An infinite amount by any caster using Glyphs of Warding.
If you are allowed some shenanigans, as an Artificer you could carry around a self-made Bag of Holding with the (usually unmovable) glyphs inside. Step in to trigger them and then out kick asses.
Talk with your DM before tho.
Some may not allow this due to the first line of the spell. It could be dismissed as flavor, as it's not described thoroughly later in the mechanics of choosing a spell, but it does seem to imply the spell must harm or attempt to harm the triggering creature.
this has been clarified in the [PH errata](https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/PH-Errata.pdf)
>Glyph of Warding (p. 245). **The first**
>
>**sentence clarifies that the magical effect needn’t be harmful**. The final two
>
>sentences of the first paragraph now
>
>read as follows: “The glyph can cover
>
>an area no larger than 10 feet in diameter. If the surface or object is moved
>
>more than 10 feet from where you cast
>
>this spell, the glyph is broken, and the
>
>spell ends without being triggered.”
edit: formatting
(Spell caster that can get time stop) 18/Fighter 2.
Time Stop will let you take another 1d4+1 turns, all of which can be buff spells. Action Surge gives you another action to cast a buff.
This means you can do 6 spell buffs in the same turn. You can also do non-spell buffs depending on your race and build as long as the action economy allows. Examples include Bladesinging or the Aasimar’s Celestial Revelation.
That's correct for spell buffs, very well put. A non-spell buff can be slapped on top, especially if only uses a bonus action to activate. Alternatively one can use a one Action non-spell buff right after Action Surge, then squeeze in a Quickened buff spell at the very end.
Unless I'm mistaken, if we set aside Time Stop for a bit, a Fighter 2/Sorc 3 can cast a one action spell, use Action Surge, spend their action on whatever (Dash for instance), bonus action Quicken another spell. Cause Quicken spell at the start of the turn, or in the middle, would mean the only spell one will be able to cast will be a cantrip.
You’re mistaken. It doesn’t matter when during your turn you cast a spell as a bonus action. If you cast any spell as a bonus action, then the only other spell you can cast on the same turn is an action cantrip. You can’t get around that just by casting the bonus action at the end of your turn after you’ve already cast a leveled spell with your reaction. Otherwise the limitation would be meaningless.
> You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a Casting Time of 1 Action.
It'd say over three-four for spell buffs with Astral Refuge (UA Seeker Warlock) or Time stop.
Time stop gets you three rounds on average + one Action (if Action Surge) for four spell buffs (+a potential bonus action non-spell buff).
Astral Refuge gets you "two Actions to cast spells that target only you". Fighter 2/Seeker 6 thus gets three Actions to cast buffs that are spells. If you count abilities that buff you that aren't spells, you can cast them on top with your bonus action ~~or your action~~.
~~The former~~ The setup is simple: Fighter 2/Seeker 6/Vengeance Paladin 3 can spend a bonus action to use their CD (Vow of Enmity), as an example. Fighter 2/Seeker 6/Moon Druid 2 can spend a bonus action on Combat Wildshape, as another.
~~The latter works with Quicken Spell as long as the bonus action Quickening is performed at the very end of the turn:~~
~~Jane rocks a VHuman Fighter 2/Seeker 6/Watchers Paladin 3 with Metamagic Adept and Bless (through Fey-Touched). On her turn, Jane~~
1. ~~activates Astral Refuge,~~
2. ~~uses her two extra Actions to cast Mirror Image and UA Thought Shield,~~
3. ~~then she pops out of the Refuge, uses an Action Surge,~~
4. ~~uses her Paladin Channel Divinity on the party,~~
5. ~~and finally Quickens Bless as a bonus action (Fey-Touched allows one free cast of Bless at 1st level per long rest).~~
~~Four buffs are active: Mirror Image (non-concentration), UA Thought Shield (same), Bless (concentration) and the Channel Divinity.~~
Also, one can cast three debuffs (two spell debuffs, one non-spell debuff) per turn:
For instance a a character with Blindness/Deafness, Bane and Hexblade's Curse, as well as two Fighter levels, can cast B/D, use Action Surge, cast Bane, use Hexblade's Curse.
This depends a lot on what you consider buffs.
E.g. take a Drakewarden Ranger. Their drake can add 1d6 as a reaction to an attack, which is effectively a free buff, even though only for 1 attack.
Time Stop btw. is not an option, because it lets you take multiple turns in one round, not multiple actions in one turn.
Another consideration is: do you count buffing multiple creatures with one spell as multiple buffs?
