I see a lot of threads about whether a fighter 20 wins vs a wizard 20. There is a warlock 20 vs wizard 20 thread in the wizard subforum right now.
I know this isn't a pvp game so obviously this is just theoretical, but is there a single build of a single class that wins a 1v1 vs all other classes at level 20? If you think so, I'd be interested to hear it. If you think not, what's the best you can do?
Some rules are perhaps in order:
point buy
feats allowed
no magic items
wizards only get spells through level-up (no claiming your spellbook has every spell)
wish only duplicates spells below 8th level
divine intervention only duplicates any cleric spell
no precasting any buffs
no importing minions (but no demiplanes full of zombies etc.)
Forgotten Realms official material only (PHB, XGE, DMG, VGM, SCAG, MTF, maybe I missed one)
If you think more restrictions are necessary say so.
Forcecage makes most martial classes completely irrelevant. it lasts for an hour, isn't concentration and can't be escaped from by non magical means, meaning you can kill them at your leisure. When it comes to spellcaster vs spellcaster I think it's a battle of resources and attrition. Damage isn't as important as disabling your opponent in these fights as classes like druid have access to a unlimited health pool.
Forcecage is a potent spell vs martials. It still requires you to win initiative. I haven't put that much thought into it outside of fighters. Of the martials, the archetypes that stick out to me as useful vs a caster are:
Thief rogue might fare the best of the rogues, but it still has to beat the spellcaster initiative by 10 to get two turns in a row. Very terrain dependent.
Monster slayer ranger has some amazing features like Magic User's Nemesis and Slayer's Counter, but you still have to get around a forcecage or maybe two if you can't kill a caster fast enough. Also terrain dependent.
Paladins have incredible saving throws
Open hand monk is a good choice because of their free sanctuary after a long rest and their ability to use the Quivering Palm. This always takes two actions unless you can get a reaction or bonus action attack and still have your action available.
Fighters have a few options. They all get several uses of indomitable. Champion is a good choice. Combined with action surge, a shove prone, and elven accuracy, it can get a lot of crits, which might be able to alpha strike a caster. Several elves have teleportation options too that the fighter can take advantage of. Eldritch knight can learn counterspell and misty step so they might have some chance of avoiding the forcecage
Barbarians can go zealot and be almost literally unkillable. They might just be able to wait out the forcecage.
This is really a silly experiment, because of this:
"No magic items"
What about Material Components for Spells? An Arcane Focus? A Holy Symbol? I mean, Invulnerability alone gives you 10 minutes of absolute immunity to all damage. Some classes rely on magical items more than others, especially those classes that can't simply *fly*. You're going to get a lot of theorycrafting here that doesn't mean a lot without more quantifying numbers. Also, some classes are built around getting most of their abilities back with Short Rests (Warlocks), so this will be a very lopsided victory for those that are focused on more powerful talents that reset on Long Rests (Paladins).
Circle of the Moon Druid? Wild shape is pretty strong in combat.
Let’s eliminate the classes that wouldn’t be good:
Ranger, Sorcerer, Monk, Bard, Cleric.
I think Warlock does and up winning out against Wizard in combat but I could be wrong (however, Wizard may be the stronger class against non-magic classes).
Fighter is very strong especially since feats are allowed but sadly may not always be in range for good attacks.
You almost need to have magic capabilities probably putting the Paladin ahead of Fighter only when it comes to dealing with control magic users vs damage magic users (example wizard vs warlock).
This is really a silly experiment, because of this:
"No magic items"
What about Material Components for Spells? An Arcane Focus? A Holy Symbol? I mean, Invulnerability alone gives you 10 minutes of absolute immunity to all damage. Some classes rely on magical items more than others, especially those classes that can't simply *fly*. You're going to get a lot of theorycrafting here that doesn't mean a lot without more quantifying numbers. Also, some classes are built around getting most of their abilities back with Short Rests (Warlocks), so this will be a very lopsided victory for those that are focused on more powerful talents that reset on Long Rests (Paladins).
