A spell that freezes everyone

Hi there!

So I'm preparing a one shot and players are going to try to steal some documents that are hoarded in the house of a noble. When they are about to get the documents, the owner of the house will suddenly appear and I want him to use a spell that freezes all players (he's a wizard). Is there such a spell? I don't mean freezing with ice, just making them rigid, not being able to move a muscle.

Thanks in advance.

assuming you want them to get a save upcast hold person should handle it unless you have a party with non humanoids in it. hypnotic pattern might cover it as well. If you want a non save option nothing springs to mind. 

Rime's Binding Ice is really fitting for this situation, it reduces their speed to 0 without them being completely helpless.

Quote from ClassicCharismaCaster >>

Rime's Binding Ice is really fitting for this situation, it reduces their speed to 0 without them being completely helpless.

 That's ice. OP said they don't want ice. I second Hold Person.

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

Hi there!

So I'm preparing a one shot and players are going to try to steal some documents that are hoarded in the house of a noble. When they are about to get the documents, the owner of the house will suddenly appear and I want him to use a spell that freezes all players (he's a wizard). Is there such a spell? I don't mean freezing with ice, just making them rigid, not being able to move a muscle.

 

Thanks in advance.

What's the narrative purpose here? Do you want the wizard to try and stop them with a good chance of failure, as the prelude to a fight? Then upcast hold person is fine

Or do you want this to be an automatic success, because the wizard just wants to talk to the party and push them towards the next plot point? Then don't even bother explaining it as a spell or magic item or whatever. Just have all the players suddenly sink into the floor and get stuck up to their knees, or some other weird effect that makes it clear the party is outmatched and would be better off listening to what this person has to say rather than picking a fight

Quote from AntonSirius >>

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

Hi there!

So I'm preparing a one shot and players are going to try to steal some documents that are hoarded in the house of a noble. When they are about to get the documents, the owner of the house will suddenly appear and I want him to use a spell that freezes all players (he's a wizard). Is there such a spell? I don't mean freezing with ice, just making them rigid, not being able to move a muscle.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

What's the narrative purpose here? Do you want the wizard to try and stop them with a good chance of failure, as the prelude to a fight? Then upcast hold person is fine

Or do you want this to be an automatic success, because the wizard just wants to talk to the party and push them towards the next plot point? Then don't even bother explaining it as a spell or magic item or whatever. Just have all the players suddenly sink into the floor and get stuck up to their knees, or some other weird effect that makes it clear the party is outmatched and would be better off listening to what this person has to say rather than picking a fight

It's more a narrative resource. The wizard wants to talk to them.

I'm not sure if the Nobile of the house would have access to 9th level Magic, but you could have him/her use the Time Stop spell.

If he/she doesn't have access to 9th level spells, maybe they have a Spell Scroll, or had hired a Mage to set a Glyph of Warding with the Time Stop spell, so it can be used like a burglar alarm like in this case.

Just a thought...

Cheers :)

I was going to suggest Time Stop as well, but I don't think the wizard would be able to communicate with them in that case. For that purpose, I'd just use an upcasted Hold Person or Hold Monster, if needed. If you really want them fail the save, then you could add a narrative reason for the DC to be boosted... maybe the room has focus crystals on the walls, each of which increase the DC by 1. But I would caution against giving the players zero recourse/agency (i.e. no saving throw at all). Even if it's just one instance, it can feel like railroading.

To get to the same result, you could use something like force cage. They won’t get a save if they’re bunched up, but they can get out with a cha save and Misty step.

Or if the wizard doesn’t care if they take the papers, and doesn’t need to be there, you could use project image to make an illusory version of the wizard who can chat with the characters.

Quote from sabin76 >>

it can feel like railroading.

It's a one-shot. Of course there's going to be railroading

Swing big, Time Stop!

The thing with Time Stop is that the characters (and maybe even the players) don't know they've been frozen. Things just change in an instant around them

I think Hold Person is the better option here.

Regarding if it'd be railroading, that's an interesting perspective. In this case I prioritise narrative over players' agency.

Thanks for all your answers!

if this is a named NPC and not archmage stat block you can fairly legitimately get his save DV up to 25. Now personally I think the DC booster items should have remained warlock only as failing with one of your 2-4 spells hurts a lot more than failing on one of your 2,359 spells but they gave all casters DC boosting items, so whatever the wizard version of rod of the pact keeper, a robe of the archmagi and a 22 int gives you a 25DC for a archmage. which means most the party will fail on a 20. assuming he is not an antagonist a massive level disparity can be fine. At level 1 i can walk in a world with elminster in the forgotten realms for example. 

I normally have NPCs who want to talk to/soliloquize the PCs use mislead, as it lets the caster be basically unattackable due to being nowhere near the PCs. You can also do things like trapping them in a wall of force, though there is more risk of the PCs being able to get out.