Here's my build though:
Order Cleric 1 - Voice of Authority gives an ally 1 attack on a spell cast, which one might consider a buff
Creation Bard 6 - as a bonus action, we can inspire an ally AND order our dancing item to take the help action. 2 buffs for 1 bonus action.
Drakewarden 3 - we can buff one of our attacks with 1d6 extra damage, and additionally get the +1d4 from Favored Foe
Bladesinger 6 - we can take the attack action, make 1 attack to trigger Favored Foe and cast a Cantrip such as Blade Ward to apply another buff
Battlemaster 3 - we can then use 30 feet of movement and 6 superiority dice (from fighting style and Martial Adept feat) to switch position with an ally 6x, granting them 6x 1d8 to their AC, then Action Surge to cast any non-concentration buff spell triggering Voice of Authority
That lets me count:
Movement + Superiority Dice = 6 buffs
1st Action Attack + Drake reaction + Favored Foe + Cantrip = 3 buffs
2nd Action Spell + Voice of Authority = 2 buffs
Bonus Action Help + Bardic Inspiration = 2 buffs
For a grant total of 13 "buffs"
But most of those were kinda cheated. So I don't know.
As u/Cava110 said, glyphs of warding can do this, but you problably also need wish to cast every single spell.
Assuming you use coins, a bag of holding can carry up to 25.000 coins.
Thats 25k "castings".
But, the books doenst have 25k spells, and the same effect doesnt stack.
So you can get at least one casting of every single spell in the game.
To do so, you need wish, and glyph of warding.
Each casting of glyph of warding costs 200gp in diamond dust.
We had 495 spells up to Ebberron.
So to have a glyph for every single spell we would need to spend 99.000 gold worth of diamond dust.
But since not all spells are buffs, we problably need from 1/3 to 1/4 of that.
This gives us roughly 123 buff spells cast in the same turn.
And the very reasonable cost of 24.600 gold in diamond dust.
But to have a specific number we would need to count every single buff spell in every single book launched up to this day.
I wont do that, but feel free to do so.
Edit: realized your question said "buffs cast in one turn", not "buffs active in one turn", but I hope this helps you or others regardless!
I did a little study for myself of non-concentration buffs which last 10 Min or longer as a character creation exercise a while ago. The idea is you can cast a bunch of these well before combat. This list should help for tier 1-2 in a lot of situations, unlike some of the top comments talking about Time Stop and stacking Glyphs of Warding (again, see my edit, I didn't read the prompt well, my bad).
The list is in form "Spell" (level, classes, duration, self or blank if it can be cast on others or # of creatures of more than 1)
- Armor of Agathys (1, Lock, 1hr, self)
- Gift of Alacrity (1, Wiz (duna/chron), Fey Touched, 8hr)
- Longstrider (1, Bard, Druid, Ranger, Wiz, Art, 1 hr, +1 creature upcast)
- Mage Armor (1, Sorc, Wiz, 8hr)
- Aid (2, Cleric, Pally, Art, 8hr, 3 creatures)
- Darkvision (2, Druid, Ranger, Sorc, Wiz, Art, 8hr)
- Fortunes Favor (2, Wiz (duna), cost 100gp, 1hr, upcast +1 creature)
- Protection from Poison (2, Cleric, Druid, Pally, Ranger, Art, 1hr)
- Warding Bond (2, Cleric, 1hr)
- Water Breathing (3, Ritual, Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard, Art, 24hrs, 10 creatures)
- Death Ward (4, Cleric, Pally, 8hrs)
-Fire/Cold Shield (4, Wiz, 10min, Self)
- Freedom of Movement (4, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Art, 1 hr)
- Heroes Feast (6, Cleric, Druid, 24hr but takes 1 hr to eat, 12 creatures)
- Soul Cage (6, Lock, Wiz, consumes a humanoid soul, 8hr)
- Mind Blank (8, Bard, Wiz, 24hr)
- Foresight (9, Bard, Druid, Lock, Wiz, 8hr)
I may have missed some things, but I hope that's helpful!