Why does that make it silly? The game is designed to run without them. If everyone gets the same amount why include them? Including magic items just muddies the waters.
Material components, arcane foci, and holy symbols? Of course, why not?
Getting around things like invulnerability and fly are part of the point of this exercise and there are plenty of counters for each.
Paladin is a strong choice, but sheer number of spell slots is going to be far less important than action economy and strategy. Does that paladin always win or could something else beat it. My suspicion is that plenty of things can be made to beat paladin including warlock, but again that's part of the point of the exercise.
Do you have a specific build that you think would win?
Circle of the Moon Druid? Wild shape is pretty strong in combat.
Let’s eliminate the classes that wouldn’t be good:
Ranger, Sorcerer, Monk, Bard, Cleric.
I think Warlock does and up winning out against Wizard in combat but I could be wrong (however, Wizard may be the stronger class against non-magic classes).
Fighter is very strong especially since feats are allowed but sadly may not always be in range for good attacks.
You almost need to have magic capabilities probably putting the Paladin ahead of Fighter only when it comes to dealing with control magic users vs damage magic users (example wizard vs warlock).
I don't think we should just eliminate whole classes without any justification. Monster slayer ranger gets a reaction attack when they make a saving throw and automatically passes the saving throw it the attack hits. if the Sorcerer and bard have uncounterable spellcasting. Monk can essentially one-shot anyone who fails a Con save. Arcana cleric gets the best wizard spells and divine intervention. I don't think I could write off any of these classes.
I think warlock is strong and can beat a wizard, but can the warlock that can beat a wizard also beat a paladin?
I don't think fighter range is a problem. Probably the strongest fighter is going to be a sharpshooter so the range is really 600 feet. How big/small should we make the arena?
In your case with the ranger, it sounds like it’d be good against magic users but has a hard time stacking up against other non-magic users.
Sorcerer and Bard still aren’t strong enough to take on other classes in combat (there are still just strictly better classes, the lore bard does have magical secrets going for it though which is nice since that can adjust for the class they fight).
You’ll have to explain the monk 1-shot to me, keep in mind how they’d do vs a magic user that may disable them.
Arcana Cleric won’t be too special if the divine intervention is essentially just an extra spell slot (according to the post’s rules).
As for you warlock and wizard point, I did state that in the first post. I completely agree with you. The strongest fighter would be a sharpshooter but in order to make the class effective enough and dangerous you’d have to multiclass (which is why I didn’t mention how over-powered the circle of moon Druid and totem warrior barbarian would be).
In your case with the ranger, it sounds like it’d be good against magic users but has a hard time stacking up against other non-magic users.
Sorcerer and Bard still aren’t strong enough to take on other classes in combat (there are still just strictly better classes, the lore bard does have magical secrets going for it though which is nice since that can adjust for the class they fight).
You’ll have to explain the monk 1-shot to me, keep in mind how they’d do vs a magic user that may disable them.
Arcana Cleric won’t be too special if the divine intervention is essentially just an extra spell slot (according to the post’s rules).
As for you warlock and wizard point, I did state that in the first post. I completely agree with you. The strongest fighter would be a sharpshooter but in order to make the class effective enough and dangerous you’d have to multiclass (which is why I didn’t mention how over-powered the circle of moon Druid and totem warrior barbarian would be).
Okay, I can buy that logic for the ranger.
Can we also eliminate the rogue? I just don't think any rogue subclass is capable of dealing alpha strike damage and is in general incapable of surviving multiple rounds. I would love to be proven wrong though.
I still disagree about sorcerer. I think that a sorcerer might be able to beat all casters. They can completely shut down any other caster by subtle counterspell and cannot be countered themselves. They have access to forcecage. They have access to wish and therefore almost every spell.
I don't know enough about bard to have a well-informed opinion.
Open hand monk can use the quivering palm for 3 ki points and set up for a future turn where they force a Con save on the opponent. If the opponent fails they are reduced to 0 hp. As cool as that is, you might be right that they don't have a way to get around a forcecage.
I can agree about the arcana cleric, but I'd have to look over the cleric spell list before counting clerics out.
