. If you scry, an army is an army, it can simply disperse.
If you can set random circumstances that guarantee victory, so can I. But I'm not playing that game. I say again: Tell you what: We both win. You keep your conviction that the wizard is invincible, and I keep mine that he doesn't last a round.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Spells like scrying exist, and while countermeasures such as private sanctum exist, they don't exist within the resources the army is presented as having. An army of mooks is definitely an annoying problem that will cause damage, but without higher level magical support they will get gradually torn to pieces.
If you cast Private Sanctum, you die instantly when it ends. If you scry, an army is an army, it can simply disperse.
If you can set random circumstances that guarantee victory, so can I. But I'm not playing that game. I say again: Tell you what: We both win. You keep your conviction that the wizard is invincible, and I keep mine that he doesn't last a round.
"Simply disperse?" To where, exactly? And how do they even still coordinate, so 'dispersed?' Even in computer games were you technically have literal god-like command and control over each and every soldier, you do not have that level of control
How will they stay in supply? How long will they stay dispersed? What happens if, instead of hitting the soldiers, the caster simply targets supply wagons?
We are not talking about 'random circumstances' here. We are talking about basic practical realities.
Spells like scrying exist, and while countermeasures such as private sanctum exist, they don't exist within the resources the army is presented as having. An army of mooks is definitely an annoying problem that will cause damage, but without higher level magical support they will get gradually torn to pieces.
If you cast Private Sanctum, you die instantly when it ends. If you scry, an army is an army, it can simply disperse.
If you can set random circumstances that guarantee victory, so can I. But I'm not playing that game. I say again: Tell you what: We both win. You keep your conviction that the wizard is invincible, and I keep mine that he doesn't last a round.
You have Schoedinger's army that is both dispersed and not dispersed until you open the box.
A 17 level wizard or sorcerer would litterally nuke most average sized army without even being seen, using a combo of greater invisibility and meteor swarm. The wizard will do way better cause he WILL make a simulacrum.
Lets go with the average gith army of 1111 soldiers (1000 cr 3 foot soldiers, 100 officers cr 6 to 8, 10 kithrak cr 12 and one cr 16 supreme commander.
The wizard and the simulacrum will launch both at the same their meteor swarm. A normal soldier in a meteor radius insta dead. Officers have less than a 1/4 chance to survive the first with very low hp but will not survives the second. Kithrak will probably survive the first but not the second, except if they are able to save both which is unlikely. Commander will survive both but with well lowered hp.
Looking at the fact that those attack will probably overlaps, and that the gith are not dumb enough to all stack together, i would guess this would kill 350 base soldiers, 30 officers and 3 kithraks. 5 officers and 3 others kithrack will be almost dead. The commander would probably be at 25% hp left to.
Giths will have to close up a huge gap to get to the wizard and simulacrum. During this time, they will get shelled with fireballs, first finishing the commander and bloodied officers. I will guess they upcast to lvl 4 or 5.
By the time they reach the wizard (if the wizard cant run away) they would only be around 400 foot soldiers, 50 officers and 4 kithraks. At this point, the wizard and simulacrum will throw at them their lvl 6 to 8 AoE... at the end of the day, i think the wizard and simulacrum will have to use almost all their spell slots (low level spell slots will be for shield and misty step by the way, those two are gonna be must), have used his contingency and his simulacrum be destroyed, but will prevail. Maybe he will have to use a clone, maybe not.
But most armies are not as strong and disciplined as giths ones. Against a normal humanoid army of same size, every survivors will run away after the first meteor swarm, which might kill the army commander (cr 9).
If we use a lvl 14 wizard instead against this army, they will not have meteor swarm but still have a simulacrum. The fireballs shelling will probably be enough to one shot foot soldiers (cr 1/2) and even officers (cr 3) in the radius, and by the time they will be in range, the morale loss will be great and a lot of soldiers would have run away, specially if the commander and officers have been sniped. After that, the simulacrum will probably ended up destroyed and the wizard be bloodied and use all ressources, but will probably prevail.