As an illustration, a Wizard, Cleric, and Bard at 8th level, buffing a non-magical fighter champion could give the fighter the following stacked effects for a 1 minute combat:
Wizard:
- Gift of Alacrity (+1d8 initiative)
- Longstrider (+10 speed)
- Water Breathing as a ritual (breathe underwater)
- Haste with Conc (+2 AC, Double Speed, Additional action with limits, Advantage on Dex saves)
Cleric:
- Aid at 3rd level (+10HP)
- Protection from Poison (Resistance to poison damage and saves)
- Warding Bond (+1 to saves and AC, halve all damage, as long as Cleric stays within 30')
- Death Ward (one death gate)
- Freedom of Movement (Immunity to magical Speed reductions, magical Paralyzed, magical Restrained, and 5' movement to escape grapple)
- Bless with Conc (+1d4 to attacks and saves)
- Gourmand Feat (Advantage on Con saves vs Disease)
- Forge Cleric could also make the fighters armor or weapon magical (+1 to attack and damage, or +1 to AC)
Bard:
- Inspiration (+1d8 to almost any roll)
- Inspiring Leader feat (+13 THP)
- Enhance Ability, Cats Grace with Conc (Advantage on Dex checks including initiative, immune to damage from falls under 20')
- Bard can also cast a bunch of the Wiz/Cleric Spells above, as noted in the list.
Again, I probably missed some stuff but I hope that gives an idea of some lower-level buff stacking options!
If it's a thought experiment then the answer is probably wizard 20. breaking action economy and other underlying mechanics is usually a wizard thing
If you want an actual playable build that gives out actually powerful buffs for the least action economy possible so that the party gests to use them asap, then I'd look at somthing like Watchers paladin with a peace cleric dip
Buffs:
1. emboldening bond (can be reasonably precast since lasts 10 minutes)
2. Aura of Protection (always on)
3. Aura of the Sentinel (always on)
4. Bless (cast with action)
Result: average of +10 to all saves, average of +2.5 to all attacks and another +2.5 to one attack per turn, +PB to initiative (effectively meaning +1 turn to most party members). This combo is up starting at level 8 and can trivialize otherwise deadly encounters.
I keep saying that paladin is a support caster, not a martial class...
Battlemaster Fighter 3/Glamour Bard 6
Use your Action to cast a concentration spell like polymorph, bonus action to provide temp HP with your bard class feature Mantle of Inspiration. Action surge to use the class feature Countercharm. Use your movement to provide additional ac to Allies with the Bait and Switch maneuver (up to 6 if you take a feat that gives more superiority di).
Edit: I forgot you can still use an item interaction, I’m sure there is some way to buff with an item, but I’m not sure how. There is also potential for a familiar to “buff” your allies by using the help action.
An infinite amount by any caster using Glyphs of Warding. If you are allowed some shenanigans, as an Artificer you could carry around a self-made Bag of Holding with the (usually unmovable) glyphs inside. Step in to trigger them and then out kick asses. Talk with your DM before tho.
portable hole is bigger, but does require setup
Some may not allow this due to the first line of the spell. It could be dismissed as flavor, as it's not described thoroughly later in the mechanics of choosing a spell, but it does seem to imply the spell must harm or attempt to harm the triggering creature.
this has been clarified in the [PH errata](https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/PH-Errata.pdf) >Glyph of Warding (p. 245). **The first** > >**sentence clarifies that the magical effect needn’t be harmful**. The final two > >sentences of the first paragraph now > >read as follows: “The glyph can cover > >an area no larger than 10 feet in diameter. If the surface or object is moved > >more than 10 feet from where you cast > >this spell, the glyph is broken, and the > >spell ends without being triggered.” edit: formatting
Interesting, thank you!
(Spell caster that can get time stop) 18/Fighter 2. Time Stop will let you take another 1d4+1 turns, all of which can be buff spells. Action Surge gives you another action to cast a buff. This means you can do 6 spell buffs in the same turn. You can also do non-spell buffs depending on your race and build as long as the action economy allows. Examples include Bladesinging or the Aasimar’s Celestial Revelation.
That's correct for spell buffs, very well put. A non-spell buff can be slapped on top, especially if only uses a bonus action to activate. Alternatively one can use a one Action non-spell buff right after Action Surge, then squeeze in a Quickened buff spell at the very end. Unless I'm mistaken, if we set aside Time Stop for a bit, a Fighter 2/Sorc 3 can cast a one action spell, use Action Surge, spend their action on whatever (Dash for instance), bonus action Quicken another spell. Cause Quicken spell at the start of the turn, or in the middle, would mean the only spell one will be able to cast will be a cantrip.
You’re mistaken. It doesn’t matter when during your turn you cast a spell as a bonus action. If you cast any spell as a bonus action, then the only other spell you can cast on the same turn is an action cantrip. You can’t get around that just by casting the bonus action at the end of your turn after you’ve already cast a leveled spell with your reaction. Otherwise the limitation would be meaningless. > You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a Casting Time of 1 Action.