Why would you want to multiclass a fighter? The capstone is a 4th attack. That amount of extra damage is huge, especially when you factor in sharpshooter bonus damage.
You might be right that the moon druid could win.
I'd choose a zealot barbarian over a totem barbarian.
I agree with removing rogue, even though it can deal awesome damage, you need to multiclass to make it effective enough to one-shot before getting taken care of by the opponent.
Oooh, you may have changed my opinion on the sorcerer. I was mainly discounting them for having a smaller spell list than other full-casters.
The only way Bards would really be able to compete in combat without multiclassing would be with going the caster route in lore bard which is fine and has magical secrets which is awesome but other than that it lacks protection and killing damage. It can do a great job disabling opponents but needs help when it comes to killing them.
Also the multiclassing the fighter is the same reason with multiclassing rogue (they go hand in hand) offering sneak attack (which now that I’m thinking about it won’t apply very well in a 1v1) and the fighter offering action surge. Plus you could also have warlock and war domain cleric to add hex damage and use bonus actions to make an attack.
Seriously, removing multiclassing does weaken the potential of having incredibly strong builds for a 1v1 situation.
I think multiclassing would just reveal the strongest pvp build instead of the strongest pvp class.
I looked over the cleric spell lists and subclass abilities and I agree they should be removed from consideration.
For the bard I'm less convinced, mostly because they still have gems like power word kill/stun and forcecage in their list, they can magical secrets wish and any damage they need, they have amazing counterspell ability, and they will almost always win initiative with Jack of All Trades and Peerless Skill.
I did some calculations on a pure eladrin samurai. With 8 sharpshooter attacks with a heavy crossbow and elven accuracy, the expected damage against an AC 20 opponent is 145. That's enough to kill a d6 hit die class with <=16 Con or a d8 hit die class with <=14 Con in a single round. If the samurai doesn't get disabled in a single round or they win initiative, they could just kill most casters. They also have teleportation to reduce the risk from forcecage.
Btw, what does a caster do after forcecage? Mostly I ask because the person inside is immune to spell effects and the caster's concentration is in use. Do you bury them with mold earth?
It’s not necessarily using force cage, just using spells to control or impose disadvantage etc. on the enemy/ turning invisible, flying away. Then kill away at your leisure. That archer fighter does seems scary now!!
Why does that make it silly? The game is designed to run without them. If everyone gets the same amount why include them? Including magic items just muddies the waters.
Material components, arcane foci, and holy symbols? Of course, why not?
Getting around things like invulnerability and fly are part of the point of this exercise and there are plenty of counters for each.
Paladin is a strong choice, but sheer number of spell slots is going to be far less important than action economy and strategy. Does that paladin always win or could something else beat it. My suspicion is that plenty of things can be made to beat paladin including warlock, but again that's part of the point of the exercise.
Do you have a specific build that you think would win?
The PVP game without magic items nullifies every martial class. Invulnerability and Forcecage completely nullify every normal-attack class. So this test becomes a battle of the magic classes and that’s it.
So basically just a mage battle? I’d go Storm Sorcerer over everything else. Subtle Counterspell any other magic. Undispellable Flight. Nothing beats it if they can’t have magic items.
The PVP game without magic items nullifies every martial class. Invulnerability and Forcecage completely nullify every normal-attack class. So this test becomes a battle of the magic classes and that’s it.
You make these statements without any evidence or reasoning. Why do you think these things?
I've just showed a fighter build that can alpha strike most casters without any magic items. How is that nullified?
Invulnerability is strong, but you still have to go first and concentrate on it, which severely limits further options. If a martial can disable the caster in some way or outlast invulnerability, then what?
Forcecage is strong, but you still have to go first. It also seems like a lateral move for the caster. What do you do now that the martial is protected by "a solid barrier ... blocking any spells cast into or out of the area"?
It's okay if martials can't win overall, but given that I've shown a martial that can often win if they win initiative, I don't think it's fair to discount them like this.
So basically just a mage battle? I’d go Storm Sorcerer over everything else. Subtle Counterspell any other magic. Undispellable Flight. Nothing beats it if they can’t have magic items.