The only other class that also get a shot at that is the sorcerer.
Bard might have a chance but seems unlikely. In an open battelfield, any characters that cant do massive AoE damage from a distance and/or use area control/domination spells/abilities is doomed to be overwhelmed. A fighter, even if he one shot kill, will never kill more than 8 ennemies a turn, meanwhile, hundreds of attack rolls will be made against him, ending in a ton of crits even if only a crit hit. If a fighter can kill 16 before ennemies being in range, and than can still kill 8 per turn, but is critted 10 time per turn... i think the fighter will only be able to kill 120 soldiers before going down, even at lvl 20.
A 17 level wizard or sorcerer would litterally nuke most average sized army without even being seen, using a combo of greater invisibility and meteor swarm. The wizard will do way better cause he WILL make a simulacrum.
Lets go with the average gith army of 1111 soldiers (1000 cr 3 foot soldiers, 100 officers cr 6 to 8, 10 kithrak cr 12 and one cr 16 supreme commander.
Assuming that a CR 16 army would not have appropriate counter-measures, such as pickets and some sort of wall of force based arrows as readied actions, or even glyphs of warding with wall of force, triggered on any such energies approaching. A high CR army is going to be high CR. It has the resources of an entire major faction behind it, even if the vast majority of soldiers are low level mooks.
Rogue, Ranger, or Bard probably. Maybe Warlock. Chances are a solo campaign won't be too focused on direct combat so you'll need as much utility as you can gethttps://mobdro.bio/ .
If the single highleve whatever isn't allowed to define starting conditions - it's basically impossible for any class to beat any army. In any fight, ever.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
If the single highleve whatever isn't allowed to define starting conditions - it's basically impossible for any class to beat any army. In any fight, ever.
It is practically impossible for an army to achieve surprise (in an RPG sense) vs a single character. It's possible, if hard, to give the single character mere minutes of warning, and not too hard to give them less than a day's warning, but on a scale of D&D turns... no chance. The reverse is quite possible.
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If they're spaced so tsunami only takes out 30 mooks, they're spaced so most of the army cannot attack the spellcaster.
They are not going to be spaced 24/7 and more importantly, if there is that 'no advantages' provision it is completely unclear how they are set up.
Sigh. We've already been over this, several pages back. It's not a 300 foot area. Read the spell again. And look at a map grid while you're at it
Also, the range on tsunami is a mile, so yeah, the spell will be cast before your army is even aware there's a caster attacking them. Or for that matter, where the caster is
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Assuming there is no difficult terrain involved, everyone other than people in the initial area can run away. Thus, it hits (and kills) all mooks in a 300' x 50' area -- total 15,000 square feet. Thus, if it takes out 30 targets, the army is arrayed at an average spacing of 500 square feet per target.
Assuming longbows, which are the best case scenario, and that for some reason we're fighting on a vast featureless plain with clear line of sight out to at least 600', and limiting the army to one side (assuming that the spellcaster is already surrounded is a rather obvious advantage), a 600' radius semi-circle is 565,000 square feet, which can hold 1,130 archers. Any scenarios that might actually occur are far worse for the army. Thus, in any formation where the army can actually engage the spellcaster, tsunami will kill a minimum of 53. More reasonable engagement parameters will result in hundreds of kills.
You're guessing, right? You haven't actually put them on a grid, and checked?
I may well be too generous, I did at one point put 2000 X's on a spreadsheet, but that was a while ago. But my point is: You put 2000 little X's on a spreadsheet, at max longbow range .... you have A LOT of room to work with. That's 1200 (!!!!) feet across.
So it's a question of what picture you have in your mind. Are the mooks shoulder to shoulder in massed formation? Well, then many spells, but Tsunami in particular is devastating. But if they're surrounding the caster at max range, 30 might even be too high.