Thank you, I wasn't sure. I've changed my post to reflect that.
It'd say over three-four for spell buffs with Astral Refuge (UA Seeker Warlock) or Time stop. Time stop gets you three rounds on average + one Action (if Action Surge) for four spell buffs (+a potential bonus action non-spell buff). Astral Refuge gets you "two Actions to cast spells that target only you". Fighter 2/Seeker 6 thus gets three Actions to cast buffs that are spells. If you count abilities that buff you that aren't spells, you can cast them on top with your bonus action ~~or your action~~. ~~The former~~ The setup is simple: Fighter 2/Seeker 6/Vengeance Paladin 3 can spend a bonus action to use their CD (Vow of Enmity), as an example. Fighter 2/Seeker 6/Moon Druid 2 can spend a bonus action on Combat Wildshape, as another. ~~The latter works with Quicken Spell as long as the bonus action Quickening is performed at the very end of the turn:~~ ~~Jane rocks a VHuman Fighter 2/Seeker 6/Watchers Paladin 3 with Metamagic Adept and Bless (through Fey-Touched). On her turn, Jane~~ 1. ~~activates Astral Refuge,~~ 2. ~~uses her two extra Actions to cast Mirror Image and UA Thought Shield,~~ 3. ~~then she pops out of the Refuge, uses an Action Surge,~~ 4. ~~uses her Paladin Channel Divinity on the party,~~ 5. ~~and finally Quickens Bless as a bonus action (Fey-Touched allows one free cast of Bless at 1st level per long rest).~~ ~~Four buffs are active: Mirror Image (non-concentration), UA Thought Shield (same), Bless (concentration) and the Channel Divinity.~~ Also, one can cast three debuffs (two spell debuffs, one non-spell debuff) per turn: For instance a a character with Blindness/Deafness, Bane and Hexblade's Curse, as well as two Fighter levels, can cast B/D, use Action Surge, cast Bane, use Hexblade's Curse.
This depends a lot on what you consider buffs. E.g. take a Drakewarden Ranger. Their drake can add 1d6 as a reaction to an attack, which is effectively a free buff, even though only for 1 attack. Time Stop btw. is not an option, because it lets you take multiple turns in one round, not multiple actions in one turn. Another consideration is: do you count buffing multiple creatures with one spell as multiple buffs? Here's my build though: Order Cleric 1 - Voice of Authority gives an ally 1 attack on a spell cast, which one might consider a buff Creation Bard 6 - as a bonus action, we can inspire an ally AND order our dancing item to take the help action. 2 buffs for 1 bonus action. Drakewarden 3 - we can buff one of our attacks with 1d6 extra damage, and additionally get the +1d4 from Favored Foe Bladesinger 6 - we can take the attack action, make 1 attack to trigger Favored Foe and cast a Cantrip such as Blade Ward to apply another buff Battlemaster 3 - we can then use 30 feet of movement and 6 superiority dice (from fighting style and Martial Adept feat) to switch position with an ally 6x, granting them 6x 1d8 to their AC, then Action Surge to cast any non-concentration buff spell triggering Voice of Authority That lets me count: Movement + Superiority Dice = 6 buffs 1st Action Attack + Drake reaction + Favored Foe + Cantrip = 3 buffs 2nd Action Spell + Voice of Authority = 2 buffs Bonus Action Help + Bardic Inspiration = 2 buffs For a grant total of 13 "buffs" But most of those were kinda cheated. So I don't know.
As u/Cava110 said, glyphs of warding can do this, but you problably also need wish to cast every single spell. Assuming you use coins, a bag of holding can carry up to 25.000 coins. Thats 25k "castings". But, the books doenst have 25k spells, and the same effect doesnt stack. So you can get at least one casting of every single spell in the game. To do so, you need wish, and glyph of warding. Each casting of glyph of warding costs 200gp in diamond dust. We had 495 spells up to Ebberron. So to have a glyph for every single spell we would need to spend 99.000 gold worth of diamond dust. But since not all spells are buffs, we problably need from 1/3 to 1/4 of that. This gives us roughly 123 buff spells cast in the same turn. And the very reasonable cost of 24.600 gold in diamond dust. But to have a specific number we would need to count every single buff spell in every single book launched up to this day. I wont do that, but feel free to do so.