Good contribution, but fiend warlock beats it.
Use dark one's own luck on initiative to make sure you win.
Hit the sorcerer with an attack. Probably eldritch blast from more than 60 feet away, but it could be a blade pact dual wielder for less that 60 feet away. With 3-4 attack rolls, you're likely to have one hit, even if the sorcerer casts shield.
Immediately after an attack hits, you can hurl through hell. This removes the sorcerer from this plane of existence for a round and deals 10d10 (55) damage.
For the round that the sorcerer is gone, ready power word kill/stun. Readied spells can only be countered when they're readied not when they're released.
Release your spell when the sorcerer returns.
Fight over.
Strong as this warlock is, divination wizard may be able to beat it in initiative and cast feeblemind on the warlock.
Honestly, if we discover that this just comes down to whoever wins initiative, I think that's great. At least it indicates some balance in these things.
It would also be great if we just map out a giant game of rock paper scissors between the classes.
The PVP game without magic items nullifies every martial class. Invulnerability and Forcecage completely nullify every normal-attack class. So this test becomes a battle of the magic classes and that’s it.
You make these statements without any evidence or reasoning. Why do you think these things?
I've just showed a fighter build that can alpha strike most casters without any magic items. How is that nullified?
Invulnerability is strong, but you still have to go first and concentrate on it, which severely limits further options. If a martial can disable the caster in some way or outlast invulnerability, then what?
Forcecage is strong, but you still have to go first. It also seems like a lateral move for the caster. What do you do now that the martial is protected by "a solid barrier ... blocking any spells cast into or out of the area"?
It's okay if martials can't win overall, but given that I've shown a martial that can often win if they win initiative, I don't think it's fair to discount them like this.
So basically just a mage battle? I’d go Storm Sorcerer over everything else. Subtle Counterspell any other magic. Undispellable Flight. Nothing beats it if they can’t have magic items.
Good contribution, but fiend warlock beats it.
Use dark one's own luck on initiative to make sure you win.
Hit the sorcerer with an attack. Probably eldritch blast from more than 60 feet away, but it could be a blade pact dual wielder for less that 60 feet away. With 3-4 attack rolls, you're likely to have one hit, even if the sorcerer casts shield.
Immediately after an attack hits, you can hurl through hell. This removes the sorcerer from this plane of existence for a round and deals 10d10 (55) damage.
For the round that the sorcerer is gone, ready power word kill/stun. Readied spells can only be countered when they're readied not when they're released.
Release your spell when the sorcerer returns.
Fight over.
Strong as this warlock is, divination wizard may be able to beat it in initiative and cast feeblemind on the warlock.
Honestly, if we discover that this just comes down to whoever wins initiative, I think that's great. At least it indicates some balance in these things.
It would also be great if we just map out a giant game of rock paper scissors between the classes.
Hurl Through Hell does 55 damage. That’s not enough to bring the Sorcerer down to below 100hp for PWK. It also doesn’t incapacitate. The Sorcerer can cast Invisibility and therefore your readied spell has no target and therefore wasted. Now you’re down a 9th level spell and it’s the Sorcerer’s turn and you can’t cast spells anymore and he’s 60ft in the air. Have fun!
As for Arcane Archer - my Sorcerer is a Gnome with Fade Away that becomes Invisible after your first attack. Now you have nothing left. Invulnerability the round after and it’s Cantrips until you’re dead.
And it’s distinctively NOT balanced. “Whoever wins initiative will win” is your qualification for balance? No. It’s “whoever wins initiative and is one of these specific class archetypes will win”. Half the classes in the game are not even discussed here specifically because there’s zero balance of them having a chance with zero magical items. That was my specific point at the very beginning - this is just a mage’s duel then and *drastically* favours a class with range and magic-damage weapons.
You’ll have to explain the monk 1-shot to me, keep in mind how they’d do vs a magic user that may disable them.