Of course, ideally I don't want my mooks at 600 feet. I want the unit furthest from the target to start Round 1 at 180 feet - so they can run forward, and fire without disadvantage. And if so, Tsunami is more of a concern. Maybe. But it's no disaster. I mean - it still has that 1 minute casting time =)
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Um... I did the math in the part of the post you snipped? I'm assuming they're optimally dispersed, which means dispersed over the entire area of the semicircle. In the ring configuration you describe, they're spread around a perimeter of 1885 ft at an average spacing of 0.943 ft, and a tsunami kills 318. Also, since we're not assuming any preparation, they're not going to be in a big semicircle, they're going to be in their normal marching configuration, whatever that is.
Urgh - math. See, that's why I didn't read it. No, I did it manually, like a man!
Anyways, I'm not going to disagree with your calculation, I'll just say - if a semi-circle results in 53 kills (at the lowest), a full circle with twice the area should logically result in half as many kills. So under 30. I dunno, I'm just visualising. And I think you're not calculating movement. So it's not 1200 feet, it's 1260.
It doesn't matter. With hundreds dead the caster still dies instantly, and Tsunami still has a 1 minute casting time. I'm not unwilling to concede there's some combo out there that wins - maybe - I just haven't seen it yet. But I'm far more concerned about Storm of Vengeance than I am about Tsunami. Cause ... 1 minute casting time. It's over way, way sooner than that. Basically, it boils down to this: Caster wins initiative, and wins the fight in 6 seconds - or dies.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Nope. Caster just needs to survive one round and leave the area, at which point we're back to our scenarios of "the army dies without ever being able to get an attack off".
And I reiterate: The caster get's either zero or one action, and that has to be enough to kill off more than half the troops. I still maintain that ... presumably, I can even wait. Let the caster pour out every spellslot available. Then kill him. Or her.
A 20th level wizard has 18 spellslots. Let's just say he gets off one big bang (Meteor Swarm or whatever), killing 150 mooks. And then it's fireballs for the rest of the way home. I'm going to say you get 5 or 6 mooks per fireball. Wizard gets 252 mooks. Then mooks shoot back. Combat ends. Wizard never stood a chance. We can ramp that up. Wizard gets 200 mooks with the Big Bang, and 10 per fireball - for a grand total of 370. Then mooks shoot back. Combat ends. Wizard never stood a chance.
The wizard can cast all the fly, teleport, invisibility and whatever spells. We wait out the durations. Mooks shoot back. Combat ends.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
How? The spellcaster has no need to ever be within weapon range again. Sure, it might take multiple long rests to actually kill the army, but there's simply nothing the army can do about the spellcaster; high level casters just have way too high mobility, so they can just hole up somewhere unreachable or unfindable to take a long rest.
Oh, my head. Look, anyone can make up random conditions that ensure a win for their side. You seem to imagine that ...... the army would just loiter around, waiting for the wizard to teleport back - for days on end - until he finally killed them all.
If you cannot see how that's not a reasonable assumption, there's literally no reason to go on. Tell you what: We both win. You keep your conviction that the wizard is invincible, and I keep mine that he doesn't last a round.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Spells like scrying exist, and while countermeasures such as private sanctum exist, they don't exist within the resources the army is presented as having. An army of mooks is definitely an annoying problem that will cause damage, but without higher level magical support they will get gradually torn to pieces.
If you cast Private Sanctum, you die instantly when it ends. If you scry, an army is an army, it can simply disperse.
If you can set random circumstances that guarantee victory, so can I. But I'm not playing that game. I say again: Tell you what: We both win. You keep your conviction that the wizard is invincible, and I keep mine that he doesn't last a round.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
"Simply disperse?" To where, exactly? And how do they even still coordinate, so 'dispersed?' Even in computer games were you technically have literal god-like command and control over each and every soldier, you do not have that level of control
How will they stay in supply? How long will they stay dispersed? What happens if, instead of hitting the soldiers, the caster simply targets supply wagons?