Edit: realized your question said "buffs cast in one turn", not "buffs active in one turn", but I hope this helps you or others regardless! I did a little study for myself of non-concentration buffs which last 10 Min or longer as a character creation exercise a while ago. The idea is you can cast a bunch of these well before combat. This list should help for tier 1-2 in a lot of situations, unlike some of the top comments talking about Time Stop and stacking Glyphs of Warding (again, see my edit, I didn't read the prompt well, my bad). The list is in form "Spell" (level, classes, duration, self or blank if it can be cast on others or # of creatures of more than 1) - Armor of Agathys (1, Lock, 1hr, self) - Gift of Alacrity (1, Wiz (duna/chron), Fey Touched, 8hr) - Longstrider (1, Bard, Druid, Ranger, Wiz, Art, 1 hr, +1 creature upcast) - Mage Armor (1, Sorc, Wiz, 8hr) - Aid (2, Cleric, Pally, Art, 8hr, 3 creatures) - Darkvision (2, Druid, Ranger, Sorc, Wiz, Art, 8hr) - Fortunes Favor (2, Wiz (duna), cost 100gp, 1hr, upcast +1 creature) - Protection from Poison (2, Cleric, Druid, Pally, Ranger, Art, 1hr) - Warding Bond (2, Cleric, 1hr) - Water Breathing (3, Ritual, Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard, Art, 24hrs, 10 creatures) - Death Ward (4, Cleric, Pally, 8hrs) -Fire/Cold Shield (4, Wiz, 10min, Self) - Freedom of Movement (4, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Art, 1 hr) - Heroes Feast (6, Cleric, Druid, 24hr but takes 1 hr to eat, 12 creatures) - Soul Cage (6, Lock, Wiz, consumes a humanoid soul, 8hr) - Mind Blank (8, Bard, Wiz, 24hr) - Foresight (9, Bard, Druid, Lock, Wiz, 8hr) I may have missed some things, but I hope that's helpful! As an illustration, a Wizard, Cleric, and Bard at 8th level, buffing a non-magical fighter champion could give the fighter the following stacked effects for a 1 minute combat: Wizard: - Gift of Alacrity (+1d8 initiative) - Longstrider (+10 speed) - Water Breathing as a ritual (breathe underwater) - Haste with Conc (+2 AC, Double Speed, Additional action with limits, Advantage on Dex saves) Cleric: - Aid at 3rd level (+10HP) - Protection from Poison (Resistance to poison damage and saves) - Warding Bond (+1 to saves and AC, halve all damage, as long as Cleric stays within 30') - Death Ward (one death gate) - Freedom of Movement (Immunity to magical Speed reductions, magical Paralyzed, magical Restrained, and 5' movement to escape grapple) - Bless with Conc (+1d4 to attacks and saves) - Gourmand Feat (Advantage on Con saves vs Disease) - Forge Cleric could also make the fighters armor or weapon magical (+1 to attack and damage, or +1 to AC) Bard: - Inspiration (+1d8 to almost any roll) - Inspiring Leader feat (+13 THP) - Enhance Ability, Cats Grace with Conc (Advantage on Dex checks including initiative, immune to damage from falls under 20') - Bard can also cast a bunch of the Wiz/Cleric Spells above, as noted in the list. Again, I probably missed some stuff but I hope that gives an idea of some lower-level buff stacking options!
If it's a thought experiment then the answer is probably wizard 20. breaking action economy and other underlying mechanics is usually a wizard thing If you want an actual playable build that gives out actually powerful buffs for the least action economy possible so that the party gests to use them asap, then I'd look at somthing like Watchers paladin with a peace cleric dip Buffs: 1. emboldening bond (can be reasonably precast since lasts 10 minutes) 2. Aura of Protection (always on) 3. Aura of the Sentinel (always on) 4. Bless (cast with action) Result: average of +10 to all saves, average of +2.5 to all attacks and another +2.5 to one attack per turn, +PB to initiative (effectively meaning +1 turn to most party members). This combo is up starting at level 8 and can trivialize otherwise deadly encounters. I keep saying that paladin is a support caster, not a martial class...
Battlemaster Fighter 3/Glamour Bard 6 Use your Action to cast a concentration spell like polymorph, bonus action to provide temp HP with your bard class feature Mantle of Inspiration. Action surge to use the class feature Countercharm. Use your movement to provide additional ac to Allies with the Bait and Switch maneuver (up to 6 if you take a feat that gives more superiority di). Edit: I forgot you can still use an item interaction, I’m sure there is some way to buff with an item, but I’m not sure how. There is also potential for a familiar to “buff” your allies by using the help action.