Stunning Strike stuns until the end of the Monk's next turn, and they get up to 4 shots to hit you with it per round (6 with a two-level dip in Fighter for Action Surge). Once they're past the hurdle of that first stun, the target is even more susceptible to being stunned again since 1) now the monk attacks with advantage or the crazy super advantage from Elven Accuracy, 2) they've lost their concentration spells and 3) they've dropped whatever they're using as a spellcasting focus (except for possibly a shield strapped to their arm).
Also high level monks are proficient in every saving throw and can attempt to reroll a failed save for 1 ki point. Of course they'd take Lucky for extra insurance, and if they go Kensei they can reroll one missed attack for free. So ideally they'd try to use Lucky to win initiative, then Action Surge + Flurry of Blows to attack 6 times and apply Unerring Accuracy and their remaining 2 uses of Lucky to force as many hits and CON saves as they can.
Alternatively, they could go Way of the Shadow and depending on how you interpret the "can't escape by nonmagical means" restriction, and the magic-ness (or lack thereof) of Shadow Step, they could attempt to escape Forcecage every turn as a bonus action should it come to that.
Can we also eliminate the rogue? I just don't think any rogue subclass is capable of dealing alpha strike damage and is in general incapable of surviving multiple rounds. I would love to be proven wrong though.
I don't feel like running the simulation and I don't think they stand as much of a chance as a good Monk build but Swashbucklers can at least Sneak Attack reliably in 1v1.
A Vengeance or Ancients Paladin can escape from a forcecage pretty easily. Misty step out after a CHA save, which should be no problem for a high level paladin.
Yeah, I realized I made a big mistake discounting the monk. After going through some subclasses they’d do well to fight against a lot of classes (under-rated).
I see a lot of threads about whether a fighter 20 wins vs a wizard 20. There is a warlock 20 vs wizard 20 thread in the wizard subforum right now.
I know this isn't a pvp game so obviously this is just theoretical, but is there a single build of a single class that wins a 1v1 vs all other classes at level 20? If you think so, I'd be interested to hear it. If you think not, what's the best you can do?
Some rules are perhaps in order:
If you think more restrictions are necessary say so.
Forcecage makes most martial classes completely irrelevant. it lasts for an hour, isn't concentration and can't be escaped from by non magical means, meaning you can kill them at your leisure. When it comes to spellcaster vs spellcaster I think it's a battle of resources and attrition. Damage isn't as important as disabling your opponent in these fights as classes like druid have access to a unlimited health pool.
Forcecage is a potent spell vs martials. It still requires you to win initiative. I haven't put that much thought into it outside of fighters. Of the martials, the archetypes that stick out to me as useful vs a caster are:
This is really a silly experiment, because of this:
"No magic items"
What about Material Components for Spells? An Arcane Focus? A Holy Symbol? I mean, Invulnerability alone gives you 10 minutes of absolute immunity to all damage. Some classes rely on magical items more than others, especially those classes that can't simply *fly*. You're going to get a lot of theorycrafting here that doesn't mean a lot without more quantifying numbers. Also, some classes are built around getting most of their abilities back with Short Rests (Warlocks), so this will be a very lopsided victory for those that are focused on more powerful talents that reset on Long Rests (Paladins).
Circle of the Moon Druid? Wild shape is pretty strong in combat.
Let’s eliminate the classes that wouldn’t be good:
Ranger, Sorcerer, Monk, Bard, Cleric.
I think Warlock does and up winning out against Wizard in combat but I could be wrong (however, Wizard may be the stronger class against non-magic classes).
Fighter is very strong especially since feats are allowed but sadly may not always be in range for good attacks.
You almost need to have magic capabilities probably putting the Paladin ahead of Fighter only when it comes to dealing with control magic users vs damage magic users (example wizard vs warlock).
Why does that make it silly? The game is designed to run without them. If everyone gets the same amount why include them? Including magic items just muddies the waters.
Material components, arcane foci, and holy symbols? Of course, why not?
Getting around things like invulnerability and fly are part of the point of this exercise and there are plenty of counters for each.