We are not talking about 'random circumstances' here. We are talking about basic practical realities.
You have Schoedinger's army that is both dispersed and not dispersed until you open the box.
A 17 level wizard or sorcerer would litterally nuke most average sized army without even being seen, using a combo of greater invisibility and meteor swarm. The wizard will do way better cause he WILL make a simulacrum.
Lets go with the average gith army of 1111 soldiers (1000 cr 3 foot soldiers, 100 officers cr 6 to 8, 10 kithrak cr 12 and one cr 16 supreme commander.
The wizard and the simulacrum will launch both at the same their meteor swarm. A normal soldier in a meteor radius insta dead. Officers have less than a 1/4 chance to survive the first with very low hp but will not survives the second. Kithrak will probably survive the first but not the second, except if they are able to save both which is unlikely. Commander will survive both but with well lowered hp.
Looking at the fact that those attack will probably overlaps, and that the gith are not dumb enough to all stack together, i would guess this would kill 350 base soldiers, 30 officers and 3 kithraks. 5 officers and 3 others kithrack will be almost dead. The commander would probably be at 25% hp left to.
Giths will have to close up a huge gap to get to the wizard and simulacrum. During this time, they will get shelled with fireballs, first finishing the commander and bloodied officers. I will guess they upcast to lvl 4 or 5.
By the time they reach the wizard (if the wizard cant run away) they would only be around 400 foot soldiers, 50 officers and 4 kithraks. At this point, the wizard and simulacrum will throw at them their lvl 6 to 8 AoE... at the end of the day, i think the wizard and simulacrum will have to use almost all their spell slots (low level spell slots will be for shield and misty step by the way, those two are gonna be must), have used his contingency and his simulacrum be destroyed, but will prevail. Maybe he will have to use a clone, maybe not.
But most armies are not as strong and disciplined as giths ones. Against a normal humanoid army of same size, every survivors will run away after the first meteor swarm, which might kill the army commander (cr 9).
If we use a lvl 14 wizard instead against this army, they will not have meteor swarm but still have a simulacrum. The fireballs shelling will probably be enough to one shot foot soldiers (cr 1/2) and even officers (cr 3) in the radius, and by the time they will be in range, the morale loss will be great and a lot of soldiers would have run away, specially if the commander and officers have been sniped. After that, the simulacrum will probably ended up destroyed and the wizard be bloodied and use all ressources, but will probably prevail.
The only other class that also get a shot at that is the sorcerer.
Bard might have a chance but seems unlikely. In an open battelfield, any characters that cant do massive AoE damage from a distance and/or use area control/domination spells/abilities is doomed to be overwhelmed. A fighter, even if he one shot kill, will never kill more than 8 ennemies a turn, meanwhile, hundreds of attack rolls will be made against him, ending in a ton of crits even if only a crit hit. If a fighter can kill 16 before ennemies being in range, and than can still kill 8 per turn, but is critted 10 time per turn... i think the fighter will only be able to kill 120 soldiers before going down, even at lvl 20.
Airships domination!
Assuming that a CR 16 army would not have appropriate counter-measures, such as pickets and some sort of wall of force based arrows as readied actions, or even glyphs of warding with wall of force, triggered on any such energies approaching. A high CR army is going to be high CR. It has the resources of an entire major faction behind it, even if the vast majority of soldiers are low level mooks.
Rogue, Ranger, or Bard probably. Maybe Warlock. Chances are a solo campaign won't be too focused on direct combat so you'll need as much utility as you can get https://mobdro.bio/ .
If the single highleve whatever isn't allowed to define starting conditions - it's basically impossible for any class to beat any army. In any fight, ever.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
It is practically impossible for an army to achieve surprise (in an RPG sense) vs a single character. It's possible, if hard, to give the single character mere minutes of warning, and not too hard to give them less than a day's warning, but on a scale of D&D turns... no chance. The reverse is quite possible.