I am a fairly high-level wizard. I could learn Mind Blank or Nondetection, or use an amulet of protection against detection and location. But 8th level slots are too valuable, burning 25gp every day is annoying, and I don't want to use an attunement slot on this. Is there anything that I can do?

I was thinking of using the simulacrum of a monster or summoning and binding an outsider with the right ability, but the simulacrum ability would have to be at-will or not be a spell, because simulacrums don't get spells back, and the summoned outsider must be CR 9 or less. Is there anything in the monster manual that would fit?

If not, is there any other solution I could use?

  • \$\begingroup\$ What are you using your attunement slots for that you can't fit in the amulet? \$\endgroup\$ – RevanantBacon Feb 23 at 20:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ @RevenantBacon does that matter? If the wizard is fairly high-level and has access to level 8 slots in the first place (even if they're too expensive for Mind Blanking all the time), it's safe to assume that they have rarer and more combat-useful items than an uncommon amulet with (mostly) out-of-combat utility. That being said, I doubt there's a cheaper way, but I don't know all books (especially the adventure modules) by heart. \$\endgroup\$ – PixelMaster Feb 23 at 20:56
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    \$\begingroup\$ Unsure if 5e changes compared to 3.x, but death technically makes you an invalid target and requires almost no resources \$\endgroup\$ – Fering Feb 23 at 21:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ @PixelMaster Actually, yes it does matter, because what you actually have access to will influence the decision making process, and having to make decisions like "Do I give myself protection from divination or resistance to fire damage?" is a core part of 5e item design. The utility of each can change from day to day, or campaign to campaign. If you're in a campaign that heavily features red dragons, the fire damage is useful more than the divination protection, but if you're in a game full of political intrigue, the divination protection is going to be valuable constantly. \$\endgroup\$ – RevanantBacon Feb 23 at 21:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ @RevenantBacon of course it matters to the OP, but by "does it matter" I meant "for the answer". OP clearly considers the attunement slot too high of a price, and thus they would much rather use the slot for something else and gain protection against divination some other way. In other words, they have already done an evaluation such as "is fire resistance or divination protection more important", and I don't see any input from our side as necessary. As phrased, OP is looking for a cheaper way to get divination protection, and talking about the value of an attunement slot is off-topic \$\endgroup\$ – PixelMaster Feb 24 at 2:22

It appears that there are four generic ways of protecting from most divination magic:

  1. Spells that protect from divination (and magic items that duplicate those spells), and

  2. Improving Wisdom Saving Throws (as many Divination spells must overcome a Wisdom saving throw), and

  3. Magic Items that do not require attunement, and

  4. Companions that help with any and all of the above.

Accordingly, I believe the following might be useful to consider in your circumstances:

  1. For Spells, I don’t think anything works, given your requirements. They consume spell slots. Any magic item that is going to duplicate a spell (other than a single-use item like a potion or scroll) is likely going to require attunement, which you have indicated is probably too much resource use.

  2. For Wisdom Saving Throws, as a Wizard, you already have proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. An ASI to increase Wisdom seems like too great of a resource use, however the Aura of Protection provided by a Paladin companion of 6th level or higher while within 10 feet of you (30 feet if 18th level Paladin) would add their CHA modifier to your saving throws.

  3. For Magic Items, the Lantern of Revealing (wondrous item, uncommon) magic item does not require attunement, and it would reveal the invisible orb of a scrying spell.

  4. For Companions, a Bat familiar has 60’ Blindsight while it can hear, which would be able to detect the invisible orb of a scrying spell. Also, the 6th+ Level Paladin has been mentioned above.

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    \$\begingroup\$ A companion that would help could be any old svirfneblin with the racial feat \$\endgroup\$ – SeriousBri Feb 23 at 23:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ Can only cast on themselves? Soooo . . . shapechange into deep gnome? \$\endgroup\$ – Weiramon Feb 24 at 0:19

Cast Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum every day in the same place for a year. Among the effects you can choose when you cast the spell are:

  • Sensors created by divination spells can't appear inside the protected area or pass through the barrier at its perimeter.
  • Creatures in the area can't be targeted by divination spells.

The most important feature of the spell, for this question's purposes, is this line:


Now, obviously using a fourth level (or higher, if you want a larger area) spell slot every day for a year is not an insignificant effort, but there are no material components consumed by casting the spell, so it only takes time to set it up, and nothing to sustain after the year is done. It might be a worthwhile project if your character has a long period of downtime between his high-level adventures. You may not have many uses for your spell slots on boring non-adventure days!

The biggest downside of course is that it's limited to a single location that you pick in advance. If you need to be protected from divination everywhere you go, this doesn't help you. But if you're a high-level wizard, you probably have the means to teleport yourself across the world reasonably easily, so you might be able to tolerate doing your most secret stuff only in your own wizard tower (or wherever it is you chose to cast the spell so many times). And you can still cast the spell as a one-off if you need to protect some other place for just a single day, when teleportation isn't an option.

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    \$\begingroup\$ If Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum will follow a moving vehicle, one could purchase an airship for 20,000 GP, 10 Crew, 20 passengers 1 ton cargo (DMG pg 119 or can use the one in Storm King's Thunder). Leave a little 5' wide platform outside the warded area for the door to Mordenkainen's Mansion and get a little elbow room. \$\endgroup\$ – Weiramon Feb 24 at 3:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Weiramon I wonder what effect relative velocities play in spell casting. Intuitively, if I were a DM with a map of a large (moving) ship, and a player attempted to cast a spell with both a specific location and duration, I would have the spell move with the ship. But that seems strange too, because I wouldn't have such a spell move with the same velocity if the caster were simply running in a line while casting. \$\endgroup\$ – tox123 Feb 24 at 22:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ @tox123 yes, from what I can see, it is largely dependent on specific wording in individual spell descriptions, or really up to the DM to create a consistent framework.. \$\endgroup\$ – Weiramon Feb 25 at 0:42

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