Paladin is a strong choice, but sheer number of spell slots is going to be far less important than action economy and strategy. Does that paladin always win or could something else beat it. My suspicion is that plenty of things can be made to beat paladin including warlock, but again that's part of the point of the exercise.
Do you have a specific build that you think would win?
I don't think we should just eliminate whole classes without any justification. Monster slayer ranger gets a reaction attack when they make a saving throw and automatically passes the saving throw it the attack hits. if the Sorcerer and bard have uncounterable spellcasting. Monk can essentially one-shot anyone who fails a Con save. Arcana cleric gets the best wizard spells and divine intervention. I don't think I could write off any of these classes.
I think warlock is strong and can beat a wizard, but can the warlock that can beat a wizard also beat a paladin?
I don't think fighter range is a problem. Probably the strongest fighter is going to be a sharpshooter so the range is really 600 feet. How big/small should we make the arena?
In your case with the ranger, it sounds like it’d be good against magic users but has a hard time stacking up against other non-magic users.
Sorcerer and Bard still aren’t strong enough to take on other classes in combat (there are still just strictly better classes, the lore bard does have magical secrets going for it though which is nice since that can adjust for the class they fight).
You’ll have to explain the monk 1-shot to me, keep in mind how they’d do vs a magic user that may disable them.
Arcana Cleric won’t be too special if the divine intervention is essentially just an extra spell slot (according to the post’s rules).
As for you warlock and wizard point, I did state that in the first post. I completely agree with you. The strongest fighter would be a sharpshooter but in order to make the class effective enough and dangerous you’d have to multiclass (which is why I didn’t mention how over-powered the circle of moon Druid and totem warrior barbarian would be).
Okay, I can buy that logic for the ranger.
Can we also eliminate the rogue? I just don't think any rogue subclass is capable of dealing alpha strike damage and is in general incapable of surviving multiple rounds. I would love to be proven wrong though.
I still disagree about sorcerer. I think that a sorcerer might be able to beat all casters. They can completely shut down any other caster by subtle counterspell and cannot be countered themselves. They have access to forcecage. They have access to wish and therefore almost every spell.
I don't know enough about bard to have a well-informed opinion.
Open hand monk can use the quivering palm for 3 ki points and set up for a future turn where they force a Con save on the opponent. If the opponent fails they are reduced to 0 hp. As cool as that is, you might be right that they don't have a way to get around a forcecage.
I can agree about the arcana cleric, but I'd have to look over the cleric spell list before counting clerics out.
Why would you want to multiclass a fighter? The capstone is a 4th attack. That amount of extra damage is huge, especially when you factor in sharpshooter bonus damage.
You might be right that the moon druid could win.
I'd choose a zealot barbarian over a totem barbarian.
I agree with removing rogue, even though it can deal awesome damage, you need to multiclass to make it effective enough to one-shot before getting taken care of by the opponent.
Oooh, you may have changed my opinion on the sorcerer. I was mainly discounting them for having a smaller spell list than other full-casters.
The only way Bards would really be able to compete in combat without multiclassing would be with going the caster route in lore bard which is fine and has magical secrets which is awesome but other than that it lacks protection and killing damage. It can do a great job disabling opponents but needs help when it comes to killing them.
Also the multiclassing the fighter is the same reason with multiclassing rogue (they go hand in hand) offering sneak attack (which now that I’m thinking about it won’t apply very well in a 1v1) and the fighter offering action surge.
Plus you could also have warlock and war domain cleric to add hex damage and use bonus actions to make an attack.
Seriously, removing multiclassing does weaken the potential of having incredibly strong builds for a 1v1 situation.
I think multiclassing would just reveal the strongest pvp build instead of the strongest pvp class.
I looked over the cleric spell lists and subclass abilities and I agree they should be removed from consideration.
For the bard I'm less convinced, mostly because they still have gems like power word kill/stun and forcecage in their list, they can magical secrets wish and any damage they need, they have amazing counterspell ability, and they will almost always win initiative with Jack of All Trades and Peerless Skill.
I did some calculations on a pure eladrin samurai. With 8 sharpshooter attacks with a heavy crossbow and elven accuracy, the expected damage against an AC 20 opponent is 145. That's enough to kill a d6 hit die class with <=16 Con or a d8 hit die class with <=14 Con in a single round. If the samurai doesn't get disabled in a single round or they win initiative, they could just kill most casters. They also have teleportation to reduce the risk from forcecage.
Btw, what does a caster do after forcecage? Mostly I ask because the person inside is immune to spell effects and the caster's concentration is in use. Do you bury them with mold earth?
It’s not necessarily using force cage, just using spells to control or impose disadvantage etc. on the enemy/ turning invisible, flying away. Then kill away at your leisure.
That archer fighter does seems scary now!!
The PVP game without magic items nullifies every martial class. Invulnerability and Forcecage completely nullify every normal-attack class. So this test becomes a battle of the magic classes and that’s it.
So basically just a mage battle? I’d go Storm Sorcerer over everything else. Subtle Counterspell any other magic. Undispellable Flight. Nothing beats it if they can’t have magic items.
You make these statements without any evidence or reasoning. Why do you think these things?
Good contribution, but fiend warlock beats it.
Strong as this warlock is, divination wizard may be able to beat it in initiative and cast feeblemind on the warlock.
Honestly, if we discover that this just comes down to whoever wins initiative, I think that's great. At least it indicates some balance in these things.
It would also be great if we just map out a giant game of rock paper scissors between the classes.
^couldn’t have said it better myself
Hurl Through Hell does 55 damage. That’s not enough to bring the Sorcerer down to below 100hp for PWK. It also doesn’t incapacitate. The Sorcerer can cast Invisibility and therefore your readied spell has no target and therefore wasted. Now you’re down a 9th level spell and it’s the Sorcerer’s turn and you can’t cast spells anymore and he’s 60ft in the air. Have fun!
As for Arcane Archer - my Sorcerer is a Gnome with Fade Away that becomes Invisible after your first attack. Now you have nothing left. Invulnerability the round after and it’s Cantrips until you’re dead.
And it’s distinctively NOT balanced. “Whoever wins initiative will win” is your qualification for balance? No. It’s “whoever wins initiative and is one of these specific class archetypes will win”. Half the classes in the game are not even discussed here specifically because there’s zero balance of them having a chance with zero magical items. That was my specific point at the very beginning - this is just a mage’s duel then and *drastically* favours a class with range and magic-damage weapons.
Stunning Strike stuns until the end of the Monk's next turn, and they get up to 4 shots to hit you with it per round (6 with a two-level dip in Fighter for Action Surge). Once they're past the hurdle of that first stun, the target is even more susceptible to being stunned again since 1) now the monk attacks with advantage or the crazy super advantage from Elven Accuracy, 2) they've lost their concentration spells and 3) they've dropped whatever they're using as a spellcasting focus (except for possibly a shield strapped to their arm).
Also high level monks are proficient in every saving throw and can attempt to reroll a failed save for 1 ki point. Of course they'd take Lucky for extra insurance, and if they go Kensei they can reroll one missed attack for free. So ideally they'd try to use Lucky to win initiative, then Action Surge + Flurry of Blows to attack 6 times and apply Unerring Accuracy and their remaining 2 uses of Lucky to force as many hits and CON saves as they can.
Alternatively, they could go Way of the Shadow and depending on how you interpret the "can't escape by nonmagical means" restriction, and the magic-ness (or lack thereof) of Shadow Step, they could attempt to escape Forcecage every turn as a bonus action should it come to that.
I don't feel like running the simulation and I don't think they stand as much of a chance as a good Monk build but Swashbucklers can at least Sneak Attack reliably in 1v1.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
A Vengeance or Ancients Paladin can escape from a forcecage pretty easily. Misty step out after a CHA save, which should be no problem for a high level paladin.
Yeah, I realized I made a big mistake discounting the monk. After going through some subclasses they’d do well to fight against a lot of classes (under-rated).
I would be tempted to say barbarian, but I think druid probably takes the bait. unlimited wild shape is just too powerful to pass up
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.